In the Still of the Night:Sexy Romantic Suspense (Book 2 The Blonde Barracuda's Sizzling Suspense Series) (3 page)

Lexie could have told Rourke that he could have said a lot of things to her, that might have garnered a more reasonable response. But his chauvinism, however predictable, hit her between the eyes. She jumped to her feet and began pacing the floor, her long blond ponytail twitching dangerously behind her. She did her best to soften her reaction. Even seeing Master Wan’s subtle cautioning shake of his head, didn’t prevent her temper from rising.

“No, Dan. We do not send big brawny men or for that matter any men with the women who hand out these notes. You know as well as I do that the women who work in the massage parlors are terrified of men—particularly the men who look like the ones who train with me. No, we want to encourage these women to trust us. They are much more likely to respond to someone like Ming—even more so than me. Because Ming is Korean, she can speak to them in their language.”

Dan Rourke scowled.

“Listen, Lexie. You women are asking for it. I’m not saying that you caused this girl’s death, but you sure are playing with fire. Hell, you are throwing gasoline on it. What if some of those pimps had snatched Ming, or one of the girls with her? I gotta ask you: Does Jake know what you women are up to?”

Lexie was genuinely angry now.

“Dan, now you’re being insulting. You know the danger that these women are in. You know how pitiful the response of the City—and the police—has been to the plight of these women. What do they do? They arrest the victims. Never the johns or the pimps. No, they punish the victims and charge them fines, that their pimps turn around and add to their debt. Along with a new set of bruises and beatings to teach them not to be careless. I don’t want to be rude, but until you and the rest of the vice squad come up with better ideas, you have no business criticizing our attempts to help the victims of this terrible crime.”

The big Irishman sunk back in his chair, his troubled frown and flushed cheeks confirming that he agreed with at least some of what Lexie had said. His discomfort embarrassed her. She knew she had to watch her temper. Dan and Mark were on their side. Dan had supported her Center in every possible way. She knew he was as frustrated by the City’s response to a seemingly unsolvable issue as she was. She also knew from Master Wan’s calculated silence that he agreed with Dan concerning the danger of Ming’s missions. The Master had already raised the issue with her, in his calm thoughtful way. The clinker in Dan’s criticism was his reference to Jake. Jake was a hero in the law enforcement community. Dan knew him well and openly admired him. What Dan didn’t know was that Jake was fiercely protective of Lexie, and continually on the lookout for possible dangers. He supported her work a hundred percent, but that didn’t mean he always agreed with her methods. And Lexie was certain that Jake would disagree with this particular strategy. She just needed to deal with this incident and not let him find out. Glancing over at Master Wan who was studying her through half-closed eyes, she knew how unlikely that was.

“I’m sorry, Dan. I apologize. That was uncalled for. You are the best vice squad leader I’ve known. I know you’re as frustrated as I am, that we haven’t been able to make a dent in this issue. I’m going to ask you for a favor. I don’t do that often, so I hope you will agree.”

Dan’s frown deepened.

“I’ll do what I can, Lexie. But you know—”

Lexie broke in. Pointing at the pictures of the slain girl, she managed to keep her voice low, although it vibrated with intensity.

“All I ask is that you tell me what you discover about her murder. I need to know if you find out who did this. I hope you can at least give me
her
name. We have a victim wall in the Strong Women Center. It is important that we put a name and a face to these terrible crimes. We want to acknowledge the victims, even if no one else does.” She picked up the photographs and looked at one after the other. “I do not want her to be written off as another Jane Doe, Dan. She deserves to have a name.”

The big man heaved himself out of his chair with a sigh and a slight nod.

“I’ll do my best, Lexie. I’ll leave these photographs with you. Perhaps some of your clients will recognize her.”

What Lexie didn’t add, as she walked them to the door, was that she particularly wanted the name of the massage parlor where the girl had worked. She’d pester Mark Peterson for that information. He wasn’t as “on to her” as Dan was. She agreed with Dan that Ming’s missions were dangerous. Lexie was already plotting a new strategy. Ultimately the exploited girls were more afraid of people like her than they were of their pimps. It was hard to convince them that a group of women could protect them from the evil men who controlled them. Likewise the pimps were so protected by shyster lawyers and an overworked legal system that they were impervious to public scrutiny. In fact they relished the publicity. It added a notch to their belt in the underground community and brought them more johns. But the massage parlor managers were a different story. Often women who themselves had been exploited, those managers had to answer to the pimps and their bosses. And it was those bosses, hiding behind the protective screen of legitimate businesses, that Lexie was after. The madams who ran the parlors, and especially the owners, couldn’t risk public attention. Unfortunately for them, capturing the limelight was one of Lexie’s special gifts. She got attention just blithely walking into a room—much less if she came armed with volatile information and photographs of dead girls.

After Dan and Mark left, and Ming went to her quarters to rest, Lexie hoped that Master Wan would follow suit. But when he poured himself another cup of tea, and put a second pastry on the china plate Jung Kee had left, Lexie knew she wasn’t out of the hot seat.

The stately Chinese man sipped on his tea, then sat back in his chair and squinted at her. “Does Jake know about these missions, Jai Li?”

Lexie huffed. He certainly didn’t beat around the bush. The least he could do was give her an out. She hesitated. There was no use lying to Master Wan. She couldn’t get away with it when she was a sixteen year-old practiced liar and rarely ever told the truth. She could hardly get away with it now. She did the next best thing and turned the tables on him.

She gave him a nonchalant shrug.

“Hmm, not specifically. And, he won’t. Unless someone chooses to tattle to him.”

Master Wan arched an expressive brow.

“And why might someone choose to do that, Jai Li?”

She sniffed. “Maybe because they sometimes forget that I am a
big
girl and can take care of myself.”

Master Wan nodded thoughtfully.

“I would agree for the most part. However I am not as certain about Ming.” He took another sip of tea, and drilled her with a steady gaze. “Are you, Jai Li?”

Lexie glared at her mentor then gave a troubled sigh.

“Did I ever tell you that you play dirty?”

He gave her a pleasant smile.

“Definitions, Jai Li.”

~~~

Grateful that a long day of classes was over, Lexie shooed the final class of students out of the dojo and closed the door behind them. She was more unsettled by the death of the young Korean girl, and Ming’s (and Lexie’s own inadvertent) role in the tragedy than she had let on to Master Wan or the police officers. Not that she fooled Master Wan, of course. He had an unerring sense of her often turbulent emotions, but rarely interjected his thoughts—and virtually never his advice. He honored her in a way no one ever had, which made his rare admonitions—as gentle as they were—all the more potent. Turning as she always did to the punching bag, she systematically began to beat the hard leather with her fists and pounding kicks, barreling her frustrations and fears at her leather target. Its unyielding surface only made her more determined to do the impossible. Burn off the frustration and sadness overwhelming her.

She relented somewhat after the strap on one of her leather gloves broke, forcing her to forego her clenched fists, and instead began driving powerful kicks at the bag. At this point in her practice, she married the barrage of her kicks with full swirling turns that spoke to her fearsome artistry. Her high arched kicks and spins never failed to astonish and crush her opponents, unless they happened to be the individual who taught her the signature move.

Spinning away from the bag, she raised her leg high over her head in a virtual standing split, only to have a strong arm grab her foot and pull her tight up against his hard wall of a chest. Catching her as only he could—halting her move without hurting her, he rolled her to the floor. Covering her body with his much larger and stronger one, he chuckled and drawled in her ear, “How about turning some of that fury on a different target, Darlin’? One that’s been dying to pound into you as hard as you are pounding that defenseless bag.”

Completely caught off guard, Lexie shrieked then as quickly recovered and thrust up against him attempting to dislodge him. A useless effort, given his strength—and the prominent arousal pressing against her fevered body.

Slipping his hands into the waistband of her abbreviated workout shorts, he deftly pulled them off and tossed them over his shoulder. When she shrieked louder, he laughed a hearty roar of pleasure.

Burying his lips against her ear, he chortled, “Damn, Darlin’. I don’t know why you bother. These barely cover your ass cheeks. But even so, they’re too many clothes for me. The same with this.”

In seconds he’d stripped off her exercise bra and tossed it next to her shorts leaving Lexie stark naked on the dojo floor glaring up at the bluest eyes no man should have, especially when coupled with a shock of black wavy hair and a big appreciative grin to match.

Pressing his hard muscular body against hers and ignoring her useless attempts to free herself from his iron grip, he growled, “Now Darlin’, if you’ll just give me some breathing room, I’ll shuck off my trousers and level the playing field.”

Chapter 3

If anyone had told Lexie a year ago that she would be passionately in love with CID Special Agent Colonel Jake Gardner, who also happened to be a Green Beret, she would have thought them insane. She’d determined long ago that men and relationships were of little interest to her. Indeed, except for Anthony and Master Wan, men were suspect. While she didn’t dwell on the ugly events in her past, she hadn’t forgotten them either. She’d had enough therapy to know that the wounds she’d suffered were deep, and though covered by the scars of time, never knew when they would raise their ugly heads.

The passions in her life were her work, her extraordinary talent, and the energy she poured into her mission. For so long, Anthony and Master Wan were the only men in her life. Occasionally Anthony would chide her, insist that she should at least give the hordes of men who surrounded her like bees to honey a fighting chance. But Lexie kept the door to her heart and her emotions solidly shut. It didn’t help that except for her students and her family, most of the men she dealt with on a daily basis were angry husbands, threatening pimps, or bored public officials that made her life’s mission so challenging—and confirmed why men in general were of no interest to her.

And then Anthony, the most important man in her life, was murdered. Jake had been Anthony’s commander for eight years and loved him like a brother. Investigating his murder was a professional and personal mission. The idea that out of this tragedy would come her salvation was unimaginable to Lexie. In the worst of circumstances, more vulnerable than she had ever been, the last thing Lexie wanted or thought she needed was a big, beautiful, powerful man. But that didn’t take into account the force of nature that was Jake Gardner. Jake marched into her life the way he did everything. Charismatic, imposing, in charge. Tall, broad-shouldered, with an easy grin and a charming southern drawl, he commanded every space he entered. Flashing blue eyes, a shock of black hair, and a physique that men envied and women lusted for, made the tales of his prowess with women more than believable.

Hearing his sexy drawl, feeling his strong body pinning her to the floor, stripping her naked and laughing while he did it, Lexie knew she should be screaming in outrage. But after the first shock wore off, and her instinct to fight off this outrageous man was squashed by his overwhelming strength, she gave into emotions more powerful than rage. Passion… and need. All it took was the sound of his voice, to send electric currents zinging to her core. It turned her fierce protests to whimpering pleas. He’d had this effect on her since the first time she met him.

He’d left his shoes at the door, part of the reason she hadn’t heard him enter. With a quick shove, his pants were on the floor, heaped on top of hers. She gaped at the sight of his bare hips, muscular thighs and formidable arousal. Of course he’d gone commando. She tugged at the buttons on his shirt, desperately wanting his bare torso against hers. His scent washed over her. Jake’s subtle expensive cologne, mixed with the heady musk of this powerful aroused man, made her moan with desire. She bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. He bent her knees up close to her chest and nudged her legs apart with his strong thighs, pressing his burgeoning cock against her quivering flesh. His breath was hot against her ear, his voice husky.

“Damn, Lexie. How the fuck do you do this to me? For two weeks I’ve been dreaming about you. About kissing you, touching you, tasting you. Slowly. Exploring every sensitive place, every hidden crevice. Reveling in your beautiful body. Taking every part of you. Teasing you, tormenting you. Making you beg me to come. To scream with pleasure. But, Darlin’ now that I’m here, all I want to do is get inside of you as fast and as hard as I can. Be so deep inside of you, I don’t know where you begin and I end. I need you, Lexie. I need you, baby. Bad, in the worst way.”

The weight of his body, his demanding arousal, sent shockwaves through Lexie’s heated flesh, touching a needy place deep in her soul. She reached up and pulled him closer to her. She wanted his strong body, his hard muscular strength tight against her. “Yes, Jake, yes. Please. Now, don’t wait. I need you. Now!”