Chapter Two
SUCCULENT. Yeah that’s the right word. Everything about Jane Peterson was succulent, juicy. Maybe it was those plump cupid bow lips or the lush tits. Could be that beautiful round ass. Maybe the legs? Jesus they were long in the black cargo pants. She had to be six feet tall. She had these witchy green eyes that just burned right into his soul. The sable haired beauty reeked of raw power.
Dear God when did they start making women like this? She was a Victoria Secret model who could kick ass. He knew he should be paying better attention to what she was saying because she might be the only thing to stand between him and death, but all he could think about was her and him in tangled sheets fucking. Dear God he was ready to come down his leg. But the best thing of all was that she was totally unimpressed with him. He liked that. He didn’t know why, he shouldn’t but he did. He hadn’t had a challenge in a while.
“Mr. Shaw are you listening to me?”
Her low sultry voice whispered over his skin. What did they call a voice like that … whiskey and cigarettes. She was a bad habit he wouldn’t mind having. He turned on the Golden God smile that melted panties from here to Tokyo. “Call me Declan.”
One of those batwing eyebrows rose. “Did you hear what I said?”
Nor was she amused by him. This was going to be fun.
“Every word.” He didn’t really. Who could listen when all he could think about was burying his face in those tits. Were they real? Jane Peterson didn’t seem like the implants type.
“What did I say?”
She sounded like she was giving him an order. Did she know who he was? Did she care? She didn’t give a damn. “You want to use me as bait to catch my stalker.”
“That was one thing.” She took a step close to him, never breaking eye contact. “Do you remember anything else?”
That was as exciting as it was intimidating. Again, another novel feeling, the only woman who ever really unsettled him was Cherry, but at least Cherry liked him for the most part.
Those green eyes were mesmerizing. Her nostrils flared. She was controlled but he’d made her mad. Which probably wasn’t a good idea since she was supposed to keep him breathing.
“Well?”
He wanted to take a step back, not because he felt threatened he just wanted to take her all in and commit it to memory so that when he did get her into bed he’d know where to start. Jesus she smelled good. Exotic and wild, like sex. Maybe a hint of jasmine. How was he supposed to concentrate on anything but bedding her?
“Mr. Shaw?”
“Ms. Peterson?” How did such an exotic honey get such a generic name?
She studied him like a bug under a microscope. “Do you want to live?”
The words were spoken slowly, as if he were an idiot. What kind of question was that? Of course he wanted to live. Why else would he hire a high price security service. These guys were supposed to be the best in this area. “Yeah.”
She held up the bullet that had been left on his pillow. “This is a .45 caliber hollow point bullet just like the one on your pillow. This bullet was designed to inflict maximum damage. Where it enters your body it’s will leave a hole the size of a fifty cent piece. Where it leaves it’s going to leave one the size of your fist. You have big hands, and unless you’re shot outside of a fully staffed emergency room you’re going to die. Painfully.”
She sounded as if she talked from personal experience. He had no idea there was a no bullshit bullet. “You don’t pull your punches do you?”
She shook her head. “I do not.”
He took one more glance at her cleavage and promised himself he’d be a better victim. “I’m sorry I was distracted.”
“I wear a D cup. If my breasts are distracting you can close your eyes.”
Awkward. He was so busted. He raised his eyes and gave her that mega-watt smile that made him a tabloid darling. “I apologize if I made you uncomfortable. You were saying.”
She made an annoyed face again. “I’m not uncomfortable. I’m just thinking about what it’s going to say on your tombstone. He’d be alive today if he wasn’t gawking at his bodyguard’s rack and listened to what she said.”
Declan sighed. She was right. Fuck it he was going with truth from now on with her. “They’re spectacular.”
“They are, but they aren’t going to keep you breathing.”
But those babies made him want to live. “My bad, Jane, may I call you Jane.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “It’s going to sound strange you calling me anything else while I’m pretending to be your fuck buddy.”
Even her cussing was hot. Damn this woman pushed all his buttons. Heat rolled in his belly, he had been without a playmate for nearly two weeks and it was grating on his nerves actually, with the exception of Travis, because he had Charlotte no one was getting laid around here. Charlotte was too polite to be a stalker. If she wanted him dead, she’d kill him with kindness and he’d be grateful because she was so nice. Fucking stalker was messing with his groove. “So you think if my stalker sees me with a steady woman she’ll come after me, make a mistake, and you will catch her?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Have you done this before?”
“Several times.”
She radiated confidence. What a turn on. “Your client survived?”
She nodded. “And the stalker was caught.”
He still had a hard time believing that she was here to protect him. “You’re going to put yourself between me and a crazy person?”
“Yes.”
There was just something unsettling about the fact that he had to be protected by a woman, not that he believed women couldn’t be tough, but, it played havoc with his pride. He didn’t like anyone poking his ego. He was the hero in his story. “By playing the new girlfriend?”
“The new high profile girlfriend. We are going to go full press. You and I are going to be the new ‘it couple.’”
“I can play that role, but how do you know it’s going to work?”
“Stalkers don’t like anyone standing between them and the person they want. If we do this right they’ll come after me and I’ll stop them. You’ll go on with your life.”
It was weird that she was so casual about it. The band always had security, but this level, that was restrictive. Besides his father no one had wanted to kill him, but his father hadn’t been crazy he’d been mean. “You make it sound easy.”
A look of something like understanding crossed her face. “It isn’t.”
She seemed to care. “How are you going to protect the rest of the band?” He stood there trying not to fidget.
“Mick has people on every member of the band, because we don’t want any of them to be a means to an end for your stalker or for them to get hurt by standing in the way.”
“I won’t have them put at risk.”
She smiled. “If they follow the rules, they’ll be fine.”
And that was the problem. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t follow rules. They were rock stars, they made them.
“Promise?”
She nodded. “Are they are okay with the rules we’ve set down?”
No, they were all whining about having the pussy train put to a halt. At least they liked him enough not to want to see him dead, but he wasn’t sure how long that was going to last if they couldn’t get laid. “Everyone is cool with it.”
There was that I-don’t-believe-you stare again. “If you’ve changed your mind, we could set you up someplace out of sight until the police catch her.”
Hell no he wasn’t cancelling anything. He’d been dying to get out and do more performing and they’d been asked to do several charity events. He wasn’t going to let some crazy ass stalker make him live in fear. He'd done that once when he was a boy who couldn’t fight back, but he was a man now and that shit wasn’t going to play.
He was Declan Shaw and he wasn’t going to let anyone get the better of him. And he got to hang with the sexiest woman on this side of world and she gave him a mission. He was going to make her like him. “I don’t want someone controlling me like that, besides we have an album to record and several events around town that we’ve already committed to.”
She put her hand on her hip. “Did Mick go over your options?”
“You caught me Jane, I wanted to spend time with you.”
She let out a breath. “You’re going to get plenty ‘Jane’ time.”
He smiled planning his seduction. “It’ll be fun.”
“I knew it.”
“What is that?”
She sighed. “You like playing with danger.”
“I’m going to like playing with you.”
“What makes you think I’ll let you play with me?”
He took a step closer, feeling the heat pulsing off her curvy body. “A boy’s got to have hope.”
“You think if you charm me and flirt with me I’m going to let you do whatever you want don’t you?”
He nodded.
She jabbed a long finger at him. “For the most part I’m not going to impact your life too much, but do not alpha dog me. My bark is as bad as my bite. And I don’t bark. I’m the big bad bitch.”
If that didn’t send a hot shiver of lust to his groin he would have had to check his pulse because he’d be dead. “Dogs like me. Not that I’m calling you a dog. You are more like a leopard. Sleek, beautiful, lethal.”
“Leopards are ambush predators.”
“You wouldn’t have to trap me.”
She got in his face. “I’d run you to the ground and snap your neck.”
Her eyes said she do it, but he didn’t miss that hint of a smile. Damn that was sexy. “Would you like to meet the rest of the band?”
“Have they all been debriefed?”
Talk that dirty talk to me he thought. “That sounds covert like you’re on a mission.”
“My mission is to keep you alive.”
She sounded so confident and in control. “You seem like a woman who doesn’t fail.”
“I won’t with you.”
“I feel…”
“So full of shit?”
She wasn’t going to give an inch. Sweet. “I am.” He motioned the rest of the band in. They were on the veranda trying to not to listen in, but Declan could tell by the amused glint in Shane’s hazel eyes they’d heard the conversation.
“Jane Peterson, this is Shane Yorke.”
Jane stuck out her hand. “How do you do?”
Shane took her hand standing over her like some Viking love god. “I do good Jane.”
Declan could see the appreciation in Shane’s eyes. Jane did have that classic bombshell body he liked. All tits and ass. Next came Vaughn, who didn’t take his eyes of Jane’s chest like he was sizing Jane up for the kill. Weasel looking bastard didn’t have a chance with her.
Travis stuck his hand out and was just his regular self, but he’d scored himself a high class socialite and he was off the market.
Gavin just grinned at her and mumbled a quick hello.
Declan thought Jane was going to pinch his cheek and whip out a lollipop for him.
Last came Malcolm who seemed to be studying her intensely.
“Do we know each other?” Malcolm stared hard at her face as if he was trying to remember something.
Declan's gut clenched. She wasn’t Malcolm’s type but…
Jane shook her head but there was a quick flash of something in her eyes. “We’ve never met.”
That was kind of interesting, Malcolm seemed to get a reaction from her. With him she was all business.
“Mr. Shaw I will be back in a couple hours. I understand we have an event tonight. If we have time we can continue going over how we can resolve your situation quickly. Gentlemen.” She headed out of the door, and Declan noticed that every eye was on that round ass as she left.
Shane stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “She’s a no nonsense ballbuster.”
Declan smiled. “What’s not to like about that?”
Shane laughed. “Ain’t my balls she bustin’, but I’d let her.”
“She’s fuckable,” Vaughn said with a leer.
Declan snorted. “In your dreams.”
Vaughn flipped him the bird. “Whatev.” And he walked off.
“She’s a Bentley.” Travis said.
Declan shook his head. “Nope that is a muscle car. Sleek and powerful. She’s a Camaro or a Mustang.”
Gavin sighed as he ran a hand through his shaggy beach blond hair. “She’s symmetrical. That’s hot.”
Malcolm stared at Gavin. “What the hell does that mean?”
Gavin blushed. “Her facial features are almost even on her right and left side. It’s considered beautiful. It makes her more sexually desirable. Some people think it indicates genetic health. Combined with the great rack and those hips she has excellent genetic material to produce and feed her offspring.”
Shane scratched his dirty blond head. “Are you saying she’s a good breeder?”
Declan gaped at Gavin. What the fuck was he talking about?
“Scientifically, yes.”
Shane held up his hands. “I’m out.”
For a second he had a vision of Jane in a fur bikini with a baby at her breast brandishing a machine gun. “Gavin where do you get this shit?”
“I’m taking an Anthropology class. It’s fascinating stuff.”
Travis stared at him for a second. “You can look at someone and tell if they have good genes and the ability to produce healthy children?”
Gavin patted Travis on the shoulder. “You and Charlotte are going to produce genetically superior offspring.”
“How do you know?” Travis asked.
Gavin gave him this look as if they should get it. “Both of you come from good gene pools and good healthy lifestyles.”
“Thanks I’ll pass that on to Charlotte.” Travis left with this odd expression his face.
Declan could see that Gavin believed every word coming out of his mouth. Sometimes Gavin was such a nerd. “It’s scary that you know shit like that.”
“I can’t help it. I just wanna learn new things and the Anthropology of Sex seemed like it was right up my alley.”
Everyone thought he found himself some groupie he wanted to keep to himself. “So that’s what you were doing every Tuesday and Thursday for the last few weeks. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
He looked guilty. “I just needed some stimulation.”
Declan understood. He was searching for something too, he just didn’t know what it was. With Andy’s death, Travis falling in love, even his father’s death, he felt adrift. “You needed something outside of the band.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about Jane. I want to take her to class and say yo I get it.”
Malcolm rolled his eyes. “I didn’t know you could get college credit for show and tell.”
“C’mon Malcolm you can’t tell me you didn’t think about it. ‘Haven’t we met?’ What kind of lame line is that?”
“She’s good looking, but I’m not into her. I feel like I’ve seen her face before.” He tapped his skull a couple of times. “It’s like right on the tip on my brain.”
Malcolm remembered a girl’s face not their names. Declan was glad he hadn’t banged Jane, because he wanted to be the only one doing that. “You sure you didn’t bang her? She’s smart and we all know you like the brainy girls.”
“Other than the fact that she didn’t give you and your ego the stroke how can you tell she’s smart?”
One of the things he learned as a child was to watch people and pick up clues about them. Then he could use that to get a role. “She graduated from West Point.”
Malcolm looked at him as if he didn’t believe him. “She had a regular conversation with you?”
“Nope she was wearing a West Point ring. You only get that if you graduate and it’s hard enough to get into that school, much less graduate so she’s not only a smart no-nonsense ballbuster, she’s an officer and a lady.” He hoped not too much of a lady.
Gavin seemed to have a new respect for him. It always surprised Gavin when people had brains other than him. Must come from always being the smartest kid in the room.
“Impressive.”
Declan was thinking of her in a sexy little camo outfit. Maybe they could play POW interrogation.
Gavin waved his hand in front of his face. “Declan where are you man?”
“I got a lot on my mind.”
“Speaking of shit on my mind I got a paper to write. I think I’m going to write about Jane.” Gavin walked out of the room whistling.
“You want to talk about it?” Malcolm asked.
Whatever Malcolm wanted to talk about Declan was sure he didn’t want to. “What?”
“You are planning to bed your bodyguard.”
He jiggled his eyebrows. “That would be a bad idea.”
“Has that ever stopped you?”
He had to think about it. “It might, since she might have to take a bullet for me.”
“I’m thinking she might put one in you.”
Sticking his hands in the pocket of his jeans, he smiled.
“I’m going to make her like me.”
“You haven’t had a challenge in a long time.”
“Maybe there is something to what Gavin was talking about with that biology. There is something primal about her.”
Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose. “You are fucking with fire. There is something about her that bothers me.”
Good, he didn’t want the competition. “I don’t know. Why you don’t find her attractive?”
Malcolm shrugged. “Not every woman is my fantasy.”
“I don’t even get it, she's not my usual type either.”
“She looks like she might actually eat and not swim in hair bleach.”
“Ouch, but true.” Physically he tended to go for blondes who were too self-absorbed with their looks, their status, or jobs, to give him a hard time about the lack of things he wouldn’t give them, but the sex.
“Interesting.”
“Are you laughing at me?”
“I would never do that. I’m a good friend.”
Before he could say another word, Steve the bodyguard came into the room.
The medium build man had an easy smile and a high and tight brown haircut. “Mr. Shaw, you ready for your self-defense lesson?”
He smiled. Hell yeah he was totally enjoying learning the art of kicking ass commando style. “Coming Malcolm?”
“Nope, I don’t want to make you look bad in front of your teacher.” He walked out of the room.
As they walked out to the workout house, he thought this was a good time to get a little background on Jane. “Steve, have you worked with Jane Peterson before?”
“Yeah here and in Afghanistan.”
“So she was in the war?”
Steve nodded. “Jane did several tours.”
“What kind of work did you two do?” Declan started to stretch out his muscles.
“Jane was a translator.” Steve did the same.
“You too?”
Steve shook his head. “Escort, kept her out of trouble.”
“So she didn’t do any real fighting?”
Steve snorted. “It was one of the most dangerous jobs out there, next to the guys on the bomb squad and in the infantry.”
No wonder she had that tough edge. “Jane saw combat?”
“Pretty regularly.”
So that attitude was earned. He liked it.
“Are you worried she can’t take care of you because she’s a woman?”
He didn’t think that. She wasn’t what he pictured when he thought about female soldiers. Actually he didn’t know what to think. “No.”
“She’s good to have around in a fire fight or a bar fight. She saved my ass a couple of times.”
“Really?”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
Seeing Jane naked. God he was that obvious even to strangers. “You do?”
“She’s a total hottie, how can she be a badass too? I had that same thought. That lasted about five minutes, until I saw her put down this insurgent that was really eager to put a knife in my eye.”
Declan shook out his arms letting the muscles relax. “Can you talk about it?”
“I took a round in my shoulder and Jane dragged me out of the fight, shot me up with some pain meds to keep me from crying like a baby. She went to do a sweep of the area. While I was laying there bleeding, this crafty bastard got into the building and I was his first target. I couldn’t get to my sidearm and it looked like Mary Kramer’s little boy was going to meet the baby Jesus sooner than expected. Jackass should have taken the shot, but a knife is quiet. The next thing I know Abul’s gurgling blood, he drops and there's Jane standing over him with this shit eating grin. I fell in love right then and there.”
Were they still a couple? “You two have a thing?”
Steve grimaced. “Hell no Jane was up front with us. She said if we thought about getting into her pants she’d gut us and eat our liver.”
Intimidating. “You believed her?”
He grinned. “We cheered her on as she kicked the crap out of two Marines when one of them touched her.”
“None of you guys tried to help?”
Steve shrugged. “Mick said we’d just get in her way. Since he trained her, we believed him.”
“She seems capable.”
“Jane was good at negotiating with the locals. There were some who thought we were disrespecting them because we had a woman doing the talking. They didn’t want to have anything to do with her, but not only is she fluent, she understood their culture. It took a minute, but once she proved herself, we were the go to team in the region. We saw a lot of action. She’s a damn fine solider. She’ll keep you alive.”
Declan knew it was time to stop asking questions or he’d reveal himself. He intended to have Jane. Anticipation bubbled in his stomach. It was exciting. It’d been a long time since he’d had to hunt. He was going to bag his trophy and he was going to mount it.