TheFugitivesSexyBrother (5 page)

Matthew recognized veiled threats when he heard them. Emily
wouldn’t be happy, but he’d have to add this to the long list of things he
hoped she’d get over. He urged the car faster into the night as he considered
how best to regain his ex-girlfriend’s trust.

Emily rushed her captive from her car to her apartment,
hoping the neighbors wouldn’t notice the handcuffs that still restrained him.
In this neighborhood she’d be surprised if someone took it upon themselves to
call the police, but she still didn’t like the risk. He’d gone silent halfway
through the car ride over and didn’t comment on the cracks in the concrete
leading to her building or the spiderwebs nestled in the stairwell going up or
the flimsiness of her apartment door.

She pulled him inside her small apartment and shut and
locked the door behind them. He smelled good, like oranges and cinnamon with an
undertone of musk that transformed that citrus spice to a very male scent.

She kept her home neat, so she didn’t have a mess to be
embarrassed about. However, she couldn’t help imagining what her living room
looked like to Javier’s eyes, comparing the shabbiness of her possessions to
the sumptuous clothes and furniture that had surrounded him a short time ago.
Emily left him standing near the door for a moment while she tugged a
threadbare green blanket over the arm of her couch, hoping to hide the stuffing
that spilled from a ragged hole there.

Considering how much she wanted to be taken seriously as a
bounty hunter, her feelings about this man confused her. It would, of course,
be best for her if this was Fernando—she’d cuffed the right man and had fifty
grand waiting just as soon as she could get to Guy. Not all of her agreed
though. Far too much of Emily had gotten interested in the idea of a younger
brother named Javier, just as cute as Fernando but with kinder eyes. She’d even
started calling her captive Javier in her mind. It was a lot nicer to think
that the man who had flirted with her wasn’t actually a killer. Emily rolled
her eyes at herself and focused on the task at hand—establishing his identity.

“Why don’t you have a seat and we’ll see what we can figure
out?”

Javier only raised an eyebrow in reply. Emily sighed and
tugged him to the couch, pushing him into a sitting position. “Are you going to
arrange me with a bunch of stuffed animals and have a tea party?”

Emily glared at him. His lips always seemed to have a
teasing curve. “Would you rather I put you in full-body restraints and leave
you that way until you sign affidavits swearing you’re Fernando Bonavita?”

Javier blinked.

“Scared you, didn’t I? I’ve been telling you I’m deadly
serious, but you keep thinking you can flirt your way out of this.”

Brash bravado spread over his face again. Emily tried not to
let it get to her, but his wide, dimpled grin looked so damn charming every
time. “Actually, I was kind of turned on thinking about you restraining me like
that.”

Emily blew her hair out of her eyes and stared at him. The
grin widened even further. Why was he so intent on throwing her off this way?
Emily had no illusions about being attractive. Matthew had used her for leads,
sex and housecleaning. Men didn’t like her style—bare of makeup, long on
attitude and short on patience and feminine graces. A man like this wouldn’t
really want Emily. Women would throng him anywhere he went. They’d go crazy
over that dark, ruddy skin, the cleft in his chin, the casual way he carried
his strength as if he didn’t even know it was there… Emily forced herself to
stop thinking about it. Her quarry was trying to play her, and she couldn’t
afford to fall for any of it—not the sexual temptation and definitely not the
claim of mistaken identity.

She turned away and stepped to the file cabinet at the
corner of the room, crowded in beside a secondhand desk to form a makeshift
home office. The file Neva had given her had plenty of information she could
use to figure out whether “Javier” was who he claimed to be. Emily sifted
through official bail documents, records of Fernando Bonavita’s property,
reports on the suspected structure of his gang and background check
information. She shook some identification information free from the rest of
the file.

“What’s your social security number?”

Without hesitation, Javier rattled off a number that didn’t
match Fernando’s, but that wasn’t conclusive. She picked up the picture Neva
had provided and studied it.

The features in the picture strongly resembled those of the
man before her. Solid, lean muscle. Loose dark curls and a mouth that could
take her straight to hell. But there
was
something about the eyes. When
Emily looked at Javier, she didn’t feel the warning sense that came over her so
strongly from the picture. It wasn’t innocence—Javier had clearly seen more
trouble than most. But the man in the picture seemed capable of anything. He
narrowed his rich, brown eyes into a cold squint. She couldn’t imagine that
expression on Javier. With his all-too-easy smile and a heated gaze that
lingered on every detail, he posed an entirely different sort of threat.

Emily settled beside him with the picture, embarrassed at
the protesting squawk the ancient sofa gave as it accepted her weight. She
tipped toward him more than she would have liked, correcting herself with a
hand on his chest. He’d never buttoned his shirt and his bare, nearly hairless
skin burned beneath her palm. Her face flushed, Emily snatched her hand away.

She ignored his knowing grin and touched the side of his
face, turning him toward her so she could study him in better light. The
beginnings of stubble teased her fingertips and his breath tickled the hairs on
her arm. Emily cleared her throat and bluffed. “You look just like this
picture. I don’t see who you think you’re going to fool,
Fernando
.”

“You’re not
that
careless, are you?” Javier tipped
his chin up, revealing a sinister smile of a scar that crossed his neck and
curled up on either side of his jaw, creeping up toward his earlobes. “Do you
see any sign of
that
in the picture?”

The man in the picture, for all the challenge in his eyes,
appeared unblemished. Emily touched the scar softly, noticing his breathing
change as she explored the damaged, vulnerable skin. She shuddered—she didn’t
want to know where he’d gotten it.

“Do you want to take my prints too?”

His words distracted her from the experience of touching
him. “As a matter of fact, yes.” Emily retrieved her kit from her desk and took
them. Still holding his wrist with one hand, she compared the ink marks to the
set of prints Neva had provided. The briefest glance told her this wasn’t
Fernando.

Emily frowned and chewed on her lip. She ought to be
disappointed as hell—and worried about catching charges of her own. Felony
kidnapping was no joke, and an unfortunately common consequence for bounty
hunters who neglected their due diligence.

But she wasn’t disappointed.

“Javier.” The name escaped her lips without conscious
intention, full of a longing tone that heated her face with embarrassment.

He smiled slowly. “That’s me.”

Her fingers tightened on his wrist and he shifted in her
grip as if he wanted to take her hand.

Without releasing him, Emily’s free hand returned to his
scar—she told herself she had to be sure. Javier groaned and tilted his head
back for her. She touched him again, just below the jawline, tracing slowly
along the scar’s entire length. He sucked his breath in between his teeth, and
Emily found herself leaning closer. The heat of his body caressed her even
through her clothes.

Javier shifted suddenly, and Emily’s precarious position on
the sagging couch cushions dissolved. She fell to lie half-across him, and he
caught her lips with his. She scrambled to recover, finding plenty of his bare
skin as she groped for purchase. He smiled against her mouth, the tip of his
tongue teasing her, requesting entrance. Emily braced her hands against his
shoulders, but instead of pulling back as she intended, she parted her lips.

Javier gave a little growl of satisfaction in the back of
his throat and pressed forward, deepening the kiss. For a glorious moment,
Emily gave in completely, molding her body to his, responding to him with every
fiber of her being. Logic ceased for her, replaced by pure nature. She pulled
herself into his lap and found she fitted against him in the most primal and
thrilling way. His body warmed and excited her everywhere, making her long to
be naked and skin to skin. Beneath her, his cock hardened and extended in his
pants. Emily wanted to accept the delicious invitation and climb astride it.
She poured six months of frustration and pent-up lust into Javier’s mouth, her
tongue frantic against his.

He grunted, chest muscles flexing. Emily wanted his arms
around her, and it took a moment for the sexual fog to clear enough for her to
remember why his hands stayed behind his back. The hard-won thought shocked her
like a bucket of cold water. Emily shoved away from Javier but couldn’t quite
bring herself to break contact with him completely. “What the hell was that?”

“I kissed you,” he said, cocky smile in place. “And I think
you kissed me back.”

“Jesus, that was inappropriate. I don’t know what I was
thinking. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He adjusted his legs on the couch, rocking his
hips in the process. Emily could not take her eyes off the promising bulge of
the erection that waited for her. “Why don’t you get back here and kiss me some
more?”

A flash of anger cleared Emily’s lust for another precious
second. She didn’t know anything about this man other than that he’d misled her
by pretending to be Fernando Bonavita. Javier acted like he wanted her—and her
neglected body had certainly registered its enthusiastic approval of that
idea—but he probably intended to manipulate her. If she gave in to this, she’d
feel even more foolish than she had with Matthew. She stared resolutely at the
dingy wall behind him, hoping to gain a little more sanity by avoiding the
enticing sight of him hard and ready on her living room couch.

“I’m not letting you out. I don’t know what you think you’re
playing at.”

“Maybe I kissed you for a different reason.”

Her eyes snapped to his face before she could stop herself.
Big mistake. Javier pinned her with a gaze that threatened all the pleasure
she’d been missing.

“Yeah? Like what?” Emily made her voice cold and brave.

“I wanted to.”

The most dangerous answer of all. It invited Emily to think
of them as a man and woman, nothing more. Body to body, she knew all
complications would disappear. Even one kiss had made clear that she would know
exactly what to do if she lost herself in him. She steeled her resolve.
Capturing Fernando Bonavita would bring her unprecedented financial security.
She needed to keep her focus there. She didn’t know why being able to pay her
rent seemed so much less attractive than spending a night in Javier’s arms, but
she had to fight through the arousal or suffer terrible regret.

She summoned sarcasm to her defense. “I’ll bet it has
nothing to do with convenience. I just happen to be the prettiest girl you’ve
seen in a while, not the woman who’s currently holding the keys to your
freedom.” Emily almost panted as she spoke. The irrational part of her mind
wanted him to tell her she was pretty. How could she so easily forget every
goal she’d ever had?

Javier tipped his head as if he could read her thoughts.
“Give me a chance to convince you.”

Even with his hands behind his back, the man was agile. He
maneuvered up onto his knees and Emily didn’t stop him—she just watched him do
it. Javier turned toward her and pressed his body against hers. Emily could have
taken him down with her martial arts skills. She’d overmatched him easily at
first. The problem was, right now she didn’t have the will.

She turned her head to rub her cheek against the smooth,
hard muscles of his chest. She wanted to dip her mouth lower and explore his
tight, lean abs and the dimensions of that erection. She wanted to tilt her
head back and kiss him until she lost her mind.

Javier decided for her, sitting back on his heels and taking
her mouth again. Emily struggled with the urge to release him so she could feel
his hands all over her. Hadn’t she just declared she wouldn’t let him go, no
matter how much he came on to her? Still, her body craved his touch. His tongue
slipped into her mouth, his skill with it holding her in place far more effectively
than the restraints she’d placed on him. Emily closed her eyes and moaned.

What could he do if he had full use of his hands? Her aching
nipples wanted to know and the fire of her curiosity spread down her belly to
the rapidly moistening cleft between her legs. Since he could not touch her
body, she felt him. She sent her fingers traveling across his chest, down the
hard planes of his stomach to the waistband of his pants. She toyed with his
button, then shied away from it, instead wrapping her arms around him and
pressing even closer. She gripped his shoulder blades, but as the kiss
continued temptation overcame her again and she groped down his back until she
reached his firm ass. She held it tightly as her tongue responded to his and
she ground her body against him. Tilting her hips forward, she rubbed against
his erection. The motion gave Emily no relief—it only increased the ache
between her legs.

She needed something like this so badly. The scent and
sensation of a man’s body so close to hers went straight to her head. An orgasm
shimmered in her mind, just over the horizon. She might be able to come to her
senses if she could just
come
first. And all she needed was a little
more.

Emily gave a frustrated moan and lifted her body higher
against his to rub herself against the full length of his erection. In her
enthusiasm, she toppled him onto his back, drawing another high-pitched
complaint from the ancient sofa and a grunt from Javier. He writhed beneath
her, tugging his restrained hands away from where they’d landed. She ignored
all this, wrapped her legs around Javier and continued to pursue her
satisfaction. Emily lifted away from their kiss, braced her hands on his pecs
and searched for the perfect angle.