The Family Jewels (15 page)

And even as he gave her exactly what she wanted, now that she had it, she craved more. Needing him to push a finger inside her, spur her further and deeper until he finally found her core with his hard, ready shaft.

“That’s right, baby,” he murmured and she writhed again, bucking as he licked her up and down, teasing her all over again.

“
Fuck
me.” She hated the begging, pleading tone in her voice, but she couldn’t stop it. Her body was like a Mack truck, racing toward a cliff with no one at the wheel.

“What’s the magic word?” he asked, then lapped her center yet again, working that tight bud over and over.

“
Now
.”

He glanced up at her from the juncture of her thighs, a pained, half-smile tilting his lips, but she could see the heat in his eyes. He was as desperate to be inside her as she was to have him there.

“I’m not going to beg.”

She wouldn’t. Not any more than she already had.

He dipped one finger inside of her and she gasped as the shock of pleasure rippled through her.

“Jake…” she tried to speak, but words failed her as he worked her in and out, over and over again, before adding a second digit. This time, he plunged hard, deep and true, the drag of his fingers rubbing against her G-spot and making her whole body tensed and primed to come.

He nudged her clit with his tongue, once, twice…

“Please, Jake, please!” Her chest was tight, her thighs quaked, it felt like every part of her body was filled to the brim and ready to burst and then he sucked long and deep, drawing on her even as his fingers drove in deep. She hung there on the precipice for a long, agonizing moment until…

“Oh, God!” She’d wanted so badly to wait for him. To come while he was buried deep inside her, but the pressure was too much as every nerve-ending fired at once and she exploded against his hot mouth.

Shudders wracked her and she swallowed a scream. She dimly heard his low murmurs of approval, encouraging her to take what she needed. She pressed her hips up, burying his face against her as her channel pulsed over his fingers.

Minutes passed as she slowly came down, gasping for breath.

She was still twitching when he rose to kneel between her legs.

“You taste so fucking good,” he muttered, his voice all grit as he stared down at her, his gaze locked between her thighs. He palmed his shaft and then gripped it in one hand, heating her up all over again as he stroked himself up and down, his own breathing going harsh.

How could she want him so badly still?

As if he read her mind, he lowered himself to his elbows and pressed his broad head to her waiting entrance. He locked eyes with her and then thrust deep, giving her all of that hard cock at once.

“You feel fucking incredible,” he ground out when he was buried to the hilt and she nipped at his shoulder, knowing he could never understand just how much she agreed with him.

Still, though, she wanted more. She wanted to feel the hard plane of his back as her legs wrapped around him, wanted to pull him in deeper and deeper still with every thrust.

But it was all up to him, moving against her in a steady rhythm as his fingertips explored her.

“Jake,” she said again, unable to help herself as his powerful thighs slapped hers.

“Come for me again, Sadie,” he said, “I know you can. Let go.”

The tension in her shoulders built, but then suddenly everything seemed to click into place.

She closed her eyes and relaxed into him, moving as he moved, pulling as he pulled, pushing as he pushed. She found rhythm with him and rolled her hips along with him until she did it without thinking at all and lost herself in the smell of him, the heat of his skin, the weight of his body as he bore down on her, the hard tension of his cock as he buried himself inside of her over and over again.

“Yes,” she breathed, and he kissed her neck hard and fast as he held her hips down and thrust faster and faster still.

“God, Sadie,” he growled against the shell of her ear.

The pressure, the endless cords of tension, all snapped at once and she was free falling again, losing herself in lick after lick of fiery pleasure.

She spasmed around him, and when he joined her in release she arched into him, pushing him deeper as he thrust in long, greedy strokes. And as the waves crashed down on her, she bit her lip to hold in the words that were battering at her lips.

I love you.

J
ake tucked
his arm under Sadie and snuggled her closer, loving the feel of her curvy, supple body against him. He tangled his fingers in her dark hair and stroked gently, sure of only one thing. That he wanted to stay here just as long as he could possibly manage.

But he’d gotten a message from Rafe, his PI, and there was news about Alistair. He’d apparently received an email with a request for shipping of “merchandise from the Orient”. Not so strange for someone who dealt in artifacts, but definitely strange when the specs read more like a woman’s measurements than a package. He and Rafe were set to meet that afternoon before the poker game to discuss potentially intercepting the next set of emails and attempting to catfish Alistair and compel him to say something much more decisively incriminating. That alone would not only brand him for life in the court of public opinion, it might be enough to get the CIA to open an international investigation.

Guilt nipped at him at the thought of sidestepping Mike and his team again, but if they weren’t privy to these private emails, how could they ever know it was happening? And, moreover, how could they stop it? Besides, it was surely almost over. Between this latest news from Rafe and how close he was to getting Hannigan to sign the investment contract, he could finally see a light at the end of this long and dark tunnel.

A tunnel with Sadie waiting on the other side.

"We slept in," she murmured sleepily, almost as if on cue, interrupting his dark thoughts.

"If I had my way, we’d stay in this bed all day long."

"You would starve me to death?"

"We'd get a pizza delivered to the window." He kissed her shoulder. "It would be great."

She rolled her eyes, but twisted in the sheets to face him. "I wouldn't mind a pizza. A little later."

And he would make sure she got one. But then, he had work to do that couldn’t wait.

He tucked his hand under her chin and led her lips to his. They were warm and full and oh so right, and those lips alone were enough to send a wave of awareness shooting straight to his groin and beg for more.

"What do you say we-" he started, but then the ring of the doorbell pealed through the house, cutting him off.

"Expecting someone?" she asked, pulling away to sit up and bringing the sheets up to cover herself, more was the pity.

"No. I don’t think so." He scrubbed at his stubble, trying to figure out who the hell would wind up on his doorstep at ten in the morning unannounced. Nobody ever came to his house.

Nobody except…

"Shit."

He rolled from the bed and shrugged on a shirt, his brain conjuring all the ways this could go wrong.

Pulling some jeans from a heap of unfolded laundry on the floor, he finished getting dressed and motioned for Sadie to do the same.

"Should I be worried?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"No, not worried. It's just my brother."

Another pounding on the door interrupted him and he heard a voice calling to him through the partially opened bedroom window.

"Jaaaakey. Wakey wakey."

"My idiot brother," Jake amended.

"Your brother." She said the words blankly, almost like she didn't know what they meant. “Your cop brother?” she asked, her eyes going wary and a hint of panic creeping into her face.

"Yes, and he's not exactly the patient type, so I'm going to go shut him up while you finish getting dressed."

Jake strode out of the room, already trying to figure out how to spin this situation. As he reached the foyer, the doorbell clanged again and he swung the door open to find his brother mid-knock.

"Mike," Jake said, "I should have known you wouldn't let me sleep in."

"On a beautiful day like this?" Mike gestured to the overcast morning sky and grinned. "Never. Now, come on and let me in. I brought brunch."

Jake stepped aside and that was all the invitation his brother needed. The other man strode into the entryway, taking up almost enough space to make the wide area look tiny as he padded over to the living room.

"Listen, Mike, I’m a little busy. Can I-"

"You can
thank
me. Because I went out of my way to get the good Danish from the Italian bakery. No grocery store bought stuff. I got us a few sandwiches too. "

Mike's gaze slowly moved from Jake to something just over his shoulder and he knew, even before he got a whiff of her lemony scent, that Sadie had appeared.

"All right then, looks like we're going to need extra anyway. Hello beautiful, what’s your name? And more importantly, what are you doing with a slob like this?" Mike smiled at her and held out his hand, so she took a step toward him and shook it offering his brother a smile in return.

"I'm Sadie. And he told me that if I stayed over, he could guarantee me a delicious brunch, hand-delivered,” she replied diplomatically. “Looks like he was telling the truth.”

"Nice to meet you. Come sit down, Sadie. Have a sandwich." Mike gestured to the coffee table where he'd laid out his bounty, and she took an aluminum wrapped sphere from the table.

"Coffee, everyone?" Jake glanced from his brother to Sadie and when they both nodded, he made toward the archway, then stopped in his tracks. He shot a warning glare at his brother. "If you scare her off, we’re going to have some serious words."

"Scare her? Me?" Mike looked around, as if trying to figure out who Jake was talking to. "I'm a lamb. It's you she should be worried about."

The whole time the coffee brewed, his gut brewed along with it as he strained his ears trying to catch bits and pieces of what Mike was saying to her.

Him sharing childhood horrors like Jake’s brief stint in ballet school at their mother’s insistence would be bad enough, but he was far more concerned about other things. Mike wasn’t above going from jovial big brother to hard-bitten cop in a flash.

When the coffee pot steamed its last breath, he poured the cups quickly and hustled back into the living room to find Sadie beaming.

"Three maids, huh?" she asked, chuckling.

"Ah, for fuck’s sake. You had to tell her that story? Always the charmer," he muttered. He shot his brother an expected scowl before setting the three mugs on the table, but inside, he was nothing but relieved.

All right, this was going more smoothly than he’d hoped.

"What can I say? It's a gift," Mike said. "And speaking of gifts, I wanted to ask how on God's green earth you knew about that Dominic the other day. The boys in that precinct have apparently been wanting to grab that scumbag for months."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Sadie tense, but he kept his tone smooth and relaxed. "I got a tip from a friend. Figured I’d do my civic duty and get an asshole off the street. Let's leave it at that."

"Well, you should hear some of the shit-" Mike glanced at Sadie. "Pardon my language. You should hear some of the stuff this guy has been spewing down at the station. Keeps talking about how he’s innocent and some sexy redhead must have set him up." Mike rolled his eyes, but then his gaze slid back to Sadie again and lingered there. Jake watched as Sadie shrugged a long lock of her chestnut hair over her shoulder to cover her bruises.

"I imagine people will say anything to get out of going to jail," Jake said, rising to his feet. “Anyone want more coffee?”

"Not me. Sorry to break up the party, but I think I'm gonna grab a shower if you don't mind." Sadie smiled from Jake to his brother, and when they both waved her off, she made for the door.

"It was nice meeting you, and thanks for brunch," Sadie called back to Mike, then like a dart she was gone.

A beat of silence stretched between the brothers, then Mike reached for a prune Danish and used it to point toward the door.

"Pretty," he said.

"She is," Jake agreed. "So what else is going on with you? Been doing any fishing?"

“Nope. But I’m about to start.” Mike held up his empty hand. "You really think you're gonna get off that easy?"

Jake blew out a sigh and settled back in his chair. "What's there to say, Mike?"

"Maybe that your girl there has bruises on her neck and the perp you called in has claimed that he was hustled by a hot broad and when she tried to hit him with a stun-gun, he ‘choked a bitch out'?"

That was way more information than he’d thought Dom would give. Guys like that typically didn’t want to hurt their street cred by admitting a woman got the better of them.

"Does it matter how it all went down? A pool game was won fair and square, he followed her out, intending to assault her, and she came out on top. There’re no charges to file here, unless you’re going to bust her for gambling on a game of pool. And you're still happy to have the guy behind bars, right?"

"Yes, but are you happy to have the girl? She seems like trouble." Mike took a bite of his Danish while Jake considered him. “Hell, she’s already gotten you involved in some heavy shit. Is she worth it?”

Jake had a few options here, but they all boiled down to lying or telling the truth. And where Mike was concerned? He'd had enough lying.

"She is," Jake said.

"You serious about her?"

"I'm..." Jake thought of her curled in his bed, her dark hair splayed out over his pillow. "I’m as serious as I can be at this stage in my life."

"Well damn." Mike leaned back. "I guess I should have brought champagne, too."

He cocked his head and eyed his brother hard. "I thought you said she was trouble."

"I don't care if she's a damned bank robber if she's managed to get you to move past this Hannigan thing and start living again."

Jake tried not to react at the too-close-for-comfort comparison and the faulty assumption, but his brother apparently didn't notice, because he kept talking.

"I haven't seen you like this since Mom died. I'm happy for you. Now all you have to do is not fuck it up."

From Mike’s lips to God’s ears. But he couldn’t make any promises. Not to his brother and not to Sadie. Not yet.

"Mike-"

"You don't have to explain anything to me. Just consider it a word of caution. Because I love you."

"You too, bro." Jake nodded, then finished the rest of his brunch bullshitting with his brother and doing his damnedest not to think about all the lies between them. If Rafe came through, it would all be sewn up within the week.

"You okay, brother?" Mike asked and Jake pulled himself back into the present.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

And he was going to keep being fine. Once the poker game was over, everyone's cards would be out on the table.

With any luck?

They'd both be all free of their pasts soon enough, and then nothing would stand in their way.

* * *

M
ike knew
. There was no doubt about that. He knew that she was the one who’d set Dom up and it was only a matter of time until he called them on it.

Holding her breath, she pressed her ear to the back of the bathroom door and willed the men to talk loud enough for her to hear.

"
What's there to say, Mike?
"

Jake sounded defensive, and her heart clamped up thinking of him sitting there under his brother’s harsh scrutiny.

Luckily, Mike didn’t wait long to answer.

“
Maybe that your girl there has bruises on her neck and the perp you called in has claimed that he was hustled by a hot broad and when she tried to hit him with a stun-gun, he ‘choked a bitch out'?
"

Sadie brushed the still-blue bruises on her neck and closed her eyes. Dumb. She’d been so dumb to try and hide them. All she’d done was draw attention to herself at the worst possible instant.

If she did something like that tonight at the poker game--

Jake’s voice interrupted her thoughts, mostly muffled, but she caught the end of it. "
You’re still happy to have the guy behind bars, right?"

Yes, good, deflect.

More mumbling and she strained to hear, catching the very end of Mike’s reply.

“
Is she worth it
?” Suddenly, Sadie’s heart was in her throat, and she swallowed hard. She should step away, try her best not to hear what Jake would say about her. Already, though, her mind was forming a dozen answers she knew she didn’t want to hear.

She’s nothing.

It’s just for fun.

Don’t worry about it.

Sadie pressed her ear to the door a little harder and waited, her hands trembling.

"She is.”
His deep rumble
reverberated in her heart and she took a step away from the door before fumbling with her clothes.

All the trouble, all the drama, all the baggage that came along with her.

Jake thought she was worth it.

She listened for another moment, the relief that filled her so overwhelming, her legs felt weak with it. The distant sound of Jake’s chuckle filtered through the door and she couldn’t help but smile.

Everything was okay. She hadn’t lost him and Mike, while cautious, seemed to want his brother to be happy more than anything else. It was nice to see him like this --in his home, with his family. And when she had been there, it was almost like she was a part of it, too.