Jacked Up (Bowen Boys #4)(5)

“So you finally resurfaced. You sticking around, or is this just another of your quickies?”

He all but choked. “What?”

“In and out in a flash. Now we see you, now we don’t, like Max’s wedding.”

Max’s wedding, another of his lapses in judgment a bit over a month ago. He’d flown into Boston and then driven for two hours to make sure he didn’t have a tail, arriving just in time to see the couple walk down the aisle.

Going there had been his first mistake. Allowing Elle to touch him had been his second, and even far more dangerous. Standing there, silently holding hands, had been the most peaceful he’d felt for months.

Whatever Elle had seen in his eyes must have been pretty bad, because she hadn’t said anything, but after that she’d started writing to him daily and sending him more pictures than ever.

“Done. For the most part.” Infiltrating the illegal arms trade to uncover the source of weapons flowing to scumbags all over the world had been gruesome. They managed to close down several routes without getting his cover blown, but there were always loose ends to be tied up.

“Where were you?” He didn’t answer but she didn’t seem to take it personally. “Got it. State secret.” She gave him a once-over, and without allowing him time to react, brushed his beard with her fingertips, the unexpected caress sending a jolt through his body and zapping his brain. “You look different. Scruffy. I like it.”

Jack pulled away and ran his hand through his shaggy hair, trying not to think about how good her touch had felt. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said with a laugh.

Before he could censor himself, his dumb mouth opened. “Where is Kai?”

She studied him with big inquisitive eyes, the corner of her mouth tilted up in amusement. “Where’s the blonde?”

Blonde? Ah, that babysitting job he’d been guilt-tripped into during James’s wedding. Gorgeous woman, no two ways about it, but Jack hadn’t even noticed her. Elle was all he had seen. Her and her date, Kai, grinning like a fool, his hand on the small of Elle’s back.

He’d wanted so badly to chop off that hand. The whole arm, actually.

“Forgot her tied to your bed?” Elle continued. “That’s the problem with gagging your dates; they can’t scream and one forgets they are there.”

“You speaking from experience, pet?”

“No one would ever forget I’m in their bed.”

He looked into her eyes. No, of course not. Any man with blood in his veins would kill for that memory. Instead, he answered, “I bet. You’re that obnoxious.”

She didn’t take offense, tapping condescendingly on his chest. “Not the right word, buddy. But I’ll forgive you. Everyone knows T-800s have limited vocabulary. Besides, this must be overwhelming for you. Wifeys and babies all over the place.”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with that.” Which, under normal circumstances, was true.

“Really? I thought you’d be another of those commitment-phobic guys.”

“No.”

That seemed to surprise her. “You want to marry?”

“Sure. I just would never marry someone like you,” he said, his tone hard.

Now was when she would smack his face and leave in a huff. Lord knew it wouldn’t be the first.

Elle burst into laughter. “You’re so full of yourself. What makes you think I would marry you? You aren’t husband material. You are…f*cking material.” She whispered the last two words, covering Jonah’s barely month-old ears, as if the baby could understand. “At best. And that remains to be seen. You might not be good at that either. Not that I have the slightest interest in finding out.”

“You are lying, pet,” he blurted out.

Her expression was deceptively sweet. “Do not call me pet.”

“Do not lie, pet.”

“I’m not. Given up on bad boys, sweetie. And you are as bad as they come.”

Then she stood up and, still chuckling, walked away from him, leaving him stunned and with the mother of all hard-ons tenting his pants.

In spite of everything, he felt a smile breaking over his face.

Yep, he needed to get the f*ck out of Alden and away from her. Pronto. Before what little mind he had left melted.





Chapter Two


One week later, Florida

“Don’t worry, Marlene,” Elle said into the cell phone as she walked through the airport dressed in her old uniform. “No one noticed I’m not you.”

“Not even the guards?” her friend asked from the other end of the line.

“Especially not the guards. You know how they are.” A smile, a soft glance, and a bigger-than-usual sway of her hips, and no one looked at her airport ID. Why would they? They knew her. She’d worked at the Miami airport for a year after moving to the Eternal Sun Resort to keep an eye on her mom. Whoever knew her didn’t look at her ID, and whoever didn’t know her didn’t realize she wasn’t Marlene. “Relax, everything is under control.”

Elle had done as they’d agreed: she’d borrowed Marlene’s ID card, signed in with it, and taken her shift while her friend was driving back from visiting her sister in North Carolina.