Nauti Intentions (11 page)

grandchildren. To Janey at the time, it had seemed like watching a fairy tale come to life as she saw the family interact. And she had, even at that age,

known her family was so different, monstrous even, compared to others.

The addition of the extra table al owed several walk-ins a chance at dinner, and al owed for a few extra reservation seatings. By the time the restaurant

doors were closed and locked, Janey felt as though she had been through a war.

The waitresses and busboys were working to finish the cleanup, and in the kitchen Desmond and his staff were sanitizing surfaces and preparing to

wash the last load of dishes.

“Go relax until everything’s ready to lock up for the night, Janey,†Hoyt told her. “We can handle the rest of it.â€

Janey slipped her shoes off as she slid onto the stool at the reservation desk and stretched her arches.

“We need more help.†She sighed.

“We’ve been saying that for weeks,†Hoyt reminded her.

“Have another ad put in the papers,†she said. “I don’t want a sign on the restaurant. I’ve talked to our other girls; maybe word of

mouth wil help as wel .â€

Her waitresses made damned good tips for the most part, but the pace was a kil er and the paperwork was getting out of hand because Janey was

needed in the dining room as wel .

“Okay, I’l see if I can make a dent in the paperwork.†She rose to her feet, bent, and picked up her shoes, before heading to the office, where

she knew what was waiting on her.

It wasn’t just paperwork, but Alex.

She pushed her fingers through her hair as she moved closer to the room. He’d be lying back on that couch, reading some kind of magazine. His

head would turn to her, that invitation in his eyes.

The invitation to let him take her, to let him stroke and pet her, touch her. Over the past three days her desire for that touch had grown to the point that it

was turning into a driving, addicting need. Alex was turning into a need.

She unlocked the office door and stepped in, and there he was, just as she had known he would be. Stretched out on the couch, a computer magazine

in his hand. His head turned, the dark shadow of a beard making his gray eyes seem more intense, more stormy.

“Things ran late.†He sat up, legs spreading as he planted his feet on the floor.

Faded jeans and a gray shirt. Boots. Too sexy to be legal, as her friend Rogue had said.

“A little.†She shrugged as she moved to the smal refrigerator for a glass of wine.

She was exhausted and riding on nerves. Alex was making her crazy.

“You’re not resting enough,†he stated.

Janey almost snorted at that observation. No, she wasn’t resting at al . She was tossing and turning, imagining Alex in the bed beside her and

going crazy at the thought of the ways he would touch her.

That, added to the incessant concern Natches and her cousins were showing, was exhausting her. She loved them dearly. More than they would ever

know, but she just wasn’t used to this. Getting a handle on it wasn’t easy, and she didn’t feel as though she was even being given time to

breathe.

“I’m fine.†She poured her wine before returning to her desk and sitting down in the large, padded chair.

She tensed as Alex stood up and moved over to her.

“Don’t harass me,†she warned him with a sigh as she stared at the paperwork. “I have too much . . .†Her lashes feathered closed as

his hands came down on her shoulders and his fingers began kneading.

Oh, yes. She almost melted. God, this was what a woman needed at the end of the day. She could have just sunk into her chair and become a puddle

of goo at the intense pleasure that began to move through her.

His thumbs worked into the backs of her shoulders, then her neck. He rubbed and caressed until she would have given him anything to continue. Until

she was nearly a weeping mass of relaxed sensation.

And as the stress moved out of her, another tension invaded her. His fingers on the bare flesh of her neck, his breath at her ear as he leaned close.

“Unbutton your blouse,†he whispered as he kneaded and manipulated tight, aching muscles.

She wasn’t going to argue with him. Not even.

She forced her fingers to move, releasing the tiny pearl buttons and letting the material part over the white, lacy bra she wore.

Her breasts were hard, swol en, aching. She was so ready for his touch. So ready to be stroked everywhere, taken in every way.

Her lips were parting, her head turning for him, when a hard “Natches knock†sounded on the door.

Janey’s eyes widened as Alex paused. She knew Natches’s knock. She knew he didn’t wait. She barely had the first few buttons of her

blouse redone when he walked into the office from the outside door and came to a hard, shocked stop.

He blinked back at her as she flushed; then he glared at Alex before he slowly turned his back.

“One. Two.â€

Fuck, he was counting. She moved to hurriedly button her blouse and restore herself as she pushed at Alex’s hands.

“Three. Four.â€

She had managed the final button when he reached five and turned back. His expression was dark, accusing, as he stared at Alex behind her.

“We need to discuss your assigned duties in this little matter,†Natches growled. “Touching doesn’t come under that list.â€

Alex grunted but moved back from her.

“You should wait for an invitation to enter,†Janey informed him in frustration. “Geez, Natches. You don’t just walk in.â€

“My name is on the deed, too.†He used that as such an excuse and she knew it.

He moved into the room, wearing jeans and riding chaps and a thick leather jacket over the dark shirt beneath. Chaya should keep him locked on the

houseboat so he didn’t cause so much damned trouble.

“What do you want?†She lifted the wine and took a healthy sip. “Not that I don’t enjoy seeing you,†she assured him. “But midnight

is an odd time for a visit.â€

“Not when your sister has a stalker.†He flicked a look over her shoulder at Alex, then grimaced. “You know he’s too old for you, right?â€

She was in serious danger of breaking her one-glass-of-wine limit and going for the bottle.

“Natches.†Her voice was warning.

He grunted.“I just came to see how you were doing.†He shrugged his shoulders restlessly. “Chaya, Crista, and Kel y are doing some kind of

girl thing on the boat, and Dawg and Rowdy were pouting in Dawg’s. I didn’t feel like putting up with the pouting.â€

“So they were picking on you, and you thought you would share the fun and pick on me?†she asked sweetly.

He grinned, then frowned back at Alex.

“The produce people cal ed me today,†he final y told her. “Manager was screaming something about an abusive foreigner cursing at him over

celery. Said he lost the restaurant account.â€

Janey leaned back in her chair now. “So?â€

He shrugged again. “The manager’s a friend of mine. I just wondered what happened.â€

“You don’t want to know anything about the restaurant unless it final y burns to the ground, remember?†she reminded him. “So why are

you here about this?â€

His eyes narrowed. “I just told you why.â€

“Tel your friendly manager to remember me the next time he decides to send out inferior produce.†She crossed her arms on her desk and

leaned forward. “It was crap, Natches. I was getting the worst of the deliveries, deliberately, because of Dayle. They haven’t figured out yet that

the perfect Mackay princess was just as much a pawn in Dayle’s games as anyone else was. I don’t care about the comments, but I won’t

serve my customers crap.â€

Natches was stil , silent for long moments. His expression never changed, but she watched his eyes, watched the slow burn of his temper.

“Look, I can take care of the business,†she told him. “Desmond arranged a new supplier out of Louisvil e. We’l get produce later in the

day, but we’l have it on time and we’l get it fresh. No big deal.â€

“The suppliers in Louisvil e charge more,†he reminded her.

“I’m sure we can weather the smal jump in cost,†she breathed out roughly. “I’m not going back to your buddy for supplies,

Natches.â€

“I wouldn’t ask you to,†he told her. “Why didn’t you tel me what was going on?â€

“Why don’t you tel me every time Chaya chews your ass for being arrogant and ful of testosterone?†she asked mockingly.

“But you’re my business, too, and the problems you have here because of suppliers that I know is my business,†he informed her, his voice a

hard, lazy drawl. A dangerous sound. “Especial y when I arranged with someone I cal ed a friend to make certain you were given exactly what you

needed.â€

“Maybe he didn’t believe I needed anything better,†she remarked, before pushing her fingers through her hair in irritation. “Look, it

doesn’t matter. It’s business, nothing more. I wasn’t satisfied with their product so I went somewhere else.â€

He nodded abruptly, before rising to his feet once again and heading for the door. As he opened it, he turned back to them, leveling a look at Alex.

“I’m going to cut your fucking hands off if I keep catching them on her,†he growled. “Damn, find someone your own age.â€

He slammed the door before either of them could retaliate.

“One of these days, I’m going to cut his tongue out,†Alex mused behind her.

“Better do it before he cuts your hands off.†She almost laughed, before turning back to the piles of papers on her desk.

God, she wanted his hands on her. But it was do this now or it wouldn’t get done at al .

“One hour,†he told her, moving back to the couch.

She stared back at him questioningly.

“One hour for paperwork, then I’m dragging you upstairs.†He picked up his magazine and stretched back out on the couch. “Better get

used to it, sweetheart. Time’s counting down.â€

Unfortunately, she spent more of that hour staring at his sexy body and that hard ridge under his jeans than she did focusing on her paperwork.

At this rate, Natches wasn’t going to have to worry about burning the place down. She was going to end up destroying it herself from lack of

paperwork completion and an overload of fascination for the man who seemed determined to drive her completely and total y insane.

SIX

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Rule number one: He was too damned old for her.

Rule number two: He was too damned hard for a virgin, because nothing in his life had ever been as difficult as taking her nipples with slow precision.

He’d wanted to devour. He wanted to suck her hard and deep into his mouth, nip those tiny hard points and hold her to the couch while he buried

his cock hard and deep between her thighs.

Rule number three: Never, ever get emotional y involved with a woman. And it was obvious she made him weak. Otherwise, he’d have never held

on to that restraint.

Alex felt like a drowning man a week later as he paced his own house, waiting on evening to fal so he could slip back into her apartment. Ray and

Rowdy’s suggestion that Alex keep his presence at the apartment as secretive as possible made sense. But it left the whole day without her. He had

no reason to linger around her, and no chance to figure out the enigma of Janey.

And he was no closer to figuring out who had left those letters than he had been a week ago.

He stopped pacing long enough to refil his coffee cup and rub at his thigh. Hel , it stil ached, even a month later. The bul et that had torn into the muscle

and nearly shredded it had been a bad fucker. Bad enough that Alex had put in for extended leave. Time enough to consider if he was returning or not.

He could cash out now with ful benefits, no problem. He’d been in the Army since he was eighteen. He could take six months’ active reserve

and retire at thirty-eight. He’d been thinking too damned much about retiring lately.

Police Chief Harding was making a bit of noise about retiring, and Alex had already been approached about taking the position when he stepped

down. Hel , it would beat dodging terrorist bul ets and bombs and putting his ass in the line of fire continual y.

He had a little niece or nephew coming in a few months. He’d like to have time to be an uncle. He didn’t consider becoming a father himself.

Not Alex. Hel no. He’d raised his sister, Crista, and swore at the time he’d never risk having kids himself. Shit happened, then your kids had to

fend for themselves. Protect themselves.

He ran one hand over his head before rubbing wearily at the back of his neck. More and more often, he was thinking about shit he had no business

thinking of. Especial y in the past six months. Things like Janey, round with his kid. And this after tel ing himself al the reasons he had no intentions of

having kids with any woman. Things like waking up in the morning, his arms around her. And Alex wasn’t the type to enjoy sleeping with a woman.

Fucking her, yes; playing bed games al fucking night long, he was al for it. But he didn’t sleep as wel with a woman in his arms.

Now each night he checked on Janey, turned the television off in her room, and risked that hissing cat taking a swipe at him as he pul ed the blankets

around her, he found himself wanting to curl around her. He wanted to hold her while she slept, because she didn’t seem to sleep wel .

At the sound of a car pul ing into the drive, Alex moved to the window and looked out, a grin tugging at his lips as he saw Dawg and Crista.

He leaned against the window frame and watched as Dawg helped Crista from the passenger side of the truck. Dawg frowned. Shook his head. Then