All Jacked Up (27 page)

Instead sex with Aubrey had only whetted his appetite for more. Thoughts of her and that damned book kept splitting his focus. That was okay in a mall, but there would come a time when quick-thinking might be all that kept them alive.

“There’s the restroom,” Aubrey said.

Jack looked at her, blinking his eyes, coming back to the conversation.

She must have thought he couldn’t read the sign because she pointed it out. “Right there between the drugstore and the Radio Shack.”

“I see it,” he grumbled, but it wasn’t the sign he was looking at. “Go ahead, I’ll wait out here.”

“You’re not going in? If we’re stopping somewhere right away, I can wait.”

“We’re not stopping until tonight, but I can piss on the side of the road if I have to.”

“So can I,” Aubrey said.

He looked at her, one eyebrow inching up into his hairline.

“I did it this morning.”

“But you didn’t like it, and why would you want to when there’s a perfectly good bathroom right there?”

Because she didn’t trust him. She knew he’d figured some things out, which he wasn’t sharing, and she didn’t like being used as bait.

“I don’t have all day,” Jack said.

She took in the shooing motions he was making with his hands, her eyes lifting to his face, skeptical. “You’re just going to stand there with the rest of the loungers?”

Jack took a look at the line of men leaning against the wall or standing around, waiting for wives or girlfriends to come out of the restroom. There’d be similar groups around the televisions in the department stores, guys who’d been forced to blow a Saturday at the mall instead of taking in weekend sports on TV.

Jack didn’t do weekend sports, he did life or death. Okay, on second thought there was one kind of full-contact sport that interested him. But it didn’t involve a television—it involved a car chase, possible handgun fire as foreplay, and a book.

“I’m going in there,” he said, pointing to the drugstore.

“What for?” Aubrey asked.

“Armor,” he said with a completely straight face, even when hers turned an interesting shade of getting-his-drift pink. He was talking about protection, but nothing made of Kevlar, or even steel for that matter.

“Do you really think those are necessary?”

“You thought they were last night.”

“Well,
after
last night, what’s the point. If there’s a repeat performance—and I’m not saying there will be—why bother using condoms?”

She was right, the condoms were a distraction. But where Aubrey was concerned it was best to say as little as possible, so he just shrugged, took her bags and backpack, and headed for the drugstore.

“The line’s pretty long,” she called after him. “This is going to take at least fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.”

He looked at her, deadpan. “I’ll wait.”

By the time she came out of the ladies’ room—ten minutes later—Jack was leaning against the wall with five other guys.

“Well, this is weird,” she said, ignoring her own parcels to peek into his. Just her eyes lifted and met his for an instant before she took her bags and headed for the mall exit. “Kind of optimistic of you, Jack.”

He chose not to respond, following her outside.

The Ferrari was still sitting where they’d left it, not surrounded by cops, no crowd. Occasionally a man would walk by and take a nice, long look, or a car would cruise slowly past, but by and large the men who came to the mall were more focused on getting the quality time with their significant others over with so they could bond with a beer and a remote control.

“Great,” Aubrey said, “now that we want attention we can’t get any.”

Jack lifted his bag back into her line of sight. “I’ll give you all the attention you want.”

Aubrey wasn’t exactly complaining about that. She kept up with Jack. Up, sideways, backward, against the wall. Jack was into variety, and she was only too willing to oblige.

The problem was how they spent their days.

To Aubrey, Florida had always meant theme parks and beaches, complete with cabana boys to serve her drinks with little umbrellas in them. Florida was souvenirs made with shells, dining on fresh fish, and sleeping every night in a room with windows that opened to a balmy sea breeze.

It wasn’t wandering through endless miles of grapefruit and orange groves, stopping in land-locked little towns that seemed lifeless and half empty, waiting for the yearly influx of snow birds and spring breakers who flocked through on their way to Daytona, Orlando, and Miami.

Aubrey knew how they felt. She was waiting, too.

Jack had stopped at yet another small town—she’d lost track of where they were—and pulled into yet another market. It was part of his strategy. He wanted to be found, but not in a public place that was too crowded. It would have been a great plan if the guys following them weren’t Carlo and Danny.

“I don’t think Carlo and Danny are smart enough to find us,” she said to Jack.

“It’s only been a couple days. Give it some time.”

Aubrey sighed. “You’d think the produce would be better since we’re in Florida,” she observed, picking over a stack of fruit.

“Kind of cranky, aren’t you?”

“I’m depressed,” Aubrey snapped at him. “Florida is depressing. All these depressing towns filled with depressing people and depressing oranges.”

Jack was standing in front of a rack of snack cakes. She stomped over, grabbed something chocolate, and dropped it into her basket.

“Swearing, sex, and now junk food?” Jack asked.

“I need some endorphins. I’m a woman on the edge.”

Jack picked up an identical package, squinting at the ingredient list. “There’s only sugar and fat in these things.”

“There’s chocolate, too. Trust me, it’ll help.”

“What happened to your health-food diet?”

“I’m probably about to die. What’s the point?”

“That stuff goes right to your ass.”

“You think I’m too skinny anyway.”

They both froze, all but their eyes, which cut to each other. Aubrey braced herself for one of Jack’s insults.

Instead he only shrugged. “There may not be much to you,” he said, “but you make the best of what you’ve got.”

Her jaw dropped, but he’d already turned away. “Did you just give me a compliment, Jack?”

“Just stating a fact,” he said, still not looking at her.

Aubrey searched her mind, but all the words seemed to have deserted her.

Apparently they’d fled to Jack because he seemed to be having trouble with silence. “Fine,” he said, “it was a compliment. No need to get worked up over it.”

“Um . . . thank you?”

That got his attention. He frowned at her and Aubrey was pretty sure they were having the same thought. Weird.

“It’s the waiting,” she said. “It’s getting to me.”

“It’s not just the waiting.”

Okay, what did he mean by that? Aubrey thought hysterically. No way she dared ask him, and that was saying something considering some of the things that had come out of her mouth around Jack. But what if he said he was starting to feel something—besides tolerance and lust—for her? Even worse, what if he didn’t . . .

Oh, hell. She wasn’t falling in love with Jack?! Lust was okay, but love? Jack wasn’t in this for the long haul. Either they died or they went their separate ways, and any emotional investment on her part would be downright dumb.

She picked up a bottle of flavored vitamin water, but she couldn’t get it open. Jack tried to do it for her, which only made her angrier. She twisted out of his reach, using the anger to muscle the cap off and take a long, cooling swig.

“Shoplifting, too? You’re becoming a real hardened criminal.”

“I thought you wanted to attract attention. Maybe if I get reported for shoplifting Danny and Carlo will find us faster.” And it couldn’t be too fast for her. She had to get out of the danger zone—and she wasn’t talking about Corona anymore.

Her hopes, along with her heart rate, took a steep climb when they got outside. There was a squad car parked in the driving lane behind the Ferrari, blocking it in. The cop was just getting out of his car and walking around to peer in the driver’s-side window.

Aubrey looked around at the small crowd that had gathered. It took her a moment to pick Jack out. He’d managed to shrink himself down about six inches by bending his knees and hunching over, and he’d chosen to stand near a woman in a ludicrous straw hat who was talking animatedly, and loudly, to her companion. Amazing. Not only did Jack look like somebody else, but all eyes would naturally be drawn to the big mouth.

Aubrey, on the other hand, felt no motivation to blend in. She eased over next to Jack and said, “Are we going over there?”

“No.”

Because Jack didn’t want to be arrested.

The cop went back to his squad car and flipped on his pretty blue and red lights, his eyes scanning the crowd. His gaze ran right over them both, no hesitation.

“He didn’t even recognize me.”

“Craving an adrenaline fix?” Jack asked.

“I want this to be over.”

Since the rest of the crowd had begun to disperse, he headed off across the lot like he had a purpose and a destination. “If you have any ideas, I’m all ears.”

“Let’s hit the beach. You can ogle women in bikinis and I can lay in the hot sun and get a shot of vitamin D.”

“Danny and Carlo won’t be looking for us at Disney World.”

“Disney World. Even better.”
Better than a motel room and close proximity with Jack.
“I’ve never been there. And we’ve tried everything except taking out a full-page ad.”

“We need to stick to the areas that will get us the right kind of attention,” Jack said.

“Why, because that’s working so well? Maybe we should go visit Corona ourselves.”

“Fine, do you know where he lives?”

“No, don’t you?”

“We know some of his addresses, but not where he is at any given time.” Jack stopped at the main street and looked both ways before striking off toward what seemed to be the less residential part of town. “Even if we did know where he was, we can’t just walk in there unannounced. I’d be dead before I got a chance to open my mouth. And eventually so would you.”

Aubrey took one look at their latest hotel room and plopped down on the bed, sighing.

“At least we’re not spending another night in the car,” Jack said, setting their small sack of groceries on the table. “That bed could be bigger, but with your flexibility, we’ll make do.”

He sat on the other side of the bed, leaning down on one elbow. “The bathroom looks clean,” he added hopefully.

“Yippee.”

“You’re not going to primp?” he asked, sounding surprised. And disappointed. If she’d had more energy she might have wondered about the disappointment.

“What’s the use?”

“It’ll make you feel better.”

“Not today.”

“It’ll make me feel better.”

Aubrey perked up a bit at that, but she kept her eyes on her hands and off Jack. “You always complain that I spend too much time in the bathroom.”

“You being irritating is how I know everything is normal.”

For a second there . . . She sighed again, letting her shoulders sag. Wishful thinking. “As normal as it gets for me, you mean.”

“I didn’t say that. And I didn’t mean that.”

“I must really be pathetic if you’re being nice to me.”

“C’mon, Aubrey, don’t lose heart now.”

Losing heart was the least of her problems.

“We’re almost at the end of this thing,” Jack said.

Not the greatest news, either. She used to think the end would be good as long as she didn’t die. Now she wasn’t even sure what staying alive would mean.

“I guess I kind of suck at this cheering-up thing.”

“Cheering up is a people skill, Jack. You’re a man of action. Stick with what you know.”

“In that case . . .” He tugged on the ends of her hair until she fell backward on the bed, and then he loomed over her. Aubrey braced herself for the onslaught, but he just looked at her. Not a comfortable sensation. His expression was mostly illegible but what she could read she didn’t like because what she could read looked a lot like pity.

She tried to roll off the bed, but for once Jack was taking her advice. He wanted some action, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Aubrey didn’t really want to say no; she had something to prove to herself.

He kissed her and she threw herself into it, helping Jack peel her clothes off, and his. In a matter of minutes, he was in such a state of need he was all but shaking with it. And Aubrey felt like a block of wood. It wasn’t Jack’s fault; he was doing everything right. If this were the Olympics, he’d have gotten a ten for technique, but where was the oblivion she was looking for, that overwhelming hunger she always felt for Jack? This was just sex, hot, animal sex, so why was she even able to think?

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, and she realized he’d stopped what he was doing to stare at her again.

She rolled into him. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. “This isn’t cheering me up, either.”

“You’re just tense.” He pushed her over onto her stomach, straddling her and rubbing her shoulders, and he was surprisingly gentle for a man with such big hands. Almost tender . . .

Aubrey looked over her shoulder at him, he met her eyes. There was some sort of connection; nothing she could put a name to but it hummed between them, intense. Then Jack flipped her over, lifted her hips and came into her, slowly, never taking his eyes from hers, moving her as he moved inside her. And she surrendered.

Okay, she said to herself, I’m in love with Jack, and something broke free inside her. Sensation swamped her, threading itself through the love and shooting her to orgasm so fast that all she could do was wrap her arms around Jack and hold on tight until he shuddered against her and she convulsed around him for what seemed like an eternity before they collapsed in a heap, sweat-slick and breathing hard.

Jack rolled onto his side and gathered her against him, resting his chin on the top of her head, heaving a deep, contented sigh. And she tumbled the rest of the way, the words that had deserted Aubrey earlier flooding back all at once. “I—” burst out of her mouth, and she barely managed to catch the next two words back.

“What?” Jack murmured, easing one hairy leg over hers.

She slipped out of bed before he could trap her, and her verbal control disappeared completely. But she could feel him staring at her back, waiting for her to finish her thought—which she had no intention of doing. It was crazy enough to fall in love with Jack, it would be lunacy to tell him about it because then he’d feel a need to set boundaries. There was a good chance neither of them would survive the week, so why get her heart broken today?

“What’re you doing?”

Aubrey glanced over at Jack, lying there like a Greek statue, and just as quickly looked away.

“Do you think it’s a good idea for us to stay here tonight?” she asked, stepping into her panties and hooking her bra before lust got the best of her and put her back in a position where love could make a fool of her. “It’s been three days since we ditched the Caparellis. They have to be closing in by now.”

“I thought we already settled this.”

“No, you decided, like always. You figured some or all of this out and you’re not filling me in, and even if I knew what was going on, you wouldn’t give me a vote anyway.”

“Since you know all that, there’s no point talking about it anymore.” Jack got up, too, pulling his pants on but not bothering with anything else.

She needed a distraction, so she pulled the single chair up in front of the TV, and flipped it on. No cable. The reception was decent but her choices were limited. Reality TV on one channel, a crime drama on the next. Both seemed pretty pale in comparison to life with Jack so she flipped again. And saw her own face staring back at her from the television screen, under a banner that read, “Breaking News.”

Her picture telescoped back into one corner of the screen, the rest taken over by a perky blond news anchor. Aubrey was vaguely aware of Jack coming to stand behind her, but it took another second for the sound to work its way through her shock.

“—wanted in connection with the discovery of a stolen Ferrari at a Florida strip mall. Audrey Sullivan, formerly an employee of the Library of Congress, is believed to have been involved in the armed invasion that took place there last week.

“It was suspected at first that she’d been abducted by one of the gunmen, but the police have since become convinced she was working with the intruders, in an attempt to steal precious documents—”