Undercover Attraction (13 page)

He stopped them before they walked into the
small hallway holding the fitting rooms and stepped ahead of them
to inspect. Satisfied that everything was safe and embarrassed that
a few of the women exiting the rooms gave him hot looks, he sat at
the small upholstered bench facing the rooms and pointed to the
empty room directly in his sight.

Jenna took a deep breath and entered the
room, shutting off his view of her against his instincts. Amy stood
outside the stall, her hands full of things his imagination was
picturing sliding against Jenna’s creamy skin.

Her hand popped out over the top of the
stall door and Amy held up a pair of lavender thongs for her. They
disappeared behind the door and seconds later, he heard Jenna’s
gasp of “Amy!” who was standing there snickering as a flying pair
of thongs flew over the top of the door.

Next up was a bra and panty set of dark
green lace, his favorite color. He pictured Jenna sliding the
panties up her legs, the lace cupping her moist center, and the bra
caressing her pointed nipples. He felt himself stirring in his
pants and had to switch positions on the bench to conceal the
bulge.

Panties and lingerie went over the door
repeatedly, each piece sticking in his mind like a flame in the
dark. The fiery red camisole and matching thong, the cerulean lace
strapless bra and boy shorts, the black satin with white ribbons,
the aqua lace, the violet and neon pink satin, all able to hug her
curves in the exact places he wanted to kiss.

Diverting his attention didn’t help. This
store was built with seduction in mind. Everywhere he looked was
torture. His vivid imagination kept putting each article of
clothing on Jenna’s nude body, tormenting his patience.

Finally, she was finished trying on the
instruments of torture and emerged fully clothed in her t-shirt and
jeans, holding several pairs of lingerie that she must have liked.
Amy went in next, arms fully stacked with her own selections.

A saleslady walked by and Jenna handed all
of the clothing to her then turned to him. “I want to look at the
pajamas there.” She pointed to a series of racks within his line of
sight.

He nodded and moved closer to that side of
the store, giving himself a better view of the storefront.

She walked around for a few minutes, looking
at a selection of ‘Pink’ sets, touching the sleeves, looking at
price tags, holding one or another up to inspect. Amy came
sauntering out of the dressing room a few minutes later, just as
Jenna was deciding between a pair of bright orange and yellow
striped pajamas and a pair of blue ones.

She must have decided on the blue ones and
put the striped pair back then she and Amy headed to the checkout,
finally putting an end to Jacob’s torture.

Well, for a second anyway…

Until he saw that Jenna was buying some of
the sexy lingerie she had tried on minutes earlier. Then his brain
once again went into overdrive, conjuring images that he tried hard
to squash down before anyone noticed he was getting hard from his
fantasies.

The two girls grabbed up their purchases and
left the store, Jacob dutifully at their side, wandering around the
mall for a few moments until Amy spotted another store she wanted
to visit.

After once again trying on clothes,
thankfully not satin and lace underclothes this time, they left
with their purchases, going from store to store, browsing the new
trends, Amy trying insistently to get Jenna to buy one thing or
another, only to end up finding something for herself in the
process.

He had been around enough women to know many
loved to shop, but Amy was a completely different case from all the
others, not to mention Jenna was about as enthused about shopping
with her sister as a dog getting neutered.

When he had asked Jenna about Amy’s shopping
addiction, Jenna had laughed.

“Amy’s therapy is shopping. Every time she
gets depressed or something upsets her, she goes shopping. Granted,
it’s expensive, but it always cheers her up, and she'll end up
returning most of the things she gets within the next few days once
she’s feeling better.”

They had both turned to watch Amy carry an
armful of clothes to the dressing rooms Jacob had cleared
earlier.

“Well, what about yourself? It’s plain to
see that you aren’t partial to shopping. Isn’t that unusual for a
woman?” he asked her.

Jenna looked sideways at him. “There isn’t
really a reason for me to shop much, other than groceries and the
occasional new suit for class. I honestly don’t see the reason I
should spend my money on things I will probably never use. This
stuff I am getting today is mainly to make Amy happy. I will
probably end up returning everything within a few weeks, especially
if I don’t think I’ll ever wear it in the future.”

Jacob sighed, perplexed at her feminine
mind. “You aren’t the typical female, are you?”

She raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed
to mean?”

One side of his mouth turned up. “No
offense, but most women would jump at the chance to go on a
shopping spree.”

“Yeah. Well, most of them are spending
someone else’s money and can afford it. I live on a meager salary
and don’t really need any of this stuff, so I don’t shop much for
me.”

He searched her face for a long moment
before he spoke again. “I think you deserve anything you want. You
should be pampered and treated like royalty. Any good woman
should.”

A smile spread across her face. “Thanks, but
it doesn’t work like that. At least not in my case. I work hard for
what I want and that allows for few extras.”

Jacob opened his mouth to reply
I hope
you want me
, but just then Amy ran out of the dressing room,
squealing. Seeing panic in her eyes, his gun was palmed
instantaneously and he pointed for Jenna to stay put while he
headed off to the dressing rooms again.

He cautiously opened all of the flimsy
doors, once again clearing the dressing rooms, confused at Amy’s
outburst since they were still secure. He holstered his gun and
emerged to see Jenna calming Amy down. He raised his hands
questioningly.

“She is deathly afraid of spiders,” Jenna
said over Amy’s head.

“A spider? She panicked over a spider?" He
raked his hands through his hair, making the short strands stand in
disarray. Why did women always overreact? "I could have shot
someone over a damn bug!”

Jenna pushed Amy behind herself and put her
hands on her hips. “Excuse me! You’re the paranoid freak with a
gun. You didn’t have to flash it around when she came out of there.
We don’t think anyone is trying to kill us- that's
your
excuse. Why don’t you just leave us alone? Go our separate ways.
This isn’t going to work out.”

He inched closer to her until he was
crowding her. He could see every streak of anger in her eyes,
making him want her naked on a bed. He liked that she was defensive
of her sister, even if it was a bit overzealous. He summed it up to
nerves. “I am just doing my job. You are trying to be reckless and
obviously have no sense of self preservation.” He looked over her
head at Amy, “We're done here. Let’s go.”

“She isn’t finished shopping yet,” Jenna
said, refusing to move.

He grabbed Jenna's arm. “She is now.”

“Why are you doing this? You’re being an
asshole.”

He dragged her by the arm out of the store,
getting a few unsavory glances. “I am trying to protect you
both.”

Jenna dug in her heels just as they reached
the interior courtyard of the mall, Amy close behind them. “I can
take care of myself.”

He let her go and turned to her. “In case
you haven’t noticed, you are now a witness and a target for one of
the biggest cases we have. Unfortunately, the people you are going
to have to testify against are still out there, presumably trying
to find you. And let me tell you honey, they don’t want to invite
you to a tea party. I am your only chance right now. If they find
you, you are toast. That is, if they don’t get to your sister
first,” he nodded towards Amy, “or your cat, or your friends. These
aren’t the kind of people who will announce they’re coming. They
will sneak up and surprise you, taking your life before you know
it.”

Jenna's face paled, but she stood her
ground. “That doesn’t mean I should live in fear or as a prisoner
and that is what you want us to do.”

Jacob ran his hands through his hair again,
creating more disarray to his already dreamy look. “Jenna. I am
trying to do my job the best way I know how. So just please
cooperate.”

“Fine. Since I am your
job
, and you
know how to keep me safe better than I do apparently, let’s
go.”

He didn’t miss the sarcasm, or the way she
held her head high as she stormed past him towards the parking
lot.

They
were being followed.

About six cars behind them was a tail in the
form of a silver BMW with mirror-tint windows. And whoever it was
knew how to remain inconspicuous, a tell-tale sign that they were a
professional. The tail had done nothing out of the ordinary for a
regular citizen, driving to who knows where in the evening rush
hour. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed the car had
it not tried to stay
too
normal behind them.

The driver had weaved and bobbed through
traffic, as if trying to get somewhere in a hurry, but had never
passed them. That’s what tipped him off; the professional quality
in which they drove. There was still a possibility he was wrong,
but the car had remained at the perfect distance, the perfect
speed, even after passing other vehicles, but never turning off,
and staying far enough away to prevent him from getting a good look
through their windshield.

To rule out the possibility of a civilian
driver, he took the next exit on the freeway, despite the
objections of Jenna and Amy. Sure enough, the car followed,
crossing two lanes of traffic, and merging into the exit lane.

Jacob pulled his cell from his pocket,
pressed number one on speed dial, and waited while the other end
rang. It picked up halfway through the first ring.

“Jacob?” his dad said.

“Got a tail,” Jacob said briskly into the
receiver, seeing Jenna’s head go up towards him through the corner
of his eye.

“On it,” was the reply before they both hung
up.

He slid his phone back into his pocket and
looked at Jenna. She inclined her head towards her sister in the
back seat and shook her head a bit. He understood. She didn’t want
to scare Amy. He winked at her and smiled to himself as she rolled
her eyes at him.

“Where are we going?” Amy piped up, rather
frostily, since she was still mad at him for making them leave the
mall.

He met her eyes in the rearview mirror,
“I’ve got an errand to run also while I am out. I didn’t think
you’d mind.”

“Sure, whatever. You’re the dictator here,
not me.” She crossed her arms over her expansive chest.

He made a few irrelevant turns, trying to
see if the car following them would get any closer once the cars
between them were weeded out. Unfortunately, it didn't. The driver
was careful to remain just out of distance.

The light ahead was turning red, so he sped
up, hoping his tail would have to stop, but it passed the car
between them, and sped through the light anyway. He drove to
another area of town, keeping a close eye on the car following
him.

A few more turns later, his phone rang.
“Yeah?”

“Silver? BMW?”

“Yeah,” he said again.

“Got it on SAT. We are going to track it,
but at this hour, it’s going to take a few minutes to get someone
on him.”

Jacob nodded to himself. “I can handle it,
headed to the stacks now, gonna try to lose it in the garage, but
if not, I might have to take defensive measures.” He saw Amy's eyes
go wide in his rearview mirror as the realization struck her.

His father sighed on the other end of the
phone. “You’re cleared for whatever you have to do.” And they hung
up.

Amy and Jenna kept looking behind them,
trying to see the car, but without luck. Nothing looked out of the
ordinary to them.

“Look in the floor hatch, Amy, and pull out
two vests.” He looked at her in the mirror, then at Jenna. “Put
them on, and buckle up.”

They both did as told, thankfully. He didn’t
want a feeble argument over something this vital.

Jenna stared at him for a long moment. She
watched as his expression turned from frustration to a cold
determination, hard, almost menacing. It was definitely daunting,
and she hoped that he never looked at her with that same
cold-hearted gleam in his eyes.

Jacob felt her eyes on him, was almost
scared to know what she was thinking. He knew she was frightened
and that the look on his face probably made her resent him even
more. He couldn't help that.

He also knew she was pissed for forcing her
to leave the mall, although she hadn't spoken a word to him since
climbing back in the Tahoe. Amy, however, had called him all kinds
of nasty names while thoroughly defending her big sister. He had to
give it to her, the brat had guts, and he was thankful that her
older sister had matured past that childish sulking.

The tail still followed them, even after
Jacob took a few unnecessary quick turns. He weaved through traffic
once he was on the stacks, easily placing a few eighteen-wheelers
between himself and the BMW. Once he saw that the direct view was
blocked, he took the next exit, trying to blend in with the other
larger vehicles on the ramp.

He no longer saw the tail, but that was no
reason to relax. From the way the driver had stayed inconspicuous,
he knew that it would be more difficult than that to lose him.

Pulling into a four level parking garage, he
backed into a parking spot to turn around. Then he waited. He
pulled his weapon from his coat, glancing at Jenna from the corner
of his eyes.