Crime and Punishment 4: Burning Submission (3 page)

“All right,” he sighed.

She smiled and touched the side of his face. “Good. Now go make that house something the both of you will love.”

Josh inwardly tensed at her use of “both” but didn’t say anything. Yes, Jennifer was pretty—also young—and if she was recovering from an abusive relationship, the last thing she would probably want in her life was a man who liked to tie up his girlfriends and sexually torture them.

He leaned down and kissed Linda on the cheek. “Have a safe trip home. Call me when you get there.”

She smiled. “I will.”

As she walked around to the driver’s side, Josh shut the trunk and stepped back. He watched her turn the car and waved as she headed out of sight down the long gravel driveway toward the road.

“Now that she’s gone, the place will seem a bit dowdy.”

Josh turned at the sound of Jennifer’s voice to see her standing on the porch, watching the car. “She does have a way of brightening things up, doesn’t she?” he said with amusement.

Jennifer nodded but didn’t take her eyes off the car. She seemed nervous, and Josh got the impression she desperately wanted to call the woman back.

“She can also be scary as hell,” Jennifer added quietly.

He snickered and walked toward the porch. “That she can, especially when it comes to her ability to just
know
things.”

He stopped at the top of the stairs and studied her profile. The wind blew the wispy tendrils that had escaped her braid across her cheek, and he had a completely inappropriate desire to brush them aside. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied but didn’t look at him. “I’m just going to miss her.”

Josh turned and glanced at the now empty driveway. The sun was getting lower in the sky, sending streaks of gold through the trees to slash across the lawn. As fall approached, sunsets would get earlier. Tomorrow he would take a walk around the grounds and see what he could do about security. The fewer surprises, the better.

Chapter Four

Jennifer awoke and stared around the room in a near panic. It was her first night without Linda—without her comforting embrace whenever the shadows in the dark became too much.

She flipped on the lamp next to the bed and breathed a soft sigh of relief as the light revealed empty corners. Would this feeling of fear ever go away?

It was nights like this she missed the numbing effects of the drugs. She didn’t care or wasn’t afraid whenever they gave them to her. She just wished the drugs had wiped away the memory of what had been done to her as well.

A chill swept across the room, making goose bumps rise along her arms. She hugged herself and rubbed her hands up and down, using the heat she could generate to warm her skin. Her talents certainly had their merits, but she still wished she’d never been born with them.

She would’ve been out of school by now and living a life as opposed to hiding from one. At least she had money from her parents’ estate. If she didn’t, she’d be in serious trouble.

Had they been killed because they’d been looking for her? A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. She hadn’t even gotten to say good-bye to them, hadn’t even known they’d died until she’d escaped and found her way to Linda’s.

For some reason, the second she’d gotten free, she’d felt a pull—an urgency—to get to Linda. It had probably been some spell Linda and her twin sister had spun, but Jennifer had never asked. Her mother had found Linda’s talent interesting, but Jennifer had had enough of that stuff in her life over the past six years. She wanted normal, and that was what this house was supposed to give her. If, that was, they didn’t find her.

And now Josh was here. He was handsome—or was it just that she’d been without attention from the opposite sex for so long? No. He was handsome. He had a commanding way about him that both exhilarated and scared her. He made her feel safe, or at least
safer
. She wasn’t sure she would ever truly feel safe.

Realizing she wasn’t going to get back to sleep, she threw on her robe and tiptoed downstairs. She grabbed her sketch pad and a pencil from the dresser at the bottom of the stairs and then headed into the kitchen. She made a quick cup of tea before sitting down to sketch out some ideas for the kitchen and the adjoining deck.

She lost herself in the drawings, making notes on color and the type of wood and tile she would like to see. She was debating on granite when a figure in the doorway made her jump. She scooted her chair back and started to stand, ready to defend herself.

Josh stepped forward, hands up in surrender and said, “It’s just me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I couldn’t sleep.”

She let out a sigh of relief and placed a trembling hand over her rapidly beating heart. “It’s fine. I couldn’t either. There’s tea if you’d like some, or warm milk. That always worked for me when I was younger.”

Josh’s soft smile and the concern in his eyes calmed her instantly. She really shouldn’t be staring at him, but she couldn’t help it. He wore a pair of blue plaid pajama pants and nothing else. His chest was broad. The skin stretched taut over bulging pecs and a firm stomach. A long, still slightly red scar ran down the middle of his chest, and a round bullet hole to the right of it made her flinch.

“Did that hurt?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow before glancing down at his chest. “Guess I should’ve put on a shirt.”

“No, you’re fine.”
Definitely fine
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t stare. Does it bother you?”

He shrugged as he walked over to the teakettle on the stove and shook it to check for water. Satisfied it had enough, he set it back on the burner and ignited the gas.

“It bothers me that I was stupid enough to get shot, but it doesn’t make me self-conscious, if that’s what you were asking,” he replied as he pulled out a cup and tea bag.

“Do you remember it?” she asked.

“No.”

He leaned his hips against the counter, crossed his ankles and then his arms over his chest. He looked thoroughly relaxed and way too sexy for either of their own good.

“That’s probably a good thing,” she said as she turned back to her sketches and tried to take her mind off how sexy he looked.

“So they tell me. What are you working on?” he asked.

“Some ideas for the kitchen.”

She heard the kettle whistle and Josh moving around seconds before he ended up behind her chair, staring at the sketch over her shoulder. She could feel his heat, smell his musky scent, and her entire body tingled as though the electric current between them sprang to life at their proximity.

She bit her lip, suddenly very conscious of every nerve ending in her body. What the hell was happening?

JOSH FELT THE current between them and tried to ignore it. Perhaps they’d both built up some sort of electricity as they’d worked last night. That had to be the only explanation. The heat and sizzle were so strong, he believed if they touched, the spark would send them flying.

It was the weirdest damn feeling.

Moving away from her, he walked around the small table and sat on the other side. The sensation ebbed but didn’t fully go away, so he tried to focus on the sketch lying on the table before her.

“May I?” he asked, pointing to the pad.

She nodded and slid it across, careful not to touch him. He wondered if she felt it too, but brushed that thought aside as he stared at the drawing. She drew well.

“I like the farmer’s sink,” he said. “I think it will look good in here.”

“I do too, but I’m not sure about granite. Would that be too modern?”

Josh pursed his lips and shook his head as he lifted the cup of tea to his lips to take a sip. After he swallowed, he replied, “I don’t think so. If you put a set of double French doors leading outside instead of the single, it will let in more light.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. It’s a good idea.”

He looked up and studied the kitchen. “You might want to also reposition the appliances. It will give you more cabinet room.”

“I thought about redoing the closet in the hall, maybe expanding it and turning it into a pantry.”

Josh glanced toward the wall before saying, “Good idea.” He turned back to her and grinned. “Plan on doing a lot of canning next summer?”

She frowned. “I suppose I could.” She shrugged as sadness filled her eyes and tugged at Josh’s heart. “What else am I going to do?”

Josh set the cup aside and studied her. “What do you want to do?”

She pulled the sketchbook back and stared at the drawing. “I had planned on some sort of architecture, maybe interior design.”

She looked down when she said it, and Josh’s instincts immediately went back to the impression that she was hiding something. Maybe even lying. “What’s holding you back?”

Jennifer sighed and reached for her cup. Josh let his gaze slide down her back and curvy hips the blue silk robe clung to as she carried her cup to the microwave. What
was
holding her back? There was more to the story than Linda told him, and Josh just had to keep prying until he figured out what.

“Too many wasted years,” she said sadly as she hit the Start button.

“You have time, Jenn. What are you? Twenty-five? Twenty-six?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder as the microwave dinged. “Fishing for my age?”

Josh grinned. He liked the brief spark of mischief that sometimes poked through. Probably too much. He was glad to know whatever had happened to her hadn’t dimmed her light completely. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I know how touchy you women are about your age.”

She turned back and reached for her cup, giving Josh another chance to admire that adorable backside. As she walked back to the table to sit down, he looked away and tried to take his mind off the desire now swimming through his veins. Damn, the woman was a knockout, and this house was getting smaller and smaller.

She sat down and eyed him speculatively. “I’m twenty-eight,” she finally said.

He blinked and looked back at her, unsure what exactly they’d been talking about. He really needed to keep his mind on the conversation and not her body. “See? Just a baby.”

She snorted, making Josh chuckle. Wow, twelve years younger than him. He wasn’t against a little sexual romp with a younger woman. As a matter of fact, he’d had several. But Jennifer seemed different somehow. He saw her as above a wild one-night stand, no matter how good it might be.

Besides, here, one-night stands were out. They would be living in the same house for a while. It would not be a good idea to start something like that, especially since he lacked the ability to finish it. He knew how he was and how it would end—how it always ended.

She tapped the tip of the pencil on the table to get his attention. “You seem a little distant all of a sudden.”

He stared at the almost empty cup. “I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

“The past.”

She picked the pencil up and tapped the eraser against the wood of the table. “I would like nothing better than to forget the past. At least the last six years, anyway.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if it were just that simple?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “Yes, it would.”

She had such a pretty smile. And her lips were so…
Damn it! Stop going there!
Josh took a deep breath and pushed the chair away from the table. “Since we’re up, how about I cook us some breakfast and we get started?”

“That sounds great. While you cook, I’ll run upstairs and put on clothes.”

Josh nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He wanted to see her without clothes, spread out on the table, her wrists secured to the legs so she couldn’t move, her thighs spread wide, enabling him to do whatever the hell he wanted.

He slammed the cup on the counter and winced at the loud sound that echoed through the kitchen. This wasn’t going to work if he didn’t get a handle on his thoughts. What on earth was his problem anyway? He’d never had trouble controlling himself.

Sighing, he fished through the cabinets till he found two skillets. Maybe he should call the office and have one of the tech guys do a search on Jennifer. Or maybe his friend Nathan would be better for the task. He needed to find out what she was really running from, and the sooner the better.

He glanced down the hall toward the stairs as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was payback time for all the mornings Nathan had called him before sunrise. To Josh’s surprise, Nathan Delacroix answered on the second ring.

“What the hell are you into?” Nathan asked.

Josh frowned at the tense voice on the other end of the line and an immediate wave of unease worked its way up his spine. “Why? What are you sensing?”

Nathan was psychic. Josh had learned a long time ago to listen when his friend had a worried feeling.

“You’re in danger.”

“Yeah, I figured that. I just need to know what kind.”

“Meaning?” Nathan asked.

“I need you to run a check on someone named Jennifer Sanlin. She’s twenty-eight.”

“Can you give me anything else?”

“Not right now, and I need this done under the radar. I’m off the clock.”

Nathan sighed. “So it’s my neck that has to be stuck out, huh?”

Josh snorted. “You love it, and you know it. Besides, if I recall, you owe me.”

“I shared my fiancée with you while we were in hiding. I figure that makes us even.”

A grin spread Josh’s lips as he glanced back down the hall. “Not by a long shot, old man. See what you can find out, and let me know as soon as possible.”

“Will do, but Josh…” Nathan’s pause sent a prickle of unease through Josh’s limbs.

“Yeah?”

“Watch your back. I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s not going to be pretty.”

“Understood,” Josh said, then disconnected the call.

“Damn,” he growled. “Linda, I’m going to fucking wring your neck.”

Chapter Five

Josh stood back and stared at the living room wall with the fireplace. They’d already removed the mantel; now they just needed to open up the walls on either side while they waited for the firebox and piping to arrive.

He studied the wall closely. Tearing down the Sheetrock would be easy. He tried to envision the best way to accomplish what Jennifer had sketched out on paper.