The Perfect Storm (The Blake Boys Book 6) (5 page)

“No. If he wants to do this, he should learn from the best.”

* * *

J.J. bid Scott farewell and headed to his room. The ping of the elevator jutted him out of his daydream. He was sure Scott was going to say Tyler was more interested in chasing women than learning about the racing industry. Instead Scott continued to sing Tyler’s praises and assured J.J. he wouldn’t let his baby brother get in over his head. This description of Tyler was new to him. Perhaps his brother was maturing? They were all growing and changing. Hell, Tate was in committed relationship with Isabelle. J.J. pulled out his ringing cell phone as he reached into his pocket for his hotel key card.

It was Seth. “Hey J.J. How was the talk with Scott?”

“Very enlightening.” J.J. removed his shoes and took a seat on the sofa.

“Let me guess. Tyler isn’t goofing off. He’s actually interested in racing.”

“Scott says he has a natural instinct for it and asks all the right questions.”

“I am the last person that wants to see Tyler do something potentially dangerous, but I also believe in him. For whatever reason, racing is resonating with him.”

“You’re right.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Sam and J.J. had a productive day at his office strategizing the itinerary for the next group of facilities they’d visit. His old stomping grounds Denver was on the list. Blake Enterprises had a construction company that was manned by a good friend of J.J.’s, Russ Sparks, who was also a former Denver Colt. She couldn’t help notice the look of excitement and dread when they discussed Colorado but he didn’t say anything.

Sam sipped on her wine and listened as J.J. tried to let some woman named Paige down gently. It was the third time she’d called today and from what she could get out of the conversation, he and Paige had been on a date recently and she was anxious to see him again, but J.J. was dragging his feet. She knew it didn’t look good for Paige when he answered the phone like he was talking to one of his staff. Code words like “tied up at the office” and “swamped with work” were a nice way of letting her down, but Paige was fighting the inevitable.

Sam glanced around the restaurant, surveying the patrons, hoping to spot an anomaly. Looking for what was wrong in the landscape was an unfortunate hazard of security work.

There was something peculiar going on in the backdrop of the restaurant. A finely dressed gentleman had just bumped into the fifth patron at the bar tonight. He was acting tipsy even though he’d been drinking club sodas for the last hour. She was so fixated on the man she didn’t notice J.J. had gotten off the phone.

“Am I boring you Ms. Carson?” J.J. drawled.

“Do you see the guy in the blue suit?” She point to the end of the bar. “I think he’s lifting wallets.”

“How can you tell?”

“Well, I’ve never seen anyone get drunk off club soda, and he’s had three the past hour.” Sam stood.

“What are you going to do?” J.J. caught her hand.

“I’m going to tell the manager to call the police.”

Sam found the hostess and asked for the manager. While waiting at the hostess station for the manager to return, she noticed the guy had done it again, but now he was getting closer to the door. He was ramping up his drunk act so he could leave before detection. He fake stumbled to the door, but she moved into his path to block his exit.

“Hold on now. We can’t have you leaving here inebriated. Can I call you a cab?”

“Can I call you beautiful?” He winked at her and leaned on her shoulder.

“I stopped dating criminals in high school,” she quipped.

“Excuse me?”

“Give back the wallets.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tried to push past her.

“I’m calling the police.”

“The hell you are.” He took a shot at her face.

Sam blocked it, grabbed his wrist, and twisted with such force, he fell to his knees in pain.

“You bitch!” he yelled.

She felt someone coming up behind her, and turned around in time to see J.J. grab another guy.

The guy turned and tried to punch J.J. but he moved out of the way, caught him in the jaw with the right hook and sent him flying into the wall.

“The manager called the police. They should be here any minute.” J.J. adjusted on his tie.

Sam nodded. “Thanks for assist.”

* * *

J.J. sat at the bar nursing a beer while Sam finished giving her statement to the police. It wasn’t the night he’d had in mind, but it was exciting none the less. He gave a quick statement to the police, but when they realized they were talking to John Blake, former quarterback for the Denver Colts, that conversation took an additional half hour. He appreciated meeting people who were fans of his football career, but sometimes that got in the way of more important things. Like getting back to his evening with Sam. When she’d finished giving her statement to the officers, a few of the patrons were thanking her for getting their wallets back. J.J. tightened his grip on his beer when one of them leaned in, whispered something in her ear and handed her a business card.

“Bet you’ve never had a business meeting like that before,” she said as she approached J.J. at the bar.

“I see you have a fan.” He pointed to the business card.

“He wants to take me on his yacht this weekend to thank me personally for saving his American Express black card.” She laughed.

“What did you say?”

“I don’t like men who try too hard.” She looked at him for a moment, then looked away to glance at her watch.

“Don’t like the thrill of the chase?” J.J. smiled.

“Dating is a slow, deliberate dance. I don’t like feeling rushed.” She leaned against the bar.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” J.J. mumbled and stood. “It’s late. We haven’t had dinner and I need to get you home.”

She waved him off. “I think the kitchen is closed and I can get a cab.”

“Absolutely not. The manager was kind enough to pack up our dinner.” J.J. rose and led her out of the restaurant before she could argue again. Man, he wanted to kiss her right now. He didn’t know if it was the excitement of the evening or a feeling that had been buried that was clawing its way out of his subconscious. A hot kiss from the lady who just beat some crooked asshole down would be a great way to end the evening.

J.J. enjoyed the conversation with Sam on the way to her condo. They didn’t talk about work, he made sure of that. He got her to open up about the moves she made on the pick pocket. He learned that she worked out regularly and kept the fitness standards of the Dallas police department even though she no longer worked for them. She said her job at Regency required undercover work and sometimes she had to get physical. He tried to mask his displeasure, but he couldn’t imagine a beautiful woman like her with such a rigorous, dangerous job. What could be so perilous about protecting a bunch of rich fat cats?

He felt invigorated as soon as he walked into the condo. It was furnished with bold colors that awakened the senses. Reds, blues, greens and earth tones ran rampant through the rooms and down the hallway.

“What was this for?” He pointed to a picture of her receiving a medal.

“Bravery.”

“What happened?”

“Stopped an armed robber as he was exiting a bank he’d just held up. I’m starving. Would you like some wine to go with dinner?” Sam padded into the kitchen with their bag from the restaurant.

“Sounds good.” J.J. could see she tensed a little bit so he dropped the subject. He continued to peruse the room and saw a stack of files on her coffee table. “Regency makes you take a lot of work home?”

“I work with a group of retired law enforcement people who work on missing people and cold cases.” She pulled plates out of the cupboard.

“That’s quite a hobby.”

“It’s never too late to find the truth and get justice for the victims.”

He looked around. There was no evidence that a man lived there, but he had to ask. “Does your boyfriend mind you working such late hours?”

“You worried some big burly dude is going to come in here and toss you out?” She handed him a glass of wine.

He laughed. “No. You could do that all by yourself.”

“Hence the non-existent boyfriend.”

“How so?”

“The nature of my job and the late hours wears thin after a while. It’s hard for a lot of men to understand why I do it.” She leaned against the counter.

“Why do you do it?” He forked some of Sam’s penne pasta with vodka sauce into his mouth.

He’d called Jack Stanton and found out that Sam had been a police officer for six years before she decided it wasn’t for her. Jack didn’t know the exact reason she resigned, but he was happy to add her to his payroll. She was the daughter of Deke Carson, legendary lawman. Apparently his daughter was just as formidable as her father.

“I do it because I think everyone has the right to feel safe,” she said. “No one should be able to take that away.” She folded her hands across her chest. “I owe you an apology. I should never have put you in danger like that. I want to assure you that’s not how I work. I get these impulses. I guess it’s from being a cop. It will never happen again.”

“If you hadn’t noticed half the patrons at the bar would have been ripped off.”

“True, but I don’t work for the patrons in the bar. I work for you.” She shook her head.

J.J. came closer and touched her chin with his hand. “You made the right call. I’m not some pampered executive who can’t handle himself. As a matter of fact I can—”

“I know all about your exploits.” She raised an eyebrow.

“It’s in the file?”

“Yep.”

“Then you know I can handle myself,” he whispered against her lips. The need to kiss her right now overrode his thinking. He swept his tongue into her mouth and tugged at the giant clip holding her hair in place, running his hand through her locks as they cascaded down her shoulders. The smooth feel of her fingers moving up and down the back of his neck sent shivers down his spine. He gripped her waist and planted her on the counter. He reached between them and undid the buttons on the pale pink blouse. It spilled open and exposed a lacy black bra firmly holding her full breasts in place. J.J. ran his thumb over her nipple through the material. He groaned at the soft, throaty sound that escaped from her lips.

Sam’s cell phone started vibrating in her pocket.

“I’ve wanted to do that ever since you walked into my office.” He caressed her chin with his thumb.

“I have to take this call.” She held up a finger and answered the call.

J.J. listened as she told someone named Kendrick that she was on her way.

“I have to go to work. A client’s daughter has run off and we have to go look for her.”

“At this hour?” J.J. looked at his watch. It was nearly midnight.

“Part of the job. I’m dedicated to your family the same way. I—”

He stopped her with a kiss. Five minutes later she pulled away with an enigmatic look on her face.

“Excuse me, I have to change,” she said as she scooted out of the kitchen.

J.J. shook his head as Sam left her own kitchen like it was on fire. She’d barely touched her food and was gearing up to track down people in the middle of the night on an empty stomach. She needed something to keep her energy up. He looked around the kitchen and saw an open box of energy bars, then opened her fridge to find bottled water, Gatorade and an assortment of fruits and vegetables. He started shoveling bottled war, energy bars and an apple into a fancy insulated lunch bag he’d found in one of the cupboards. He was still a little hungry himself so he continued to eat the pasta. Fifteen minutes later she emerged dressed in jeans, a black shirt and a pair of running shoes. It looked more like she was going jogging, not to a work assignment. J.J. must have been staring laser beams through her because she started fiddling with her clothes.

“I need to be comfortable in case I’m running around in the dark all night looking for her.”

“Take a few bites before you leave.” J.J. held up the pasta.

“I don’t have—”

J.J. took the opportunity to slip a forkful of food into her mouth. She looked mad at first but then chewed the food. He did it again and she accepted but she held up her hand when he tried a third time.

“I really do have to go.”

“I packed you a few things. You need something to sustain you while skulking around in the middle of the night.”

“That was very thoughtful.” She accepted the bag.

“Will you have back up?”

“Of course.”

“That’s good. Be careful.”

“Thanks, I will.” She smiled. “Listen, about what just happened in my kitchen. We had a pretty lively night and I’m sure from being an athlete you’re familiar with bursts of adrenaline. So no apologies necessary. It was an accident and it shouldn’t have happened.”

“I’ve never apologized in my life for kissing a woman and I’m not about to start tonight.” He folded his arms over his chest.

“So that’s how you’re going to be about it?”

“Yes, it is.”

She looked like she wanted to smack him, but she didn’t have the time. Sam stalked off to her SUV and pulled away without so much as a wave goodbye. J.J. smiled. That kiss had been totally worth whatever hell she would give him later.

* * *

By the time he made it home, he knew he’d be in no shape to go to work the next morning. When he awoke, he sent a text to Anna Beth letting her know he wouldn’t be in the office.

Afraid his momma would burst into his room if he didn’t show his face for breakfast, he slipped on a shirt and a pair of jeans and went downstairs. The animated sounds coming from the kitchen meant one thing: Momma and Daddy had his nephews. He loved it when Jake, Connor and Colby were in the house.

“Good morning. Uncle J.J.” Jake smiled. His baby brothers tried to emulate his greeting.

“Good morning, family. How are my handsome nephews today?” J.J. rubbed Jake on the head. Teri-Lyn handed him Colby so she could pour him a glass of orange juice.