Blindsided (14 page)

“Where else would I end up? I’m not going to drag Mom and Dad into this, and they don’t have it to help me anyway. Believe me, Donovan and Henderson will have checked out their finances.”

Kerin made a helpless little gesture. “I’ll be happy to give you money if that’s what you need, but—”

“I’ll do it.” Jesse wasn’t exactly sure what prompted him to say it.

“If they’re keeping tabs on Kerin’s accounts a large withdrawal will clue them in. I can do it through my business. Have the money transferred to an account in a different country if you want. We do that all the time if we contract a project overseas.”

* * * *

At some later time she was going to have to assess the emotional extent of her reaction to Jesse’s more than generous—ridiculously so—offer. Had they really become so deeply involved with each other
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so quickly? Here was her brother offering up information on how he was accused of criminal activity of some kind and Jesse jumping in with both feet on his side.

Well,
her
side.

His arm felt solid and comforting around her waist, the heat from his body warming her not just from the contact but from the protective gesture.

“You don’t have to get involved with this.” Even as she spoke she betrayed the sentiment by leaning into him even more. It was involuntary, but telling. All her life she’d been fine standing on her own two feet but there was something about Jesse McCutcheon that brought out a streak of dependency she didn’t even know she possessed.

Did she like it?

She wasn’t sure. It was more accurate to say it surprised her beyond belief.

“I’m already involved,” Jesse said in dry observation. “If I wasn’t I’d still be in Northern Wisconsin minding my own damn business.”

He looked at Rob. “How do you want to handle this?”

Her older brother shook his head. There were lines in his face she didn’t remember incised by his mouth. “I’m not going anywhere, and besides, my passport might be no good at this point. I’m going to bet that’s the first thing Henderson did. It depends on whether or not he really is intent on hanging me out to dry or if Donovan acted on his own back in Florida. Either way, I’m going to guess Nathan either knew what he was going to do, or is just protecting Donovan after the fact. They’ve got to be in bed together over whatever started all of this.”

She still had a hard time wrapping her mind around the conspiracy aspect of what Rob was saying. “How can they do that?”

“He has the authority of the federal government, Keri. If what I suspect is true, he’s abusing it as they do their best to track me down.”

Her brother ran a weary hand over his face. “This is seriously fucked
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up. If I hadn’t reported—”

“Then you would be as bad as Donovan.” She might feel like she was in the middle of a suspense novel, but she worked hard to
save
lives. “Can’t you write the report again and send it to someone higher? Your side of the story, in writing, getting them both investigated?”

“All of that requires letting people know where I am and stepping up the heat. Not a bright choice at this time. They really aren’t playing around if what Jesse here tells me is true about them following you.

Who knows, maybe it isn’t even just the two of them. Maybe there are a few more people involved. Once again, I am not sure who to trust. It sounds like if I push it, I could get myself a murder indictment.

Henderson isn’t a small fish.”

She silently agreed with reluctance, recalling her fears and uneasiness of the past two months. Kerin compressed her mouth and stared at her brother. “So what do we do?”

“I need to figure out what they’re covering up. I have a decent start on it. It’s a friend with some ties in the right places who is looking into a few things for me, trying to help. I have a hunch or two, but I don’t want to put anyone else in danger. I saw Donovan kill. I know he rigged my car. That means keeping everyone I care about out of his path is a damn good idea.”

This was all wrong. There should always be recourse. Didn’t they live in a democratic country where due process was the law and it was illegal to try and kill people? Kerin felt more than a little stunned and disillusioned.

Her brother shoved himself away from the wall. “For now, I’m going to go back to my motel.” He glanced around the room. “It isn’t half as nice as this, by the way, but I have a feeling I’d be a little in the way.”

“Will you be safe?” She didn’t want him to go, to walk out of the room in case she never saw him again. God, her parents would be horrified if they knew what was going on.

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“I’ve done okay for the past two months.” His smile was just a ghost of the easy grin she remembered from when they were growing up. “I’ve got one of those anonymous cell phones. I gave Jesse the number. Buy one yourself and then call me. I’m hoping to get some information soon so I can decide what to do next.”

Jesse, was it? There was nothing like a situation like this to make men brothers in a very fast way. “I’ll call tomorrow,” she said with effort. “Rob, be careful. Please.”

“I will.” He gave the man sitting next to her a look and his mouth tightened. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Jesse sounded as if he aided and abetted possible criminals every day of the week.

Rob slipped out, the door clicked, and they were alone.

Jesse’s arm around her was the only thing that felt real. Silence stretched out and then she gave a shaky laugh. “Shall we take a vote?

What’s weirder? Thinking someone is watching me, jumping in my car and leaving my practice in the middle of a busy week and driving into a blinding snowstorm? Or is it hooking up with a complete stranger? Or—third choice here—finding out someone apparently wants to kill my brother? I can’t decide. The options are a bit too varied.”

“I’m going to concede I can’t answer that one.” His mouth grazed her temple.

As a reassuring gesture, he couldn’t have done better.

Kerin said in a nearly inaudible voice, “Digesting this is going to take a bit of time. Do you realize that means there really is someone watching my house? Not my imagination, but the truth.”

“That’s why we’re here.” Jesse gave a light squeeze. “I paid cash.

There should be no trail. Tell you what, let’s order room service, including a nice bottle of wine, lock the door, and relax a little. We have some of our answers, Kerin. It’s a start. Rob says he’s got an inside source trying to help him, too, so maybe a break will come there.”

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“Jesse—”

He kissed her. His lips molded to hers, the duel of their tongues in delicate play, her body fitted so perfectly into his arms. Without her even realizing it, in moments he had her backwards on the bed, the satisfying weight of his body over hers, his elbows braced at her side.

Jesse nibbled at her lower lip. “So room service it is?”

“Whatever you want.” She meant it, too. Not even talking about food.

“Hmm. Sounds damned promising. You sure?”

Once again, they were talking oblique angles and inferences. She touched his face. “I’m getting there.”

His smile crinkled the corner of his eyes. “Shall we take off our clothes and convince each other some more?”

“What about room service?”

“Later,” he promised, his dark eyes intent. “Right now we have a
room
with a large bed, no one besides Rob knows where we are, and I promise you there are no cameras or microphones.”

Her house did make her tense, there was no denying it. Just the idea someone had been in there made her both angry and apprehensive.

“That sounds promising,” she acquiesced, rubbing her hands over his shoulders and trailing them downward. His shirt was tucked into the waistband of his jeans and she tugged it free. Her fingers brushed his flat stomach and she felt the muscles contract in reaction.

There was no question he had one of those boy model bodies, all hardness and definition and even more attractive because he was not a boy in any way, but a mature man.

Instinct made her want to fix Rob’s problems. That was her job, to fix other people’s problems. Only she wasn’t trained for this particular scenario. Medical school didn’t include classes and instruction on how to deal with a situation like this one, which when she thought about it, seemed so unbelievable.

But Jesse was there, strong and solid. Losing herself in the
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moment held a certain appeal.

Kerin fumbled with the fastening on his jeans, popping the button lose and finding the zipper to his fly. She lowered it as their mouths met in another hungry kiss, the hectic day fading away and even maybe the incredible story she’d just heard was banished if even for just a few minutes.

His presence had that much power.

She inched her hand under the band of his briefs and stroked his erection. Hot and hard, it lengthened against her palm.

“Uhm…” she murmured against his mouth, cupping his testicles.

“Oh yeah.” He gave a small, sexy grunt, his muscles tensing.

The world was out of control, surreal, but this was immediate and the scent of his cologne, subtle and spicy, sparked memories of what they’d shared at the cabin.

She needed it. Needed him.

It was inspiration to slide her hand free and lightly shove at his shoulders. He lifted his head and she saw the heavy light of arousal in his eyes. “What?”

“On your back,” she ordered.

He got the message. A small grin lifted his mouth. “Okay.”

“Now, McCutcheon.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He rolled over, all lounging male, his jeans parted to show the rampant length of his stiff cock.

Though she’d never been one to enjoy much the idea of giving oral sex, somehow Jesse looked…delicious. Long and hard, the tip of his erection glistened with semen. His eyes were narrowed as he regarded her, his body not precisely relaxed but reclined against the bed in a careless sprawl that invited her to do with him whatever she wanted.

Kerin shimmied downward, her hands touching him, stroking the velvet length of his erect shaft. She shoved his shirt up, exposing his taut belly so that when she bent her head, her hair spilled across his
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skin.

He groaned as she took the tip of his erection in her mouth.

Michael had never shown the same level of appreciation, but then again, she’d only done it infrequently. The intimacy wasn’t at all the same. This just felt so right.

“Jesus.” Jesse stiffened as she swirled the tip of her tongue around the head of his penis and lightly toyed with the slit. He tasted salty and male and surprisingly fantastic. He rasped out, “Remind me to practically kidnap you from your office every day.”

There were two things she didn’t want to examine in that statement. Why he’d had to do it in the first place and the phrase

“every day”.

Every day. Was it possible? Not without a significant change in both their lives and this mess with Rob came first…and oh hell, she didn’t want to think about it…

Not now
.

She wasn’t good at this. Or she’d never thought so. With Jesse things did seem to be different. She took his small telling shudder as praise when she sucked him as deep into her throat as she could, and the way his fingers suddenly spiked into her hair sent a thrill into the pit of her stomach.

“That’s enough.” He said it with ragged authority. “Stop.”

Was it enough? She wasn’t sure. She’d never even contemplated letting a man ejaculate in her mouth, but for him…well, maybe.

“No.” He might have been a mind reader. “Some other time.” He deftly switched their positions so suddenly she was the one flat on her back. He slid down her pants and her underwear at the same time, jerking them off her hips and down her thighs with impatience. “My turn, Doctor.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Get over it. I want to.”

His hands were warm on her legs and he pushed them apart to dip his head. A hot seeking tongue delved deep and cut off any coherence
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to her argument. Kerin arched her hips off the bed, a low cry echoing into the room.

It felt beyond good, well into fabulous, and the way he stimulated her clit caused a spasm to clench hard in the pit of her stomach. He tasted, teased and touched in just the right way and before long pre-orgasmic bliss made her lashes drift downward.

“In me,” she managed to mumble. “Jesse, please, inside me.”

“Sounds perfect.” He levered upward on his elbows, positioned himself, and thrust hard. Her body took him, his rigid length going deep as she wrapped her legs around him.

He’d already shown her simultaneous orgasm was not a myth, and she moved with him, encouraging, wanting, needing. He pushed deep, withdrew and then surged again and she egged him on, her hands fisted in the shirt he still wore. It was perfect, wild, and totally not her.

Well, it might be her
now
. Since she’d found herself on a lonely snow-blasted country road not long ago with a dark-haired stranger peering the window of her car.

They climaxed seconds apart. Hers began first, the contraction of her inner muscles setting him off. He groaned, his warm breath going out in a gust across her cheek and his cock pulsing as he ejaculated.

It was very, very nice, and gave a whole new meaning to the term

“room service”.

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Thea held the phone clamped to her ear and listened to the ring.

One, two…

Answer.

“Yes?”

God, Rob sounded so guarded and he needed to be, but still, it made her stomach hurt to hear it. Well, actually, she felt pretty nauseous anyway.

“Got it.”

For a split second, she wondered if they’d disconnected. Then Rob said with quiet lethal emphasis, “If you’re kidding, don’t do it to me.”

Like she was kidding. She was still sweating, shaking, sure she’d missed something. Because she couldn’t help it, she said in a wobbly voice, “No, I wouldn’t do that, I’m just…well…shit…oh…”