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“Roping him in for a kidnapping isn’t what we’re after and since, according to one of the soldiers we captured, he’s been out of the country for the past two weeks, we can’t pin it on him.”
“How sure are you that they're telling the truth?”
“We’re not. Cruz will follow up on it. Besides, I’m not convinced that Marco Boneiro was even involved with the kidnapping. It’s not his style. If he wanted to force the senator to his will, he would’ve taken a more direct approach.”
“What are you saying?”
“I think his sons acted on their own— maybe to impress him with their innovative action to find a solution to a problem while he was away.”
“But it backfired when you were forced to intervene to extract Courtney.”
“Exactly.”
“And now Boneiro will know you’re onto him, which means he’s going to be extra cautious.” Her fingers thrummed out a repetitive beat of the thoughts locked in her head.
“He’ll know someone is on to them but not who. That’s not what I’m worried about.”
Paxton sucked in a heavy breath, not bothering to hide her frustration with him.
“Christ, Jared, do I have to drag everything out of you? Talking to you is like trying to reel in a god damn sailfish!”
“Hmm... I like the sound of my name on your lips, little kitten.”
There he goes again. Switching to Dom mode.
It didn’t matter that she bristled indignantly; the struggle to not give in to the lure of his dulcet-toned voice that reached deep inside her to tease out the submissive, was overwhelming.
Not now, for heaven’s sake! This is business. Life and death, even. Crawl back into your cage and stay the hell there... at least for now.
She quickly compartmentalized the battle inside her mind. However professional she was, she was nonetheless concerned about how she would react if she had to face Jared outside of the stronghold.
“I suggest you concentrate on the matter at hand. I’m not one of your bimbos who swoons when you flutter your eyes.”
Why the devil did I have to make him laugh?
The wail inside her came from watching him bark out a laugh. It rumbled from deep inside his chest to burst to the surface in a smooth, yet seductive melody that toggled her heartstrings. As if that wasn’t enough, his entire appearance changed. He had that impetuous look and feel about him. So damn huggable. Paxton was hard pressed not to lunge forward and squeeze the crap out of him.
“It's the first time I’ve been accused of that.” Without missing a beat, he piled on the visual candy by recruiting the sub musculature groups of his chest wall, flexing first the left side and then the right, effortlessly while watching her reaction the entire time. His extraordinary control sent paroxysms of lust stabbing into her throbbing loins. Paxton was clinging desperately to a quickly fraying thread of sanity. She clenched hard against the intrusion that began to pull her under. This motherfucker was tearing away at her armor. It was going to be death by a thousand cuts.
Pull yourself together, woman.
“It’s usually my pecs that have the ladies spreading their legs.”
Paxton couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Jared made a pact with himself then and there to make her laugh more often. Her uninhibited cries of delight struck a chord of emotion inside him that had remained locked away for longer than he could remember. Her laughter had keyed open a feeling of happiness that had been lost for quite some time.
“Good lord, commander. I never pictured you as cheesy,” she said in a breathless chuckle. “How revealing. It’s written all over your face.” She cleared her throat and forced her mind back to the subject of her concern. “So? Are you going to tell me what you’re worried about?”
“You and your team.”
Her back went ramrod straight. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“I don’t dispute that— at least under normal circumstances, but you’ve never had to deal with the Mafia before, Paxton. Believe me, being on their radar is the last place you want to be.”
“You’re saying they’ll be coming after us? Why? Our intent was to trace Courtney to that house, which we did. How are they to know we were involved?”
“They make it their business to know everything.” Jared ran a hand through his hair and exhaled slowly. “Part of our investigation into the Boneiro Mob is to find the moles and informants in the government, federal intelligence agencies and state and local police forces. These, and other players, such as powerful local, state, and federal politicians, judges, business contacts, double agents and those who are casual acquaintances like restaurateurs, casino owners and the rest of the demimonde are on their payroll. Many of these characters have double lives. Outwardly, they appear as legitimate business entrepreneurs but they all swim in the same toxic swamp. The mob cannot operate in a vacuum. Money and favors are the common denominator by which their loyalty is bought with bribes and kickbacks. Everyone has a price. It’s seen as business as usual. If someone becomes an obstacle to a business venture, they can just vanish. Jimmy Hoffa, who was head of the powerful Teamsters union, pissed someone off in the mob. His body was never found. Some think he was buried under tons of freeway concrete somewhere in Chicago.”
