Chapter Nineteen

Lena slowly surfaced from the haze that had held her in its grasp and blinked back to alertness. She found herself leaning against a rusty Camaro at the edge of a busy parking lot.

For a moment she was confused, her thoughts distorted with images that made little sense to her. O’Donnell. She saw him kissing her—gently, persuasively, while her insides burned fiercely, demanded relief. But the tempting image faded, and in its place appeared a bloodied face with a crown of greasy black curls.

Jack.

The body heat behind her alerted her of his presence before he touched her.

A large hand slipped from her ribs to her front, roughly clasping over her breast and squeezing. She tensed a little as she assessed her situation. Of course. Jack had followed them out of the grill, and then…

She shook her head slightly, trying to remember. Things became vague after that. She had hesitated for a moment about how to handle the guy. Then she’d been swamped by a familiar sense of displacement that often fell over her at such times, until the very moment when a threat became apparent.

Like now.

Jack’s weight against her back slammed her into the side of the car. She felt his erection against her butt.

Rather than growl the way she wanted to, she moaned softly. “Yeah, baby. That’s it.”

Like back in the bathroom, the bastard couldn’t think past his cock if his life depended on it.

Furious with herself for losing focus earlier, but mostly at this piece of slime, she murmured soft words of seduction, lulling him into letting down his guard.

Chuckling, Jack started fumbling one-handed with her clothes as she reached back and tangled her fingers into the tumble of his hair. She gave an involuntary shudder, her eyes on his other hand, now braced on the top of the car beside her head. He was still holding the knife.

Son of a bitch needed to be taught a lesson.

Who did he think he was? Who did he think she was? Some brainless little floozy willing to hand it out to every Tom, Dick, and Harry? Sex was, and always would be, her choice, and hers alone. That was something he would learn the hard way tonight, she vowed.

She undulated her body enticingly. Her hold on his hair slowly tightened while the other slid toward the knife.

She had yet to decide whether he would survive the lesson or not.