Calamity Jena (Invertary Book 4) (24 page)

“Fast. Hard.” Her voice wasn’t her own. It was hoarse, demanding, desperate.

Matt gave her what she needed as her nails dug into the flesh on his stomach. He propelled her upwards, out of her body, far away, riding on a wave of sensation and need. Riding the crest of overwhelming desire. All at once the wave broke. She screamed as she fell. Overwhelmed. Lost in him. She only knew his touch, his taste, his scent. There was nothing else. She felt him groan beneath her as she collapsed onto his chest.

Slowly, oh so slowly, she came back to herself. Matt’s hand stroked her back as his breathing evened out beneath her. She felt his heartbeat slow as she trailed her fingers through the smattering of hair on his chest. His hand worked its way up to the back of her head, where he clutched her hair. He angled her head to look in her eyes.

As soon as Jena’s eyes met his, her breath caught. No one had ever looked at her like that before. Like she was everything they wanted. Her heart stuttered at the sight. He pulled her up to his lips and gave her a lazy kiss.

“I changed my mind,” he told her with that panty-melting grin of his. “Next time you want me, don’t ask, just take. Taking works great. Taking is good. You can take anytime.”

With a chuckle, Jena rested her cheek back on his chest and closed her eyes.

Taking was indeed good. Cocooned in his warmth and strength, she felt her eyelids grow heavy. A moment later, she was asleep.

23

“I need to get Jena alone.” Frank Di Marco was pacing his hotel room. Agitation poured from him. Grunt noticed the trembling hands his temporary boss tried to hide. He was terrified. Things weren’t going as planned. Time was running out and he was getting desperate. “That Keystone Cop is with her all the time. You need to do something about him.” He pointed at Joe. “I ain’t paying you to sit around. This is no vacation.”

Joe’s jaw clenched. His biceps flexed. Grunt knew the signs. He was holding on to his self-control by a thread.

“What do you want us to do,
boss
?” Joe spat the word.

“What do I want?” Frank shouted. “I want you to do the job I’m paying you to do. I need access to Jena. And I need it now. How am I supposed to convince her to come with me if I can’t even talk to her? That cop won’t let her out of his sight. I need him gone. I need her alone. And it needs to happen now. Her mom isn’t pulling her weight. Jena isn’t listening to her.” Frank poked another finger in Joe’s direction. Joe looked about ten seconds away from breaking the finger off and feeding it to the man. “I need you two gorillas to pick Jena up. There’s an old factory outside town. I want you to take her there.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’m done screwing around. She’s gonna listen to what I have to say and I need a real quiet place where she can hear me properly.” His grin was equal parts stupid and malicious. Not a good combination. “Got it?” he yelled.

“Got it,” Grunt said to distract Joe from violence.

Frank threw up his hands. “The ape talks!”

Now it was Grunt’s turn to imagine all the ways he could pop the guy’s head like an overripe grape.

Frank waved a hand in disgust, oblivious to the fact he was skirting close to death. “Get out of here. Do the job you’re being paid for. If this hadn’t been last minute I woulda had time to hire a decent crew. Guys who knew what they were doing. We’re on the clock. No more excuses. Get me the girl.” With a flick of his hand, they were dismissed.

Without a word, Joe and Grunt left Frank to his pacing. Once outside Frank’s room, Joe’s demeanour turned murderous.

“I would seriously love to pour some concrete around that little shit’s ankles and drop him into the loch.”

Grunt couldn’t disagree. They went into Joe’s room, where Grunt sat in the only armchair and stretched his legs out. Joe handed him a beer from the mini-fridge. Grunt grunted his thanks. Joe seemed to deflate as he plopped down on the edge of the bed.

“This is falling apart around our ears,” Joe said. “This guy is losing control. If we’re not careful, we’ll go down with him.” He ran a hand over his military-short hair. “I thought this job would be a breeze. Instead we’re likely to get locked up in a foreign jail because we’re taking orders from a moron. We should walk. While we still can.”

Grunt took a large swallow of cold beer. “What about Jena? Frank’s losing it big time. We can’t trust him with her.”

“If we see this through. It means kidnapping her for Frank. You ready to face kidnapping charges if this goes south?”

“I like to think of it as borrowing.”

“Borrowing?”

“Yeah.” He finished his beer and put the empty bottle on the table beside him. “We take her. We put her back. Borrowing. Not kidnapping.”

Joe scratched his belly. “I got a bad feeling about this.” He let out a sigh. “I also don’t think we have a choice.”

“We could tell the cop. Give him a heads-up.”

“What will he do? He’s already powerless against Frank. Until Frank breaks the law, the cop’s hands are tied. All he can do is stand between Frank and Jena, looking mean. If we tell him, we tip our hand with Frank, then this gig really is over. Who’ll look out for Jena if Frank decides to persuade her with his fists? No. We can’t risk telling anyone.”

They stared into nothing for a while, each with their own thoughts.

“Guess we’re borrowing Jena, then,” Grunt said.

“Yeah, years in the marines have come down to this—aiding and abetting an asshole.”

“So we have a plan?”

“We have a plan. We’re going to kidnap a cop’s girlfriend for a guy who’s in thick with the New Jersey mob. It’s a great plan. Not dumb at all.”

“Borrow a cop’s girlfriend,” Grunt amended.

Joe rolled his eyes before fetching more beer. “Hope your woman is the understanding sort. Last time I checked, women frowned upon their men kidnapping other women. Especially the women that belong to their brothers.”

“She’ll never find out.”

Grunt finished his beer to the sound of Joe’s laughter.

Matt woke to find himself pinned by a snoring Jena. She was sprawled over him, her head tucked under his chin, one hand in his hair, the other curved around his body. She had one knee cocked over him, the other leg snuggled at his side. Matt ran his hand down the curve of her back to her glorious backside. She let out a loud snort and Matt shook with laughter as he fought not to make any noise.

“Lie still,” she grumbled, her voice hoarse with sleep. “Go back to sleep. Let me go back to sleep too.”

“I would, princess, but I can’t sleep through your snoring.”

Her head came up and sleepy blue eyes tried to glare at him. “I don’t snore.”

He couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. “You sound like a pig snuffling out truffles.”

She moved her hand and pinched his side. He jerked, almost toppling her. “I’m not a pig, Matthew Donaldson, and I don’t snore.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she narrowed her eyes at him. Man, she was cute.

“If you ever want to get lucky again, you’ll think about what you’re going to say before you open your mouth.”

He grinned widely. “My mistake. You definitely don’t snore.”

“Darn tootin’.” She let her head fall back against his chest as she snuggled against him.

“You know,” Matt said, “threatening to cut me off isn’t going to work. You were the one who jumped me. I’m irresistible.”

She grunted. “Not so much. Let’s see how long that cocky attitude lasts when you have to wait until I’m in the mood.”

He looked down at her. The smile on her face made his chest swell. “How often are you in the mood?”

Her eyes twinkled as she looked up at him. “I could be in the mood very soon if you made me breakfast in bed.”

“This is your house. I’m the guest. Shouldn’t you be feeding me?”

She stuck her cute little nose in the air, sniffed, then dismissed him with a haughty look. “Guess I’ll have to get in the mood another time, then.”

“Minx.” Matt’s stomach betrayed him. He’d woken it up with all the talk of food. It let out a loud, betraying rumble that made Jena giggle.

“Give me a kiss and I’ll fetch food.” He faked a longsuffering sigh.

“Sheesh, is nothing free?” She lifted her head, shut her eyes and puckered her lips.

Matt chuckled at the lack of effort before flipping her onto her back and claiming her mouth. His desire was amped by the way she melted into him. He captured a delicious little moan of need before his belly protested again.

Jena broke the kiss. “Feed me. Feed your stomach.” She pushed him away.

“Fine, but you’re showering with me after we eat. I’m fed up braving that ice water of yours all on my own.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I can think of a few ways we can heat it up.”

“Go away,” she mumbled as she snuggled down under the duvet. “Sleeping here.”

With a shake of his head, Matt pulled on his jeans and T-shirt before heading to the kitchen.

As he passed the living room, he heard his phone ringing where he’d left it beside the pull-out bed. It was his mum.

“There’s been an accident. Your dad fell out of bed and broke his hip. They’re taking him to the hospital.” The worry and fear in his mother’s voice brought out all of Matt’s instinct to protect.

“We’ll be right there. I’ll get the twins. Don’t worry, Mum. He’s tough. He’ll be okay.”

“Aye.” She didn’t sound convinced. “See you soon, son.”

Matt hung up the phone and dialled his sisters, and told them he’d swing by to pick them up. He then ran up the stairs to tell Jena breakfast was postponed.

She was sprawled across the bed on her stomach, her head under a pillow. He lifted the pillow.

“Go away,” she grumbled. “I don’t smell coffee or food. Come back when you have both.”

“Breakfast will have to wait, princess. I got a call. Dad’s in hospital. He fell out of bed and broke his hip.”

She sat up, rubbed her eyes and blinked up at him. “What can I do?”

His chest unclenched. He ran a finger down her cheek. “Nothing you can do. I’m going to Fort William to see what’s happening. I need to drop you off at Abby’s house. Is that okay?”

“Sure thing.” She clambered over the bed. “I’ll get ready fast.”

“That’s my girl.” He grabbed hold of her for a quick kiss as she headed to the bathroom.

24

Jena felt bad that she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She tried to, she really did, but it was like it was stuck there with superglue.

“You’re making me nauseous,” Abby grumbled.

After a day of helping Abby around the mushroom farm and looking after her delightful, but hyperactive, four-year-old, Jena was in need of a relaxed evening. Matt was still at the hospital with his family. His father’s broken hip was being operated on to replace the shattered bone. They would be gone for hours yet. Jena wished she was at the hospital with them, although she knew she would be of little use.

Still, she was pleased to be able to spend time with Abby now that Katy was in bed. They relaxed at her kitchen table for a sumptuous Sunday night feast—complete with wine and chocolate cheesecake. Katy was fast asleep. Pete, the guard Lake had provided while Matt was gone, was standing by the window. Far enough away to allow the women privacy but close enough so he could keep an eye on them and on the driveway leading up to the house.

“If you feel nauseous, does that mean I get to eat all of the cheesecake?”

“No. It means
I
get all of the cake, because you are so obviously getting something else.”

Jena blushed even though she made a conscious effort not to. Abby pointed a fork at her.

“I’m hating you right now. You could be a bit less obvious about the fact you spent a night in Matt’s bed.”

“Technically, it was my bed.” She shovelled more cake into her mouth.

“I miss having a man,” Abby said on a sigh. She put her elbows on the table in front of her and perched her chin on her hands.