Lilly’s heart beat into her throat. She’d been kidnapped!
She was still panicked about the shooting in the plaza. She would have gotten killed if it hadn’t been for the man who’d pushed her out of the line of fire. That much she believed. But had it all been staged, the shooting, the panic at the plaza, so he could abduct her without her putting up a fight? And the gall of the man to claim he was Thomas’s friend Jack Porter! As if she didn’t know what Jack looked like!
“Stop the car now! Or I’ll mace you!” she bluffed and reached into her handbag.
“If you really had mace on you, you would have already used it. Nice try though,” he said.
Was that a smirk on his face? How dare he!
Clearly the man wasn’t easily fooled. She glanced outside, gaging the speed of the car.
“I wouldn’t do that. You could get hurt.”
“Do what?” she spat.
“Try and jump out of the moving car.” He gave her a sideways glance and pointed to her legs. “You’ve already got bruises on your legs from earlier.”
She looked at her knees, and only now saw the abrasions and the blood on them. She hadn’t even felt the pain until now, too much adrenaline pumping through her.
“Why are you doing this? What do you want? A ransom? I have to disappoint you. I’ve got a mountain of student loans, and no savings.”
“If I’d left you back there at the plaza, you’d be dead now.”
“Can’t you at least slow down?” she asked. She pointed through the windshield. “That light’s already yellow.”
But he raced through the next intersection with the light turning red, killing her hope that she could escape while the car was waiting at a red light.
“Lilly, take a breath. I’ve gotta get us to a safe place before they can catch up with us.”
“Catch up? The shooter is back there at the plaza. You make it sound like I was the only target. I heard several shots.”
He looked at her, and for the first time she noticed the deep blue of his eyes. Jack had had eyes like that. They’d drawn her to him that day at the Reed family BBQ.
“Yes, and had the first one hit you, there wouldn’t have been any others. It was a sniper, and he had you in the crosshairs. I saw the laser on your forehead.”
“That’s ludicrous.” Though the knowledge that somebody had aimed at her made her shiver. “No… no… why would…” Then the events of the last few days sank in. What if it had something to do with Thomas’s death?
“Who are you really?” she finally asked and looked at him again. Had Henry Sheppard sent him?
He was handsome. She had to give him that. Tall, muscular, with dark blond hair, a straight nose and high cheekbones, a strong chin. Not a single ounce of fat on his frame.
“Like I said, I’m Jack Porter.” He suddenly unleashed a smile on her. “And you’ve grown even more beautiful in the last seven years.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Seven years. That’s how long it had been since she’d seen the real Jack Porter, the man in whose arms she’d spent a passionate night, only to wake up alone.
“If you knew what Jack Porter did, you wouldn’t claim to be him.”
He didn’t respond. Instead he took a few more hasty turns until he finally drove into an underground garage. There, he had to drive slower, and she eyed the handle of the car door again. The moment he slowed the car as he drove around a bend, she pulled on the handle.
Nothing happened. The door didn’t open. She spun her head toward him.
“You, you…”
“It’s for your own good,” he claimed.
A few seconds later, he pulled into an empty parking spot and jumped out of the car. He ran around the car and opened the passenger side door for her and pulled her out.
He didn’t let go of her arm.
“Please let me go,” she begged now. “I won’t go to the police. I won’t tell anybody about you kidnapping me.”
But he dragged her to another car, a white van. “I’ll explain everything when we’re at the safe house. I promise you, Lilly.”
Then he opened the side door of the van and forced her inside. It was dark inside.
“Sit on the bench. And put the seatbelt on.”
Then he closed the door, and she had no choice but to follow his order.
Moments later, they were back on the streets again, though Lilly couldn’t see where they were heading. There was no window in the back of the van, and the separation between the driver’s cabin and the back only had a tiny window that allowed her to see the back of her kidnapper’s head.
She slumped back on the bench, and a tiny sob tore loose from her throat.
What would happen to her now? Would he rape and kill her? Dump her body in a ditch? Why? Why was this happening to her?
She didn’t know how long they were driving, until the van finally stopped. Her abductor killed the engine. When the door to her prison opened, light streamed in. A hand reached for her.
“Lilly, come out, we’re here.”
She allowed him to help her out of the van and looked around. They were in a garage.
He closed the van door behind her and ushered her to a door. It led into a house.
“We’re safe here for now,” he said and closed the door to the garage behind them.
Lilly walked farther into the house. There was a small living room, a kitchen with a dining area, and two other doors that were closed. She assumed one was a bedroom, the other a bathroom.
“Take a seat,” he said and pointed to the couch. “I’ll get a first aid kit.”
To her surprise, he left her alone in the living room and opened one of the other doors, which she’d rightly assumed was a bathroom. She heard him open and close cabinets and used the time to look around. There wasn’t much decoration in the small one-story house. As if nobody really lived here. She’d seen vacation rentals that had more character than this house.
To get to the front door she would have to pass by the open bathroom door. Treading softly so as not to make a sound, she stalked toward it, but she didn’t reach it. Jack stepped out of the bathroom, blocking her escape route.
He tilted his head a little to the side. “Please.” He motioned for her to return to the living room. He set the first aid kit on the coffee table.
“I’m sorry that I had to push you so hard,” he said in a soft tone, “but a second later, and you would have had a bullet in your head. I wish I could have gotten there earlier, but the traffic…” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. A shaking hand.
That surprised her. Why was his hand suddenly shaking? And something else in his statement didn’t make sense.
“Are you saying you knew about the shooting in advance?”
He met her eyes, and for a few seconds he said nothing. “First things first.” He pointed to her knees. “Let’s get you patched up.” He took a step toward her.
“No!” She surprised herself with the firmness in her voice. “First you tell me who you really are.”
“Fair enough.” He sat down on the armchair and pointed to the sofa. “You might want to sit down for this.”
Reluctantly, she sat down on the sofa.
“I am Jack Porter, and I was in the military with Thomas Reed, your cousin. And the reason you don’t recognize me is because I had plastic surgery.”
She huffed. “Yeah, right! What baloney! You’re not Jack. I know Jack. I slept with Jack, so trust me when I tell you that I would recognize him. Sure, you’re the same height, the same build, and even the same eyes, but that’s where all similarities end, so don’t think you can con me into believing you’re him.”
A slow smile spread over his face. “I get it. How much do you remember of that night seven years ago?”
“Everything!” It was true. She’d relived every second of her night with Jack many times over.
“Good. Then I guess you’ll remember this.” He stood up and put his hand on his jeans. He opened the button.
She jumped up, ready to flee. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Showing you proof that I’m Jack.”
He lowered the zipper and pushed his jeans down to mid-thigh. Then he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer briefs and pushed them down too.
His cock jutted out, heavy but relaxed. She couldn’t rip her gaze from the sight. There was the proof.
“Your birthmark.”
Right there on his cock was a birthmark that looked like the state of Texas. She’d seen it the night of the Reed family BBQ, after she’d gone back to Jack’s hotel where they’d made love all night. It wasn’t something that could be faked, or that many people even knew about.
She took a step toward him, but there was no doubt in her mind. This was Jack. The man who’d broken her heart.
“Believe me now?” he asked.
She lifted her head. “Yes, I believe you.”
Then she balled her right hand into a fist and punched him in the face as hard as she could.
His head whipped to the side, and he groaned.
“Guess I had that coming for a long while.”