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 o
nly 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 determi
nation he admired despite the fact that he didn’t want her here.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m just…afraid for you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m afraid for both of us.”
Without warning, she slid across the seat, leaned close and kissed him full on the mouth. Shock and pleasure punched through the adrenaline and nerves. He forgot about the job ahead of him and kissed her back. Her lips were wet and demanding as they devoured his. Need struck him squarely in the gut.
Before he could wrap his arms around her, she pulled away. “Be careful.”
Shaken by the depth of his feelings for her, Jack reached for the door latch. “If I’m not out in ten minutes, I want you to drive around the block. If I’m not standing here waiting for you after that, I want you to drive back to the motel and wait for me there.”
Objection entered her eyes, but she didn’t voice it. He knew if worse came to worse, she wouldn’t leave him behind. He supposed he’d just have to make sure he didn’t screw up.
“I’ll be here,” she said. “Be careful, okay?”
Jack opened the door and stepped into the cold night. What he was about to do went against everything he believed in, against everything Mike Morgan had instilled. Jack might have walked a thin line during his career as a cop, but it was always for a greater good and he’d never once crossed over. Tonight, he was crossing that line, willingly breaking the very laws he’d been sworn to uphold. He knew it was foolish at this point, but it made him feel dirty. Like maybe he was no better than the scum he’d spent twelve years trying to get off the street.
Shoving the thoughts aside, he crossed to the rear entrance of Café DeVille, checking both alley entrances as he went. He’d been inside the upscale restaurant several times—mostly to let Duke know vice was keeping an eye on him. While Duke had spent tens of thousands of dollars renovating the interior, the alley exterior looked as if it hadn’t been updated since the Great Depression. The red bricks and mortar had been worn by decades of the harsh Utah elements. The wooden door was weathered and slashed with graffiti. Above the tarnished brass knob, a shiny new bolt lock mocked him.