Jacob Read online

  “Do that again and I may end up embarrassing us both by sucking that lip between my teeth.”

  “Wow,” Lee murmured and leaned his elbow on the table, holding his head up with his hand. “Do you always say what’s on your mind?”

  He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I figure it’s easier than lying. Besides, in my line of work you take every advantage when it’s presented to you.”

  Lee couldn’t have said it better. “And what line of work is that?”

  The man hesitated as he studied Lee with such intensity he sucked in a breath and held it. “I’m a hitter.”

  Oh, right. No names. No real jobs. Maybe it didn’t mean what Lee thought it meant. “What’s that?”

  “I’m what you call a professional retrieval expert. I clean up other people’s messes.”

  Damn. That sounded so much cooler than what Lee made up. Why didn’t he think of something like that? “Is that like a bounty hunter?”

  “Close enough.”

  Lee smiled. The alcohol had sufficiently mixed with his blood to make him bold enough to go for it. He’d probably never see him again, so why not? It wasn’t like they were going to be more than a one-night stand. Unfortunately. Lee could see this turning into a several-night stand.

  “I’m going to ask you five questions. I want you to answer them as fast as you can.”

  “Three,” he countered.

  “Fine. Three. And then you can ask me three. Ready?”

  The man looked at him, his gaze dancing wickedly. “I’m all yours.”

  “Why A?” Lee asked as he sipped on his Guinness. “And why B for me?”

  The man’s gaze glimmered as he grinned. “Because tab A always inserts into slot B.”

  He couldn’t have said it better. He’d never had a man come on to him so openly before, and dear God, how he loved it. So did his dick. It jumped up, thickening in his jeans, ecstatic at the idea of getting a little attention. “What if I want to be A?”

  “Then I’d switch to B.” He said it so matter-of-factly, turning Lee on even more.

  “Why did you sit down at my table?”

  “Because you invited me to dinner.”

  He deserved that one and rolled his eyes. “No, I mean at the coffeehouse.”

  The glimmer in A’s gaze danced diabolically. He really had stunning eyes. Lee let out a long sigh and just wanted to get lost in those hazel beauties.

  “You looked lonely.” He drained his beer. “My turn.”

  “That was only two.”

  “You asked about A. Twice.”

  Lee dropped his jaw. “That should only count as one.”

  “Are you pouting?”

  He snapped his mouth closed and crisply folded his arms in front of him. “No.”

  A laughed and shook his head, amusement glittering his expression. “You even make pouting look good.”

  “I do?” Lee blinked at him. Unfair.

  “Why do you find that hard to believe? You’re damn sexy. I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you since I first spotted you at that coffeehouse. You have no idea how hard I’m trying to resist you right now.”

  “You don’t have to,” he said softly. “Resist me, I mean.”

  Heat darkened his gaze as the man ran his hands through his hair. Lee groaned, halting his actions. He looked at Lee. “What?”

  “I love your hair.”

  He flicked a glance to Lee’s head. “I like men who shave their heads. I especially like men with a couple days of beard growth.”

  “You do?” He was really glad he forgot to shave his face today.

  “I find it sexy as hell. It’s what attracted me to you in the first place. That and your glasses. Another thing I really like on you.”

  “How did you know I was gay?”

  He shrugged as he sipped at his water and stared at Lee over the rim of the glass, his eyes picking up the flicker of the flame on the candle sitting on the table between them. “Call it a hunch.”

  Lee laughed. “Well, I can honestly say I don’t get that same hunch about you. You really don’t give off that gaydar signal, you know?”

  For an instant, disappointment flashed in the man’s eyes as he dropped his attention to the liquid in his glass. He lost all expression and seemed to lose himself in his thoughts.

  Lee studied him and tried to guess his story. Gorgeous man, maybe five nine, with thundering hazel eyes. Built like a linebacker with shoulders wide enough to cause his dark T-shirt to strain to cover them. He had enormous muscles, so he must work out. With his tight physique, he could have anyone in the world, whether it be woman or man.

  So why’d he pick Lee out of a crowd?

  He wasn’t anything to write home about, at least in his eyes. He’d gone gray before he hit twenty, so instead of looking like a man twice his age, he shaved his head. The look worked so he stuck with it. With brown eyes that were too dark for Lee’s liking and less than extraordinary features, he couldn’t see why a man like A would be remotely interested in him.

  And yet he kept his attention on Lee all through dinner, asking questions and seeming genuinely interested in the answers. When their gazes met, the stresses in Lee’s life felt a little more bearable.

  “What are you thinking?”

  He glanced up and let out a sigh as his gaze once again rested on Lee. “That’s four questions.”

  “So sue me. What, are you keeping a tally?”

  He was silent for several painful moments, just watching him, as a look of remorse sobered his expression. “I like you.”

  He said one thing, but his expression and body language said something else entirely. Lee didn’t like it, didn’t like when he couldn’t get a read on someone. “Then why do you look like it pains you to say that?”

  “I don’t like too many people.”

  “And yet you like me?”

  He nodded and curled the corners of his lips, warming his eyes with a wicked glimmer. With a laugh and a shake of his head, he combed his fingers through his hair. “That I do.”

  Lee shuddered. “Can I?” He motioned at the man’s hair. “Just once. Let me run my hands through that hair just once.”

  The man glanced toward the kitchen. Aside from the help, they were the only ones in the restaurant. “Right here?”

  “It’s just me touching your hair.”

  His grin could warm the North Pole. He held a hungry expression that had Lee returning the gesture. Eagerly. “You and I both know it won’t stop there.”

  Oh, God. I hope so.

  “Come here,” he demanded and reached for Lee’s hand. His gaze never straying, he kissed Lee’s palm before leading his hand up into his thick mane. He then brought his own hand up and cupped it behind Lee’s neck, pulling them together across the table.

  He slanted his mouth over Lee’s, possessing him, devouring him. Wow, did this man know how to kiss. He stroked his tongue into Lee’s mouth and it met up with its mate. Lee raised his other hand and buried it into his hair, fisting it and holding him close. He inhaled, taking in this man’s delicious scent and wishing they were already back at his place.

  “God, you’re a great kisser,” Lee groaned against his lips, loving the heat consuming his flesh.

  “That’s not the only thing I’m good at.” He barely got the last word out before Lee pulled them both to their feet and kissed him again in a possessive, demanding manner. Snickering sounded from somewhere behind them, but neither broke the kiss.

  Sweet Jesus, he’d never been so caught up in a kiss before. A tingle in his lips grew to a fervor that consumed Lee’s senses and ignited every nerve ending. Blood flooded his groin and pulled the heat from his lips to his stiffening cock.

  A could take him right here, right now, and Lee wouldn’t so much as mutter a protest. He usually kept very guarded before taking a lover. Hell, he’d always been a firm believer of the third date rule—no sex until that monumental event.

  But this man had a power over
Lee, something he couldn’t explain but definitely wanted to explore. He wanted to take him home, lay him down on the bed, and get lost in the night. He wanted them naked, skin to sweat-soaked skin, as they took each other to new heights.

  His dick strained in his jeans, demanding attention, pounding as the blood engorged his flesh. He tightened his fingers in his hair as the man jerked Lee closer, fighting for control of the kiss. Too bad. He’d just have to wait his turn.

  Ending with a few heated nips at Lee’s lower lip, he then rested their foreheads together and stared at Lee’s lips. The man visibly swallowed as he shuddered and closed his eyes.

  “I can’t do this.”

  He’d said it so quietly Lee didn’t register it at first. He grinned at the sound of the gravelly voice and the tickle of his hot breath against his face. This man generated some serious heat.

  “I can’t do this,” he repeated, this time louder, and pulled back. His gaze changed in an instant. What was warm and inviting had turned cold and cruel as he frowned.

  “Do what?” Lee’s grin wilted as his heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach.

  The man clenched his teeth. “I can’t go home with you.”

  What the hell? “Why?”

  “I’m not a good person.”

  “But—”

  “Just forget it. Forget this entire thing.”

  Lee stumbled back when the man nailed him with such a lethal glare it hit him like a physical strike. “Was it the kiss?”

  “The kiss was great. Better than great. I want to take you home and bury myself so deep inside you that you feel me in your soul.” His expression hardened as he snapped his gaze away. “But I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  He swung that powerful glare back to Lee. “I just can’t.”

  Why didn’t that make him feel any better? It could be that hard look in the man’s eyes, a look that had Lee ready to run as the man continued to burn him with that glare. “I don’t understand.”

  “What’s not to understand?” A barked. “You should go before I do something we both regret.”

  That sounded ominous. His comments, demands, and that frightening look in his eyes convinced Lee to leave. He grabbed his coat off the back of the chair and shoved his arms through the sleeves, feeling rejected and confused.

  “You know, on second thought, you’re right. Let’s just forget this entire thing.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Lee straightened his shoulders and glared. The beer gave him enough liquid courage to stand up to this guy even after what he saw at the coffeehouse. He was confused, hurt, and more than a little disappointed his date turned out to be a psychopath. “You’re sorry? You practically threaten me with the hint that you’ll do something we both regret, but then your only response is you’re sorry? Well, you did get one thing right. I definitely regret meeting you.”

  His expression softened as he searched Lee’s eyes. He refused to look away until the man’s face hardened once more. He shook his head, and what little warmth that had returned to his eyes disappeared. “Good. You should.”

  “You can drop the act. Enough is enough. You pushed it too far. The key to role-playing is knowing when to stop.”

  “Why are you being so stubborn?”

  “Why are you being such a bully?” Lee countered.

  He snapped that glare to Lee. “I’m not a bully. I just can’t do this.”

  “You should have lead with that.” Lee spun around and stormed out the back exit.

  4

  Jacob stood in the shadows of the alleyway, dripping from the constant drizzle that’d started sometime during dinner, and stared at the phone in his hands. One call. That was all it’d take to get out of this hell he now called his life.

  He hated who he’d become, but what other use did society have for a man with a bad temper, fast fists, and who couldn’t be trusted? He was born to be this man, this monster who hunted down his prey and struck without them ever seeing it coming. After being responsible for Jonathan’s death, he knew that for a fact.

  At least as the hunter he’d never have to worry about saving lives. No, in his line of work, he did the taking. Every job tapped into the darkness in his soul he kept as a constant companion. Each one escalated that darkness, drawing him deeper into the abyss. Each one taught him to never get attached to the target, personally or otherwise.

  All the more reason to change sides. Right here. Right now. He didn’t want to be this person anymore. He didn’t want to be the cause of that stark, vivid fear in a target’s eyes when the realization sank in—that Jacob would be the last person they would ever see.

  That look of confusion in the latest target’s eyes as it melted to alarm clawed at Jacob’s resolve. The last time he was this torn over a job, he’d buried his partner. He couldn’t let the ghosts of decisions past affect his present. Although he never did track down the man responsible for Jonathan’s death, it wasn’t for lack of trying. Each job was a sorry attempt to wash off the blood on his hands from that fateful mission that cost him his partner as well as his spot on TREX Team Two.

  New blood didn’t cleanse the blood from that day. It simply resulted in more blood.

  He was tired, so damn tired of chasing after a man he might never find. He’d spent the better part of a year looking for him. A year to relive that fateful day down at the docks. A year to regret ever pulling that trigger.

  For all he knew, the guy was back to hiring mercs to do his dirty work—dirty work TREX had to constantly clean up. Jacob used to be part of that solution. After leaving spec ops, he became part of the problem.

  Which was why he needed to get out while he still could. If he still could.

  Maybe he’d take Walsh up on his offer to spend some time at that halfway house in Snoqualmie. After spending a year living in shadows and finding it harder and harder to carry out each contract, he wanted something easy, something that didn’t require him making split-second decisions that were literally a matter of life or death.

  His mind made up, Jacob dialed his current employer and listened to the rings as he accepted what this call meant. As soon as Sergio spread the word, Jacob would be done in this line of work. His reputation as a ruthless, brutal retrieval expert would be ruined. No one would hire him. He’d be marked as unreliable. Soft.

  None of that mattered, not after meeting the man who’d made Jacob second-guess his life choices leading up to this point. Not after talking to him, having dinner with him. Not after one kiss had changed Jacob’s entire outlook. He no longer wanted this life. He now wanted to protect that man from men like him.

  And he would, at any cost.

  “Why are you calling me?” Sergio’s Italian accent always burrowed under Jacob’s skin. It seemed forced, fake. Just like the man.

  “I’m done.” Jacob pushed away from the building he’d been using to hold him up. “I’m out.”

  “Mi scusi?”

  “You heard me.” He hardened his tone. If he showed an ounce of uncertainty, Sergio would pick up on it.

  “No, I don’t think I did. It must be a bad connection. See, what I thought I heard was one of my employees telling me he was done, like he had that choice. Now, you wouldn’t do that, would you? Not my most loyal employee.”

  “I’m out,” he repeated with more conviction.

  “Are you, now?”

  This man infuriated Jacob. He thrust his free hand through his hair. “Yes. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  “You don’t want to do this?” Sergio’s voice grew sharp, edgy. “Well, I don’t want to let you out, so I suppose one of us isn’t going to get what we want.”

  “Listen—”

  “No, Jacob. You will listen,” he interrupted, his tone even more exact. “The last employee to back out of a contract ended up in a shallow grave next to the target. If you want out, you will finish this job, first. Once it’s done and you still want out, you can walk away.”

  Shit.
Shit! The direct approach didn’t work. He decided on a more human approach. “Why him? He’s not like one of the typical targets you send us after.” Typical targets included those already in the game. Cheating, lying, killing their way to the top of the corrupt food chain. Those Jacob had no problem taking out.

  “Lee Lamont isn’t nearly the saint you take him for.”

  No one was. That didn’t mean Lee was corrupt. Jacob liked the guy, actually liked him, and that meant something. He didn’t like many people. He could always see right through their bullshit. Lee didn’t come across as a bullshitter who said one thing and then did something else. He seemed genuine. He kept eye contact when he talked, a sign of someone with integrity.

  “I’m going to need more to go on than that.”

  “No, you really don’t. You need to do the job I pay you to do.”

  “If I refuse?”

  Sergio laughed, the sound low and maniacal. “I’ll make sure not even your dentist will be able to identify the body. That goes for your new friend, as well. What was going to be quick and painless will be drawn out and very, very painful.”

  Jacob stilled as disbelief paralyzed him. He couldn’t let Sergio do this. If the man got to Lee before Jacob, there’d be nothing left to identify. Sergio was very thorough. If he let his employer believe he had a change of heart, maybe he’d back off. “If I do one last job, that’s it? I’m out?”

  “You have my word.”

  That didn’t make him feel any better. Still, it bought him enough time to track down Lee Lamont and get him to a safe location. “One last job.”

  “That’s my boy. Oh, and Jacob? If you so much as think about double-crossing me, the men I’ve already sent to clean up your mess will kill Lamont in front of you before having you join him.”

  No! Panic laced his tone. “I said I’d do it.”

  “I’m not about to send you to finish the job now.”

  “It’s my job.”

  “It was your job,” he corrected. “Now it’s someone else’s job. Come see me. I’ll have your next job waiting for you. Oh, and Jacob? I don’t want to have this conversation with you again. Capito? Arrivederci.”