Chapter Eleven

What the—?

With her heart skipping and her libido about to drag her lust-crazed body clear into the next county, Laia snapped open her eyes.

Kade held a gun, aiming the muzzle at a tall, darkly bearded man who’d just come through the front door. Smoke faced down the man with his ears erect and growling low in his throat, sounding like a muted jet engine.

Laia jumped from the sofa and raced to the bottom of the stairs, resting one hand on the railing and the other on the wall, blocking the stairway. Right. Given that this guy had to be at least six-foot-three, maybe more, and built like a decathlete, she’d be no match for him. But if he so much as twitched in the direction of the stairs leading to Rosa’s room, she’d launch onto him and do as much bodily harm as she possibly could.

The security system beeped, but instead of turning tail as she expected him to do, the bearded guy’s dark brows rose. The large black duffle over his shoulder dropped to the floor with a solid thump, then he slowly raised his hands in the air like a burglar who’d been caught red-handed opening a safe loaded with family jewels.

“Shit, Jamie.” Kade jerked the muzzle away from the man, aiming it at the floor. “You could have called.” To Smoke, he said, “Easy, boy. Sit. He’s okay.”

At the realization that Kade knew the dark-haired, dark-eyed stranger she’d thought had been about to whip a machine gun from his duffle and kill them all, Laia’s heart finally began to slow. As did her libido.

Talk about coitus interruptus. Was there such a thing for women? She supposed so.

Smoke sat, licked his lips, then yawned. Apparently, the excitement was over.

The man-now-known-as-Jamie lowered his hands, then went to the still-beeping control panel next to the door. He punched in a code, then glanced at Laia before turning back to Kade.

Jamie’s face twisted in confusion, calling attention to his mustache and the pointed beard that hung at least three inches below his chin. “Why would I have called? It’s my house.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kade said, now his face twisting in annoyance as he stashed his gun back onto the shelf, “maybe because I left you a message that we’d be here and to call me back.”

“I lost my phone.” Jamie’s face darkened for a moment, then he walked to Kade and narrowed his eyes. “New one’s getting delivered here tomorrow.”

Laia watched the two men, fascinated by the testosterone-charged confrontation as they stared each other down for several seconds, then grabbed each other in a bear hug that would have crushed a brick.

“Good to see ya, buddy,” Kade said.

“You, too.” Jamie clapped Kade’s back. “Your new K-9?”

“Yep. Smoke, meet Jamie.”

Smoke walked to the other man, then sniffed his size-thirteen-or-so boots. “Shake hands with Jamie.” The dog lifted its paw, holding it in the air until Jamie leaned down and shook it.

“Nice to meet ya, furball.” Jamie grinned, revealing a set of even white teeth that contrasted sharply with his olive skin and dark beard.

The man’s accent was either classic New Jersey á la The Sopranos or classic Long Island, an equally distinctive New York version. The man could be of Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or Italian descent. Whatever it was, any woman could see that beneath all that facial hair he was sinfully handsome.

When Smoke wagged his tail, Jamie crouched and stroked the dog’s head. A few sniffs later, and they must have become best buds because Smoke proceeded to lick every inch of Jamie’s face that he could find, mustache and beard notwithstanding.

Jamie sifted his hands through Smoke’s thick black coat. “Does he shed?”

Kade chuckled. “Yeah.”

“That’s a lotta hair. Damn.”

“Hey, there’s a lady present.” Kade gave a quick nod at Laia.

“So there is.” Jamie rose, then went to where Laia still stood at the bottom of the stairs. “My apologies. Jamie Pataglio, at your service.” He held out his hand.

“Oh, brother,” Kade muttered, subtly shaking his head. “Here we go.”

The second Laia slipped her hand into Jamie’s, he brought her fingers to his lips, kissing them gently.

“Always a pleasure to be in the presence of a beautiful woman.” He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and yet, the smile never quite made it to his eyes.

“Okay, Romeo. You can let go of her hand now.”

He did, stepping back and bending at the waist and mimicking a formal bow. “You must be Laia. I’m sorry about your husband.”

“Thank you.”

He stepped back. “You probably don’t remember me. I attended his funeral.”

Jamie was right. But as she scrutinized his bearded face, she had a vague recollection of six giant men she didn’t recognize, first at the church, then at the cemetery. The memory was fleeting at this point, but what struck her was that whoever these men were, they had seemed to be there to support Kade, rallying around him as if they, too, were family.

“Must be the beard,” she said, also vaguely recalling that none of those men wore one.

“You might be right.” He stroked his very tan, very large hand down that devilish beard. “Time to shave it off, though. It’s too fu—” He broke off, again bowing slightly at the waist. “Pardon me. It’s too hot around here for comfort. So,” he added, turning to Kade, “you wanna fill me in?”

Kade’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Do you?”

Something silent passed between the men. Laia was unsure whether it was suspicion or a warning. She looked from Kade to Jamie then back to Kade in time to understand the true underlying message: Kade was worried about Jamie. The hard, unyielding expression on his face softened with obvious concern.

“Where’s Jax?” Kade asked.

Jax?

Roughly, Jamie shoved a hand through his hair. “Not here.”

Kade dropped a hand on his shoulder. “Do we need to talk?”

“No.” Jamie shook his head. “I’m dealing with it.”

“Is Jax…dead?”

Again, Jamie shook his head, more adamantly this time. “No. At least, I don’t think so.”

“Jesus,” Kade muttered.

Whoever Jax was he must be pretty important. To both of them.

“Yeah. Later.” Jamie glanced down at his duffle, then addressed Laia. “Is Rosa here, too?”

Laia was impressed and shocked that he seemed to know a lot about her family.

She nodded. “She’s upstairs.”

“Well, then.” Jamie unzipped the duffle, then pulled out two handguns and a curved, sheathed knife, the blade of which had to be close to ten inches long. He went into the living room and secured the weapons on the same shelf where Kade had hidden his gun. Must be the go-to spot for deadly weapons.

“Thank you.” It was impossible not to appreciate the men’s thoughtfulness.

“No problem,” Jamie said. “I’ve got ten nieces and nephews, and they all like to play cops and robbers. Anyone else want a beer while you fill me in?” Without waiting for an answer, he went into the kitchen, leaving her alone with Kade and Smoke.

Lingering heat from their near-sexual encounter shot across the five feet separating them. His touch, the feel of his hands on her bare skin was so memorable, she might as well have been standing too close to a barbeque grill or a campfire. Even now, the sizzling look from those hazel eyes singed her skin.

Jamie popped the tops off three beer bottles sitting on the kitchen island. Anyone else would surely have tried watching and listening in, but he didn’t. Jamie actually seemed to be going out of his way not to.

Smoke sat on the floor in between them, swinging his head back and forth as if sensing the invisible heat wave rolling through the room.

What would have happened if Jamie hadn’t interrupted them?

We would have made love on the sofa. Hot, crazy, no-holds-barred love until they both screamed.

Well, maybe not screamed. Not with a five-year-old upstairs.

They wanted each other, and there was no stopping what was to come. For her it was a foregone conclusion. No other man had ever touched that part of her, made her want to crawl under their skin and breathe the same air molecules he breathed.

Kade stepped closer, then reached out, but instead of kissing her as she’d expected—as she’d wanted him to—he hooked his pinkie around the spaghetti strap of her dress. In all the excitement, the darned thing had slipped down her arm.

For a long moment, he stood there, staring at her bare shoulder. Then he slowly, tantalizingly, began dragging the strap up her arm, caressing her skin with his knuckles. He licked his lips, swallowing again, and holy moly. She was fully clothed yet this was, quite possibly, the hottest, most sensual foreplay she’d ever experienced.

His eyes tracked the strap’s journey up her arm. The pulse in his neck ticked faster, mimicking her own racing heartbeat. If Jamie weren’t in the kitchen not ten feet away, she would have yanked the dress off and thrown herself into Kade’s arms.

By the time he had the strap over her shoulder, her entire body was shaking. If this was what the barest touch of his knuckles did to her, she could only imagine what would happen if—no, when, what with the foregone conclusion and all—they made love.

Smoke whined then, as if someone had flipped a switch, Kade stepped away and cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly, sexy. “I have to take Smoke out. Back in a few.”

Only when he and Smoke had disappeared out a door from the living room that led to the beach did she take a breath.

“Beer?”

“Huh?” Laia had no idea how long she’d been staring at the door.

A corner of Jamie’s mouth lifted, and he really did look like the devil. A very handsome devil. In fact, all Kade’s friends—Deck, Brett, Evan—were hot by any woman’s standards. He held up a bottle. “Come on in and have a beer.”

An ice-cold beer might be just the right antidote to cool her absurdly hot libido.

Laia went into the kitchen and accepted the bottle Jamie offered, then sat on one of the counter stools. She tipped the beer and took a long sip, allowing the tasty ale to trickle down her throat. When she set the bottle down, Jamie’s dark eyes bored into hers. Behind the beard and mustache, the man was frowning.

The tender skin around her mouth and along the parts of her neck where Kade’s stubbly five o’clock shadow had left their mark, naturally, took that moment to tingle. Her lips had to be swollen and her skin red from their frenzied kissing.

“Kade’s a good friend.” Jamie began peeling the label from the bottle. “He’s family to me. It’s none of my business but…”

“But what?” she asked.

Dark eyes grew darker, staring at her with an intensity that was unnerving and made her heart beat faster. “Whatever’s going on between you two, don’t hurt him.”

The exact same words Kade had said to her on her wedding day. She parked the beer bottle on the counter harder than intended and a resounding crack rent the air. “Why does everyone think I’m going to hurt the Sampson brothers?”

Jamie’s eyes flashed. “Because you already did.”

“What?” The only time they’d been in the same room together for more than forty minutes was on her wedding day. “When?”

“The day you married Kade’s brother.”

She shook her head, still finding this revelation difficult to swallow. Even after his confession that he’d never stopped thinking about her, she hadn’t realized how much she’d actually hurt him. “He barely knew me then. We spent forty minutes in an elevator.”

“For some guys, forty minutes is enough.”

The door leading down to the beach had opened, letting warm air swirl inside. A moment later, Smoke trotted into the kitchen.

“Enough for what?” Kade asked.

“Enough time to fill me in on what’s going on.” Jamie handed Kade a beer. “I’m pretty beat, so let’s get to it.”

Kade’s gaze darted from Jamie’s to hers, as if he knew they’d been on a totally different conversational track. He pulled out another stool. “How long you sticking around this time?”

Jamie shrugged. “Not sure. For now, I’m in a holding pattern.”

Kade narrowed his eyes on his friend. “What are you waiting for?”

“A phone call. As soon as my new phone gets here.” Jamie took a long slug of beer, then swallowed. “But I don’t expect to hear anything for at least a week.”

Laia suspected Kade wanted to shout bull, but the only indication he wasn’t buying into what Jamie had just related was the subtle tapping of his finger against the side of his beer. “What about the Port Authority?”

“I’ve been on loan to another agency for a while now. Until they call, I’m all yours.”

“Okay then,” was all Kade said. But from his darkening expression, she understood that whatever kind of work Jamie did, it was covert. And dangerous. “The Colon Cartel has been following Laia. They broke into her house when she wasn’t home and tossed it. Then they tracked her to my house. This time it’s not just about the missing ledger.”

“Ah, the missing ledger,” Jamie said. “You always figured Josh kept one.”

“Yeah, and now word on the street is that Josh also stole money from Fernando Colon. Two million dollars.”

Jamie’s brows shot to his hairline. “What’s the plan?”

“Manny Dominguez is working on it. I’m putting money on the street with some old informants. In the meantime, we’ll go back to her house and poke around.” He turned to her. “Is it okay if Jamie watches Rosa for us?”

Laia took a harder look across the island at this man who so obviously harbored dark, dangerous secrets, wishing she could read his mind. It was on the tip of her tongue to object and suggest they take her daughter with them, but that would be stupid.

The cartel didn’t know about this beach house, so Rosa was safer here. What’s more, whoever Jamie really was and whoever he worked for, she surmised that, like Kade, he had skills. Skills she suspected involved mortal combat. Judging by his heavily muscled physique and the deadly weapons he’d stored on top of that shelf she had no doubt he could protect Rosa from anything or anyone.

“Okay.” She nodded, still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her precious daughter with yet another total stranger. But if a supermodel could keep Rosa safe, this enigmatic man definitely could.

She yawned and covered her mouth. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed.”

As she left the kitchen, Laia felt both men watching her. Jamie obviously knew something about how she and Kade met. For that matter, Kade’s friend, Deck, also apparently knew something. She hadn’t missed his whiplash reaction when Kade had introduced them.

She climbed the stairs, opening Rosa’s door to find her daughter snoring lightly. After quietly closing the door, she went down the hall to her bedroom. Rather than go through her nightly ritual involving more toiletries than she could count, she slipped into her favorite green nightie and fell into bed.

Another yawn had her touching her fingers to her mouth. That kiss. Her body shivered just thinking about it. Somehow, she’d always known Kade would be a good kisser. And she could only imagine how skilled he’d be at lovemaking. He’d be the kind of man who would put her needs first because of how unselfish she now knew him to be.

Despite what Josh had told her.

She ought to have been angry about his deception but wasn’t. That hardly seemed fair. Because she was lying to Kade about something, too.

Chances were he also had secrets. Everyone did.

Including her. About Rosa.

The only difference was how many people would be hurt if hers was ever revealed. She’d been keeping it for six years but had a feeling it would come out soon.

Whether she liked it or not.