Criminal Instinct (20 page)

“Whatever you hear, it stays with you. No reporting to your boss or anyone else.”

“Fine.” Unless it had to do with the shipment and Tyler. That was another story.

His jaw flexed, but he shook his head and opened the door. “You don’t want to cross me, Ana.”

Probably not. But it might turn out that she had no choice.

Monday
12:05 a.m.

“Son of a
bitch!
”

Ana struggled to keep her eyes on Jonas as he cursed, pacing back and forth in the hallway above Zero. But her gaze kept veering at the spots of blood on the floor. She could smell it…the blood…maybe even the stink of human demise. Or maybe the smells were all in her head. Real or not, the blood was more than enough to convince her to keep her distance.

“I’m sorry, Jonas,” Brooks said. “I did all I could. The paramedic told me the wounds were fatal. It was only a matter of time.”

“Just tell me.”

Brooks seemed to know what he was talking about. “Tyler.”

Ana’s pulse sped up.

“Where?”

“He didn’t know.”

“Where’s Kara?”

“Safe. Jonas—”

A Detective Mallard walked out of Jonas’s office. A stout man with a head full of black hair, he gave off the faint scent of peppermint, probably from the toothpick wedged between his teeth.

“Who owns this place?” Mallard’s voice was a low bass.

“I do,” Brooks said, stepping forward. “Raymond Brooks.”

Jonas continued to pace.

Mallard turned to Jonas. “And who are you?”

“Saven, Jonas. Manager.”

Mallard eyed Jonas suspiciously before he wrote something down on a thin leather-covered notebook. “You knew the deceased,” he asked, flipping a page, “Paul Sanchez?”

“He worked security here at the club.”

“You seem pretty upset. Was he more than just your employee?”

Jonas stopped and slowly turned toward Mallard with a face like a blank mask.

Ana nibbled on her bottom lip.

“Does he have to be more for someone to be upset he was tortured?”

“How do you know he was tortured?”

“I saw his body, Detective. He’s cut up. Burned. I put it together.”

“Right.” Mallard looked at Ana. “Name, please.”

“Ana Moreno.” Undercover or not, Sarge had said to never lie about your identity to law enforcement, it would just end up biting SIDE in the ass should a recruit’s true identity be revealed. Other agencies had a tendency to dislike working with a bunch of criminals, let alone being lied to by one.

“And your relation to the deceased?”

“None.”

“Why are you here?”

She jerked a thumb at Jonas. “I’m with him.”

“Nice shiner you got there.”

She lifted her chin. “Thanks, I made it myself.”

Mallard sucked the toothpick so far into his mouth only the very tip was visible when he looked at Jonas, back to her, then turned to look at Brooks. “Is there a room we can use for questioning your employees? Or do we do it down at the station?”

“Here’s fine,” Jonas butted in.

“Right. Mr. Brooks, you first?”

Brooks nodded.

“Don’t anyone leave. You’ll each get your turns.”

When they walked down the hall to another room, Ana eyed the uniform standing a couple of feet away. She tugged on Jonas’s jacket. The leather felt smooth and surprisingly lightweight. But now wasn’t the time to admire fancy duds. “Ease down,” she told him when he turned to her, looking annoyed. “You’re not on Mallard’s list of favorites and you’ve only known him twenty minutes.”

Jonas’s gaze sharpened. “Miss Attitude is telling me to calm down?” He shook his head. “Sanchez was a father of a baby girl. He’d been married a year. Now he’s gone.”

“It’s not your—”

He held up a hand. “Yes, it is. My men work for me, this wasn’t some freak accident.” He stepped close and leaned down, his eyes cold with anger. “He was maliciously tortured by one of the sickest bastards I know. This was a message to me from Tyler. He wanted me to know he’s been taking out my men. It’s a game to him, but this time, he’s not going to fucking win.”

“Lying whores, I’m going to teach both of you a lesson before I call the cops.”

“Fuck you
, pendejo,”
shrieked Maria.

“You lay a finger on us, you’ll regret it,” I warned him.

“Little wetback bitch.” He laughed, throwing his head back.

I lunged, hitting my elbow into his windpipe.

He gagged, keeled forward.

“Run!” I ran for the door, only to be caught by the hood of my sweatshirt. My body sailed through the air, my head whacked the wall, my shoulder jamming, sliding down, disoriented.

He was on me, his heavy weight crushing me. He grabbed my hair so hard white flashed in my eyes, pulling my face close as tears ran down my cheeks.

Peppermint. His breath is peppermint.

His coarse mustache scraped my cheek. “You’re going to pay for that, whore.”

Maria landed on his back. He flicked her off like a fly.

Blade. Need my blade.

He jerked my head back, my eyes widening as his meaty fist swung back for a strike.

“Nooooo!”

“Ana!” Jonas’s heart rammed against his chest. He rushed to the bed and grabbed Ana’s flailing arms. She swung with her fists. Bucked up with her body. Kicked out with her legs.

Bit.

“Shit. Ana, stop. It’s Jonas, baby. Open your eyes.”

“Don’t touch me!
I’ll kill you.”

Her eyes whipped open, glossy with sheer terror. He released her, spreading his hands open in front of her.

“Ana, do you see me? You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Her small chest heaved under his cotton T-shirt. She hopped up on her knees on the bed and looked around wildly. Her hands were clenched into fists. She shook like a cornered child.

“You’re above Zero, in my room. You fell asleep while I was being questioned. I couldn’t wake you. You were so tired. Detective Mallard said he’d question you tomorrow. It was late. I brought you here. It was just a dream.” Just a nightmare.

Her eyes cleared as she settled her gaze on him. He had a moment to take a breath when her little mouth curled down on the ends and her eyes squeezed shut. Two tears streaked down her cheeks.

No
. His heart crumbled.

Her hands rose to her face and she burrowed down into the pillows. Her shoulders shuddered hard, but no sound came from her. And he knew she held back so much pain.

He went to her, tried to pick her up and cuddle her in his lap, but she fought him even now. So he wrapped his arms around her and lay beside her.

“It’s okay. Shhh. It’s okay.”

He didn’t know how much time passed until her shudders gradually ceased. Only that it seemed like forever. She was spooned against him, her head nestled under his, and damn he felt content. Warm and soft, she fit just right.

Shit, he was happier right now than what was good for him.

She didn’t move away or freeze up.

“I was dreaming about the night I was arrested.” Her voice was rough.

He went very still.

“Some people rob because they need money for food, a roof over their head. I did it because, in my experience, the ones who have money to burn aren’t very good people at all. I wanted to prove something to myself. That I could take from them the one thing they cared most about. Money. And they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. After the first few times, it just got easier. Until it became a way of life. Now I know doing it made me a bad person. But then, I told myself it made me feel better. And it did for awhile. It made me feel free. But after a couple of years something in me started to tire of it.”

She sniffled. “That night…it was supposed to be an ordinary job. I’d worked a catering gig there a few months earlier. I took odd jobs like that so I could case the classy homes. The wife had been a real bitch to the staff so I knew I was going to hit them down the road. I’d bribed the live-in housekeeper with a pair of Ricky Martin tickets to let me in, to tell me where they kept their loot. Her name was Maria. She hated her boss. She told me the old man would be gone on a business trip and the wife slept like the dead. I was supposed to give her forty percent of whatever I got out of the safe she would lead me to. You grow up in the system you learn all kinds of tricks. How to hot wire a car, pick a lock, break into a safe. I had a good teacher.”

Jonas wanted to brush his hand over her hair, soothe her. Yet he didn’t move for fear she’d clam up.

“When I opened the safe door, I hit pay dirt. Bundles of hundreds. We both couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what Maria would do with her share but I was going to take a trip. Get out of San Francisco, I’d decided right then. Never thought about leaving before. The city was all I knew, but the decision hit me and I was going to do it.” She stopped for a heartbeat.

He opened his mouth to ask where she would have gone when she said, “Then I heard something.” Her voice had gone quiet and dull, as if she were distancing herself so rehashing it couldn’t affect her.

“I had about five bundles stuffed away. I was supposed to take it all with me and later we’d meet and split it. I quietly shut the safe, but the light flashed on. We were screwed, but I smiled and turned toward the doorway. Max always told me, never let them see you sweat.”

Jonas frowned.
Max?

“It was the husband. He’d come home earlier than expected. And he was drunk. But when he saw us, it wasn’t just anger or surprise on his face. More like pure hatred. I didn’t understand it. Until he started calling us all sorts of racist names. Maria yelled back. Turned out she’d been screwing him, and when he broke it off, going in on this deal with me was her revenge. We tried to leave, but it went bad fast.”

Her body began to tense up, and he rubbed at her neck. “You don’t have to say any more.”

“No.” She paused and he could almost hear her swallow. “I want to say it all, just once.”

Kind of like a confession of a dark secret she’d probably kept inside for too long. He could understand that. “I’m listening,” he told her.

“He said he was going to teach us a lesson before he called the cops. He was so big. I was scared. I hit him in the throat and tried to run. He grabbed me by my sweatshirt and flung me against the wall like I was nothing. He dislocated my shoulder.”

It was his turn to tense up.
God, just like his father had done to Mom
.

“Ow, you’re hurting me,” she said and pulled away from his massaging hands.

“Sorry.” He pulled her into his arms and she let him. He had a feeling he would need as much comfort as she did.

“The hit dazed me. He grabbed my hair with his fists. He said I would pay for trying to rob him. Maria jumped on his back, but she was nothing to him, then…he hit me so hard I spit out blood, choked. That’s when I went from scared to all out terrified. But I stayed focused on getting my blade. I knew if I didn’t get it, we were both going to die and he’d probably ditch our bodies and no one was going to ever know. No one was ever going to care.

“I managed to slip the blade from my boot, but he hit me again and again. It slipped from my fingers.”

Jonas shut his eyes.

“He was crazed, his eyes wild, my blood on his hands, a few spots on his face. I kneed him in the nuts, but then I felt his big hand grip my throat. He was strangling me—I was losing consciousness. Scared out of my mind, I thought,
this is it
. I was dead. Suddenly his body went stiff on top of me. I didn’t understand, but then I saw her. Somehow Maria had gotten my blade. She stood over us with the blade dripping blood.

“He shifted on top of me, still cutting off my air. He reached for her, and she sliced him deep in the stomach. His eyes widened, and blood poured on me—God—some of his…insides were on me.” Her breathing became choppy. “I was blacking out. There was this ringing inside my head. Wouldn’t stop. Finally he released me. He rolled off, laying there holding his stomach together. I crawled away, trying to breathe. I couldn’t breathe.” She wheezed, panting.

“Hey, hey. It’s over. Take a breath.” He pulled away, pushed her to her back and placed a hand to the center of her chest. Her eyes were closed and he watched her struggle to control her breathing.

“The ringing hadn’t been in my head it all,” she whispered. “It was the wife. She’d found us. She was screaming.”

Ana swallowed so hard it almost echoed in her head. Nothing but a low glow emanated from the lamp in the bedroom’s corner, but concern was nonetheless visible in the features of Jonas’s handsome face. She could make out that he only wore a pair of dark boxers. His hard thigh was warm against the side of her body, his hand still firmly pressed to her chest. Her heavy breaths had leveled off, but she didn’t try to move away.

She glanced down at what she wore. One of his T-shirts. She had a fleeting recollection of being undressed, and then set on a bed. Jonas’s cologne had also been a part of the memory—deep, and comforting, and him. She had understood what was happening as a large soft shirt had been pulled over her head.

Safe.

She’d felt safe enough to let her guard down. Not once could she remember having that contented feeling before.

Against the wall a couch was draped with a rumpled blanket and pillow. He must have been sleeping there before she woke him with her…nightmare. He hadn’t taken advantage of her, just as she’d known he wouldn’t.

At the sudden tightening in her throat, she shut her eyes. There was so much inside she wanted to say, so much she regretted. But one confession was all she could handle for the night.

Her pulse sped up once again. Not from fear or the pain from the past, but from the reality of what she wanted. Of what she would let herself have. For once, she didn’t want to deprive herself. She didn’t want to have to worry about what would happen to her heart.

Jonas shifted back and she reached up to stop him, settling her hand on top of his warm fingers.

“Do you need anything?” he asked quietly.

She licked her lips. “Yeah.”

“Name it.”

“You.” Her voice was a whisper; the words had been hard to say. An odd sensation tingled in her chest and she moved her other hand to join the one already covering his.

Jonas had gone very still. Was he even breathing?

“Ana—”

“I know what I’m saying. I know what I want.”

He smiled a little, cleared his throat. “I’d like for you to fill me in.”

“That’s what I want.” Her throat just about closed up again and she had to pause to swallow. “For you to fill me. Be inside of me.” She tugged at his hand until it covered her breast, her eyes growing heavy.

She couldn’t bring herself to say, “to have sex,” or “make love.” The two didn’t seem like the right words to describe what she wanted or needed.

Jonas’s eyelids slid low over his eyes and his nostrils flared. Sexual tension seemed to flood the room.

“Ana, be sure of this. I don’t want to stop if you change your mind. I will if I have to, but—” He broke off, closing his eyes. His fingers flexed once on her breast before he opened his gaze, pinning her in place with pure desire. “Just be damn sure.”

“This is what I want,” she said softly. “Kiss me.” She reached up and grabbed a handful of his unbound hair. Thick and soft in her grasp, she pulled him down toward her. His hand slid from her breast to the bed and braced his weight as he moved to lie on top of her. The full bulk of his body caught her off guard, and she grunted.

“I’m too heavy for you.”

She shook her head and smiled. “No, I was just surprised.”

His knee worked between her knees and, with a forceful nudge, spread them apart. She licked her dry lips. He scooted the length of his body down between her thighs, settling his elbow next to her shoulder, and leaned most of his weight on the bed so it was more comfortable.

Meeting her gaze, he flashed that devastating Jonas Saven smile. “Now where were we?”

She tugged on his hair again. “Here.”

His mouth moved over hers. He brushed his lips gently, so soft, it made her heart swell, pushing her to return his kiss with confidence. Letting her reveal her full-fledged want.

The kiss grew stronger, and then his full weight was on her, but only for a second as he wrapped his arms around her, rolling her on top of him.

The feel of his long body beneath her made her shiver. She couldn’t wedge her arms between him and the bed so she held onto his rounded shoulders, straddling his waist. His skin, surprisingly smooth for a man, was a soft barrier over solid strength. Her hands roamed. Exploring. Learning. Memorizing. Because she knew this would be it, she would never again experience his body this close to hers. Feel his gentle touch. After tonight, she would leave. They would go their separate ways. The realization made her experience a sense of loss so deep…

She slammed the door on that train of thought.

Now was what mattered.

He nudged her back and reached for the cotton T-shirt bunched at her waist. Eagerly, she raised her arms as he glided it over her head, fingers caressing her skin, leaving her in black cotton bikini underwear and a bra. She went down to meet his mouth as he reached around her to unhook her bra.

“It’s in the front,” she mumbled against his lips, and his hands changed direction. When he freed her, his hands moved over her breasts, pushing the cups aside, his palms pressing against her hardened nipples.

Her breaths increased.

She straightened, watching him fondle her, rolling her small nipples between his thumb and forefinger. Her body jerked with lust. He raised up and took her into his mouth.

“Mmm. You smell like strawberries,” he murmured against her skin.

She shuddered at the feel, the intimacy, the desire that swam through her like an erotic wave.

His warm tongue circled her tip before he sucked it into his mouth like she was the sweetest lollypop known to man.

A bullet of pleasure shot from her breast to her center, bowing her back.

“
Jonas
,” she pushed out. He cradled her against him with one arm as the other slipped the bra away. Then, as if he’d suddenly tapped on the brakes, he slowly straightened her left leg, guiding it around his waist, then the right.

Gently he laid her back between his legs, guiding one hand up her stomach in a deliberate massage, up between her breasts, to her neck. So soothing was his touch, she shut her eyes against the craving inside for the tenderness he offered. As his hand slid back down, he detoured to the scar just above her right breast. She tensed slightly, the area there still sensitive, the memory even more so. The doctor had said the area might always feel tender because she was slim and petite, without much weight to cushion the tracker.

Jonas must have sensed her discomfort because his hand continued its glide down to her stomach. When she felt his tongue brush the silver bar piercing her belly button, she shuddered again.

“The minute I saw your little piercing, I wanted my mouth here.” His voice whispered low and husky, drawing more heat from her.

She lifted her head and looked down her naked chest, meeting his eyes. At the sight of his hair falling around his face and the look of serious masculine desire, her stomach quivered.

“Me too,” she said softly.

He smiled, taking his forefinger and tracing the waistline of her underwear. The motion tickled her. She squirmed. He trailed his finger lower. “I want my mouth somewhere else.”

Excitement filled her so abruptly, her chest expanded with a strong sigh.

His eyes followed the slight movement. “Your breasts are beautiful.”

She laughed softly. “I know they’re small…”

“They’re perfectly shaped, your nipples—”

“I get the picture.”

“You,” he murmured, taking her hips and fitting her snugly against his groin, “are beautiful.”

She shut her eyes as the feel of him between her legs made her heavy with contentment. Her stomach fluttered at his words. She knew about things said in the heat of the moment, but at this moment she felt beautiful both inside and out.

“Please,” she told him. “You know what I want.”

“Tell me.”

Her cheeks heated because he wanted to hear her talk dirty. The problem was—she didn’t do dirty. At least she never wanted to before.

“I can’t.”

“You won’t.”

“Jonas…”

“Tell me what you want.” His voice prodded intimately as he moved his hands to her breasts, stroking them. “Do you want me to touch you here?”

Ana shut her eyes, biting her bottom lip. Her insides felt as if they were melting, her breasts ached with need.

“Look at me, Ana.”

She did.

“Do you want my mouth on your breasts?”

She nodded, and with his hands circling her breasts, he bent over her, taking her into his mouth, licking and sucking until her tips were wet, swollen and sensitive to his touch. Her hands combed through his hair, pulling strands away from his face, then letting them fall against her.

So hot, so…God. Something she needed, something just out of reach. She couldn’t keep still. Soft sounds of pleasure fell from her lips. Jonas murmured words she couldn’t understand, as he sucked just a little harder.

Please, please
.

Abruptly, Jonas straightened, hooking a finger from each hand into the sides of her underwear, tugging them down.

Anticipation tingled under her skin.
Hurry
. She pulled her thighs together and raised her legs up in the air as he removed her panties. He tossed them and settled her legs together beside him. Rising off the bed, he opened a little drawer from a small table next to them and tossed a square packet onto the sheets.

Protection. She experienced both relief and unease that she hadn’t been thinking clearly enough to ask about it herself. But the thought faded away when Jonas pulled down his boxers.

He was fully aroused and rather…big.

She closed her eyes. So much easier to do that than to see the blatant desire written plainly on his body.

The bed shifted with his weight.

“Keep your eyes open, Ana,” he said tenderly in her ear, and then licked it. He picked her up and her eyes whipped open. He turned her, placing her head on the pillows, sliding into the bed next to her. His body, skin to hers, was like lying beside a furnace. He rubbed his legs against her, gliding his strong hands across her back, down across her breasts. “So soft, Ana.”

She gripped the sheet in her hand as he slid his hand down to caress the delicate skin of her inner thigh. The intimacy and arousal were torture.

She rose to meet his lips, trying to pull him on top of her. He wouldn’t budge an inch. She reached down to his arousal and gripped him. He was soft and hard at the same time.

He sucked in a breath.

A thrill shot through her. She’d never touched a man like this before. She watched herself stroke him with tentative movement.

“
Ana
.” He shoved his tongue in her mouth in a long wet kiss. His hands glided on her breasts, her stomach, her hip…between her legs. Her center clenched with need.

A whimper climbed up her throat.

“Damn, you’re so wet.”

She moved under his hand. It felt so good. “Jonas.”

“That feel good?”

Yes. Yes.
Yes
.

“What do you want?”

She shook her head.

“Tell me.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“The hell you don’t.” Then he was gone. Down.

Her mouth opened with a moan, her back arched. Oh God! She gasped, gripping sheets. Pleasure. Pulses of it. So much. Everywhere.

“Jo
nas
.” She went limp.

“Shit.”

The bed shifted.

A soft rip of the condom package.

Then he was on her, bracing his elbows on either side of her head, pushing inside of her, filling her. She gasped with the sensation. Hadn’t thought she could feel any more pleasure. She was wrong. So wrong. She panted, licked, held on for dear life.

Jonas pushed in and out, nibbling on her lips, sucking her neck, pushing her past the brink of sanity.

“Oh yeah. Ana. You feel, ah, damn.”

He went faster. Her hands slid off the sweat of his back. Jonas straightened his arms, palms to the bed now. Building again. The pleasure. Nearly there. Nearly…

Come on. Come on—
yes
.

Jonas pushed into her in one final thrust, bowing back. She let out a half scream, half moan just as a deep groan came out of his mouth.

Panting, Ana let her arms slide to the bed.

Jonas dropped his head forward, arms still rigid, his hair tickling her face. Slowly, he pulled out of her and then collapsed like a fallen tree beside her. The bed shook.

“Fucking A.”

She licked her parched lips.

Her sentiments exactly.

Wearing only Jonas’s shirt, Ana returned from the bathroom. Her body ached a little and she needed a shower, but asking if she could wash up made her feel like an awkward idiot. She wasn’t used to asking favors. Especially in a situation like tonight.

Jonas sat up on the bed wearing a pair of boxers, staring at her. His long, toned legs were crossed, his hands settled on the mattress.

She fidgeted with the hem on the shirt at the gorgeous sight of him, at the confident way he held himself. Even if he hadn’t been lying before her half-naked, he still wasn’t a man easily ignored. His persona, his genuine character, hovered around him like some kind of aura. It couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, she just knew it was there. Like when she’d first viewed his picture, the way he had held himself said: Leader. Strength.

It still surprised her she let him this close to her, not only sexually, but emotionally. Ana Moreno, mixed-race orphan, street rat, thief. A woman no one had really wanted, not even as a kid, who had learned to guard herself against possibilities of heartbreak. But she guessed one passionate night with a man who had been more than kind, who had been gentle and wanted her as much as she wanted him, was worth the hurt that would come when they parted ways.

And yes, they would be going separate ways. Jonas may have had sex with her, but that was all it had been. She had to remember she’d lied to him, that he likely wouldn’t forget or forgive her. And the way her career with SIDE was going…a view from behind steel bars would be her likely future.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

She sighed. He was also the only person who asked her that question and meant it. “Fine.” Of course, after what they’d done, it was an understatement. “You?”