In the Still of the Night:Sexy Romantic Suspense (Book 2 The Blonde Barracuda's Sizzling Suspense Series) (16 page)

As she raced along the trail, her long legs eating up the miles, her mind was a jumble of upsetting images. She huffed a grim laugh. Peaceful acceptance was not in the cards for today. She’d hoped an exhausting run would help. But instead of peace, or acceptance, or even insights, the images that flashed in her mind were hurtful. The most hurtful came in the form of Dalila. Damn! She hated Dalila. More than that, she hated that she was allowing the woman to get to her. The thought of Dalila with Jake was agonizing. On one level she knew how much Jake loved her, and how angry he’d been at Dalila yesterday. But just one day later they were together again? Was she just supposed to pretend that it didn’t matter that Jake was working closely with a beautiful woman that he’d had an intimate relationship with? She saw the look in Dalila’s eyes. The way she looked at her today. As if she pitied her. As if Lexie were foolish enough to think that she could beat her. Lexie knew she could. In the ring. But in the real world? She wasn’t sure.

A painful surge of jealousy hit her. God, how many ‘Dalilas’ were out there? She wasn’t blind. Jake was without a doubt the sexiest, most astonishingly handsome man she’d ever known. He reeked sensuality. Forget sensual, he was that in spades. No, he was one powerfully
sexual
man. She reminded herself he’d told her repeatedly that he had
never
been in love with a woman until her. At the deepest level of her spirit, Lexie knew that was true. She’d seen it in his eyes. She’d
felt his tenderness coupled with an intensity that she’d thought only she could feel. But all the insecurities, all the concerns, the fears that something might happen to him, or some “one” might happen to him, reared up in the person of Dalila. Lexie knew she couldn’t stand to lose Jake—to another woman or to the dangerous world he inhabited. She knew she couldn’t survive. It would shatter her.

Retracing her steps, knowing she had at least an eight mile run ahead of her, Lexie was determined to blot Dalila out of her mind. She tried instead to focus on her work. She knew she was right. It was as she’d told Ming. They were on the verge of a major breakthrough. Dammit, of all times for Jake to thwart her. To try to pull her back. Didn’t he realize how important these next days were? She was close to creating a major scandal. One that could affect the lives of hundreds of young women. Many more than she would ever be able to reach in her Strong Women Survive classes. The classes were a painful one-person-at-a -time effort. But if she could change the face of the massage parlors, shut them down, she could affect hundreds more. She had to convince Jake to listen to her. And if she couldn’t? Well, then they would just have to agree to disagree. Because no one and nothing was going to stop her. Of this she was certain.

~~~

Jake sat in Master Wan’s office, waiting for Lexie. When Jake walked in the door, Master Wan had taken one look at his face and pulled out his bottle of Jack Daniels Black Label. He poured two fingers in a glass for Jake and half that amount for himself. Jake smiled. Master Wan wasn’t a drinker. He was being sociable. Trying to keep Jake company in his misery. Master Wan also had the courtesy and wisdom not to ask questions; rather he waited patiently for Jake to speak.

When Jake learned that Lexie had left several hours ago for a long run, he knew their coming discussion would be a hard one. She only ran when she couldn’t get relief from her practice. It didn’t bode well. Unfortunately, he was as upset as Lexie was. He’d been startled when he walked into the private dining room at the Government Center and saw Peter and Lexie. He’d known Lexie was having lunch with the Councilman. That wasn’t a surprise. He didn’t know what he expected Peter to be like. But it sure as hell wasn’t the tall, distinguished man, decidedly good-looking man, ogling Jake’s fiancé with obvious interest. Ah hell, what did Jake expect? Every man looked at Lexie that way… until he saw Jake. Of course Peter Kim was interested. What bothered Jake more was the way Lexie was looking at
Peter
. She was laughing at something he’d just said. She was delighted and clearly impressed.

It didn’t help that Dalila goaded Jake, purposefully taunting him. She’d obviously seen the way that Peter and Lexie were enjoying one another and couldn’t resist rubbing it in Jake’s face. Dalila was turning out to be even more of a challenge than he’d imagined. He though he’d put her back in her cage yesterday. That he had established their rules of engagement. Brady had snorted at what he called Jake’s naiveté. Jake had to admit, it seemed Brady had a better sense of the woman than he himself did. Add the pained look on Lexie’s face when she saw Dalila and Jake together confirmed this was going to be an ongoing issue. Fine. More damage control was necessary. That was obvious. How could he get Lexie to understand that there wasn’t a woman in the world who could compete with her? That he loved her in a way he hadn’t thought it possible to love a woman. He was already smarting from Lexie’s refusal to commit to a wedding date. It hurt more than he let on. Damn, he wanted to build a life with her. Have a house of their own. And, yeah, he wanted to have children, several of them! But Lexie wasn’t ready and he didn’t know how to convince her. He’d listened to Master Wan’s advice. Let her come to it in her own time. Jake knew that was wise. But it was getting more difficult by the day.

All of these troubling issues paled in comparison to that fact that Lexie was in real danger. Much more so than she realized. He could no longer keep from sharing what he knew. He’d spoken to Dan earlier and told him he needed to break his confidence. Dan wasn’t happy, but he understood. He’d been shocked by what happened to Lexie last night. He was astonished that she took such a risk. Evidently Dan didn’t know Lexie as well as he thought he did.

“Would you like a refill, Jake?”

Jake looked up in surprise. He’d been so deep in thought, he’d forgotten that Master Wan was sitting quietly behind his desk. The man truly was a sphinx.

Jake shook his head, embarrassed.

“I’m not a very good guest, am I?”

Master Wan smiled. “Perhaps because you are not a guest. You are part of our family.”

Jake felt a surprising rush of moisture hit the backs of his eyelids. He ran his fingers through his hair.

“Thank you for saying that. I just wish our arrangement was a tad more formalized.”

The stoic man nodded.

“Remember, Jake. Those are formalities. Important ones and joyous ones. But you and Jai Li have committed to a life together. You know that and so does she. Now you have to work through some painful issues. Once you do, the ‘formalities’ will take care of themselves.”

Jake sighed. “I know you’re correct, Master Wan. At least I hope like hell you are. But I’m a little shaky. Lexie and I are in a challenging place, and the challenges are serious. None more so than the danger that surrounds her. I need your permission to tell her the things you told me. Since our conversation I have reached out to my network, and your suspicions were correct. More so than even you were aware.”

Master Wan gave a troubled sigh. “That is why I talked to you, Jake. I knew you could investigate the rumors, find out if my concerns were just an old man’s worrying—or if there was reason for alarm.”

“Yes, Sir, I regret to tell you there is considerable reason for concern.”

The sound of footsteps in the ante room to the dojo, and excited voices greeting her, signaled Lexie’s return.

Jake stood and quaffed the remainder of the alcohol in his glass. With a troubled sigh he prepared to meet the woman he loved.

Lexie frowned when she saw Jake in Master Wan’s office. Damn. Just what she needed. Two against one. But that didn’t mean she had to agree to the odds.

She poked her head in the doorway. “Are you boys having a nice visit? Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?” She cocked her head at the glass on the desk. “Don’t tell me Jake has you drinking at four o’clock in the afternoon, Master Wan?”

She forced herself to smile, to appear unconcerned, but it was an effort. She wished she could stop but the words were out of her mouth before she could pull them back.

“You should have joined us for lunch, Master Wan. It was what Jake would call a ‘y’all come.’” She glared at Jake. “It was quite something. For the second day in a row, I got to see Jake with one of the women from his past. One of the one’s he’s fucked.” At Jake’s startled gasp, Lexie shrugged. “Oh don’t look shocked, Jake. Master Wan has heard that word before. He even knows what it means.” She looked from one to the other of the frowning men, and backed out to the doorway. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to take a shower. I’m a sweaty mess.”

Jake’s voice cut across the room. “Lexie, wait. We need to talk.”

She gave him a breezy nod. “Maybe later. Bye, y’all.”

She fairly ran down the hallway, an angry Jake chasing after her.

Master Wan shook his head. A wry smile crossed his lips. He didn’t envy Jake. Jai Li was in a fighting mood. He knew what that meant, at least in the ring. He mused. Maybe Jake was right when he said she needed to be spanked. Master Wan knew he never would have spanked her, but someone should.

Chapter 16

Lexie ran down the hallway. If she were fast enough, she could slam the door and lock him out. She heard his footsteps closing in behind her. In seconds his big hand grabbed her arm and reeled her back against his hard chest. His breath was harsh in her ear.

“I. Said. Wait.”

Lexie jerked free and tossed her head. “So?”

Jake took her by the shoulders and pushed through the doorway, closing the door behind himself. His jaw was rigid, his voice stern.

“We’re not done talking.”

She glared at him. “I am.”

His voice dropped to a dangerous level.

“No, you’re not. Sit down. Lexie. Now!”

Even in his anger, Jake marveled at her defiance. It always surprised him that this little firebrand was willing to take him on. She came to his shoulder at the most. Even in those outrageous shoes she wore, he towered over her. But she would lift that chin of hers and glare at him, daring him to respond. Hell, she actually dared him to spank her last night. His cock hardened at the thought. Damn, maybe he should. The one arena where she thrived under his dominance, even encouraged it—was in their fierce lovemaking. She reacted to his erotic commands with an initial twinge of fear, that quickly merged into excitement and arousal. No matter how outrageous his demands, she responded eagerly, daring him to go further. He didn’t need to be encouraged.

His cock was screaming for release. It had been torture, not taking her last night. Returning from beating the shit out of the filthy animals that attacked her, he was high on adrenaline and testosterone. There wasn’t a worse combination when the woman you were dying to bury yourself inside was hurt. He’d controlled his raging lust, only to have her slam the bathroom door in his face this morning. Looking back on it, he gaped at his restraint. He’d come close—damn close to kicking the door in and taking her on the floor or against the wall. Or hell, both places. And then seeing her smiling up at that Hapkido warrior, his dick had been shouting for relief most of the day. Jake needed her. He needed her in the most primal way. To prove that she was his. Jake was scared out of his mind that someone bad was out to get her. He needed to protect her. But the defiant little brat refused to take him into her confidence. To let him protect her. Hell she wouldn’t even tell him what was going on. Whatever it was, she was determined to do it alone. No matter how dangerous it was.

With a supreme effort, he lowered his voice and pointed to the chair.

“Lexie. Please sit down. We need to talk.”

He watched the war of emotions battle on her face, and was relieved when she flounced to the chair and plopped down with a loud annoyed sigh.

Jake smothered a grin. Drama Queen much?

Lexie pressed her lips in a firm line.

“I’m warning you, Jake. I’m angry. I thought my run would help, but it didn’t. So before you start with your macho act, tossing out this command or that order, you should know that I am not in the mood to listen.”

Her defiance lit a predictable spark. He sat down across from her. No need for her to see how aroused he was. She’d just taunt him further, and then it would be all over. And dammit, raging hard-on or not, he had important information she needed to hear.

“Lexie, you’ve intentionally, or unintentionally, stirred up a pack of animals you don‘t want to poke a stick at.”

Lexie gave a bored sigh.

“Do you think I don’t know that when I release my information that there will be recriminations, reactions? For God’s sake, Jake, what do you think I am aiming for? I hope to cause the biggest scandal this city has ever seen. Of course I am going to ruffle feathers.”

“I’m not talking about feathers, Lexie. And yes, there will be massage parlors that are closed—at least for a short while. And there will be a flurry of activity in the Department of Public Health. And yeah, a few heads will roll, more than likely the low-level inspectors who took a bribe or screwed one of the girls in return for the permit. Hell, maybe you’ll even take down a Councilman or two. Too bad if by mistake you get the guy who was lusting over you at lunch today.”

Even Jake knew he was out of line. Taking precisely the wrong approach. He struggled to contain his anger. But he was about at the breaking point.

Lexie flared to attention. Leaping to her feet, she whirled on him, her hands on her hips.

“Great, Jake. Go ahead. Minimize what I am doing. Rub it in my face how difficult it will be to get lasting change, to make a real difference—”

Jake put up his hands in surrender.

“Lexie. Forget I said that. Give me a break. I’m angry, too. Let’s see if we can lower the temperature. Unfortunately, the likelihood of your having an impact is huge. But there is a damn good chance that the ‘impact’ will take you down in the process.”

He motioned to the chair.

“Sit down, please.”

She took a deep breath, and must have seen the seriousness on his face, because she sat down across from him with a loud sigh.