Enemy Lover (18 page)

He was hard to miss even though he was dressed in formal black and white like every other waiter. He nodded as he entered the room from the south door that led to the kitchens.

“Dante? You copy?” she softly asked.

“I copy.”

“Your 20?”

“Main entrance.”

As complicated as the game was, their plan was simple. Watch closely, stick close to their subjects and engage Cross at every opportunity. Keep him off his game. Keep Grace Rowland alive.

As much as Jax was anticipating playing cat and mouse with Marcus Cross, she was just as intrigued by Sophia Rowland. There was something compelling about an heiress who had run off with the baddest boy in town, then deserted her firstborn child, buried her second husband, and had managed despite her stigma as a wild child to land the ultraconservative William Stanton Rowland. How was it that a force of nature had taken a quiet backseat to the dynamic California senator?

But what intrigued Jax the most about Sophia Rowland was the question of how a mother abandoned her own flesh and blood. Did Cross know who she was? Jax couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sympathy for Cross as a boy abandoned by the woman who’d given birth to him. But now? He’d become a lethal killing machine for a man who gave no consideration to anything or anyone but his own desires. Did that man know about Cross? Of his difference? Jax shook her head, still denying the undeniable. She’d look harder at Cross tonight. Watch for the slightest telltale sign of weakness, then exploit it.

Jax paced the numerous floors, killing time and familiarizing herself with the floor plan, just in case anything went to shit. The next time she glanced at her watch, it was almost time.

As she came up the service elevator to the Green Room, her skin shivered.

He was here.

She sensed his dark energy. It encompassed her with deadly allure. For a long moment she didn’t move. Not because she was afraid but because she needed time to collect herself. To remind herself he was a cold-blooded killer and it would be her pleasure to end his life.

It was showtime.

The room seemed to play out in slow motion before her. She shook her long hair off her shoulders. All she saw was the encroaching guests and the glimpse of shadows swirling here and there, but no sign of Cross.

A warm breath along her bare shoulders startled her. She whirled around, eyes narrowed, hands positioned to shove him back, but the air behind her was empty. How could that be? She’d felt his breath.

“The senator and his entourage are coming up the back service elevator. We’ ll meet you in the south anteroom,” Dante said into her earpiece. Jax nodded to Shane, who hustled a tray of champagne between the growing swell of glitzy guests.

Jax slid past the guests and back toward the elevator she had just come up on. The anteroom was twelve steps from the front of the elevator to the right. She’d checked out the room, and though there was window exposure, it was locked. There was no way to gain access unless you were a mountain goat.

Her first impression of Senator Rowland as he stepped from the elevator was that he looked older than his dossier photos. Deep stress lines dug into the corners of his tired gray eyes. Jax smiled, locking gazes with him and extending her hand. “Jax Cassidy, sir. It’s my pleasure to meet you.”

He smiled, and the gesture changed everything. The stress lines deepened, but they lifted his tired face, showing a glimpse of a handsomeness that had been marred by the strain of his public service. White teeth flashed in a practiced but genuine smile. “I’ ve heard good things about you, Miss Cassidy. I appreciate your vigilance.” He glanced at the gorgeous platinum blonde standing hauntingly beside him. “My wife, Sophia.”

Jax extended her hand as she looked directly at Sophia Rowland. Her body jerked as the woman’s icy blue eyes, so much like her son’ s, stared back at her. Jax took an immediate dislike to the woman.

“Tell me, Miss Cassidy, who do you work for?”

The question caught Jax by surprise. Hadn’t the senator informed his wife? Or had he, like many men in positions of power, kept the ugly truth from his family? Either way she understood the choice. But her loyalty was to the senator.

Jax just smiled and left the explanation to the senator.

“Darling,” the senator said, “I told you that was classified. Now leave it alone.” His tone was final.

Sophia shrugged, as if she didn’t really mind that her husband had slapped her down in front of a stranger. “I think my husband is afraid of ghosts.”

More than a ghost,
Jax thought.

Sophia Rowland raised one elegant brow and cocked her head. Her diamond earrings glittered beneath the harsh light in the room. They complemented the woman’s smooth alabaster skin and her cool blonde hair.

“Do you believe in ghosts, Miss Cassidy?”

Jax smiled again. “I’m always open to the possibili
ties.”
By the way, did you know your son is a souped-up killing machine?

Sophia Rowland smiled. “I’m glad to hear that, Miss Cassidy. It’s smart to keep one’s mind open to all possibilities.”

“Indeed, ma’ am, it is,” Jax agreed.

The senator cleared his throat, then reached over his wife to the blonde-haired girl partially hidden behind Mrs. Rowland, gently drawing her forth. “My daughter, Gracie.”

Rowland’s eyes beamed with love and pride.

Jax smiled in response to the girl’ s. Her blue eyes twinkled in innocent excitement. For a minute, Jax held her breath, unable to break her stare. Those eyes again. Instead of cold and emotionless like her mother’ s, the daughter’s shone with the
joie de vivre
of a young woman about to embark on the exciting journey of the rest of her life. The vision of Marcus Cross destroying this beautiful life, his own flesh and blood, infused Jax with instant anger, but more than that, a fierce protectiveness consumed her. Gracie Rowland would not die on her watch. She’d make sure of it.

While Gracie Rowland was all golden and smiles, she was a beautiful young woman who, despite her conservative, high-collared navy blue dress, had a bit of a rebel in her. Jax noticed Gracie’s right ear and the many piercings that went from the lobe up into the high cartilage. That must have really pissed off her father.

The small, warm hand on hers tightened, pulling Jax out of her thoughts. She smiled deeper and said, “I’m happy to meet you, Gracie. I’m Jax. I’ ll be hanging
around all night. If you need anything, just let me or Mr. Jackson there know.”

Jax met Dante’s stony stare. He stood beside Rowland’s private security. He nodded subtly, then looked beyond the small group to the closed door.

“Yes, well, thank you,” Mrs. Rowland said as she turned to her husband. “Alex and Colin are waiting to have a few words with you and me before you make your grand entrance.”

Senator Rowland nodded and said, “It was nice meeting you, Miss Cassidy. Thank you.”

Jax nodded as the small family, preceeded by the security detail and followed by Dante, made their way from the anteroom to another private room. Alone, Jax stared at the closed door. Beyond it was the Green Room. And Cross. Her body thrummed with excitement.

As she stepped out into the room, she immediately noticed all the smells. Perfumes, colognes and body odor combined in a heady scent. Amazing how powerful the combined scents were.

But one scent overrode them all. It pulled her into the room. Jax’s heart thumped against her chest. Ghostlike, she skimmed across the floor, weaving in and out of the crowd until she stood in the middle of the room. She looked up and caught her breath. Across the room, directly in front of her, crystalline eyes glowed with power and passion. He was dressed entirely in black. The suit fit his muscular build as if the threads had been sewn onto him. He didn’t move but stood like a statue, his gaze locked to hers. And God help her, she couldn’t fight his pull.

I’ ve got Cross in sight,” Jax softly said. “Southernmost wall of the Green Room.”

“Roger that,” Shane said.

Jax watched Cross from the other side of the room. In less than five minutes, the crowd had swelled exponentially. It didn’t seem to bother Cross, however. He glided in and out of the throng of laughing guests, turning every female head in his path. When a voluptuous blonde smiled and touched his arm, he flashed her a disarming smile but kept walking past her.

“He’s headed toward the loggia. I’m in pursuit.” Jax hurried her step so she wouldn’t lose sight of him. Even so, when she strode out onto the russet-colored tile, the loggia was, despite the crowd inside, empty. “Shit,” she cursed.

“Do you need backup?” Shane asked.

“Negative,” she snapped. Cross had made her look like a rookie at the café. She wasn’t letting that happen again. “I’m removing my earpiece. I don’t want him hearing any chatter. I’ ll signal if I need assistance. Now, stand by while I find him.”

She took the small device from her ear and slipped it down into her bra, then stepped farther onto the tile. A sharp, sudden breeze whooshed around her ankles and worked its way up her bare legs and between her thighs,
probing the juncture there. She gasped. The temperature rose to hot. She whirled around at the sound of deep male laughter, but there was no one behind her. Where was he? She’d heard him.
Felt
him, the tricky bastard.

He was playing with her. Her frustration rose. He obviously knew the rules to the game, while she had no clue.

“Okay, Cross,” she softly said. “I know you’ re out here. Now come out and face me like a real man.” She turned in a slow circle, eyes straining for any sign of him. “
If
you have the balls,” she added, hoping the taunt would prick his ego.

Long minutes ticked by. Smoothing her skirt and licking lips that suddenly felt parched, Jax moved in a slow, sanguine stroll farther onto the loggia. “I know you’ re out here, Cross. I can smell you.”

It wasn’t a lie. Every sense was keen tonight, keener than she could remember. His earthy scent swirled around her, tickling her nostrils. Her sharp gaze darted along the perimeter, looking for shadow or movement between the slightly swaying palms and the columns. When she had traversed the entire length of the loggia, she slipped between the sentry of palms and a column, leaning over the balustrade to view the vast space below.

“I want my money,” a deep, husky voice said from behind her.

Jax stiffened, immediately pissed she hadn’t heard him. A deep, balmy flush quickly chased her anger away as he moved closer, his warm breath caressing her bare back. She shook her head and, with hands grasping the top of the balustrade, stepped backward into his space.
They were secluded, out of sight from her team. But she held her ground. She’d play it out.

She knew she got to him. His sharp hiss of breath as her hair swirled in the air and across his chest told her he was affected. A small, satisfied smile tipped her mouth. He had his talents, she had hers.

“I spent it,” she breathed.

He traced a finger along her bare arm up to her elbow and across her shoulder to her neck. Just one damn finger and her body melted.

Jax closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip to keep from showing her hand. She needed one thing from Cross—a way in to Lazarus. To get it, she needed to arouse him to the point of pain; to the point where he’d be begging to get inside her. She just needed to find some way to stop begging for it herself.

“It’s not polite to take things that don’t belong to you,” he crooned, an edge of amusement in his dark voice.

Jax gritted her teeth but refused to move or evade his touch. “I earned it.”

“It was not yours to earn.”

“That’s debatable.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m working.” She turned around to fully face him and smiled slyly. “Why are you here?”

He smiled, like a big bad wolf. Jax felt body parts she had long ago forgotten about begin to liquefy. “I’m working tonight too.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t expected him to admit it.

“As if you didn’t know.” He moved slightly into her space. The air caught on fire. “Who do you work for?” he softly demanded.

Jax met his stare. “I’m an independent who’s down on her luck at the moment. So, I took on a little surveillance job. Info gathering on Senator Rowland.”

“What kind of info gathering?”

She shrugged. Her breasts rose, then fell, lightly scraping his chest. The contact for her was lightning striking. It was so fast, so unexpected and so damn explosive she had to catch the sharp hiss rising in her throat before it escaped, exposing her arousal. When she spoke, she couldn’t help that her voice had dropped several octaves. “The usual. Does he have a girlfriend, is his wife a closet lush, is his kid as sweet as she looks?”

“You’ re working for Mercer?”

Jax snorted and moved back against the balustrade where it was safe. “I’m not that desperate. Yet. This is private money. They want to make sure when they invest in Team Rowland they aren’t going to lose their money because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.”

“Tell me about Tuturo.”

“He’s dead.”

He chuckled softly, deadly, slowly shaking his head, but his eyes glittered in good humor.