Caribbean Heat (8 page)

Crystal went to the closet and pulled out the backpack full of cocaine. “Here’s the load I picked up on the island.” She plopped the bag into Blake’s arms.

Crystal looked from Blake to Jack and back again. “So what do we do next?” She bit at her bottom lip anxiously.

Blake sat and stared at her for a minute, studying Crystal, probably judging whether or not he believed her story. Jack thought she looked genuine and the last time he doubted his judgment they all wound up in a pretty crappy situation. He still had the ability to read people. It was a relief to know that it didn’t end just because his career in the military did.

“I’d like to offer you a deal,” Blake said. “You help us catch those cops, wear a camera and a wire when you do your deliveries and we’ll give you immunity in exchange. Catching the dirty cops, the people higher up, is more important than bringing down someone like you.”

She looked at Blake and then back to Jack. “Is this guy trustworthy?” If the story she told was true, Crystal probably had distrust in cops.

“I’d trust him with my life,” Jack said with complete confidence. Blake was definitely on the right side of the law. He wouldn’t let her down.

Crystal looked Blake up and down, studying the man, and then looked over at Jack. “You better be right,” she said the tough words but the truth was she didn’t have much of a choice. Crystal was caught red-handed trafficking drugs. She either went to jail for it or helped stop the bigger problem.

“I am,” Jack stated simply. Hopefully giving Crystal some confidence in trusting Blake for the dangerous journey she was about to embark on. Blake would take care of this girl, help her out of the situation and catch the bad guys. It was what he did. There was no question in Jack’s mind that Blake would always do what was right. They had grown up together and he’d proven himself honorable time and time again.

“Let’s get out of here,” Blake said and grabbed Crystal’s larger suitcase, giving her the backpack to carry. “Hold my hand, we’ll pretend to be a couple, just in case you’re being watched. We don’t want my presence to cause suspicion.”

Crystal grabbed Blake’s hand and Jack didn’t have to act when he held Sierra’s hand to leave the boat. He could come back later for his stuff. Right now he needed to be with his woman, take care of her, take her home. He hoped like hell she would be willing go with him after all they had just been through. Jack wanted Sierra for real. Whether or not he had a right to the woman didn’t matter anymore, not after coming so close to losing her for good.

Chapter Eight

Sierra walked hand in hand with Jack into the parking area, her heart still pounding nervously from the day’s events and from finding out her friend was acting as a drug mule. It felt like the world was crumbling all around her.

“Is your brother picking you up today?” Jack asked.

“No. In all the excitement I forgot to call him.” Her mind had been preoccupied with so many other things.

“Good,” Jack said and squeezed her hand.

She felt some comfort in having him beside her, in the strength of his strong fingers wrapped around hers.

“Good?” she asked, wondering how the fact that she didn’t have a ride home could be a good thing.

“You can come to my house. I’ll order in some supper and we can…talk.”

“Sure.” She didn’t want to be alone tonight and talking with someone who knew exactly what she was going through would probably be the best thing. She was scared, needed comfort, and Jack was the only person she really wanted. Shooting a man and finding out your friend was a drug mule, all in one day, was a lot for a girl to take in.

But how was Jack involved in all this? He knew Crystal was running drugs and Sierra could be in danger because of it and hadn’t done anything to warn her. She had to keep her guard up until she found out the whole story.

Jack opened the door and she climbed into the passenger seat of the black, chromed-out jeep. She didn’t expect Jack’s ride to be so showy, not that it was obnoxious or anything, but it wasn’t as understated as she expected his car to be, as she saw him. But there were things she didn’t know about the man. Today proved that.

Jack cranked up the engine and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the busy Miami streets.

“Why didn’t you tell me what was going on? I think I deserved to know that my life was at risk.”

“You’re right. You did deserve to know but I thought you were involved.” His hands clenched the wheel, turning his knuckles white.

“Me? Involved? Why would you think that?” It was crazy for him to think, even for a second, that she would be involved in drug running. Sierra had never even had a speeding ticket in her life. Everything about her was squeaky clean. Why would he consider that she was involved?

“I found the drugs in your backpack, in your room…at least I thought it was your backpack.” Jack didn’t look at her, kept all his focus on the road.

Was it because he felt bad that he couldn’t face her?

“You thought I was a drug runner all along? So the sex, the dates we went on were what, you keeping an eye on me?” The thought of it made her sick to her stomach. She’d been falling in love while he’d been using her.

She couldn’t believe it, that Jack would lead her on like that. Her gut ached and tears threatened but she held them back. She wasn’t going to let him see her cry. It was wrong on so many levels and she was the biggest idiot for falling for it.

“Stop the car and let me out.” Sierra wasn’t going to spend another minute with a man who would do what Jack did to her. He was not the man she thought he was.

“Not the whole time. It wasn’t until after we had sex the first time that I thought you had any involvement.” He didn’t look at her. Probably ashamed. Good. He should be.

Jack pulled off the freeway. She didn’t know if this was his neighborhood or if he was letting her out like she requested. It didn’t matter. She just needed to get away, get out of his car before she lost all control of her emotions. Falling for a man who was playing her, who was spying on her. This was a new low.

“But today, when we went snorkeling, and then had sex—you were only there to watch me, to be there when I picked up the drugs?”

He let out a long breath. “Kind of. I tried not to have sex with you.”

“Yeah, well you didn’t try very hard.” She couldn’t believe he would do that to her. She thought he was different, special, but he was just an ass with one thing on his mind. “You can drop me off here.” She had to get away from him, away from the heartache every second spent in his presence caused.

They were at the beach. It was a safe spot to hang out while she calmed down, and she could call her brother for a ride home when she was ready.

“Are you sure? I can give you a ride to your house at least.” His voice was apologetic but that didn’t matter. It was too late for apologies.

“No thank you,” she snarled. She had no reason to stay in his presence for even a minute longer.

“Don’t do this, Sierra.” His words were whispered, remorseful. “Just please don’t do this.”

Sierra shook her head and closed her eyes. She couldn’t look at him. It would be stupid to trust a man who would even think she could be a drug mule, and it would be even dumber to trust one who would have sex with her when he did.

“Here is good.” She turned to face out the window and kept her focus on the ocean, the only peaceful thing in her world. Not that it brought any help to her situation right then.

Jack pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the jeep. Sierra opened her door and stepped out.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said right before Sierra slammed the door and started walking.

There were times when “I’m sorry” just wasn’t enough and this was one of those times. Sierra walked a few steps before she looked back.

Jack didn’t move, just sat there watching her.

Yeah, it was probably overzealous of her not to at least accept a ride home but she could use a walk to clear her head, give herself a little time to cool down and then call her brother. Sierra shook her head and let out a long, calming breath. She needed to think straight.

As she thought about it, she had to admit that the facts did point in her direction. A backpack exactly like hers was found full of drugs, in her room. She couldn’t blame him for suspecting her. But going out snorkeling with her and then having sex when he was watching her? That was unacceptable.

The more she thought about it, the more she saw him doing exactly as he said, resisting as much as any man probably could as she stripped naked and threw herself on his cock.

He did say no…sort of. He’d said, “We should get out of here and back to the boat to have lunch” and “I didn’t bring any condoms.” Sierra just didn’t take no for an answer. Maybe it
was
partly her fault.

And she couldn’t blame him for wanting to stop a drug mule. It was heroic, just like the Jack she thought she knew. Just like the man he really was.

Sierra walked for a quarter of a mile before he pulled up beside her. “Would you like me to drop your bags off somewhere for you?”

The defeated look on his face and the sound of sorry in his voice made her feel silly for her overreaction. He did what he thought was right. He’d been under some tough circumstances. What would she rather him do? Pretend as if he didn’t find any drugs to protect a woman? A man like Jack wouldn’t do that. It was one of the things she found so damn attractive about him. Standing up and doing the right thing, even when it was the hard thing, made him a man she could respect. Even when it almost bit her in the ass.

“I would like a ride after all,” she said. Jack stopped the Jeep and she opened the door and climbed in.

Sierra could at least give him a chance to explain himself instead of jumping overboard at the first sign of trouble.

“Your house or mine?” he asked quietly, without emotion, without pressure.

“Yours.” It wasn’t going to kill her to go to his house, have dinner with him tonight like the original plan. She wasn’t going to throw away everything she had with this man because of a misunderstanding.

“Great.” Jack put the jeep in gear, drove about a mile and pulled into the driveway of a little stucco house.

“You live here?” Sierra questioned. She expected him to have an apartment, not a cute little house in the suburbs. He was at sea for a lot of his time. Having a house didn’t make much sense.

“My aunt left it to me. I like the privacy, the space, like having my own backyard.” He walked to the front door.

Sierra followed right behind him as she took in her surroundings. Palm trees and thick bushes gave the illusion of privacy in the quaint little neighborhood.

“It’s nice.” She dreamed of a little house like this in a neighborhood with kids someday. But she shouldn’t be thinking about that now. There were much more pressing concerns. Like the contents of the white cloth bag he carried with him right now and the potential complications of today’s events.

“What are you going to do with the guns?” She stared at the bag, hoping like hell it wouldn’t cause any more drama in her life.

“I’m going to send them to the bottom of the ocean or a river somewhere. It’s better if you don’t know where I dispose of them. Then you won’t ever have to lie about it.”

“That makes sense.” She was glad he would take care of it, glad not to have to know.

“Will we all have to quit our jobs on the boat?” Sierra needed to know how much her summer was going to change because of today’s ordeal. Common sense said yes. They probably shouldn’t go back to Sol Cay. Ever.

“Yes. I can’t tell you what to do but it wouldn’t be worth the risk. Someone may have seen something. It could turn out badly. I talked to Blake while you were walking and he said his contacts tell him the Sol Cay authorities are already blaming drug wars for the killings. We may get out of this easy and there’s no reason to tempt fate.” Jack slid his key into the lock and pushed open the house door.

“God, I hope so.” It felt wrong, letting the deaths of those men go unsolved, but it was better than going to prison or having to sit through court for defending herself and Jack. Sometimes the law wasn’t just and she sure as hell didn’t want to take that chance. Life wasn’t always black and white. There were a lot of gray areas.

Sierra followed Jack into the house. It was sparsely decorated with a few family photos in wooden frames. A big painting of a Navy ship covered most of one wall in the living room and dark-brown leather furniture filled the room.

“What are you going to do for a job after this?” She hoped he would say something that would keep him close. Not that she had any right to that. He made it clear from the very beginning that this was only going to be a fling. But it didn’t mean she wanted to keep him any less. Even when she knew she shouldn’t.

Jack threw his keys down and they clinked against the glass top of the coffee table in the center of the room. “I don’t know. Blake offered me a job working with him. I may take him up on it. I guess I proved that I can take on the bad guys again. As long as I have you for a partner.” He took a step closer.

With him so near, almost touching, her body needing his, all the sensibility that had been telling her to run, to protect herself, disappeared completely.

“Partner?” What did he mean? She wanted it to be the first thing that came to her mind, her heart, that he wanted something more than a summer fling, but he could just be talking about her being a partner in saving their asses today. She didn’t have any interest in working for the DEA, in pursuing a career as dangerous as that. Today was more than enough fun and excitement.

“I don’t want this to end. I know we won’t be seeing each other every day on the boat anymore but I don’t want today to be the last time I see you.”

Jack pressed his lips to hers softly, but the need for him was as strong as ever. Sierra wanted the same damn thing. Wasn’t ready to give Jack up. Not yet. Not ever.

“I know it kind of started out as a relationship of convenience but it was never really about that. I started falling for you right away.” She might as well be completely upfront about her feelings.

“It wasn’t for me either. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself it was.” The edges of his lips curled up slightly at the admission and he pulled her tighter against him.

“Good.” Sierra snuggled into his arms. “I’m glad I wasn’t the only one.”

“So we’re going to give this relationship a chance?” he asked as he ran his hand down her back. His cock was hard already, pressing against her belly, causing a surge of wetness to rush to her opening.

Like she could say no when every ounce of her being wanted to scream yes. “I think we are.”

He kissed her again. Hard this time, letting Sierra feel just how much he needed her. He held nothing back.

Sierra pulled him with her down the hallway, lifting the shirt over his head as they kissed and moved. She needed him now. Needed to forget about the events of the day, wanted him to make it all disappear, replace it with pure pleasure.

Jack pressed her against the hallway wall, ripping her shirt up and over her head and unclasping her bra. He dipped his head to suck at one breast and then the other until she thought she was going to explode.

He tugged her shorts and panties to the floor. Sierra stood there naked, needing to be one with this man she was falling in love with so damn hard and fast. It was a little scary, the way she was losing herself, but it was too late to stop it now. And she sure as hell didn’t want to stop. Not when it felt this good.

Jack pressed his fingertips to her nub, and then into her slit, and a shiver of pleasure shot through her.