“You can stop it. You can save her. I just need a name.”
A shudder rippled through his slim body. “All right, but you better keep your word.”
“Count on it,” Jase said.
“I heard a couple of them talking. There’s this guy...name is Harlan Burke. Works at a place on Bissonnet over off the Southwest freeway. Paradise Massage. He’s connected, not sure how. Keeps the women in line, I think, but I’m not sure. That’s all I know.”
“Thanks, Wally. You did a good thing.” Jase left him sitting on the sofa, his head between his knees.
“We caught a break,” he said as he slid in behind the wheel of the Yukon. “Got the name of a guy in Houston who works for Los Besos. Name’s Harlan Burke.”
“You know where to find him?”
Jase nodded. “With any luck, I’ll find Burke—and get a nice relaxing massage while I’m at it.”
Kate walked into the apartment feeling edgy and unsettled. It was after three in the morning. Both of them were frustrated and strung tight. Their plan had failed, and it looked as if someone on the police force had given them up to Los Besos. Or at least given them Jason’s name.
According to Detective Castillo, he had kept her name out of it. If they could actually trust his word.
She dropped her purse on the sofa, renewed anxiety prickling her nerves. She glanced over at Jase standing in the center of the living room staring toward the window, his hands propped on his hips. The denim shirt was gone, leaving him in his white T-shirt, his big semiautomatic pistol riding on the heavy leather belt around his waist.
His arms bulged with muscle. The bandage was gone from the side of his thick neck, but the gash from the bullet remained. He looked like exactly what he was. A hard, tough man. A bounty hunter. Hawk Maddox.
Kate wanted to eat him up.
She took a steadying breath. What difference would one more night make? One more night in bed with him? She knew he needed her tonight, could see it every time those fierce blue eyes swung in her direction. The danger they faced was real. No one could know the outcome. There was a chance they could both end up as dead as her sister.
What difference would one more night with Jason make?
She toed off her black sneakers and started toward him, saw his chest expand as she pulled off the rubber band holding back her hair and tossed her head, sending her long curls swirling around her shoulders. She could have sworn his nostrils flared.
His breath came faster as she stopped to peel off her black top and strip off her jeans. At the hunger in his eyes, her stomach contracted and her breathing quickened to the rhythm of his.
She was a foot away when she stopped again. There was still time to change her mind.
Jase straightened, seemed to grow even bigger, more powerful. “Kate...”
She met his gaze and didn’t back away from the challenge she read there. Reaching for his belt buckle, she unfastened it and slid off his leather belt, set his weapon down on the end table.
She was in his arms before she saw him move, his mouth crushing down over hers, his arms tight around her. Her fingers slipped into his thick brown hair, and she kissed him the way he was kissing her, hot and deep and amazing. She clung to his neck as he walked her backward till her shoulders came up against the wall.
Jase unhooked her bra and tossed it away, filled his hands with her breasts. “Kate...”
A soft sound escaped her throat. Every part of her throbbed and burned. Bending his head, Jase took the heavy weight of her breast into his mouth, suckled and tasted until she moaned.
The next thing she knew her panties were gone and she was naked. Jase pulled his T-shirt off over his head and she ran her hands over his sculpted chest, felt heat surge into her core as hard muscle bunched beneath her fingers.
Unzipping his jeans, he freed himself, lifted her and wrapped her legs around his waist. She was shaking, desire nearly tangible, need a force she couldn’t fight any longer. She wanted him so badly she went light-headed when he drove himself inside.
“Kate...” he whispered again. No man had ever said her name the way he did, like a prayer or a vow.
He kissed her again, kissed her and kissed her, all the while, driving himself inside her, pushing her toward the brink.
When she tipped into climax, she cried out his name and the world spun away. Sweet euphoria spilled through her, a hot rush of dense, saturating pleasure. Seconds later, Jase followed her to release.
For long moments, he just held her, her head on his shoulder, her arms around his neck. It felt so right, so perfect. Her heart constricted. She was in love with him. She knew it. Could no longer deny it. It was stupid. Insane. Loving him would only bring her heartache. But it was already too late.
She told herself it didn’t matter. For now he was hers. She was going to take everything he could give her.
