Midnight Run (15 page)

Even though the hotel room was chilly, Jack broke a sweat beneath his flannel shirt. This wasn’t working out the way he’d intended. Her closeness was getting to him in a way he didn’t want to pursue. In a way that would hurt them both if he didn’t stop this right now.

“As much as I want to make love to you,” he growled, “I think we both know it would be wrong for us to let this go any further.”

“Maybe it would be even worse not to see where it leads us.”

“For God’s sake, Landis, I’m a convicted murderer. I’m on the run. I can’t let you ruin your life.”

“I’m not sure which of us you’re trying to convince.” She shifted against him, ran her fingers over his shoulders. “But it’s not working.”

The intellectual side of his brain told him to pull away. Before things went too far. But the side of him that was a man—a man who’d been alone for a very long time—longed to touch her, to hear her sigh, taste her mouth, feel his body encased within her heat.

“Landis, where I’m going I can’t take you with me….”

His resolve faltered when her mouth brushed against his. For the first time he sensed real danger. Not from some outside threat. But from within himself because he knew if she touched him now he wouldn’t stop.

He hated it that he was the one who was falling apart. He’d wanted it to be her. But, God help him, she was standing so close, he could feel the warmth of her quickened breaths on his face, the softness of her breasts against his chest. He could hear the rush of blood in his veins, a freight train barreling down treacherous tracks toward an inevitable crash.

Heart pounding, he eased her away just enough for him to look into her eyes. But if he thought looking into her emerald depths would help him do the right thing, he was sorely mistaken. Because it was there that he saw his fate. He felt the truth of it stab him like a steely knife.

“I’m not going to do this,” he whispered without conviction.

“Neither am I,” she said and pressed her mouth to his.

Landis had always thought of herself as a level-headed creature. She’d always prided herself on her capacity for good judgment without emotions or impulses muddying things up. She valued her ability to stay cool under fire. They were the qualities that made a good lawyer. Qualities she’d cultivated and honed since the day she’d decided to go into law.

It was the ultimate irony that those qualities ceased to exist when it came to Jack LaCroix.

She was starkly aware of the wet, satiny texture of his mouth as he kissed her. Her breasts grew heavy. She could feel the pang of arousal in her womb. The wet heat between her legs. And an ache in her heart that didn’t have anything to do with any of those physical sensations.

“You make me lose control.” Never taking his eyes from hers, Jack lifted her hand and pressed her palm against his erection. Shocked by his boldness, she tried to tug her hand from his, but he held her palm firmly against his shaft.

Heat flooded her when he drew her hand slowly over the hard ridge of him. He was like heated steel beneath her fingertips. She could feel the pulse of him beneath against her palm. She could feel that same heat pulsing through her body to gather in her breasts and pool in her womb.

“This is your last chance to change your mind,” he whispered.

“I’m not going to change my mind,” she said.

Cupping her face with his hands, he dipped his head and crushed his mouth to hers. His lips were firm and demanding and infinitely clever as they devoured hers. She marveled at the scratchy feel of his whiskers against her face, the warmth of his breath against her cheek, the restrained urgency she felt in his touch.

She opened to him when he probed her mouth with his tongue. She entwined hers with his, loving the taste of him. His breaths came hard and quick, filling her senses with the sound of male need. Heat built inside her, burning her until she felt feverish. Until she felt herself melting like hot wax beneath a desert sun.

Even as the voice of reason screamed for her to stop and protect herself from the inevitable hurt this man would bring her, Landis tightened her arms around him. Right or wrong, she wanted this time with him. He filled something empty inside her no other human being had managed to touch. And it was a void that had ached every day he’d been out of her life.

Breaking the kiss, Jack pulled away just enough to make eye contact. Landis stared at him, shocked by the power of the emotions inside her, the intensity of the things happening to her body.

“I’ve dreamed of touching you like this.” His fingers combed through her hair, skimmed her face and throat, lingered on her shoulders. “I love the way you smell. I love the way you taste. I love the way your skin feels against my fingertips.”

She leaned close, brushed her lips across his mouth. “I’ve dreamed of kissing you like that. Of hearing your voice in the night. Of feeling you against me and knowing in my heart everything is going to be all right.”

He began unbuttoning his shirt. Even though his hands shook, his gaze never faltered. “I can’t make any guarantees, Red.”

“Maybe not. But of all the crazy things that have happened in the last year, this is the only thing I can make sense of.”

She hadn’t realized it was possible to feel so many emotions at the same time. She felt besieged by them, pulled in a thousand different directions. The memories of the way things had once been between them raced through her mind. But all of it was tempered by a future that was uncertain at best. Suddenly she wanted to cry out against the injustices that had been cast upon them. By fate that wasn’t always fair. By choices that hadn’t always been smart. By a system that wasn’t always perfect.

Jack removed his shirt, let it fall to the floor at his feet. Landis lowered her eyes, stared at the broad span of his chest where a thatch of black hair tapered to the waistband of his jeans. Her heart pounded against her breast when his fingers went to his belt.

The need to touch him overrode caution. She skimmed her hands over muscles that were as hard as granite. A shudder went through him when her fingertips traced over his nipples. She could feel the tension vibrating in his muscles as she ran her hands over his abdomen, then lower to his belt. “Let me.”

She struggled with his belt buckle for several eternal seconds, but her hands were shaking so badly, she couldn’t finish. Gazing intently at her, he set her hands aside and unfastened the belt, then his fly. The muscles of his chest rippled as he worked his jeans down over lean hips and stepped out of them.

The sight of him completely naked and fully aroused unnerved her, thrilled her, sent a shiver of anticipation through her. Without speaking, he took her hands in his and backed her toward the bed. Landis started when the backs of her thighs came in contact with the mattress. Eyes burning into hers, Jack reached for the lapels of the robe. “I want to see you. All of you.”

Landis began to tremble. Lovemaking had always been difficult for her. The vulnerability involved with the act itself unsettled her. The power of the emotions involved disturbed her. That Jack could so easily steal her control terrified her….

The terry cloth whispered over her nipples as he slipped the robe from her shoulders. A tremor raced the length of her as it puddled on the floor at her feet. Her nerves jumped when Jack’s eyes swept over her. She felt his gaze as if it were a physical touch, warm fingers skimming over her flesh….

She didn’t miss the darkening of his eyes or the rigid set of his mouth when his eyes latched on to hers. “You’re more beautiful than I remember,” he said in a thick voice.

Landis had never seen his emotions so visible on his face. She’d always known he was an intense man, but he’d never shown her this gentle, vulnerable side of him and it moved her profoundly that he would share it with her now.

She jolted when he raised his hand and swept a strand of hair away from her face. Embarrassed by her overreaction, she laughed, but the sound was fraught with nerves.

A smile touched the corners of his mouth. “I guess I’m not the only one who’s nervous.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been with anyone,” she said. “Since you.”

“A year is a long time. Maybe we’re both a little out of practice.” Gathering her into his arms, he pulled her to him and kissed her. She thought she’d been prepared for the onslaught of pleasure, but nothing could prepare her for the hunger of his kisses. She accepted his tongue, opened to him. Her thoughts tumbled inside her head until she could no longer form a single, rational thought.

A gasp escaped her when he cupped her breasts. She jolted, then arched when he took her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. Dizzy with sensation, she closed her eyes. Never taking his mouth from hers, Jack swept her into his arms and laid her on the bed. Vaguely, she was aware of him lying down beside her. Of her breaths coming hard and fast. Of her heart beating out of control.

She threw her head back when he kissed the hollow of her throat. His mouth lingered at her collarbone. A shiver swept through her as he trailed wet kisses to her breast. She cried out when he took her nipple into his mouth. Another cry escaped her when he flicked the engorged tip with his tongue and began to suckle.

Landis writhed beneath his ministrations, shocked by the intensity of the sensations streaking through her. Anticipation coiled tightly inside her, a high tension wire stretched to the limit. Dazedly she wondered how she had survived for an entire year without this man. How she had gotten through a single day without his touch.

She wanted badly to touch him, but every time she tried to move, his mouth besieged her with a new sensation that had her muscles tensing and then going slack. A shudder ran the length of her when he traced kisses from her breasts to her navel. She could feel the wetness of his mouth heating her flesh, teasing her with the promise of something forbidden and sweet. A keen sense of vulnerability made her tense when he moved lower, but he didn’t stop.

“I want all of you,” he whispered. “Let me kiss you there.”

Landis had never shared that part of herself before. Had never been able to bear the vulnerability of it. A shiver moved through her when he set his mouth against her mound. He kissed her softly, and sensation vibrated through her. The power of the pleasure stunned her; the intimacy of it shattered her. She cried out when his tongue slid between wet folds. Every nerve ending in her body zinged when he stroked her. Thoughts fragmented and splintered and her control tumbled away.

He kissed her with a ravenousness that took her quickly to the peak. Pleasure washed through her, a wave cresting higher with every stroke of his tongue. Sensation assaulted her senses. The intensity of it wrenched a cry from her. She heard his name on her lips, realized she’d called out his name. Jack answered in kind, kissing her deeply, stroking her, never giving her a respite.

One by one her senses shut down until she was aware of nothing except his mouth against the most private part of her body. She relinquished her control, let him guide her. White light sparked behind her closed lids as he flicked over her with his tongue.

“That’s it,” he whispered. “Let go…”

The climax struck her with stunning force. Wave after wave of pleasure gripped her. Landis rode each wave, a roller coaster rising and then falling until she felt as if she would shatter.

Jack took her apart piece by piece, atom by atom. In a small corner of her mind that still clung to rationale, she wondered if she would ever be able to put those pieces back together the way they were before.

“I want to look into your eyes when I make love to you.”

She opened her eyes. Her heart stumbled in her chest when he took her face between his hands and smiled down at her. She met his gaze, but she could feel her mouth quivering, the fist of emotion in her throat. She opened her body to him. His eyes darkened, intensified as he moved between her knees. The muscles of his shoulders corded. His breaths came shallow and quick.

He entered her with slow and devastating control. Quicksilver pleasure lashed at her, as sharp and cutting as a bull whip. She whispered his name when he began to move. Her vision blurred as the pleasure rose, a rogue wave crashing over her. He moved within her, stretching her, filling her, moving her as she’d never been moved before.

As her second completion bore down on her, she tried desperately not to acknowledge what she knew to be true in her heart. What she’d known to be true all along. What she’d feared more than anything in the world. She’d never stopped loving Jack LaCroix.

Chapter 12

J
ack stood beneath the spray of the shower, trying not to think about what he’d done or how it was going to affect his plans. He’d thought that by sleeping with Landis, by making love to her, he would finally be able to exorcise the demons that had haunted him for the past twelve months. He’d thought a few hours of mind-numbing sex would get her out of his system once and for all. That when the time came, he would be able to walk away and not look back.

What a pathetic fool he was.

All he’d managed to do was get himself more deeply entangled in a web that was threatening to suffocate him. The more he struggled to free himself, the more ensnared he became. How in the name of God could he have been so arrogant as to believe making love to her wouldn’t mean something? How could he have ever believed he would be able to walk away? A man didn’t walk away from a woman like Landis. Not unscathed, anyway. She was part of him whether he liked it or not. He would carry his feelings for her with him for the rest of his life. He would carry his feelings for her to the grave.

The way Jack saw it, he had three choices. He could turn himself in and fight for his life within the same system that had failed him so terribly once before. Or, he could flee to South America where he would invariably spend the rest of his life wasting away in some muddy grass hut, wondering what might have come of his life if he’d had the courage to fight. Or, he could continue with his original plan of breaking into Duke’s mansion on the outside chance that he would find some scrap of information that would clear him and end the nightmare once and for all.

None of the choices were ideal. All held a very high probability of failure. Ironically, the one that held the most reward also carried the most risk.

That brought him to another problem that wasn’t quite as cut and dried. If he decided to go into Duke’s mansion, he knew Landis wouldn’t sit on the sidelines and watch. The dangers involved—whether she recognized those dangers or not—wouldn’t matter to her. Like the tough prosecutor she was, she would insist on going with him.

Jack couldn’t let that happen.

He knew firsthand how Duke dealt with those who crossed him. The thought of what could happen if Duke’s thugs got their hands on Landis made him physically ill.

Cursing the situation, he turned off the water and yanked a towel off the rack. Cold, hard fear churned in his gut. A fear that had nothing to do with his own life and everything to do with the woman he’d just made love with. He was in so far over his head, he hadn’t even considered the possibility that what he was about to do could end up getting her killed.

Jack stepped into his jeans, then shrugged into his shirt. He found Landis sitting cross-legged on the bed with an egg roll in one hand and a pencil in the other. Wispy tendrils of flame-colored hair framed her face and fell in tousled disarray around her shoulders. Papers and documents were spread out around her like playing cards. Sitting there in her oversize-robe and disheveled hair, she looked more like a law student than a practicing lawyer.

Jack stared at her, shaken as much by her beauty as he was by his reaction to her. He tried hard to see her as the tough prosecutor she was. Instead, he saw her as the woman with whom he’d just shared one of the most erotic experiences of his life. A woman who meant a hell of a lot more to him than he wanted her to.

God in Heaven, how was he going to handle this?

The need to protect what was
his
jumped through him with surprising force. He knew she wouldn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to let her go with him into Duke’s mansion. Only he had the sinking suspicion she was going to be his toughest opponent.

She shot him a smile that stopped his brain cold. “There have been at least two precedence-setting cases in the state of Utah in which convicted law enforcement officers have been exonerated of charges against them and reinstated.”

“First-degree murder cases?” he managed.

“Well, no, but that doesn’t—”

“I think we both know formulating a legal strategy at this point is premature.”

She cut him a sharp look. “How about if you stick to the cop stuff and leave the legal mumbo jumbo to me?”

“I just don’t want you to get ahead of yourself.”

Tapping the pencil, she looked down at her notes. “I can file a—”

“Don’t waste your time.” He knew she was only trying to help, but he’d reached a point where he knew accepting help from her now would only lead to her getting hurt—or worse.

Rising from the bed, she approached him. Her eyes were soft, the color of a forest at dusk. Her mouth was full and wet, making him remember what it had been like to taste her there. He could just make out the swell of her breasts beneath the robe and felt a hard tug of lust.

“What’s going on with you?” She reached for his hand.

Suddenly furious with her, with the situation, but most of all with himself, Jack pulled away. “Cut it out.”

She stared at him, waiting, her expression perplexed and expectant. “You want to explain the surly mood or are you going to make me guess?”

He stared at her, unreasonably angry, frustrated and more scared than he’d been in a very long time.

Taking his hand, she pressed it gently to her lips. “Don’t shut me out,” she said.

The sensation of her mouth against his palm stirred him as no simple kiss could have. He tamped down on the slow heat building in his groin. He couldn’t let his attraction to her keep him from doing the right thing. Damn it, he would never forgive himself if something happened to her.

Troubled, he eased his hand from hers and lowered it to his side. “I don’t need you messing with my head right now, Landis.”

“Is that what I’m doing? Messing with your head? I thought I was helping you clear your name.”

“You’re not. You’re not helping anything. In fact, you’re making the situation worse.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?”

“I’m going to take you back to Ian’s. I want you to—”

“I’m not letting you go to Duke’s alone, Jack. You can rant and rave and throw male temper tantrums until you turn blue, but I’m not going to let you do that.”

“It’s out of your hands,” he said nastily.

“You’re not the only one with a stake in this. Damn it, I’ve risked everything helping you.”

“I’ll send you a medal from prison.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me that way.”

“I’m giving you an out, Landis. If you’re half as smart as I think you are, you’ll take it.”

“Sometimes the smart thing isn’t the right thing, Jack.”

“That’s a bunch of crap and you know it.”

“I’m not going to walk away. I’m sure as hell not going to sit this out while you get yourself killed.”

Jack crossed to her. She gasped when his fingers closed around her biceps. Without finesse, he drew her to him and kissed her hard on the mouth. The need inside him clenched, a fist squeezing so hard he couldn’t breathe. He hated doing that to her, hated showing her such disrespect. But the alternative was infinitely worse, and he couldn’t think of another way to save her life.

He pushed her away so she was arm’s length, let his gaze skim down the front of her. “You served your purpose, Landis. Now that I’ve scratched my itch, I don’t need you anymore.”

Her face paled, but she didn’t look away. “I’m not going to let you manipulate me that way.”

A sudden, desperate anger crashed through him. “Do you think this is some kind of game? I’ve seen Duke’s handiwork, Landis! I was a cop for twelve years. I’ve seen the blood and the twisted, butchered heaps he leaves behind. Do you think you’re immune to that?”

She tried to pull away, but he held her, forced her to listen. “I’ve seen what he does to decent people like you! I’ve had to tell mothers and wives that their sons and husbands were gunned down in the street. I’ve seen the pain and the ravaged faces he leaves behind.”

“Stop it!” she shouted.

He wanted to shake her, wanted to make her bend to his will. But he knew she wouldn’t. That was one of the things he’d always loved about her. When Landis put her mind to something, she was like a terrier with a bone and God help anyone who got in her way.

He could feel her trembling, feel the tremors quivering through his own body. He loosened his grip on her arms, tried not to think about the bruises he’d put on her. “You have no idea what that bastard is capable of,” he said.

She stared at him for an interminable moment, the only sound coming from their harsh breathing. “It’s insulting for you to stand there and tell me I’m not capable of helping you. I thought you were more enlightened, Jack. I thought you’ve always known I’m as strong and capable and determined as you are.”

“Landis, for God’s sake, you’ve got your entire life ahead of you. Don’t throw it away.”

“I’m in a position to help you do this. Please,
let me help you.
”

“I won’t be able to live with myself if I let you go in with me and something goes wrong. Damn it, Red, for once in your life, let it go.”

Her eyes were fierce. “If you shut me out, I swear I’ll do it on my own. I’ll find a way. You know I will.”

Heart pounding, Jack turned away. He didn’t want her to see that she’d rattled him. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to convince her to walk away, how to keep her safe. Another layer of fear enveloped him when he realized that if he were killed tonight, or sent back to prison tomorrow, Cyrus Duke could still target Landis—if only to prove a point.

“You need someone to drive,” she said. “You need a lookout. I can help you with the computer system. I’m relatively good with software. I took a networking class last fall.”

The need to hold her safe in his arms, to feel her heart beating against his, overwhelmed him. Abruptly, he went to her, pulled her to him. A hundred conflicting emotions unfurled in his chest. Vaguely he was aware of her arms going around him. Her warmth eased the ice freezing his heart. He closed his eyes, against the ebb and flow of emotions, held her tighter. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, she rested her head against his chest and sighed.

Reaching out, he stroked the back of her head, marveling at the silkiness of her hair beneath his fingers. “I don’t know how to keep you safe. That scares the hell out of me.”

“Life isn’t safe, Jack. We’ve already been terribly hurt. Both of us. But it’s within our power to stop it. Please don’t take this chance away from me.”

“I could never live with myself if something happened to you because of me. Landis, that would kill me.”

“Is that feeling any less for me, Jack? Do my feelings not count? I have enough regrets. I don’t want to regret walking away from our only chance. We don’t have a choice but to do this.”

He dug deep for an argument, but came up short. He wished with all his heart he could dispute her, but couldn’t. “You never did know when to walk away from a fight.”

She looked up at him, a smile touching her mouth. “That’s a hell of a character flaw for a lawyer, huh?”

He only hoped it didn’t get them killed.

The alley was as narrow and dark as a cave at three o’clock in the morning. Garbage bags, fifty-gallon drums and broken pallets lay haphazardly along the scarred brick walls. A graffiti-streaked Dumpster hulked like a battered sentry outside the rear door of Café DeVille, the upscale restaurant owned and operated by Cyrus Duke.

Jack stopped the truck and cut the headlights, giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light.

“What if there’s someone inside?” Landis’s voice cut through the tension creeping over him.

“The restaurant has been closed for a few hours,” he said. “The employees should be long gone, but I’ll make sure before I set the fire.”

“What if the fire spreads to one of the adjacent shops?”

Jack didn’t like the variables any more than she did; the last thing he wanted to do was jeopardize the safety of innocent bystanders. But without a diversion, there was no hope of them getting past the security system and into Duke’s mansion. The way he looked at it, they didn’t have a choice.

“We’re talking about a kitchen fire, Red. Just big enough to warrant the fire department and get Duke and his entourage out of the mansion.”

“How do you know he’ll show? I mean, it’s three o’clock in the morning. Doesn’t he have underlings who take care of this sort of thing for him?”

“He’ll come, believe me. Back when I was a cop, it was common knowledge that Café DeVille is his pride and joy. If there’s a fire—particularly if it’s of a suspicious nature—you can bet he’ll come running like a pig to chow.”

He looked at her. Determination shone in her eyes, but its sheen was dulled by a fear she couldn’t hide. A fear he wished like hell she never had to feel. “You sure you want to do this?”

“More sure of anything I’ve ever done in my life.”

He resisted the urge to slide across the seat and pull her into her arms. As much as he wanted to hold her, touch her, taste her, he couldn’t afford to let himself get distracted. Not when the most dangerous part of the plan lay dead ahead.

Turning away from her, Jack studied the brick exterior, the scarred wooden door and tried not to think about all the things that could go wrong. “I’ll start the fire in the kitchen, then call 9-1-1. To help expedite, I’ll contact someone at Duke’s estate, tell them I’m with the fire department and that they need to get someone to the site. The fire should give us enough time to drive to the mansion, get inside, into his network, then get out. We’re talking fifteen minutes inside max.”

Knowing he didn’t have any more time to spare, he reached into the back seat for the backpack filled with tools he’d picked up at an all-night convenience store. “Slide over to the driver’s seat,” he said.

Her hand was already on the door latch. “I’m coming in with you—”

He swore softly. “I need you in the truck. If something goes wrong, I want your hands on the wheel so we’ll be able to get out of here quickly.”

Myriad emotions scrolled across her face. He saw fear tempered with courage, a thin bravado and a determination he admired despite the fact that he didn’t want her here.