Heather Rainier (33 page)

He pressed against her ass cheek, and on the next thrust he slid in to the root and the raw edge of pain dissipated. She took a deep breath and moaned as he slowly pulled back and inched in again. Each time he did it, the burning receded and the pleasure bloomed. Her cunt and clit ached and throbbed until she started to move with him, grinding her ass in a circular motion he sounded like he enjoyed.

Her attention was caught by a humming sensation, and he chuckled in her ear. “Got you a little something, baby.”

She couldn’t see it but recognized the powerful vibrations when he stroked her thigh with the soft silicone vibrator. She clenched her fingers in his when he caressed her cunt with it. Her whole body tensed up, and he groaned again as he quickened the pace of his fucking. He held it to her clit, and she became a writhing mass of need. Her pussy clenched, and the orgasm broke through her with such intensity her jaw locked and she couldn’t make a sound.

“Yes, Jayne. Come, baby!”

He grasped her to him and rolled so that she was on top of him, her back to his chest. His fingers found her clenching cunt, and he rubbed her clit and pumped two fingers in and out of her, throwing her right back to the edge again. They were both soaked with sweat, and their flesh slid and slithered together as he fucked her ass until she felt him arch beneath her, lifting her with him. He trapped her clit between two fingers, and she sank her fingernails into his shoulders as she held on and cried out in ecstasy. He held her firmly clasped in his arms as he drove deep and stilled to a fine tremble. His breathless panting as he came was like music in her ears.

With their legs entwined and his cock buried deep in her ass, they lay there catching their breath. Her body still vibrated from her seventh orgasm of the night, and she couldn’t feel her feet or her fingers.

Seth stroked the juncture between her mound and her inner thigh. “If this is what being married to you will be like, bring on the ball and chain, baby.”

She giggled, which made her clench, which made Seth groan. He stroked her abdomen and she giggled again. They alternated between laughing and groaning as she reveled in the lighthearted aftermath of the most intense sexual experience of her life. She hoped for many more.

Placing his hand over what she instinctively knew was the spot darkened slightly by her radiation treatment, Seth said, “I think you’re the best risk I’ve ever taken, Jayne. I want as many years as I can have with you and as many moments like this as we have time for. Not moving forward because there’s a chance your cancer could return is not an option. I want all of you, your pleasure and your hurts. I’ll love you through whatever the future holds.” He kissed the tears that rolled across her temples as she lay there, luxuriating in his care.

Jayne giggled as her cell phone chimed in her pocket. Wiping her hands to get any stray wet paint off of them, she glanced over to Toby, who had been alternating between watching her in fascination and gumming his stuffed bunny and his other toys. He had more teeth coming in but wasn’t one to complain much. He just drooled nonstop.

A few minutes before, she’d surreptitiously shot a picture of herself dressed in one of Seth’s old shirts, with the buttons undone and her posed so that he could see lots and lots of cleavage.

Seth’s reply had been immediate.
“You’re killin’ me, woman. I want to kiss them both but I have to work. I like you in my shirt though. I love you.”

Feeling naughty for distracting him, she slipped into the bathroom and unbuttoned the shirt so he could see her breasts more fully, gave him a come-hither stare and crooked her finger. She was thankful her bra was ivory lace. The effect wouldn’t have been as good if she’d been wearing her plain white bra. She checked the picture before sending it, satisfied that nipples and cleavage were looking good, and then giggled as she clicked Send.

The next reply came even quicker.
“Not only do I want to kiss them, I want to take a bite of them, and then spank your luscious butt for teasing me. I love you.”
She peeked around the bathroom door to check on Toby and make sure he was fine.

Feeling positively wicked, she unhooked the front closure of the bra and peeled the cups back and took a picture blowing a kiss. The lightning-fast reply was four words.
“*thud* I love you.”

Knowing she might very well get a spanking for it, and relishing the thought as her panties grew damp, she slid Toby’s playpen into the living room, from where it had been in the hallway, and popped in a
Yo Gabba Gabba!
DVD. Toby clapped and chortled as the music started.

Jayne slipped back into the bathroom and stripped, posed quickly, snapped the picture, and reminded herself to delete all those salacious images from her phone as she hurriedly sent it to him with the message,
“Mr. Carter, I’ve been a very, very naughty girl.”
She dressed quickly, checked on Toby, and then went back to painting.

Seth’s reply was just as quick.
“I am marrying a goddess.”

With red-hot cheeks, she perched on the ladder, turned the camera, and took one more picture, wondering if he’d see the love that vibrated in her soul for him in her eyes. She hit Send and put the phone on the top of the ladder for easy access. She almost felt bad for keeping him from his work.

A deep, unfamiliar, accented voice echoed in the empty room. “Well, well, well. What have we here?”

Jayne’s heart stopped in her chest. Seth had locked and bolted the door himself before he’d left for the studio that morning. Lucy had the only extra key on her key ring now. The only way in the front door was breaking in.

* * * *

Seth smiled as another message came through. Did she have any idea how much she was torturing him? Did she have any idea how much he adored her right now—how much of a sap he was for her? He opened the picture and smiled. Her emotions were written all over her face. More than anything, he wanted to hold her and kiss her, but he had a client walking in the door. He turned to the light to get a better look at the picture and paused. In the background, which was a little fuzzy, were two other people. One was holding Toby above his playpen in the living room, and the other one was in the hall, his back to Jayne.

No one was scheduled to be at his house today. And dressed in black business suits, they didn’t resemble any of their friends. A cold chill swept over him, and a sense of something urgent that he couldn’t pinpoint made him plead a family emergency with his client. He started to dial Jayne’s number after locking the front door on the studio, but then stopped himself. If she had her phone with her, there was no point in giving that fact away by calling her. If it was just people from her work or her family who had come by, then he’d find that out in a few minutes. If something bad was happening, and he had a bad, stone-cold feeling it was, then the better course of action was to call Hank Stinson. Second-guessing himself, he halted that call and drove to the house as quickly as he could.

* * * *

The unfamiliar man, dressed in a black suit, held up Tamar’s cell phone, which Seth had left on the kitchen counter, and in English, heavy with a French accent, he said, “Breach of contract is very bad form. Where is Tamar?” His tone left no room for question or equivocation.

“She’s gone. Japan, I think. She left Tobias with Seth two months ago. Who are you? What do you mean, breach of contract?”

Staring at her speculatively, he seemed to arrive at some sort of decision. “You may call me Henri. I’m completing the deal I struck two months ago. Thank you for turning on the cell phone. We’ve been hoping to track the GPS signal. The couple I made the bargain with was growing impatient.” His words were sharp and overarticulated as though he was finally able to vent frustration he’d been holding in.

Jayne’s heart dropped in her chest when another, larger man appeared behind the one speaking, holding a very wary, haunted-looking Toby. He also spoke with a thick French accent. “The diaper bag on the counter is already packed.”

The baby leaned as far away from the man as he could, and when Toby saw her, he reached for her and whispered her name. He stared warily at Henri, and it was then that she recognized the name.

Henri, Tamar’s business acquaintance. Nefarious. Blackmailer.

The memory of the dream Seth had described returned to her. Her fingers shook as she held the ladder with one hand and surreptitiously pressed the volume control on her phone, where it was lying inside the shallow tool tray on the top of the ladder, until the ringer was muted.

Unsure where the bravery came from, she stepped down from her high position on the ladder, sliding her phone into the front of her jeans, praying they hadn’t noticed. Maintaining eye contact with the man holding the baby, she didn’t beg or cry or plead.

She turned to Henri, and with the strength of the conviction that coursed through her blood she said, “You might as well kill me now, because you’re not leaving with my baby.”

Henri chuckled and pursed his overly full lips and glanced at the other man and then at her, nodding thoughtfully. He tugged at the wispy goatee that did a poor job of hiding his weak chin and said, “Why would I do that? I need
you
to care for the baby. Then I can deliver him in well-cared-for condition.”

Over my dead fucking body.
“Where are we going?”

“Back where he belongs. Paris.”

“And what then?”

“Then I see how much you bring. Lovelies such as yourself disappear every day.” He shrugged. “Of course, if you struggle or fight, we will shoot you and
still
take the baby.” He
tsked
as though that would be an unfortunate outcome. “But we wouldn’t want that to be his last recollection of you, now would we?” He held that over her head knowing she’d never want that for Toby.

Cold fear congealed inside of her, even as her anger bloomed. She still had her phone. She had friends who could help her.

Be cool, Jayne.

She glowered at the man holding Toby and reached for the baby, taking him as though it was her right and they weren’t about to be kidnapped.

Henri gestured, looked around her home dismissively. “Bring the diaper bag. She will care for him on the trip to Lusty. Those hicks had better have the Learjet repaired and ready. I want no more delays.” The other man retrieved the diaper bag as Henri removed a revolver from his pocket and poked it painfully into her ribs. “Make one sound once we step outside, draw attention to yourself in any way, and I will shoot you and leave you bleeding to death on the front lawn and take Tobias anyway. Do you understand? There is no reason for you to be injured. Do not tempt me, because I won’t hesitate. I made a deal involving this little boy and I’m seeing it through. You just sweeten that deal and will help me recoup my investment in this trip.”

Lusty. Lear repaired and ready. Lusty. Wait a minute. Julián Alvarez is from Lusty.

“What deal? Why are you doing this?”

“Why? Because Tamar owes me. When her financing for our little moneymaking arrangement dried up, she and her brat had been freeloading off of me for months. My employees cared for this one”—he gestured at Toby—“and Tamar owes me for that. It was obvious she didn’t care much for him, so I found the perfect solution to pay her debt.”

Henri gestured for her to follow. She reached for the diaper bag, which the man handed her. Quick as a wink, she shifted Toby as though making him comfortable and slipped her phone from her jeans and into one of the deep pockets in the diaper bag.

She followed quietly to the sleek, black SUV waiting outside, head bowed, holding Toby, who was deathly silent, against her. She prayed that one of their neighbors was home and would see. She had gotten to know all the neighbors in the time she’d been around Seth’s house, and they might find her demeanor odd.

The other man gripped her arm tightly, stopping her, and patted her down with his free hand before she climbed into the vehicle. She hid her relief that she’d hidden the phone in time and prayed he didn’t go through the bag. A car seat was installed in the middle of the backseat, and she buckled Toby into it.

“May I get a toy out of the bag to give to him, please?”

“Of course, my dear. I’m glad to see you’ve chosen to be amenable. That makes this so much easier.”

Fuck you, asshole.
Holding the bag in her lap, she unzipped the top compartment and reached inside.

With one hand she reached for a toy as she surreptitiously retrieved the phone with the other.

Dumbasses never even bothered to check the diaper bag.

* * * *

Seth tore in through the open front door, careful to touch nothing as he called out, “Jayne! Toby!”

The house was as silent as a tomb. He ran to the back door, disbelieving. Nobody in the backyard. There wouldn’t be. Jayne never would’ve left the front door wide open like that. His hands shook as he dialed nine-one-one. Moments later, with Hank Stinson himself on the way, Seth dialed Ace Webster’s cell phone number.

He waited on the front lawn as the law officers and Ace and Kemp converged on Bluestem Street at the end of his driveway. He showed Hank the last picture she’d sent, incongruously grateful for Jayne’s sake that he’d deleted the last three as a precaution to protect her. Phones got lost all the time and those images were private. In daylight, he recognized the build of the man in the hallway. Tamar’s “business associate” and lover, Henri Broussard.