Agent S5: Jaydan Read online

  The car rushed up into the rearview mirror, lights on high beam. She floored it. The traffic light turned red just as she hit the intersection. She rushed through, pedal to the metal. Glancing back, he saw their tail get T-boned, the car spinning like a fan blade in the middle of the intersection.

  Her eyes darted back and forth between the rearview mirror and the road, shadows from passing streetlights playing along her beautiful, focused face. “Should we go back?”

  She did not just say that…

  “Hell no, we’re not going back.”

  Her serious, mint green gaze met his for a moment. “I thought it was your job to help people.”

  He gave an adamant shake of his head. “Not people that are trying to kill me.”

  Laughter started in Hope’s throat and burst from her mouth. She tossed back her head and laughed. “I can’t believe I said that.”

  Jaydan ran a hand over the soft, platinum hair spread out on her shoulders. He understood it, the automatic thinking. Instinct versus the logical mind. With his enhancement, he’d had to train his mind to think logically while his system ran on adrenalin and energy. It went against his body’s natural tendencies.

  He had to be stronger than himself.

  Turning onto the road to the house, she sped down the street, the motor roaring in the night. Jaydan stared out the windshield, looking for bad guys.

  “Pull right into the garage, got it? Don’t slow down anymore than you have to.”

  Hitting the curved drive with a bump, she sped up the path. He hit the garage door opener. Pulling into the garage, she stopped with a squeak of the brakes. He pushed the button to lower the door behind them. Silence filled the cab, save for her rapid breathing.

  “Are you okay?” He searched her face for signs of fear, shock, panic – anything but the relief and cool confidence that shone in her beautiful eyes.

  “I’m fine.”

  A slow grin blossomed on his face. “Good.”

  Grabbing the back of her neck, he crushed his mouth to hers. Energy pulsed through his nerve-endings like whitewater rapids, tremulous, rough and wild. He didn’t know if it was the excitement of the chase, her sexy grin back at the intersection, or their heavy petting session that had him bordering on madness. Whatever it was, only Hope could slake it.

  She moaned into his mouth, her arms wrapping around his neck. Releasing his seatbelt, it popped back and hit the shatterproof window with a crack. Climbing over the center console, he hit his knee on the storage compartment latch. Growling into her mouth, he grabbed the console in one hand and ripped it from the floor. He flung it into the back cargo area.

  Climbing on top of her, he hit the lever beside her seat. It shot back against the rear bench. Popping her seatbelt, she pulled him down on top of her.

  Her soft hands found his bare back, sending ripples of hunger coursing through him. His need for her collided with the energy rushing through him to explode into a reckless, untamed passion that consumed him. The agonizing heat filtered to the surface of his skin, ripe, boiling, hardening his body like molten lava.

  Her palm cupped him through his shorts, her ministrations raising him to a plane of need he’d never reached before. A plane new and ripe with possibility, a plane that would be conquered.

  Taking her hands, he folded them back over the headrest. Her dark, heavy-lidded eyes watched him, her chest heaving, her face flush with passion.

  “Please…” she said in a breathless whisper.

  His hands trembled as he reached for her top, ripping it in half. The pieces fell to her sides, her full, damned perfect breasts spilling out.

  He claimed one with his mouth, it’s sweet fullness plump against his lips. Her gasp echoed in the close confines of the vehicle, breathless and gruff. He suckled with raw thirst, her moans hardening him beyond pain, blinding him to anything but relief.

  Rising up on one hand, he lowered his zipper with hurried movements. Helping him, she tugged down his shorts, his khaki briefs following. She stared at his jutted hardness, her eyes darkening to a swirling jade.

  “Oh, Jaydan…”

  Flipping up her skirt, he realized only a pair of tiny, green panties stood between him and release. Her blatant, wet kiss told him she wouldn’t stop him.

  “Take them.”

  Ripping away the flimsy material, he thrust into her. She cried out, her rough moan resonating with his in the steamy cab. Her warmth sheathed him in intense decadence, urging him on…

  Humbling him.

  Here, there were no disagreements between them but mutual hunger, no fight for dominance but shared pleasure. There was no need to prove – or protect himself.

  Just a need to lose himself in her.

  He moved with wild abandon, starved for her body, craving her response, demanding her release.

  Bracing a foot on the shifter, she propped the other on the doorjamb and lifted her hips. He slid deeper, to the heart of her, the pain along his nerve-endings intensifying. Pumping into her, he claimed her, marked her as his own.

  Her body climaxed around him, taking its own demands, exposing a weakness his strength couldn’t overcome. His release came in a rush, the energy bursting with blinding light, hardening his body.

  And, softening his heart.

  Jaydan had just dozed off when Hope shifted under him on the torn, leather seat. “Jaydan, I can’t breathe.”

  Shooting up, he bumped his head on the roof, denting it. Looking around, he took in her torn clothes, the split leather beneath her, the empty space where the console used to be.

  A sharp, succinct curse shattered the air. He’d completely lost it. He’d allowed the energy to take over, to control him.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  She gave him a soft, sated smile. “No – “

  “Damn, I’m sorry, Les.” Opening the door, he climbed out of the vehicle and extended his hand to her. He’d just had boiling hot, mind-blowing sex with Hope Powers. Had he completely lost his mind?

  “You’re apologizing for making love with me?” Her eyes swirled with hurt and anger as she climbed out to stand in front of him. Her top hung open, exposing her cleavage, her hair a white-gold mess. She moved to shove it out of her eyes, the diamond bracelets sparkling in the garage’s dim nightlight.

  He’d told her cowboys knew how to treat a lady. She stood before him in threads.

  He’d told her father he’d look out for her. Yeah, he’d seen just about every square inch.

  He’d let down everyone. Again. And all at Hope’s expense.

  “My acceleration was running high after you came onto me and…” Glancing down at her exposed cleavage, he cursed again.

  Damn, did he really just say that?

  “Came onto you?” She clutched her top in a tight fist to cover herself. “At the bar, you kissed me first.”

  God, she was right. “To keep you focused.”

  “Keep me focused?” She pointed at herself. “I was focused. On Keegan. You were the one pulling macho bullshit with the red-headed hottie.”

  Did she really call another man a hottie after they’d just had sex?

  Anger rushed through him like a tidal wave. “Maybe you should’ve had sex with the redheaded hottie then.”

  The color drained from her face before she swallowed hard.

  Damn, he was a major asshole.

  “Look, I was out of line,” he said. “Out of control with this system. I’m sorry.”

  Hurt clouded her eyes like a whirling thunderstorm, making him wince. The last thing he’d wanted to do was hurt her. No matter how much they fought, Hope didn’t deserve to be hurt.

  With a hand clutched to her chest, she wrapped the other around her middle. “I’m going to bed.” Passing him, she said, “And, for the record, I’m sorry it happened, too.”

  ***

  “Damn, Mitchell. It wasn’t like I asked those guards to come at me. I had to protect Hope.”

  Jaydan stared at his boss on the computer
screen in the small operations room behind the library bookcases. Just yesterday, he’d bragged about keeping his enhancement a secret by crushing the truck driver’s phone.

  He blew that all to hell tonight at the luau.

  “You and Saint should have your own freaking video channel. You could probably earn a second income on advertising, with all of the hits you’ve had.”

  Rose wasn’t in the mood for Mitchell’s griping. He had enough of that going on in his own head.

  Hope’s parting shot had stung more than his pride. Why was she sorry? He’d felt her climax around him. Her pleasure had brought on his release.

  “What do you have on my intel?”

  “A whole shitload of questions, Rose. You two have stepped into a hornet’s nest. I think its best you get Hope back to San Diego. I’ll put Aidan and Saint on it.”

  Oh, hell no. Forget telling him they’d taken fire tonight.

  “Mitchell, Hope connected with Keegan. I think she can gain us an in we might otherwise lose.”

  Shit, he had to be out of his mind. After what they’d been through tonight, he’d be wise to follow Mitchell’s advice. He’d promised Luke he’d look out for her. He was depending on him to keep her safe.

  “Besides, there’s no way I’m backing out now,” he said. “I owe this to Saint.”

  “Your brother’s wedding is in two days,” Mitchell said. “Something tells me Cyrus Matheson won’t break for intermission while you fly to Texas.”

  Jaydan’s gut churned at Mitchell’s choice of words. “Won’t break from what?”

  “That’s what I’m hoping you’ll find out. If he’s anything like his grandfather, it can’t be good.”

  Taking a bite out of a pear, Jaydan leaned back his chair on two legs. “Okay, I’ll bite. Who’s his grandfather?”

  “His grandfather was Clay Matheson, a business associate of Hope’s grandfather, Seth Powers.”

  “Powers? The bastard that paid Naylor to send away Riordan?”

  His boss nodded. “One in the same. Among the crimes he and his old cronies evaded, Matheson was once suspected of child slave trafficking.”

  Damn, he’d been right about that sick and twisted side of Matheson. He’d inherited it.

  “What happened?”

  “The D.A.’s office could never get a conviction. Care to wager who the prosecutor was on the case?”

  “No clue.”

  “A young, up and coming attorney named Dan Meeks.”

  His chair legs hit the floor with a thump. “You’re freaking kidding me?”

  Jaydan’s mind whirled with confusion. “And they could never tie Keegan’s kidnapping to Matheson? It’s right there in front of our eyes. How could they not see it?”

  Mitchell said, “Based on my information, he was a prime suspect but they could never find any evidence that he was involved. Of course, they didn’t have DNA tracking back then.”

  The sound of Hope’s shower turning on drew his attention. The image of water sluicing over her lush breasts, down her flat stomach to her body’s haven, made his system kick start again.

  “You have to get inside the compound, Rose.”

  He harrumphed. “Easier said than done with Hope around.”

  “I didn’t spend billions on your system to have you tell me you can’t do it. Are you saying I can’t depend on you to get the job done?”

  Anger suffused his body in blistering heat, his jaw clenched to the point of nearly cracking his teeth.

  “I’ll get in.”

  “Good. I expect a report this time tomorrow.”

  No pressure.

  “What about our friend?” The red-headed hottie. Jaydan cursed in his head.

  “Your facial recognition scan pulled up Sgt. Dylan McCall, a Marine, considered a deserter from Afghanistan. Until this scan, he hadn’t been seen since his disappearance a few months ago.”

  “He’s heard of us. Any ties to Matheson?”

  “Not that I can find,” Mitchell said. “Think he’s working with him?”

  Jaydan shrugged. The thought had crossed his mind that the entire note and luau situation had been a setup. He was convinced McCall sent the note.

  But, to set him up? His gut said otherwise.

  “I don’t think so, Mitchell. He helped me tonight until Matheson showed up. Then, he disappeared.”

  “And Hope?”

  Beautiful, sexy, cool under pressure Hope. He’d destroyed her tonight.

  He could never forgive himself for it.

  “She’s determined to see this through, Mitchell.”

  “You’d better damn well make sure she returns unharmed. If you don’t, Luke will have your head on a pike.”

  Chapter 7

  Hope punched her pillow before settling her cheek against the cool cotton. Bathed in total darkness, the room swaddled her in feigned comfort, her phone playing Taylor Swift on the nightstand.

  “Get over it, Hope. It was a quick, lusty romp. That’s all.”

  Why did she make a big deal of it? Her friends slept with just about every guy they dated. Why should she admonish herself like this?

  You don’t sleep around.

  So, why did she sleep with Jaydan Rose, of all people?

  She buried her face in the soft down. God, she’d acted like a complete tramp. A whore.

  He’d ripped her clothes from her body.

  Shaking her head, she tried to make it go away. However, she knew it would haunt her the rest of her life. She’d let him take her, use her like some insecure, lovesick schoolgirl. He’d discarded her when he was done and told her he was sorry.

  Uuugggh…

  You’re a better person than that, Hope.

  She was better. She’d come a long way.

  Tonight, she lost what little ground she’d held.

  Flipping onto her back, she cursed the tears that trailed down her temples and into her hair. To deny the sex had satisfied her, thrilled her, would be a lie. As a mater of fact, she’d gained from the experience.

  She knew what excited her - and what mistakes she wouldn’t make again.

  She’d had sex with Jaydan Rose. She refused to call it making love anymore. He had the body of a Greek sculpture, the dark, rugged good looks of a cowboy and one of the most adventurous and dangerous jobs in the world. If she had to lose her self-respect to a man again, she’d hit overachiever status.

  Blue ribbon for you, Hope.

  Laying the back of her hand against her forehead, she sighed. Funny, how it’d been nothing like her vision. No tenderness, no heartfelt passion, no slow, luxurious lovemaking.

  Just blinding lust.

  It was times like these that she wished her mother were around. She would’ve understood her despair.

  Hope was only five years old when Kimberly DePaul Powers lost her battle with cancer. To this day, she was the best friend Hope had ever known.

  Warm memories of playing dress up with her mother had given Hope her love of fashion. She couldn’t count the number of times her father walked in on them laughing as they paraded in front of the mirror wearing feather boas and tiaras. When Hope raucously insisted they bury Kim with her favorite, hot pink boa, Luke had indulged her.

  He even smiled when Hope wore her favorite tiara to the funeral.

  Fisting the hand on her forehead, she told herself to woman-up. She had no one to talk to, and no one to blame but herself.

  It was time to get on with the task at hand. Now that they’d found Keegan, they had to figure out how to get her back to Natalie.

  Taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind to prepare for a remote view. She had to connect with Keegan again to learn her mental state, to see her thoughts now that she knew they were in Hawaii.

  Why she’d suddenly backed away from her earlier, Hope didn’t know. Something had happened but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what she’d done to cause her reaction.

  She did know the reason for the light in Cyrus’ eyes. Her di
amonds. No one would touch her mother’s bracelets. They may be worth a lot of money, but to her, the memories were priceless.

  Shutting her eyes, she settled into the bed covers and prepared to connect.

  Anything to stop thinking about Jaydan.

  ***

  The next morning, Hope walked into the kitchen without saying a word. Jaydan stood at the stove, eating a banana while pancakes cooked on the griddle. He scratched his bare chest, his eyes following her as she opened the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of orange juice.

  “Want some pancakes?”

  Shutting the refrigerator door, she walked past him. “No.”

  He gripped the spatula in a tight fist, cracking the handle. God above, if he had to suffer with her silent treatment the rest of this trip, he’d lose his mind.

  “I have a name for your redheaded hottie.” Jaydan spat the last word, the thought of Hope finding any man attractive nauseating him.

  Stopping short in the doorway, she turned to look at him. Her hair was pulled back again, her face with minimal makeup. She wore faded jeans and a plain black t-shirt, her tiny feet bare.

  Such a thing of beauty didn’t deserve what he’d done to her, didn’t deserve to spend time in paradise with a lowlife like him. He’d get Keegan Meeks away from Hawaii if it killed him, so Hope could get home and away from him for good.

  “Well?” She held out her hands, palm up.

  After all of the bullshit he’d just fed himself, the only thing he could think about was pulling her down to the floor and sinking inside of her.

  His body stirred inside his half-zipped jeans.

  “Dylan McCall.” Flipping over two pancakes, he looked up at her. “A deserter of the Marine Corp. He went missing from Afghanistan a few months ago.”

  “Let me grab my tablet.” Rushing from the room, she reappeared seconds later as he placed the pancakes on his plate beside the stove.

  Sitting on a stool at the center island, she placed the tablet on the granite surface and brought up the tracker. “I wonder what brought him here? What was important enough to make him break the law and desert his military career?”

  Lathering his pancakes with butter and syrup, Jaydan set the plate on the counter beside her. She looked up at him, her eyes wide with worry. Swallowing hard, she scooted over in the seat, away from him.