TheFugitivesSexyBrother (7 page)

He kissed her wrists and the restraints that kept her
captive before him. She twisted in the tub until she could rub her cheek
against his stomach. Fernando wanted to carry her to the bedroom. He moved to
release her hands but Carolina shook her head. One shapely leg emerged from the
water, dripping, and wound around his waist. She tugged him toward her center.

Fernando could not resist. He propped himself up with one
arm on either side of her and let her pull him into place. He plunged into her
with both tongue and cock, kissing her again to keep from crying out at the
pleasure of burying himself within her heat. Water sloshed around them,
spilling over the sides of the tub. Fernando’s knees ached from holding his
weight against the hard porcelain tub. He did not care about anything except
the woman moving beneath him, winding her legs around his waist and pulling him
ever deeper into herself.

He could have come the moment he entered her, but he gritted
his teeth and held back. He wanted to feel her around him for as long as he
could. He moved slowly, the water settling down into a gentle wave washing over
and around them. He pressed into her deeply, giving her everything he had.
Unwinding her legs from his waist, Carolina planted her feet against the shower
wall and opened herself to him in return. Her hips rolled beneath him and he
knew she was close again.

Fernando released her mouth and ran his teeth lightly down
her neck, finding the tender spot at its base. He nibbled there and her bucking
grew more forceful. He let her take his full weight for a moment and slipped
his hands under her ass, gathering her body up toward his and grinding his
pelvis hard against her clit.

She sobbed her approval. She pressed up hard enough to lift
them both and he held her through it. When he felt her relax, Fernando gave in
to his own urgent need. He claimed her one more time. He allowed his thrusts to
speed up, to go deeper, to express the full force of his desire for her.

He could not take that for long. His release came powerfully
and completely. Fernando clasped her in the water, kissing the side of her face
until his mind escaped the grip of pleasure.

“Thank you,” she said after a moment.

“Thank
you
.” He did not dare ask what next.

He reached again to release her hands, but Carolina stopped
him with a sound of protest. “I can’t leave you like that too much longer,” he
said, concerned. “You need circulation.”

“I need you to tell me the truth, Fernando.”

“Let me take you to bed.”

“No. You do it here and now.” She wrapped her legs around
him, preventing him from pulling his softening cock out of her. “I heard on the
radio that you are wanted. That you didn’t show up for trial. That you are
accused of something terrible.”

“I didn’t do it,” Fernando said. The denial sounded weak
even to him.

“You expect me to believe that?”

He tried to pull back but she did not allow it. He settled
for lifting his torso in an uncomfortable curve so he could at least see her
face. “I’ve done bad things, Carolina. You’re right. I lied to you about what I
do. I’ve committed plenty of crimes. Just not this one.”

“It’s convenient that the crime you’re arrested for is the
one you didn’t commit.”

“It’s not like that,” he protested, wishing he had new words
to talk about this. Every sentence he uttered felt like a trap. The water had
begun to grow cold around them. Fernando shivered despite the heat of
Carolina’s body. “This is different. I wouldn’t hurt a child.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re accused of doing it on
purpose. It sounds like the little girl was collateral damage.”

The warmth he’d been feeling toward Carolina went cold all
at once. “Let go of me now.”

Carolina froze, then responded. Fernando stood to remove his
body from hers, then stooped to undo the restraints. “Wait, Fernando,” she
said.

“These come off now. If you can believe I would do something
like that, why the hell would you want to be with me like this?” The cold fire
of outrage churned through his body. He did not want to watch her face but
could not take his eyes off her. Her chin trembled.

“I loved you, Fernando. I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Loved. Past tense.”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “Yes.”

His anger dropped, replaced by the fear of losing her. “You
can’t even entertain the possibility that I might be innocent?”

She sat up in the bath, rubbing her wrists. “If you’re
innocent, why couldn’t you trust yourself to the authorities? You’d be
acquitted, wouldn’t you?”

Fernando pursed his lips. He didn’t want to argue with her,
didn’t want to give her more details of the life he’d never wanted her to know
about. Melancholy triumph spread over her face and his resolve broke. “I have
enemies,” he said shortly. “And they have people in the jail. Working there.
I’d be killed if I went there for any time at all.”

“That can’t be—”

He considered showing her the marks on the soles of his
feet, where one of the prison guards had burned him while he waited for his
meeting with Guy Nolf. Fernando decided against it. He could not alarm her that
way. “Can you believe anything I’m telling you?”

Carolina gave a disbelieving laugh. “I can, Mr. Works in
Finance. I just feel stupid about that now.”

“Carolina. I came here because I wanted to ask you—”

“Don’t, Fernando. Don’t.” She turned her face away. He knew
she was crying, but when he touched her shoulder she shook him off. “Get out
now.”

Fernando stumbled into his clothes and out her door in a
muddled daze. He could not believe it was over.

Muttering from Emily woke Javier. He opened his eyes slowly.
His arms and chest ached from sleeping in the restraints and his back creaked
from the way the couch scooped under his weight. He bit his lip to keep from
alerting her with a groan and craned his neck to see what had her complaining.
The bleary sensation in Javier’s head insisted that both of them should still
be asleep. The clock above her television agreed—4:00 a.m.

She was stooped over her beaten-up desk in the corner of the
living room, cursing at her computer. He took a moment to admire her. Her thick
hair hung down her back, longer than he’d realized. Her shoulder and left arm
emerged from the curtain of it. Up close, he saw the muscle definition that
belied her slender build, the lovely curves and lines that flickered over her
slim limbs whenever she moved her arm or tapped her foot. She reminded him of a
ballerina or an acrobat. The strength he’d felt from her seemed impossible in
such a small, graceful body.

He still wanted her. The worst part about spending the night
restrained had been being prevented from giving himself any relief. Once Javier
had admitted he wanted to stay in her custody, Emily had refused any more
kissing. Seducing her so he could stay was apparently just as bad in her eyes
as seducing her so she’d let him free. Too bad she couldn’t accept that he
wanted her for the entirely uncomplicated reason any man would.

Of course, there were a boatload of complicated reasons why
he
shouldn’t
want her, and equally many reasons he should be thinking
about Fernando and what to do going forward instead of about the tantalizing
expanses of skin being shown by the woman before him. But Javier had never
liked thinking about the unpleasant details of his personal life. He much
preferred solving puzzles. Without access to electronic problems to solve,
Emily’s body presented the most fascinating and distracting enigma available.

Emily cursed again, louder this time, and curiosity overcame
Javier. He hauled himself into a sitting position, the couch creaking so much
he feared it would crack beneath him. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” She growled the word.

Javier had to laugh. “What
would
you be doing if that
computer weren’t driving you crazy?”

“Looking my quarry up on the Internet.” She turned toward
him and shrugged and Javier had to master the appreciative gasp that threatened
to rise from his throat at the sight of her. The bulk of her silver boxing
shorts emphasized the slender power of her waist and legs. Without a bra under
her thin white tank top, nothing prevented the dark pink of her large nipples
from showing through.

With an effort, he parsed the meaning of her sentence.
“Quarry? You mean my brother?”

She sighed. “No. This is a different job. Much as I’d like
to concentrate on finding your brother, I can’t afford the risk.”

“Of concentrating on him?”

Emily gave Javier a wry smile. “I need to do jobs I
know
I’m getting paid for. Much as it would be nice to get fifty grand for finding
your brother, I have to buy groceries in the meantime.” She turned back to the
computer, stunning Javier again with a view of the compact curve of her ass.
“You would think a woman with a criminal justice certification would be able to
manage an Internet search, but apparently—”

“Mind if I take a look?” Javier struggled out of the evil
grip of the couch. His joints felt better as soon as he stood up.

“You think I’m letting you near the Internet? Won’t you just
send a message to your brother?”

“You can stand there and watch the whole time. Tackle me if
I open webmail. You’ve proven yourself more than capable.”

Emily laughed. “All right, fair enough. I’d beat this thing
into submission, but apparently computers can’t feel pain…”

“Yeah, if you’re at that point, you should let me handle
this.”

Javier crossed the room to her and turned so she could
release his restraints. She made a frustrated sound but set about letting him
loose. Up close, he smelled the most alluring scent possible on her skin—his
own. The traces she bore of his cologne reminded him how recently she had been
in his arms. Combined with her fingers brushing over his, Javier had to
suppress another overwhelming surge of attraction.

A few clicks of the mouse told Javier all he needed to know.
“Your operating system’s too far out of date to run the latest version of this
browser, which for some reason is the one installed. You could update your
operating system or revert to an older version of the browser. You’re having
trouble because the browser wants to go on the Internet to fix the problem,
which requires a working browser.”

“Oh my God, I need coffee before I try to make sense of
that.”

“If you want to do the reversion, I can handle that in a few
minutes while you go
make
yourself some coffee.”

“Nice try, buddy.”

Javier had already begun opening windows and scanning
through files. “Maybe we should talk about these trust issues you have, Emily.”

“
Trust issues
? Why should I trust you? Why would you
want to help me?”

Which reason would she believe? That untangling problems on
a computer came so much more naturally to him than fixing problems between
people? That he would take any opportunity to get his mind off what Fernando
was supposed to have done? That this was his way of impressing beautiful women
such as herself? “I’ve got nothing better to do,” Javier said finally.

She bit her lip, a gesture that made him think too much
about her mouth. “Well, that’s not technically true. How long is that going to
take? We’ve got to leave before it gets too late.”

He stopped clicking and stared at her. “First, I don’t know
any sane human who defines four in the morning as
late
. Second, what is
this ‘we’?”

“Targets tend to be less trouble when you catch them
sleeping. I actually meant to get going half an hour ago, but I had some
trouble waking up.” She blushed in a way that caught his attention. Had she
struggled to fall asleep? Javier hoped she’d mentally replayed their encounter
as many times as he had. “Anyway, I can’t exactly leave you alone here, can I?”

“Trust issues again.” He clucked his tongue and waved her
toward her computer with a flourish. “Your Internet awaits, my lady. Though I
do have to recommend you update your operating system—older versions are much
more vulnerable to hacking.”

“Yeah, thanks. Next time I have a few spare dollars I’ll get
all over that.”

Javier peered over her shoulder, watching her type in a name
and initiate a search. “You think the Internet’s just going to tell you where
that guy is?”

“Look, I know I screwed up with you, but I’m not
that
bad at doing my job. We’re driving this morning to a list of addresses where
the subject is likely to have holed up—girlfriend’s house, mother’s house,
stuff like that. The search is just to see about any obvious information I
should know, like that the guy posts all the time on message boards about how
awesome it is to own assault rifles. And you’d be surprised. A couple months
ago I found a guy because he kept posting his location on publicly visible
social networks.”

Javier smiled. “People never fail to impress.”

“Tell me about it. I usually pay a skiptracer for help with
this sort of thing, but she’s been flaking on me lately.”

“You pay someone to do Internet searches for you?”

“I pay someone to gather information for me.”

“I could help.”

“I would answer that, except I think if I hear the phrase
‘trust issues’ from you again I’m going to have to smack you.”

“You’re grouchy in the morning.”

He enjoyed the narrow-eyed look she shot him more than he
should have. “You’re awfully cheerful for someone who’s going back in
restraints as soon as I finish this.”

Flirtatious banter. This was good. He barely needed to think
about Fernando when she started talking like that. “Emily,” Javier said, trying
out Fernando’s charming smile again. “I thought we’d gotten past the point of
needing restraints.”

“Fat chance.” She gave a satisfied nod in the direction of
her browser and grabbed Javier by the shoulders, spinning him away from her and
pulling him tight against her body. Her breasts brushed against his back. He
thought her nipples hardened at the contact. Javier moaned.

“You get way too excited when I manhandle you.”

He swallowed. She had no idea. He tried to keep it light.
“It’s you, not the manhandling. Most of the time when women slap me around, it
does nothing for me.”

“If you talk like that to everyone, I bet you get slapped
around all the time.”

He snorted, then stiffened when metal brushed his wrists. He
twisted in her grip. “What if you need my help?”

“With
what
?” Emily’s voice snapped at him hard, all
lightheartedness banished.

If he could have, Javier would have stumbled back a few
steps. “I don’t know…” He raised an eyebrow, wondering what he could have said
to make her so sensitive. “Navigation?”

She stared at him with utter incredulity for several
moments. She gave him a little shove, enough to open a bit of space between
their bodies. “Yeah, I don’t need help with that either, jerk.”

Javier concealed his disappointment at the loss of contact.
“Jerk? What did I say?”

Emily more than made up for the moment he’d spent apart from
her. In a second, Javier slammed to the floor with her on top of him, her legs
engaged in the interesting straddling maneuver she’d used the day before. Her
body stretched out to maximum length on top of him, her forearms definitively
pinning his wrists. Her nipples were definitely hard. So was his cock. Javier
would have enjoyed this more if he’d been able to breathe better.

She brought her face close to his, her hot breath whispering
across his cheek. “I had no trouble taking you down yesterday, and I had no
trouble doing it just now. Any time you need a reminder of how much I
don’t
need your help protecting myself, you just let me know.”

Javier frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on. Navigation? Because girls can’t fight, and
they can’t follow directions either, right?”

“I’d be an idiot if I thought you couldn’t fight.” Javier
gasped. She was doing that thing again where she made her body feel like it
weighed five times more than should have been possible. Also, he was struggling
with the urge to rock his hips up to press his cock more firmly against her
body. “As far as navigation, I was just looking for a useful skill that I
actually have. Now, could you please let me live? I have absolutely no doubt
that you are capable of strangling me to death, despite what I must point out
as my well-developed and rather attractive torso.”

Emily froze in place. A moment later, her body began to
shake. Javier’s brow wrinkled in concern. He fought his way out of her suddenly
loosened grip, got a look at her face and realized she’d started laughing
convulsively. “Wow,” she gasped. “Wow. I must have sounded crazy as hell.”

Javier relaxed onto his back, feeling more free to enjoy the
sensation of her seated on top of him. “Based on what I just learned, I am
definitely going to put off calling you crazy until I’m back on my feet and
well out of tackling range.”

“Probably wise.” The expression on her face was downright
friendly. She lifted her torso off his and sat back on her heels, her back
arched and breasts pushed forward. The appearance of woman on top compelled him
too much to resist. Javier reached for Emily’s hips.

“Listen, I don’t know how people normally talk to you, but I
have no trouble believing you’re a powerful and capable woman.” She didn’t pull
away from his touch. Encouraged, Javier continued. “I’m very good with
computers. And you normally pay someone to help you. All I’m saying is I might
be able to make up for that flaky person so you can get on with being your
usual badass, competent self. No insult intended.” His fingers tightened, and
he gave in to temptation and ground up against her just slightly. “Quite the
opposite.”

Slowly, Emily’s set her hand down on Javier’s chest, her
touch so light that he wondered if the gesture was unconscious. “No offense
taken.”

She shifted her weight just enough to inspire him to further
hardness. He grinned and shook his head. “So you’re okay with looking for this
person about three hours from now?” He thrust once to underscore his meaning.

A genuine battle took place across her delicate features.
Big blue eyes unfocused, her gaze raked up his body with an expression he very
much recognized. Victory swelled in his chest. He reached up and wound his
fingers through her hair, pulling her toward him. She cooperated for a moment,
then shook herself free and sat back with a sigh. “I really can’t risk it. I
have to look for my quarry now.”

Javier echoed the disappointed sound and rolled onto his
side, willing his blood to return to his brain. He propped his head up on his
palm. “Do you have the guy’s cell number?”

“Yeah…” Emily grinned and cocked her head. “You think I can
just call him up and ask him to wait for me out on the curb?”

“Let me show you a neat trick.” Javier winked and rolled to
his feet, reaching her computer in one smooth gesture. He aimed her browser at
his password-protected personal site and launched a web application.

“Do I need to worry that whatever you’re doing is going to
send a message to your brother?”

Javier glanced at her. Guilt flashed through him. He
probably could contact Fernando without her knowing, now that she’d let him
onto her computer. He probably
should
. But he shook his head and kept
his voice light. “Remember, I fear your ability to compress my carotid artery.
Trust me.”