Every Breath You Take (17 page)

“How about it, Jake? Am I a good commander?”

He laughed. “How do I answer that, Lexie? Are you asking if I liked you telling me what you were going to do to me? That you drove me out of my mind? Teasing me, ratcheting up my desire until I felt like I was going to explode?”

He stroked her cheek. “Yeah, I ‘liked’ it. So much that I could play those kinds of games with you 24/7. But honey I have to admit, at a certain point, the alpha dog in me takes over and I just gotta run the show. Do you understand? It’s the way I’m made. Caveman school and all that.”

Lexie snuggled in closer to him.

“I love to play with you, Jake. I dream about the games we play. But nothing I can imagine comes close to what we do to each other. For each other.” She hesitated. “I love to take you in my mouth, Jake. It’s strange. You’d think being on my knees with you holding my head in place between your hands, would make me feel vulnerable. But watching you come like that? Because of what I am doing to you? It makes me feel… powerful.”

Jake groaned. “Oh, Darlin’ you
should
feel powerful. Hell, you have the most vulnerable part of me deep in your throat, between your teeth. But it’s more than that, Lexie. You let me surrender. Surrender to you. And that is a very powerful gift. For me, and for you.”

“You’re right. I hadn’t thought about it that way.” Lexie was reflective for a moment. “Oh and, Jake? You were right about something else. You are not a boy. You are very much a man.”

Jake chuckled.

“You’re goddamned right I am. And it’s a good thing that I am. Because Ms. Alexis Beloi, you are one hell of a woman—and it takes every lesson I learned in caveman school to keep up with you.”

Chapter 16

“Damn, Jake! You’re a better man than I am. What did you put in Lexie’s drink? Gotta be some powerful potion, dude. I don’t know how you got her to agree to wear that unless you drugged her.”

Jake winked. “Hey, did you ever stop to think that after two hours with me, I could get her to agree to just about anything?”

“Hell, I know your powers of persuasion are, shall we say, ‘multi-faceted.’ But
that
? That getup has got to be due to some mind-altering drugs. Don’t you agree, Peter?”

“I’ll admit that I do, Brady. We’ve all commented on the effect this fast-talking son of a bitch has on that gorgeous woman. And that disguise is a convincing example. If you could bottle what you do to her, Jake, it would be the hottest drug on the market. You could make millions selling it to the rest of us.”

Jake chortled and nodded to the two elderly women seated behind one of the folding tables in the open air café. They were serving bowls of savory Chinese noodles to a crowd of eager customers. The café was open twenty-four hours a day, but came to life after dark. It was in the center of the District where the nightlife—both legal and illegal—thrived. The booths in the café served every variety of roasted meats from the ordinary to the suspect. At least to the conventional Western palette. Noodle and rice dishes fortified with meat and fish contributed to the pungent odors blanketing the air. A steady stream of patrons spilled out of the bars and brothels eager to stock up on nourishment before they returned to the harder repasts offered in the seedy establishments.

Surrounded by colorful lanterns, and a cacophony of music mixing with the babel of various languages, the bustling bazaar was the perfect place to get the real lowdown on what was happening in the District. The gossip was as plentiful as the street vendors, the pimps and their girls. Lexie and Tiffany fit right in. No one would guess that the two elderly Chinese women, their faces lined with years of hard life, were in reality the stunning martial artists who wowed every man they met.

Their costumes were masterful. Loose jackets and trousers hid their curvaceous bodies. Open street sandals protected their grubby feet. Unkempt grey braids hung down their backs. Their shoulders slumped over the steaming pots of noodles spoke to decades of hardships.

Brady persisted. “Look, Jake, I know Tiffany would agree to do whatever you told her to. She’s a pro, and there’s nothing
personal
in it. But Lexie? Hardly. I don’t care how many times she agrees. She still is the most independent woman I know. And given the hot redhead who is driving me crazy with her independence, that’s saying something. So tell me, Big Guy, how you got the hottest women I know to cover up their bodacious bods and forego their usual slut ‘disguises’?”

“I wish I could attribute it to my astronomical powers of persuasion. But those women are as savvy as they are outrageous. They both agreed to the costumes I ‘suggested.’ We all know their bodies are damned hard to conceal. But they did. You should have heard them laughing when they were getting dressed. Hell, you’d have thought they were kids getting ready for Halloween.”

Peter nodded to one of the vendors pushing a cart with cold beer. The young man put three bottles of beer on their table and thanked Peter in Korean. Peter responded in kind. Jake marveled at Peter’s ability to morph into whatever persona the situation demanded. He was as at ease discussing economic theory in French with a group of international bankers as he was haggling over the cost of three beers with an illiterate street kid. With a pleasant grin, he called the kid back and gave him the equivalent of a ten dollar tip in Korean won. The kid glowed with pleasure. Few would believe that the charming Korean business man turned Councilman was a trained killer, one of the most vicious Jake had known.

“What are you hearing, Peter?”

“Interestingly, enough, Jake, not a damned thing. I sent a message to my NIS ‘handler’ to see what they are hearing from their men in Young-soo’s inner circle. Since last month when we took out five of their key men and burned their San Francisco headquarters to the ground they seem to have closed ranks. It’s frustrating. I was getting to the point that they were including me in some of Young-soo’s high level strategy sessions. After the massacre—which they know you and your men initiated, they are treating me as suspect. I’m confident that Young-soo would be open to me but his minions are true dragons at the door. I’ll tell you Jake, what I do hear is not good news for us, particularly for Lexie. Her ability to shine the harsh light of publicity on the scandalous things happening here has made her their number one target. And you, my friend, are a close second.”

Peter hesitated and then turned to Brady. “Tiffany is also on their hit list. The word I got is that the red-headed menace who they thought was in Korea has joined your ranks. It would be understating it to say they are livid. But also excited. Apparently as much trouble as she caused them in Seoul, she was under the protection of Chae-ku, the former Kkangpae leader who trained her. Now that she’s here, his influence has evaporated.”

A dark cloud settled over Brady’s face. He shook his head and then glared at his friends.

“It’s not as if we don’t know that they’re after our women. But it makes me livid that we can’t get a better bead on them. You’re right, Jake. They or ‘he’ is so close I can smell him too. We know damn well that one of the men at that meeting we went to this afternoon is involved. Intent not only on killing us, but more important killing the women we love.”

Jake slung an arm around Brady’s shoulder. His voice was as fierce as his expression was contained. “We’re gonna get him, buddy, and soon. Don’t look now but that guy who just bought a bowl of noodles from Lexie gave her a note.”

“How do you know, Jake?”

“She gave me a signal we agreed on. No, don’t get up and don’t look back. I don’t want anyone to see us move to support her. Remember Brady, that’s what our black ops are doing. Keep acting as though we are simply enjoying our Hite.” Keeping his eyes focused on Brady’s face, he took a swig of beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “If you look to your six you’ll see a pudgy guy working his way through the crowd. In seconds he’ll be following Lexie into that alleyway. He’s one of our guys. Three others are mingling close by. We know that Lexis’s sources won’t hurt her. Our guys are there to make sure no one else does.”

Brady whistled.

“Damn, Jake. I’m impressed. It wasn’t long ago—say about a week—where you woulda been out of your chair the minute that guy walked up to her.”

“I know that, Brady. But Lexie and I have come to an agreement. She agreed to follow my lead, share her information, and not go off on a one-woman tangent. You both know how hard it is for her to play with us instead of going it alone.” He sighed. “My part of the bargain was to chain up my alpha dog that threatens any guy who comes within three feet of her, much less one who may hurt her. Lexie doesn’t know it, but I swear to God it’s harder for me to do that than it is for her to part of the team.”

Taking a long draught of his Hite, he grimaced.

“Don’t want to go all-Oprah on you, but if we can’t live up to our bargain, I don’t think Lexie and I can make it.”

Brady frowned. “What the hell do you mean by that, Jake?”

“It’s simple, dude. If we can’t trust each other, there’s no way that we can create a life together. What’s crazy is that the only way I can prove that I trust her is to give her rope, and the only way she can prove she trusts me is to give up some control. A crazy conundrum, wouldn’t you say?”

“I guess. But, Jesus, man. I’ve never seen two people who love each other as much as you and Lexie. What scares me about what you’re saying is that the issues between Tiffany and me are variations on the trust theme. Somehow I have to convince her that I’m not the world’s biggest hound dog second only to her father when everything in my past indicates that I might even be worse than her old man.”

Jake huffed. “Looks like our pasts have caught up to us, Bro. And leave it to the most beautiful women in the world to call us on it.”

Peter studied them both. “I am as far from an expert in relationships as one could get, but let me give you an outsider’s point of view. Forget your past indulgences. You are the most honorable men I know. And those two breathtaking women know that. The four of you are amazingly powerful people. You have accomplished in a third of a lifetime a hundred times what heroes and heroines accomplish in their whole lives. That you have found each other is a blessing to treasure. And worth fighting to maintain. I have every confidence that you can do both.” Peter gave a somber sigh. “I will add that you have made me aware of the emptiness in my life. I have spent most of my years pretending to be someone that I am not. It’s to the point that I don’t know who the real me is. Even if a woman like yours was foolish enough to love me, I’m not sure there is anyone authentic enough for her to love. Or return that love.”

Breaking the troubled silence that followed, Jake spoke to the loneliness he heard in Peter’s voice.

“Two years ago, hell a year ago, if anyone had told either me or Brady that we would be ass over elbows in love with those two gorgeous women and that our hound dog days were over, we would have laughed in their faces. It’s like a tornado, Peter. It comes barreling across the plains scattering everything in its wake. But instead of a tornado’s destruction, this storm only takes out the ugly shit. You know—that emptiness you feel when you wake up and say to the naked woman lying next to you, ‘Now, what’s your name again, sugar?’

“I don’t want to shit you, man. Most of the time being in the eye of a hurricane would be more peaceful than my relationship with Lexie. Hell, she is a force of nature, a tornado of highs and lows that has me twisted in knots. She makes me feel like I’ve been rode hard and put up wet. Like a one armed monkey with two peckers. But letting go of her? Even t
hinking
that I won’t love her the way I do now? It makes as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.”

Peter and Brady roared. When Peter finally caught a breath he shook his head, wonder streaking across his normally placid expression.

“Damn, Jake. It’ll take me a while to sort all of that out, but may I surmise that you have strong feelings for Lexie and that I would be one lucky son of a bitch to find a woman I felt half as strongly about?”

Jake grinned at his companions.

“Yeah, Peter. That about sums it up.”

Chapter 17

Lexie scrubbed at the stage makeup on her face with the corner of a wet washcloth. She smiled at Tiffany in the vanity mirror.

“I don’t know about you, Tiff, but I don’t think we’ll look all that bad when we’re seventy. I won’t mind the wrinkles but I will need to do some serious work on this hair.” She whipped off the scraggly gray wig and shook out her long blond mane. “There’s got to be something I can put in my hair to keep it from looking like a mangy rat.”

She scowled at her reflection.

“How come when men get gray around the temples, it just looks sexy, distinguished? God, can you imagine Jake looking even sexier? I can’t keep my hands off him
now
.”

Tiffany jerked off her wig and gave a heartfelt sigh. She ran her hands through her fiery curls and groaned.

“Dammit, Lexie. I hate to sound like a vain, whining woman. But my hair is my trademark. I
like
being a redhead! I love the way men
and
women gawk at me. What will I do when it fades away? When the fire goes out? Maybe by then they’ll have found the fountain of youth. Instead of propping up my boobs with silicon, I’ll take some magic potion that a genius has created that will keep my hair the color that it is.”

Lexie grinned at her gorgeous friend in the mirror.

“We’ve got a few years to go, Tiff. As in forty years or so. Tell me it wasn’t fun tonight, seeing the shocked looks on my sources faces when they realized the hag serving them soup was none other than the Blonde Barracuda. By the way, it will take a lot more than age to dampen the fire in you. Let’s make the most of what we’ve got right now.”

Dragging tight black jeans and a low cut slinky sweater over her curvy body, Tiffany winked.

“You’re right, Lexie. And I would wear a thousand ugly disguises if it could net the information we got tonight. I still can hardly believe it. You weren’t kidding when you said you had amazing sources in the District.”