Relentless Pursuit (10 page)

Remy dropped to his knees at her feet, lifted the towel and rubbed the already dampened cloth against her skin.  Starting at her toes he paid exquisite attention to every detail, caressing each dip and curve of her legs. He heard her indrawn catch of breath when his hands skimmed up her inner thighs, closer and closer to her heated center.  With each swirl of the towel against her flesh her skin flushed a rosy pink.  He smiled at the scent of her arousal, spicy and sweet, knowing he gave her pleasure.  Right here, right now, nobody and nothing else existed but the two of them.  The rest of the world had faded away.

It took every ounce of inner strength he possessed not to lean forward and brush his lips against the dampened flesh between her thighs.  He'd been pleasantly surprised to find her bare, the beautiful pink skin so close he wanted to dive forward and spread her wide for a taste.  Instead, he continued his upward journey, the towel now forgotten, dropped to the floor as his fingertips skimmed across her pubic bones to her soft belly and upward to span her waist, gripping her when he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss against her stomach.

He rose to his feet, his gaze ensnared with hers.  His hands skimmed upward to cup her breasts.  Mold them in his hands.  Their abundant bounty overflowed his grasp, and he smiled when she ducked her head, a delightful pink blush staining her cheeks.  His fingers encircled a nipple, tweaked it, rolled it, chuckling as it hardened even more beneath his touch.

“Remy?”

“Shh.”  He whispered, leaning forward, his eyes locked on her plump bitable lips.  One kiss.  Surely one kiss would quench the fire burning inside him.  A simple brush of his lips against hers.  So close.  So sweet.  So…

“Detective!”

Remy's head snapped up at the sound of his title.  Jennifer stood in the open bathroom doorway, fully dressed, looking at him with her brow quirked.  He felt the blush creeping up into his cheeks and sprang from the bed, taking a step away from her and toward the door.

“We need to hit the road.”

She didn't say a word, handed him the backpack and marched past him. 
Nope, can't let
her go first
, he thought
.  I need to check outside, make sure it's all clear
.

“Wait.”

She froze, looking back over her shoulder, her hand on the doorknob.  Crap, he hadn't meant to sound so abrupt, but he was still embarrassed.  While having sexual fantasies about women was no big deal, nothing new to any red-blooded hetero male, he'd never had one about somebody he was working with.  It was his job to protect her, not daydream about how hot the sex between them would be.  And it would be scorching, peel-the-paint-off-the walls hot. He was convinced.  He hadn't been this attracted to any woman in a long time.  Love 'em and stay friends with 'em, was his policy.  A couple of nights of raunchy, down-and-dirty, give 'em what they want sex without any strings.  That he could handle.  He wasn't so sure he could handle Jennifer though.

“I need to go first, make sure the coast is clear.”

“You're right, I'm sorry.  I didn't think.”  Jennifer gave him a chagrined little smile and a shrug.  “Go ahead.”

Remy pulled back the corner of the curtain and peered outside, looking to the right and the left before opening the door.  He'd taken one step out when he froze, Jennifer running up against his back, she'd followed so closely. 

“Get back inside.  Now.”

“Detective, what's wrong?  Is it Dubshenko?”

Remy shook his head, a string of curses pouring from his lips.  His booted foot connected with the doorframe, over and over. 
Damn it!

Jennifer leaned around him, staring out at the parking lot before turning her blue-eyed gaze on him.

“Um, I hate to ask, but where's your bike?”

Chapter Ten

T
he curses falling from Remy's lips painted a vivid picture of what he'd do when he found the person who'd stolen his beloved Ducati Diavel.  She winced when his foot slammed against the motel wall, a mix of empathy and hilarity as he hopped around on one foot and the cursing began anew.  They'd walked outside the room, so the solid concrete wall had to hurt like a son of a gun.

“Where do we go from here, Remy?  Back to New Orleans?”

“No.  That's out of the question.  Damn it, let me think.  We need another set of wheels.  Gotta keep moving.  But when I catch the son of a bitch that has my baby, so help me, his balls are gonna be hanging around his neck like a freaking bolo tie.”

He scanned the parking lot, and Jinx remained quiet, though her mind was racing. 
Had one of Dubshenko's thugs found them?
 
Was that why the motorcycle was missing—to strand them without a way to leave until he could deal with them personally?
  She hated to think what he planned for her.  The little she knew about him and his activities kept her stomach tied in knots.

“Hiya, gorgeous.”  Remy's voice had her whirling around, ready to snap a quick retort not to call her that when she noted he wasn't talking to her at all.  No, he'd walked a few doors down, where a tall, middle-aged woman hefted a khaki duffle over her shoulder, pulling the door closed behind her.

“You talking to me, handsome?”  The woman replied, eyeing them both warily.

Jinx looked the stranger up and down.  Long brown hair threaded through with silver strands, pulled back into a messy ponytail, topped with a baseball cap that read
Truckers Are In It For The Long Haul
.  A black tank top showed off muscular arms and an enormous chest.  She had to be at least a triple-D.  Stocky build, though nobody would consider her fat, her legs were encased in jeans and she wore beat-up black sneakers on her feet with a hole where the little toe on her right foot showed through.

“I sure am, sweet thing.  My girl and I were looking to catch a ride into the next town.”  Remy gestured toward Jinx, and she turned, looking for the girl he was talking about before realizing he meant her. 
His girl?
  He kept right on talking, ignoring her as she sidled up to the Amazon in blue jeans.

“I'm Randy and this is my girlfriend, Joyce.  Look, this is really embarrassing, but my buddy and I and my best girl came out for a little fun last night, if you know what I mean.”  He smiled and waggled his brows, and Jennifer's mouth dropped open. 
What the hell was he talking about?
  “Anyway, things got a little—heated and Joyce decided she didn't want to play anymore, and my pal took off and left us stranded without a ride.”

“What the…” Jinx started to say, but Remy flung his arm around her shoulders, yanked her against his side and nuzzled his face against hers, whispering in her ear, “Play along.  I'm trying to get us out of here before Dubshenko shows up.”

“Randy, honey, you know that's not what happened.  Tell the nice lady what your good buddy
really
wanted.”

The stranger smiled, and shifted the duffle bag onto the sidewalk.  “Yeah, Randy, tell me the real story.”

Remy shut up fast, shooting daggers at Jinx.  She knew he was trying to come up with a plausible alternative, but she couldn't resist yanking his chain.

“See, here's what really happened.  Randy's pal, Joey, came along because he likes to party and he likes to drink.  So, we're all doing shots last night, and Randy was getting all handsy and horny, and wanted to have a three-way.”  Jinx shrugged and flipped her hair over her shoulder like it was no big deal, and Remy rubbed his forehead as though he had a major headache building.

“Anyway, Randy gets my shirt off, and he's working on my pants, when Joey says he's all for having a three-way, only he don't want me, he wants him.”  She jerked her thumb at Remy, throwing a huge smile his way, and watched his hands clench into fists before he slowly uncurled his fingers.  She'd bet he wanted to wrap those fingers around her throat and squeeze until she turned as red as a tomato and her eyes bulged.

“Baby, that's not
exactly
how it happened.  You had an awful lot to drink; you're not remembering clearly.”

“Aw, come on snookums, I wasn't so drunk that I couldn't tell that another guy was putting the moves on my man.  Joey couldn't have cared less about getting into
my
pants—he was too busy trying to get into yours.”

Jinx laughed and the other woman joined her as deep red heat crept up into Remy's cheeks.

“So what happened next?”

“Maybe we could finish this in your car?”  Desperation tinged Remy's voice with just enough persuasion to get them all moving.

“Ain't got a car,” she answered.

Well, crap
.  Jennifer reached over and touched Remy's hand, a quick wrapping of her pinky finger around his before she let go.  Just that bit of contact grounded her, kept her focused on the goal.  They needed to get moving—and fast.

“Sorry to have bothered you then, ma'am.  Honey, I guess we're gonna have to call your folks.”  Remy looked pained as if the thought of talking to her parents was an onus hardship or something. 
Ha!  If he only knew.

“Hold on, fella.  Said I didn't have a car.  Didn't mean I don't got no transportation.”  She gestured toward the road and Jinx's eyes widened at the eighteen wheeler parked at the edge of the lot.  Hallelujah!  Dubshenko would never be looking for them in a big rig.

“Name's Ness.”

Remy reached forward and shook her hand.  “Ness, we'd be much obliged if you could give us a ride.  Which way are you heading?”

“This run's up to Shreveport, but I've got about a half-dozen stops along the way to make deliveries.”

Shreveport—right where they'd been headed.  Far enough away from New Orleans and Dubshenko.  Plus, he had a few other tricks up his sleeve once they got that far north.  He smiled, feeling good for the first time since he'd walked out to the parking lot to find his baby missing.

“Honey, how'd you feel about heading on up to Shreveport?  Maybe we can find a nice little chapel up there and get hitched.”

“H…hitched?”  Jinx sputtered, barely able spit out the word.  “Married?  You want to get married?”

“Well sure, sugar, we've always said we would eventually.  After last night, I need to get a ring on your finger ASAP.  What do you say?  Want to be Mrs. Randy?”  Remy leered at her, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, and it took every ounce of restraint to keep from popping him smack in the middle of his pearly whites.  Idiot.  Didn't he realize Ness would want to come to the wedding?  Then she paused—wait, he doesn't know any better—he'd never run a successful scam.  He was a cop.  Oh, well, they'd have a long spell on the drive where she'd come up with a believable story.  After all, once a grifter, always a grifter.

“Oh, baby, yes!”  She squealed, throwing herself into his arms and pressing kisses all over his face, studiously avoiding his lips.  She kept her eyes on Ness's face over his shoulder and caught the brief glint of tears welling up in her eyes.  Yep, Ness was an easy mark.  Remy grabbed her and twirled in circles, spinning her around faster and faster, his laughter filling the air.

“Sweetheart, you won't be sorry, I promise.”

The only one going to be sorry for this mess is you, ya big schmuck
.

“If y'all plan on riding with me a spell, we need to hit the road.  Gotta be honest with ya though, it ain't gonna be a straight shot.  Like I said, I've got half a dozen stops along the way for deliveries.”  Ness turned away from them, and sauntered over to her truck, an impressive site as her triple-D's led the parade.  Jinx squinted against the early morning sunlight thinking Ness looked exactly how she'd picture a female trucker to look.  Tall, strong, the kind of woman who wouldn't take crap from anybody.

Ness swung open the passenger side door before she continued around to the driver's side, hitched herself up into the driver's seat, tugged the ball cap further down and slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses.  Remy turned to Jinx and held out his hand.

“Coming, sweetheart?”  He grinned and she slapped her hand into his, wincing at the tight grip when he crushed her fingers in his grasp.

“You are so going to pay for this, cop.”  Jinx pasted on a saccharine sweet smile and waved at Ness as they started across the parking lot.

“Now, honey, is that any way to talk to your fiance?  The man of your dreams?”

“Don't you mean the man of Joey's dreams, sweetie?”

Jinx stole a glance at him from beneath her lashes, surprised when he let out a belly laugh and hugged her against his side when they got to the truck.  He seemed a lot cheerier than he'd been just a few minutes ago when he'd discovered his motorcycle missing.  She took a deep breath and the humidity struck her like a blow to the solar plexus.  Even though it was early morning the heat had already started climbing, and would probably be in the nineties again by late afternoon.

Remy leaned in closer, his lips against her ear and whispered, “You don't have a thing to worry about.  Joey can't hold a candle to you.”  His lips brushed against her cheek as he pulled back, helping her into the truck's cab with a boost, his hand landing a distinct slap against her ass.  The skin tingled and burned where he'd touched it.  Had he done that on purpose, or was it an accident?

“Perv.”

She climbed between the seats into a small sleeping compartment behind them, and Remy plopped down into the passenger seat, tossing a smile over his shoulder as he buckled his seatbelt.  Within minutes they were on the road, headed north and away from New Orleans.  Jinx realized she hadn't once thought about Dubshenko, Carlo or the mess they'd left behind.  Though she felt guilty about leaving her brother, a deep-seated feeling of freedom soared within, something she hadn't felt in a very long time.  Not since breaking away from her family.  That spark of creativity, the urge to go with the flow and see where life led, kindled and fanned the flame of adventure.

Today was the start of a brand new day and she couldn't wait to see where she landed.

Chapter Eleven