by David, Kori
“I like your friend, Jess,” the voice said. “She reminds me of your sister.”
“Which one?”
“All of them.”
Jesse laughed and turned away. “They’re all married off now and immune to your charms.”
“Good. I’m not good husband material.”
They started talking in code and Lily tuned them out. Maybe she was wrong. Jesse would never, ever, take someone home to meet his family unless they were trustworthy. He just wasn’t that kind of guy. He was so insanely protective of his family that he’d scared away most of his sisters’ boyfriends all through high school, even though he was the baby. She knew they all got engaged while he was away so he couldn’t stop the process.
So maybe Damon deserved more than her suspicion. If Jesse trusted him, then maybe she could too for the short time that she’d be in their company. Right now, she needed to get to safety. A hot shower, more food, and a good night’s sleep were on her short list. Then she’d find a way to ditch her escort.
The ride was comfortable and Lily zoned out while staring at the passing landscape, what she could see of it. The chatter over the radio brought her back to reality. They were landing instructions for the airport in Phoenix. Damon was speaking quietly and Jesse was flipping switches.
“Almost there, Lil.”
They landed and she finally got a good look at Jesse’s friend. The lights were bright out on the runway and when he turned to face her she sucked in a little breath. His deeply tanned skin contrasted beautifully with his topaz eyes. Thick black hair hung in waves to brush his shoulders. He wasn’t as tall as Jesse or even as muscular, but the lithe way he moved made her think of a sleek panther.
“It’s nice to meet you face to face,” Damon said. He didn’t extend his hand, probably thinking she wouldn’t take it. He might have been right.
“Thank you for turning down the offer to kill me.”
Jesse laughed out loud and even Damon smiled. Then he punched Jesse in the shoulder.
“Stop scaring this girl with your lies.”
Jesse held up both hands while trying to maintain a straight face. “Hey, most of what I told her was true.”
“What are you talking about?” Lily was too tired to take any crap.
“Come, walk with me and we will part ways as friends.”
It wasn’t until that moment that she could pinpoint his accent. But the way he phrased his last statement made her look up at him. “Louisiana?”
Damon nodded. “Cajun to the core.”
“You hide it well, but my grandmother on my daddy’s side was direct from the swamp, as she used to say. So I recognized it.”
“Well, then, we’re practically kissing cousins.”
Lily found herself between the two large men as they walked toward the parking area. She thought Jesse mumbled something rude about Damon’s lips but couldn’t catch it.
“Tell me how you knew to contact Jesse,” Lily said.
“I’m a liaison of sorts for ex-Marines looking for the kind of work that isn’t listed in the want-ads,” Damon explained.
“Jesse said it’s a lot of bodyguard work.”
Damon nodded. “A lot of times it is and I have a good friend that specializes in guard work, so I refer people to her all the time. But there’s other work out there as well. Your case, for example, as well as direct assassinations. When one of our guys is contacted, they run the job through me. I have resources and contacts all over the world so I can usually give advice on which jobs to take and which jobs to avoid.”
A small chill raced through her body at the word assassination, but she wasn’t as naïve as she sounded. “But how did you connect me to Jesse?”
“Your hometown. I called Jess up to see if he recognized your name because I knew he was from the same town. Lucky for you he did.”
“I’m not sure I feel lucky.”
“You should, Lil,” Jesse said. “He’d checked all his other sources and the job was coming up sour. Because you’re an American, the cartel wanted to use a third party to kidnap you and deliver you to the border for an exchange. Damon had already put out the word not to touch it, and you had conveniently crossed the border by that time which is why they went ahead and took you. But by then, he’d remembered that I was from the same town.”
Lily felt her mouth drop open and she stopped. Both men turned to look at her, golden eyes and serious blue eyes watching her reaction. “So you would have just left me there if Jesse hadn’t recognized my name? And you give advice on jobs where they kidnap or kill people?”
“I took over the job to get better information, so we’d have a hope in hell of getting you out. It’s a deadly world out there and not everyone plays by the same rules that we do in America,” Damon said.
His tone was patient and there was no regret on his face.
“We are equally deadly. Trained that way by the government and experience. That doesn’t just go away when we leave the military.”
“And he never just ignores information he has,” Jesse defended.
“What would you have done if Jesse wasn’t in the picture?”
Damon shrugged and they began walking again. “I would have turned the information I had over to the CIA or FBI.”
“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.” But she was so relieved that he wouldn’t have just left her there to die. What if someone else was in her situation?
“They aren’t as good as we are,” he said. “And don’t sound so relieved, they don’t always act either.”
“Semper Fi,” Jesse said. “Alphabet agencies are too concerned with politics. We just get the job done.”
“This is me.” Damon pointed at the low slung black Corvette. He tossed some keys at Jesse. “You’ve got the black SUV parked at the end of the row. It’s paid up through the end of the week.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you big.”
“Then take a shower and we’re even. Even the gators back home wouldn’t eat your stinky ass.”
Jesse threw his head back and laughed. “You got it.” Then he gave him a quick shove and slapped him on the back before giving Lily a wink and heading toward the SUV.
When Damon turned to her, she was trapped by his eyes. If they really were the windows to the soul, then his was old and jaded. But when he smiled, his entire face changed to one of warmth and humor. He smiled that way with Jesse. When he turned to her, he was serious again.
“Every single kill that was made by one of our guys has been justified. Either the targets were known terrorists, pedophiles, rapists or murderers. Basically, not fit to exist in the world with the rest of the humans. I can’t and won’t apologize for being involved in taking out that kind of scum.”
Lily nodded. She understood what he was saying, but couldn’t condone it. Even if the laws in other countries failed, she’d been raised to believe in the system. It was one of the reasons she’d been kidnapped in the first place. Due process only happened when there was enough evidence to prove guilt. She had the evidence and she was going to turn it over to the right people. At the right time.
Reaching out, Lily took his hand in hers and squeezed. “Thank you. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did when we first met. All that should ever have been said is thank-you for helping get me out of there. For saving my life.”
“I would do just about anything for Jesse. He’s a brother.”
“He’s always been remarkable.”
Damon bowed his head slightly and then got into his car. Lily watched him drive away and wondered what inspired a man like him to do the things he did. The big black SUV pulled up with Jesse at the wheel.
“Climb in. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
“Where are we going?” she asked as she slid onto the seat and buckled up.
“To my cabin in Flagstaff. It’s safer than a hotel until we can figure out what’s going on.”
Lily reached over and laid her hand on his forearm. His tanned, muscled forearm. She couldn’t
help the little thrill that made her fingers tingle at the contact. “You don’t have to do anything else for me, Jesse. I’ll be fine now.”
An eyebrow shot up and he grinned. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, Lil, but you’re not doing so well in that category right at the moment.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not a former Marine with your skills. But I can go to the police and make a report.”
“Depends on where you were when you were taken. If you were on US soil, then the FBI would get involved and if not, then you are SOL for any kind of report.”
“What about the Mexican government?”
“You do watch the news, right?”
Lily shoved a shaky hand through her hair. Yes she did, and they wouldn’t be any help. They only liked Americans when business was involved.
“How about we just get somewhere secure and worry about the rest tomorrow. After some rest.”
She nodded, grateful that she could leave it in Jesse’s capable hands.
Tilting her seat back she closed her eyes. He was big, and bad enough to handle her problems for a moment, at least the ones he knew about.
Sleep was what she needed. It had been over twenty-four hours since she did anything more than cat-nap. But Jesse’s hands were on her mind. His big, sexy, calloused hands. Hands that she wouldn’t mind roaming her body.
Lily closed her eyes and suppressed that thought. No sense daydreaming about something that wasn’t going to happen.
***
The SUV was a smooth ride and it took exactly six minutes for Lily to fall asleep. They were on the I-17 freeway headed north out of Phoenix. Jesse waited another ten minutes until she was snoring quietly before he pulled out his cell phone.
“About Goddamn time,” the voice snarled. Jesse could hear his best friend, Zachary Steele, pacing.
Jesse smiled. “Were you worried?”
“Damn straight. You know what Beth would do to me if you didn’t come home?”
“It was a straight forward Op. In and out, clean.” A heavy silence fell between them, so Jesse asked, “Is everything okay there? Beth’s okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“But?” Thick tension hung in his friend’s tone. And that could only mean trouble—serious trouble.
“But it was the Huerta cartel that grabbed her.”
Jesse sucked in a breath. He’d dealt with drug cartels in the past, but the Huerta cartel was a different kind of dangerous. They specialized in torture and death. “How’d you find out?”
“Little Mike looked into it for me while you were gone. They own that shitty little town she was in, so it has to be them. The whole thing stinks, Jess. Who is this woman?”
Zach wasn’t asking how he knew Lily. Little Mike would have filled him in. He was asking a much tougher question. Who was she to Jesse?
Jesse looked over at Lily. Lips lightly parted, purplish/black bruises under her eyes, she was totally exhausted but still going. Most women he’d known would have curled into a weeping ball of mush by now. Seasoned military men had been known to lose their shit under similar circumstances. But not her. She handled the danger and kept her sense of self.
“I’m not sure, yet,” he muttered. “But she’s different.”
“Fuck.” Zach said, although it was more of a snarl.
Yeah, fuck. The timing wasn’t great.
Another string of violent curses bombarded his ear and Jesse had to move the phone away to keep from going deaf. A worried Zach tended to be a loud Zach.
“You’d better not let Beth catch you swearing like that.”
It was silent and then there was a deep breath. Finally, he said, “You’re in over your head.”
“Maybe, but that didn’t stop you, did it?”
“Hell, no.” Another heavy sigh. “What do you need?”
Jesse rattled off some items and hung up before Zach could give him a lecture. There’d been a time, not that long ago, when Jesse had said much the same thing to his friend about Beth. She’d been in trouble and Zach had done whatever it took to make sure she was safe.
Reaching over, he brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Hair that was matted in a couple places and would take forever to brush out, but she looked lovely. Curled on her side, knees drawn up in the seat, she reminded him of a pixie. A bedraggled one, for sure, but a bright- eyed, sexy, pixie. She always had been, but he’d never really noticed until now.
And he’d do anything in his power to make sure she was safe.
Chapter 4
“She has stopped, Ramon,” Enriquez said.
“Where?”
“Outside of Flagstaff. Maybe a house or cabin.”
Ramon nodded. “How long till we get there?”
“Two hours, El Jefe.”
They had been following the bitch for several hours already. Ramon settled back into the rich leather seat of the Cadillac Escalade and tried to relax. After the way that useless pig, Pedro, had failed him, Ramon decided to see to the woman personally. Killing Pedro had not soothed his rage. Guns were necessary but impersonal. He much preferred the sleek stiletto knife he carried strapped to his lower leg.
As a kid growing up in the gutter, a knife had been a way to get noticed while not going hungry. But he’d wanted more. More food, more blood, more of everything. He’d wanted it all.
The first time he’d killed, it had been a mangy dog trying to steal his food. He’d been ten years old. Getting blood on his hands and feeling the warmth turn cold as his victim died—now that was power. He’d moved up to people quickly as the craving grew.
And Juan Huerta had noticed him. Noticed his skills and promoted Ramon quickly within the cartel.
But he missed the real power. The power of taking life, of seeing that life seep out into his hands. A power he’d been too long away from while running the cartel’s business.
Liliana Richardson was going to feel his power soon.
***
Lily woke abruptly. It was hard to believe she’d zonked out again. Guess that’s what dangerous and stressful situations did to her.
Looking around she realized that they’d stopped. The headlights were shining on the front of a cabin in the woods. A gorgeous one-story home with a big porch made of dark wood. It looked like the kind of place that catered to someone in need of peace and quiet.
She had no doubt it belonged to Jesse.
He was striding toward the front steps when the door opened and a stunning, very pregnant, blond woman threw herself into his arms. She was up on her tip-toes as Jesse held her tenderly, one hand on her extended belly. He looked reverent. A lump formed in Lily’s throat.
Oh Lord have mercy, he’s married.
With a baby on the way.
And she’d just been having the most erotic dream about him. Naked. In bed with her. Shame washed over her entire body and she could just hear her mother’s voice in her head. Something about a lady never stooping to lust over another woman’s husband.
She would have happily died right then and there in the front seat if Jesse hadn’t looked at her. And waved her over. Taking a deep breath, she plastered a phony smile on her face, opened the door and went to meet the woman who’d managed to steal the heart of the only man who’d ever made Lily feel special.
“Goddamn it, Jesse. Put my wife down!” Lily looked up in shock at the scowling man standing in the doorway to the house. He was almost as big as Jesse, with dark hair and a deadly serious face. He moved quickly down the stairs toward them. The gorgeous woman in Jesse’s arms laughed and gave him one last squeeze before letting go and throwing herself toward her husband. He caught her with no difficulty.
“Stop being grumpy,” the woman scolded.
“You should be in bed resting,” her husband said.
Lily felt like she was intruding, because the look the dark-haired man gave his wife was tender and scorching at the same time. And when he kissed her, they both clearly forgot they had an audience.
“Wil
l you two stop pawing at each other long enough to let me introduce you?”
They took another moment, while Jesse shook his head and grinned, but eventually they both looked at her. She would only admit it once, and only to herself, that she’d been really jealous. Like rip-out-all-that-long-blond-hair kind of jealous. It was a feeling she’d never experienced before and she didn’t like it.
“Zach, Beth, this is Lily Richardson.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Beth said, extending her hands and taking both of Lily’s. The man, Zach, nodded but never took his arms from around his wife.
“Zach is my business partner and when he’s not frowning, he’s a great guy.”
“He always frowns, but don’t let it fool you, he’s a complete teddy bear.” Beth stepped forward breaking the big man’s hold on her, linked arms with Lily and pulled her toward the cabin. “Let’s get inside and I’ll show you around. Jesse has a great eye for measurements. The clothes I bought you should fit perfectly.”
Lily glanced back at Jesse but he was deep in discussion with Zach. So she followed the happy whirlwind inside, barely noticing anything about the house.
“And this is Jesse’s room. He has an incredible shower. Zach and I have one that is identical and let me tell you, it’s plenty roomy for two. Or two and a half,” she said, patting her swollen tummy.
Lily snapped back from letting her mind wonder. “I think you have the wrong idea about us.”
Beth merely grinned and nodded. “It took me a while too, but Zach was persistent. And don’t worry—” she winked, “—Jesse can be stubborn as a Texas mule when he wants something.”
“The first time I saw Jesse in over a decade was about eight hours ago.”
“Well, when he resolves whatever trouble you’re in, just promise you’ll give him a chance.”
Lily shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. And how do you know I’m in some kind of trouble?”
“I recognize the look,” she said as she sat on the bed. “Because I used to have it.”
