Bounty Hunters: 03 Stay Hungry (24 page)

Her eyes widened. "No," she whispered.

"It's a curiosity," her father said quietly.

Suddenly Jake understood where their thoughts were headed. "You think she might have been abducted to be part of the game."

"We don't know how many players are playing the game." Huxtable leaned back in his seat. "The fact that it's been kept out of the news proves to me the FBI is still working this one, but I've managed to find out there has been a significant increase in public kidnappings. No ransoms have been requested. The person taken goes without a struggle."

"They're being drugged with slave juice, then escorted away from wherever they are." Angela hugged herself, leaning forward, and looked like she might be sick. When she slowly turned her head to look at Jake, there was something akin to terror in her pretty eyes. "You're going to find out who is in that outbuilding immediately."

Chapter Twelve

Angela stared at the picture of Marianna her mother had sent. The last time she'd seen her half sister, Angela had been sixteen and Marianna eleven.

"She's beautiful." Jake stood over Angela, nodding at the eight-by-ten in her hand. There was sincerity, a glimpse of true compassion, and pain in his eyes.

Angela nodded. "Absolutely gorgeous," she murmured, still not trusting her voice.

After seeing her father and learning he had a girlfriend, Angela and Jake had returned to the Drake to prepare for the rest of the day. Mario planned on picking her up at five, which would be the time when Jake returned to the property and learned who was in the outbuilding. Angela prayed, and at the same time was terrified, that Marianna was in that outbuilding. Just remembering the conversation that had been picked up between Mario and Bobby from the bug she'd planted outside made her sick. They had implied they had had sex with one of the ladies in the outbuilding. It made Angela's blood boil and made her frantic to free the people inside. If there weren't so much at stake, she would march over there, guns in both hands, and demand entrance into that building. Hopefully within less than twenty-four hours, all the kidnapped people would be free. If her little sister, precious and perfect Marianna, was tarnished in the slightest way, Angela would kill Mario with her bare hands.

"She's not in there," Angela repeated to herself in a feeble effort to keep herself sane and focused.

If Marianna hadn't been abducted by Mario, had another of the players kidnapped her? Or maybe some random lunatic had walked up to her in the airport. If that were the case, they hadn't done a thing to find her. If Marianna had been abducted for the game, at least she would be free soon. They were so close to a bust she could taste it.

Angela was making herself sick thinking about the different possibilities. She needed to focus on something else just so she could be at her top performance. Marianna would be free sooner.

"We need that board game, if there is one," Jake said, once they were settled in her hotel suite. He'd removed his shirt and kicked off his shoes. What was it about that man wearing nothing but faded, well-worn blue jeans?

"There is." Her voice cracked and she dropped Marianna's picture on the table but continued staring at it. This was her father's missing-person case. Her mother had called him, not Angela. Regardless, it was her case now, too. No way would Angela allow Marianna to be in that monster's clutches for a minute longer than she had to be.

"Angela." Jake reached for her hand, pulling her to her feet, and grabbed her other hand when she would have brought Marianna's picture with her. "We're going to find her. She's going to be okay."

More than likely if the tables were turned, Angela would have said something similar to him. She still wanted to strike out, demand to know how he knew everything would be fine. Jake pulled her closer, then let go of her hands and began stroking her face.

"We'll go over our plans, follow them, and all of this will be over soon," he assured her.

It wasn't what he said but how he said it that did something to the fierce knot that had been in her gut since she had left her father. This time Jake didn't pounce on her mouth, impaling her as if he were starving for her. It was more as if they melted together, the two of them fusing from scalding heat created out of existing cravings and a new desire to cleanse the negative energy zapping inside both of them and replace it with courage and motivation.

She'd created this hunger in both of them. If she'd made love to him last night, possibly all of this would be out of their systems and they would be content plotting and creating the master plan to bring down Mario and find Marianna. They were organized. Both had shared what they planned to do come five o'clock. It hadn't taken more than an hour after returning to the hotel. The time between now and then was meant for the two of them. They would create a bond through making love, and it would secure their ability to perform, work together, and end the nightmare the game had brought down on too many families.

Angela's insides quivered. A quickening tightened in her womb, increasing the aching throbbing she'd endured to a full, raging pulse that demanded compensation now. There wouldn't be any teasing or torturing this time. She sensed Jake knew that also. His touch was different from last time, his movements more relaxed, although determined.

Jake's strong hands were all over her, pressing her against him, stroking her already-too-sensitive flesh. When he cupped her bottom, lifting and thrusting her against his hard dick, tiny sparks of passion exploded all over her. She was teetering between the reality of now and a world so much more sensual. A world with no problems other than learning what would make her explode and what would make him come.

"Jake," she said, uttering his name on a breath.

"Yes, sweetheart?" He hadn't called her baby since she'd snapped at him about it. Jake might be more trainable than she'd originally given him credit for being.

"We should..." The words wouldn't come out.

"Yes, we should." Jake scooped her into his arms, nestling her against his chest while he held her as if she were a small child.

Angela wasn't skinny. She wasn't fat, but she knew she wasn't light as a feather. Which only proved how strong, how confident and sure of himself, Jake was. She damn near slid down his body and melted onto the bed that had been made with fresh throw pillows tossed at the head of it. The firmness of the mattress did little to help her regain any stability. She collapsed against it, her head sinking between two pillows and the bones in her body giving way to the insurmountable heat surging through her.

It took a minute for her to recognize the ringing as coming from Jake's phone. Instead of cursing the interruption, Angela gave thanks that she had a moment to take a deep breath and return some oxygen to her brain. Jake stood at the edge of the bed, his hands on his hips, and stared at her. He didn't move to answer his phone.

"There's no one I want to talk to right now," he told her, his expression strained as need visibly ransacked his system as much as it did hers. He stood where he was, ignoring the ringing, and began taking his pants off.

Angela heard the phone ring a third or possibly a fourth time but couldn't pull her attention from Jake's face. Her heart beat so fiercely it was hard to concentrate. She wanted to tell Jake not to hold back, to let go and take her, making love to her however his natural desires and cravings demanded. At the same time, something in the back of her head warned her that Jake was a very tall man, well over six feet. He was incredibly muscular and very strong. If he released all of his pent-up passion and desire on her, would she be able to handle it?

The thought of trying was so intense the room almost turned sideways on her. She sucked in a deep breath.

Jake must have misinterpreted her sigh. "I'll set it to Silent so it can't interrupt us again." Even though he spoke with clarity, he took his time turning away from her.

Angela couldn't remember ever craving a man to be rough with her. She preferred a bit of control in her sexual encounters. She wanted her man to be a man but not to step over that line of her knowing she was in charge of her own body. With Jake, she wanted him to release that energy she saw burning out of control inside him. She wanted to fight him and have him restrain her and impale her with all that fury and unleashed need.

Images of Jake doing just that damn near made her roll off the bed when she moved onto her side. If she didn't get a grip, she would be panting and drooling.

"N-n-o, w-w-wait," she stammered, her senses barely managing to break through the thick fog of lust in her brain. "Don't put it on Silent. Check to see if its my father." Once Jake had told her father that his phone had a scrambler on it, her father immediately decided Jake's phone would be used for all calls.

Jake glanced at his phone and shook his head. "It's not. He's already dished out his orders. I doubt he'll contact us again unless we wait too long to report back in. And he wouldn't expect us to pull everything off before nightfall."

Jake's stormy green eyes burrowed deep into her soul when he left his phone on the night stand. There was something about this giant man who moved so gracefully and stealthily. It turned him into a deadly predator and one so beautiful, so incredibly loaded with sex appeal.

"Who was it?" she asked, fighting for clarity as, her attention shifted to the bulging roped muscles in Jake's biceps and forearms when he began crawling onto the bed.

"It was nobody." There was a rumble in his voice that matched the skilled seducer as he moved in, forcing Angela to lie back as he continued crawling until he was on top of her. "Clear your head, sweetheart. We're going to have your sister back in no time. But we can't do anything until Mario leaves at five. Until then, it's just you and me."

The throbbing between her legs was becoming a desperate pounding as blood rushed into the most sensitive part of her body. It excited and scared the crap out of her at the same time that Jake read her like an open book. They really hadn't known each other more than a couple days. Angela never had sex with a man until she knew him really well. Oftentimes getting to know them too well turned her off because she became acutely aware of all their annoying traits.

Jake started teasing her sensitive flesh just above her collarbone. It made her want to curl her toes to the ceiling. At the same time one of his hands made its way under her shirt, finding her breast and cupping it, tugging just enough to make her eyes roll back in her head. Jake's skills included making her come without making love to her. She had guessed his list of skills was endless. Excitement twisted around inside her with the knowledge she was about to find out.

Jake moved her bra out of the way with a solid swipe of his hand, then pinched her hardened nipple. Shock waves rolled over her, shooting straight down her middle. If she could have rolled over and cried out, begging him to stop and demanding he keep going, she would have. When she opened her mouth, she didn't have a chance to make a sound before Jake pounced on it, impaling her with his tongue as he continued torturing her too-sensitive nipple.

Angela didn't realize her hands were stroking Jake's back until taut muscles twitched under her fingertips. She dragged her fingernails down the length of his bare back as far as she could reach, enjoying how solid and inviting his body felt.

Jake growled into her mouth, his tongue swirling around hers in some erotic dance she didn't know but picked up on right away. He broke off the kiss in mid-swirl, leaving her gasping and barely able to focus.

"What?" she mumbled when Jake straightened.

"Your clothes," he grumbled, his words raspy and laced heavily with need. As he spoke, he moved his hand away from her breast but kept it under her shirt as he pushed it up to her shoulders.

Angela didn't have to lift herself off the bed to remove her shirt. Jake took her arm, pulling her into a sitting position but remaining on top of her so that her nose was almost touching the tight curls on his chest. She breathed in his rich, musky all-male scent, then got a whiff of her fabric softener when the shirt went over her head. It was promptly tossed to the floor.

Her shorts were yanked off with one solid sweep. She hadn't bothered with underpants. Now she didn't know whether she regretted the few clothes she'd had on or not. The look Jake gave her when he released her and let her tumble back on the bed stole her breath.

"Infatuated" didn't quite describe it. "Enamored" maybe. Definitely "pleased." Angela gazed up at him, letting her vision blur, which made the moment all the more erotic. As exposed as she felt lying naked under him, the way he devoured her with his eyes, letting her see how hungry he was, made her feel sexy, desirable, and anxious.

"I've dreamed about this," Jake confessed, his attention shooting to her face the moment he spoke, as if needing to see her immediate reaction.

She smiled. It would be cheesy as hell to admit she'd imagined this, too. A lot. More than he needed to know. Jake already reeked of self-confidence and his skills were off the charts. Stroking this man's ego was hardly necessary. It was odd how at that moment it dawned on her how very much alike Jake and her father were. She would consider it high praise to tell either of them that and didn't doubt for a moment both would see it as an incredible insult.

So she smiled, keeping her thoughts to herself. "You aren't dreaming now, darling," she drawled, and swayed her hips against him but stilled when his thick cock greeted her, rubbing against her inner thigh.

"I can't wait to find out if your steamy heat is as intoxicating as it was in my dreams."

Did he really dream about her? Jake said the most romantic things. He could also utter daring sexual comments Angela wouldn't have the nerve to say out loud. Hell, she wouldn't confess she'd dreamed about him all night the night before. His skills should be terrifying her and not making her grin like some dumb twit straight out of high school.

She tried matching his smooth, confident air, using the training she had learned working undercover over the years. "You'll have to let me know if it does." At least she sounded confident and at ease.

"Trust me, you'll be the first to know." Jake stepped out of his boxers.

When his phone rang again he cursed under his breath. Her vision cleared and she watched every inch of him tense, causing muscles to bulge throughout his body.

"It's Dad." Angela leapt to the side of the bed.

Jake picked up his phone, scowled, and sent it to voice mail. "No."

"Well, then you're mighty popular."

"It's not the kind of popularity I want." Jake dropped the phone on the bedside table before crawling in next to her.

"Who was it?" She rolled to her side, fighting the urge to cuddle against Jake.

So much sexual energy charged the air between them she worried the heat surging off his body would scald her alive. At the same time, she sensed his tension. He wasn't as carefree and grinning as he was when they started. His expression had hardened as if he worked to mask his emotions from her.