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at the hell you’ve wanted from me. You flirted, you smiled, yet you never asked me out or gave me so much as a hint that you wanted more than a one-night stand. Or is that all you wanted?”
Heated anger was brewing inside her, rising to the surface and threatening to break free of the shield she normally kept surrounding it.
“What do you think I wanted?” Dark emotion filled his expression and his eyes, warning her of the thin ice she might be stepping onto.
She’d never heeded the warnings from Jed, though, so why start now?
Why should she even attempt to make excuses to herself, let alone to him, Dawg, or anyone else? she thought furiously as she watched him hit the remote, turning the television off before throwing the remote to the bed.
“You think I’ve driven myself insane trying to hold back, trying to ensure you have the space you need to deal with your brother and decide what you want with me, just to stop with a fucking one-night stand?” Jed growled.
He moved so fast there was no avoiding him.
His hands were on her shoulders first, jerking her to him before one arm wrapped around her waist to hold her against his hard body while his free hand slid into her hair, clenched, and pulled her head back.
“You make me feel like a fucking caveman,” he rasped. Power, hunger, and something much deeper echoed in his voice and gleamed in his eyes. “Son of a bitch, Piper, you make me feel things I’ve never felt before, and I have no idea how to fucking deal with them.”
Her eyes widened.
“What do I make you feel, Jed?”
His lips parted, but what he would have said, she didn’t know.
“How very sweet.”
That voice.
Grating. Harsh.
She knew it. It echoed in her head and slammed through her memories with the force of a sledgehammer.
Jed’s eyes narrowed as he released her, turning as he used one arm to keep her behind him.
It was the nightmare she’d had nightly since the attack in New York. The face she could never remember. The vision of horror and pain she hadn’t been able to escape.
The man was pockmarked, a scar running through the left side of his upper lip and bisecting a weak chin. Thinning dark brown hair and muscular shoulders combined with mean, cold hazel eyes and a gun leveled at Jed’s chest.
“You’re a stupid man.” Jed seemed to sigh, but she could feel the dangerous fury building in his body.
“How do you figure that?” Thin lips curled into a sneer as bulky shoulders shifted beneath a light jacket that strained across them. “I slipped in on you, didn’t I?”
“Did you?” Was that amusement in Jed’s voice?
The other man chuckled. “Why don’t you just move away from the little girlie there,” he suggested. “She can run over to the next room and collect all those jewels she got in New York and bring them back to me. I might let you live if she hurries. And if she brings them all.”
Jed was slowly shaking his head. Piper gripped his waist with one hand as the other balled into a fist and pressed against his back. Fear rose inside her and threatened to steal her breath. An ugly flash of life without Jed slammed through her imagination and left her fighting back tears.
“How do I know you don’t have someone waiting in her room?” Jed asked, as though he hadn’t just been watching the complete emptiness of her suite.
“Doesn’t matter; we’ll both want the same thing,” the man stated, his voice harsh as he advanced another step. “Now, does she go after those jewels or do I kill you? Then her.” A smile twisted his lips as the mocking question passed them. “Or I could just hurt you a little bit to show her I mean business.” He aimed the gun at Jed’s kneecap.
“No need to go that far,” Jed drawled, as though it were all a game. “She can just do as you ask.”
She knew Jed’s voice. She knew the passion-rich sound of hunger in it as well as the icy slide of a warning. And the warning in his tone was unmistakable.
“I thought that might be the case.” The intruder’s smile was a terrifying grimace as he glanced to Jed’s side to peek around at her.
He chuckled with a grating rasp. “It’s nice to see you’ve healed from our last meeting. I’ve always thought it a rather wasted effort to add more damage before the old bruises have healed.”
