Sinful Resurrection (CSA Case Files 2) (4 page)

“What have you done to my life, Emily?”

Jax couldn’t resist her any longer and slowly closed the distance between them, grabbing her close.  He buried his face into her hair, unable to believe that he really held her in his embrace at long last.  Her arms wrapped around his waist as her fingers clung to him.  If Emily thought he could ever let her go now, after being given this second chance, she was dead wrong.  He had to believe she had a good reason for blowing her cover wide open.  The toll of having been away from her turned to one of desperation.  He needed to salvage what was left in the most basic animalistic way and deal with the consequences later.

Pulling away, he framed her heart-shaped face with his hands and looked into her blue eyes that were filled with regret and something else that he couldn’t attach a name
to.  It would come to him later, but right now, his gut twisted at how much time they’d wasted.  If Jax had known all along that she would throw herself to the wolves like this, he wouldn’t have made the decisions he had.  This time would be different. 

“Kiss me, please,” Emily whispered, leaving her pink lips parted.

Jax couldn’t ignore her pleading, although any other time his dominant tendencies would have reared its head.  As it was, he needed this as much as she did right now.  Discarding the preliminaries, he claimed her lips with a hunger that hadn’t diminished in any measurable way.  He drank from her well, holding her firmly so that he could have his fill.  It was as if he was a man wandering the desert, searching to quench a thirst which had no end.  She gave him unlimited access.  It wasn’t nearly enough to call it even a drop.

He dragged his lips away from hers, sucking in oxygen while reaching between them.  Jax managed to shed the borrowed jacket from Emily’s body, letting it drop to the floor.  He had her jeans unbuttoned and unzipped before spinning her to face the wall.  Emily cried out in hunger and placed her hands on the yellow cracked paint for balance as he whipped her jeans and red panties down to her ankles.

“Don’t move,” Jax murmured, lucky he could get that out. 

Before standing, he took this moment to grab onto whatever sanity he had left.  Her tanned legs still had the toned muscle mass that always amazed him for one so feminine.  Jax let his callused fingers caress her skin up until he reached the curvature of her perfectly shaped ass.  Her flesh was so flushed with warmth for it having been so cold out.  Leaning in, he placed a soft kiss on the small of her back, promising himself that he would go slow next time around.  The heat seamed to sear his lips.  He forced himself to pull back.  The cleft that was formed just below her heart-shape
d ass and before her legs began framed her sex.  The thought of tasting her peach once again caused his manhood to grow.  His dick was so hard the restrictive denim was starting to cut off his blood flow. 

Standing, he reached into his back pocket, snagging his wallet.  Jax removed the condom he knew would be there.  Holding the wrapper in his teeth, he released his cock and then quickly went to work covering his granite member with latex.

“Hurry,” Emily whispered, looking over her shoulder.  “I need you.”

“Who do you belong to?” Jax asked as he leaned his body against hers.  The guttural tone didn’t even sound like him.  This is what she’d resorted him to…a ravenous animal.  His cock lay in the warmth of her crevice.  “Say it.”

“You, Sir,” Emily cried, pushing back against him with her hips.  The fact that she didn’t hesitate fueled his need to claim her.  “You.”

“Fucking right you always have,” Jax exclaimed, trying to diminish the desperation that laced his voice.

He wrapped his hands around her waist. Tilting her hips back, Jax claimed her with one thrust.  He swore everything went red as the blood rushed through his ears.  The heat of her pussy wrapped around his cock.  He stayed buried there, not moving, soaking in the sensations that he’d been deprived of for so long.  His chest tightened as all of the emotions that he’d bottled up inside of him seemed to explode.  Letting out a throaty groan, Jax finally registered that Emily was back in his arms.

* * * *

For the first time in two years, Emily felt alive.  She knew this little scene in the foyer didn’t assure her that Jax wouldn’t walk away when this was over, but it did give her some slight sliver of hope to hold onto.  It was as if her body remembered every nuance of his, from the roughness of his fingers to the heat that registered off of his body.  She threw her head back, letting it rest against his shoulder.  God, she missed him.

“Do you remember the first time you called me Sir?” Jax asked, his voice raspy as he spoke against her ear.  “And how differently you used that title when we ended up in the bedroom?”

A rush of memories overcame Emily while his body filled the depths inside of her.  Her pussy was rippling, keeping its grip tight on his cock as if he might pull away.  Now that he was seated so deep within her, Jax let his hands roam up the sides of her, following the path of her arms to her hands.  Lacing their fingers together, he then leaned down and traced her shoulder with his moist tongue.

Emily remembered Jax in his fatigues, enjoying a beer with Connor Ortega.  His best friend had invited her to jo
in them for drinks and at first she’d said no.  But then Jax had flashed this smile so intriguing that she found herself seated between the both of them.  It didn’t take long for Connor to realize that she’d only had eyes for Jax.  For seven days and six nights, they’d spent every minute they could together until she’d revealed her secret.

“The way your cream is leaking around my cock, I would say you do,” Jax whispered, tightening his fingers on hers. 

“Fuck me,” Emily said, her voice coming out strangled.  “I need you to take me.”

“God, I’m going to love training you again.” 

Emily was grateful she’d taken a deep breath, for Jax didn’t slowly pull out.  He lunged back and plunged deep within her sheath.  And he didn’t stop there.  Over and over, he pounded into her until that telltale nerve traveling up her inner right thigh alerted her of her impending orgasm.  She felt herself floating as she allowed his pacing to send her right to that edge and with one more thrust, she screamed her release.  It wasn’t long before she recognized that he had joined her in ecstasy. 

Jax’s words reverberated in her mind though, and Emily found herself wondering if she could stay alive long enough to once again become his submissive in the bedroom.  She had found peace there that she hadn’t been able to fin
d anywhere else.  Unfortunately there were still things he didn’t know, but now wasn’t the time to disclose that information…at least not all of it.  As reality started to creep in that they were in the foyer of a safe house that probably wasn’t as safe as he thought, Emily felt the weight of her existence returning to diminish her afterglow.  She might as well start with who she really was.

“My real
name is Grace,” Emily blurted out.  She rested her forehead on the wall and winced when Jax’s hands fell from hers.  “Grace Emily Weisslich.”

Chapter Four

Jax monitored the computer screens, which displayed every angle of the land that the house sat upon.  The area was vast, al
though to the east and south the forests were thick with vegetation.  The north and west were wide open, giving him a clear view of anyone or anything that might approach from either direction.  A few deer had passed by this morning, looking for fresh greens as the grass had started to grow upon spring’s return.

“Coffee?”

Jax had known the minute she’d awakened, surprised that she hadn’t slept longer.  Letting her take one of the bedrooms upstairs, he’d crashed on the couch for multiple reasons.  He just wasn’t sure which one outweighed the other. 

Jax hadn’t said a word after she basically threw his reality into a tailspin, although he’d managed to grab a couple hours of fitful sleep. 
Grace
?  She looked no more like a Grace than he did.  Needing time to process the fact that she had indeed lied to him made him take a step back and reevaluate every word they’d exchanged.  He didn’t like what he was coming up with.

“I’ll get it myself,
Grace
.”

“Jax, less than eight hours ago
we made love.” 

They’d fucked, but he wasn’t going to argue over the verbiage.  A coffee cup filled to the brim appeared before him.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that she’d piled her blonde hair on top of her head.  She’d showered and changed into jeans and a blue sweater that looked a little worn. 

“Just because I withheld my full name doesn’t change anything.  I’m still Emily and that’s what I’ve always gone by.”

“We had sex.”  Jax took the offered mug,
still smarting from the betrayal.  Until he had a handle on the situation, it was better if he maintained some distance.  “It was my mistake to start something that can’t be finished.  It won’t happen again.”

Emily sighed
as if she were dealing with a petulant child.  He resisted the urge to show her different.  He needed answers and dragging their personal life into this shit storm wouldn’t help.  She stepped around him and took a seat in the desk chair. 

They were in a room off of the kitchen.  The small square area consisted only of a long desk surface with several monitors and one black leather chair.  It wasn’t meant for comfort.  What it did have was a trapdoor escape route leading under the hardwood floor in case of an emergency.  The underground path would lead them a quarter mile north to an old shed, which contained a vehicle that he and Connor had specifically placed with the intention of flight. 

“I want every detail of every second from the time we first met.”  Jax paused, tracking movement on the left screen as the software automatically highlighted the frame with a red box.  It was a doe looking hesitantly across the open field.  Flexing his jaw to relieve the tension in his muscles, he continued to look at the monitors.  “Now.”

“I spent that entire week with you,” Emily replied, spinning the chair so that she faced him.  “There is nothing to add.”

“Nothing to add?  You withheld your name from me, Emily, even back then.  I want to know why.  I deserve to know why.”

“I’ve always been called Emily.  As for my last name, I worked for the United Nations.  I was always careful when I gave out personal information,” Emily replied, situating herself a little more comfortably in the chair.  “Back then was no exception.  And by the time I got around to trusting you enough, all hell broke loose and you had given me a new identity anyway.”

Jax noticed that she crossed one arm across her abdomen and knew that she’d just lied.  He withheld calling her out on it, holding that tell to himself.  He remained silent, wanting to see how much she would reveal and how much she wouldn’t.  He didn’t like to view this as a test, but he wasn’t sure he could call it anything else.  She didn’t seem to understand the sacrifice he went through to give her back her safety while he continued on, living an empty existence.  It was obvious that he’d built those seven days into something more monumental than they actually were.

“That Friday, when I found the evidence regarding Amato’s death, I called Schultz —”

“Which I can’t figure out,” Jax said, shaking his head in confusion.  “You called me that morning, told me what had happened and begged me for my help.  When I realized exactly how perilous the situation was, we handled it the only way we could.  You were safe.  Why would you call Jessalyn and then call me?  And don’t play that
cousin
crap with me.  If you had such a strong connection to such a high ranking official who was willing to help you, all he needed to do was send someone to pick you up and place you in protective custody.”

“I didn’t trust him like I did you.
  After deciding that hiding for the rest of my life—while you got to live yours—wasn’t going to work, I then had no choice but to hand the evidence over to Schultz.  Unfortunately, the minute it leaked that he had something so monumental, Alekseev knew that I was still alive.”

“Now I know you’re bullshitting me.  You couldn’t even bring yourself to tell me your name.  Your lies are starting to run off the tracks.”

“After I was able to leave the building, I had realized that I’d left my purse, keys and cell phone at my desk.”  Emily lifted her mug and took a sip.  Jax was relatively sure she was stalling and thinking of this shit as she went along.  His fingers tightened on his cup in frustration, although he continued to play her game.  “I walked to the parking lot and bided my time, waiting for someone to come out.  Once I spotted an older gentleman, I told him that my car wouldn’t start and asked for a ride to the bus stop.”

“I already know this part, Emily.  What’s this got to do with Jessalyn?” Jax asked, wanting her to bypass these mundane details that probably weren’t true anyway.  “How do you know him?  It’s a simple question.”

“I didn’t.”  Emily peered up at him through her lashes and for the first time that morning, Jax met her gaze.  Instead of the anticipated guilt he expected to see for the lies that she told, her blue eyes seemed to be lit within and full of agitation.  It was almost as if she was afraid to lose track of her lies.  “When this gentleman dropped me off, I stole his cell phone.  As I went to call you to come pick me up, it rang.”

“And you expect me to believe that Schultz Jessalyn happened to be calling at that precise time?  On a phone you’d just stolen from a stranger?” 

Jax had had enough of this shit.  The woman sitting in front of him was not the Emily he once knew.  Taking one more look at the monitors and then confirming that the perimeter alarms were still active, he turned and walked into the kitchen.  Tossing his coffee into the sink, he then slammed his mug onto the counter.  He knew he couldn’t stomach one more lie right at the moment.

“It doesn’t matter if you believe me,” Emily said, determination evident in her voice as she followed him into the kitchen.  “What matters is that instead of following his orders, I called you.”

“Why did you?” Jax asked, unable to prevent the words from slipping out.  He turned toward her and leaned up against the sink.  It wasn’t a big room, although it did contain a small kitchen table off to the side.  She didn’t bother to sit down, but instead came to stand directly in front of him.  He didn’t remember her being so self-assured.  “If you were going to throw away the life that I gave you, why pretend?”

“You might have believed that, but I never thought about walking away from you forever.”  Emily must have left her coffee in the other room, for she slipped her hands into her back pockets and shrugged her shoulders.  Vulnerability crossed her features and it was all he could do not to reach for her and pull her into his arms.  He’d already made that mistake; he wouldn’t do it again.  “I just needed time to be able to prove who murdered
Bianchi and then hand over the evidence to Schultz.”

Jax suddenly felt the blood in his veins run cold.  He had to have heard her wrong.  She was a lowly administrative assistant, with little clearance at the UN.  Wasn’t she?

“What do you mean you needed time to prove it?”  Jax reached back and grabbed the counter so he didn’t reach for her.  “Didn’t you leave for Florida like we’d planned?”

“Not exactly,” Emily hedged, shifting on the balls of her feet and giving a tiny shrug.  “I stayed in New York, although kept mostly to the suburbs while I tried to find more evidence.”

Jax struggled to breathe, picturing her out in the open and basically making herself a target while he’d been out of the country.  All he’d gone through, calling in every favor ever owed him to create her a brand new existence and she’d thrown it away.  He’d made the biggest sacrifice of his life and she’d dishonored that for a pipe dream.

“And what then, Emily?” Jax asked, trying to make her see reason.  He tightened his hold on the granite behind him.  “Did you think that whoever as
sassinated the former Secretary-General was going to allow you to go back to living your life?  In case Schultz hasn’t gone over what will happen once the Attorney General takes this to the United Nation’s Security Council, let me enlighten you.  You will testify, be taken to an undisclosed location, given a new identity and placed into witness protection where you will then live out the rest of your life in a tiny house with a white picket fence situated in a small town — never to be heard from again.”

“Jax —”

“And that’s if you’re lucky,” Jax said, continuing over her interruption.  “What is most likely the case, the person actually responsible for making the hit on Amato Bianchi will use his resources to locate you and neutralize the threat you pose.  If it’s Alekseev like you’re claiming, he’ll be given diplomatic immunity and be sent back to his country, able to carry out your execution throughout numerous available contractors.”

“Damn it, Jax,” Emily said, her hands coming out of her pockets to sit on her waist.  Her brows dipped down and a frown marred her lips.  “I know what
could
happen, but Schultz guaranteed —” 

“If it’s Schultz who’s spinning these tales of a happily ever after to get you to do what he wants, he succeeded.  Not only h
as he placed a big fucking bullseye on your back, but you’ve just endangered the lives of my team.”  Jax pushed away, needing to speak with Connor, but knowing he had to wait until his friend contacted him.  Patience had never been his thing.  Jax brushed by her and crossed the threshold into the monitoring room.  “I didn’t take you as naïve, Emily.”

* * * *

Emily opened the refrigerator in frustration, giving herself something to do.  They had to eat, so she might as well make something to occupy her time.  She saw that there were a few perishable items that had just been purchased and couldn’t help but wonder by whom.  Crest, Kevin, and the rest of the team didn’t even know where they were, so how had Jax managed to get a message to someone without anyone knowing? 

A carton of milk, a dozen eggs, bacon, and a few condiments were situated on the top shelf.  Peeking in the freezer, she saw various frozen meals.  Looking to the side, she saw a pantry.  Opening it to reveal the contents, she decided Jax could fend for himself.  She was having a bowl of cereal.

Once situated at the small table, Emily thought over her options as she stabbed her spoon into the milk.  As she slowly chewed the small squares of puffed wheat and sugar, her mind churned and comprehended that she would have to tell Jax the truth sooner or later.  She’d prefer later, as it gave her a chance to contain a volatile situation, but she honestly didn’t know if she’d be given the time.  It was as if she could actually see the sand of time running through her fingers.  There was one vital thing that she needed to do.

Finally finishing her breakfast, Emily walked her bowl over to the sink and rinsed it out.  Leaving it to wash later and glancing at the dark wooden door to confirm that Jax was closed up in the other room, she made her way through the house and into the living room where Jax had left his backpack.  Unzipping the outside pocket, she found the extra prepaid burn
er phones that she knew he would have.  Taking one and then making sure the bag appeared untouched, Emily quietly maneuvered her way upstairs to her bedroom.

Once concealed in the old-fashioned room decorated with aging roses and lace wallpaper, Emily used the flip phone to dial the number she knew by heart.   Situating herself in front of the window to give her a better angle of the grounds, she waited for the other end to connect.

“Hello?”

“Aunt Beatrice, it’s me,” Emily said with a smile for the first time since she could remember.  Hearing the older woman’s voice always managed to lift her spirits.  While she was in her mid-seventies, the woman was an eccentric artist who would always remain young at heart.  “I don’t have long, but I need you to do me a favor and catch the first flight to Paris.  Tell your friends you’re going the
re to study something, anything that will be believable.”

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s so good to hear your voice!  You were beginning to worry me.  I haven’t received anything in the mail for a couple of months,” Beatrice said, her worry evident with every word. 

“I’m doing what I have to do to end this,” Emily said, scanning the view.  The area was desolate, although the trees to the south gave coverage that she and Jax needed.  “But you make it very hard when you don’t do as I say.  So I need you to —”