Shattered (LOST #3)(4)

“Aren’t most people?” she dodged. Most smart people?

“Yes, but they have a reason to fear me.” His knuckles fell away from her. “You don’t. I wouldn’t ever hurt you.”

Right. Like she was just supposed to take him at his word. Once Jax had been drawn into LOST’s investigation, Sarah had made it a top priority to learn as much about him as she could. Only it turned out that there wasn’t a whole lot to discover. Most of his past was cloaked, little more than rumors and smoke. Sure, she’d seen his criminal record, but that had been all juvie stuff. The guy had been good at covering his tracks once he’d become legal.

He’d been on the streets since he was a teenager. Somehow, he’d clawed his way—quite literally—out of the gutter and become a force to be reckoned with in the area. He owned several businesses and had connections that stretched across the county. And the local police were sure that he was a criminal. They just hadn’t been able to pin any serious crimes on him.

It’s hard because he has money and power. And he’s smart. She could see the intelligence in his eyes. The cunning. He won’t make mistakes easily.

“I love it when your mind starts spinning,” he murmured, his voice a deep rumble. “Tell me, Dr. Jacobs, are you profiling me right now?”

Her hands lifted and she shoved against his chest. He backed up, not because she’d been uber strong and knocked him back, but because . . . dammit, she suspected he moved for her.

To make her feel in control.

But he likes power.

And, hell, she was profiling him. “I don’t understand the point of this little meeting. Stopping a woman in the elevator is hardly an appropriate pick-up routine—”

He laughed. His laughter actually sounded real. Warm and rough, and it rolled right over her.

“How is anything about us appropriate?” Jax asked. That man’s voice—so deep and rumbly—it was like pure sex. She was pretty sure, like one hundred percent so, that he normally had women tossing their panties at him on sight.

She wasn’t one of those women. Or, rather, she was trying not to be one of those women.

Sarah hurried to the control panel and pressed the button to get that elevator moving again. “You’re lucky security wasn’t called in. You can’t just stop an elevator.” She was muttering. She was also not looking back at him. “Look, LOST appreciates your cooperation.” Well, she didn’t actually think her teammates did appreciate his cooperation. They pretty much thought Jax was trouble.

So right.

“But the case is over now,” Sarah continued determinedly, “and your involvement with us . . .”

The doors opened. She breathed a fast sigh of relief and said, “That involvement is over, too.” Sarah stepped out of the elevator, straightened her spine, and made herself glance at him. Then she very firmly said, “Good-bye, Jax.”

He caught her right hand. “You know we’d be dynamite together. We touch, and I pretty much implode.”

Her whole body was trembling, but Sarah locked her knees. “That kind of desire is dangerous.”

“Aw, pretty Sarah, that kind of desire is addictive.”

Her room was just a few feet away. “Let go of my hand.” This madness with him had to stop. And that was exactly what it was—madness. He wasn’t the right kind of man for her. Not even for a night. He pushed her, made Sarah want to let go of her control, and she couldn’t do that. She already walked a fine line as it was.

His index finger slid along her inner wrist. Her pulse jerked beneath his touch. He leaned toward her and his breath blew lightly against her ear as he asked, “What are you so afraid of?”

She’d never tell. “Good-bye, Jax.”

He eased back from her. “When you change your mind, come and find me.”

The guy’s arrogance was too much.

“Did you really think I’d just jump on you when I saw you?” Her skin still felt warm where he’d touched her.

His mouth hitched into a half smile. “A guy can only hope.”

She shook her head. Then Sarah turned and marched away.

“That’s not why I came tonight. Though fucking you would have been heaven.”

Her steps slowed.

“I wanted to ask you about your business.”

Her business? LOST?

“What makes your boss decide to take on a case?”

Curious now, she looked back at him. “Is someone missing?”

Jax just shrugged. “I did my research, too, you know.”

She kept her expression still. If he’d been digging into the backgrounds of the LOST agents, then she realized that he knew all about the messed-up nightmare that was her past.

“LOST takes the cold cases, right? The ones that the cops have given up hope of solving.”

Sarah inclined her head. Her boss, Gabe Spencer, had originally opened LOST because he wanted to make a difference. When his sister had vanished, the local cops had been no help. Gabe had found Amy on his own, but he’d found her too late. The man who’d been holding Amy had killed her right before Gabe got to the scene.

“There’s no expiration date on your cases,” he said. “Doesn’t matter how much time has passed. You’ll still take it?”

“We’ve taken cases where the person has been missing for over ten years.” They were the Last Option Search Team for a reason. Most people who came to them had tried every other option that was available to them. Their other efforts had turned up nothing. Desperate, at the end of their rope—yes, that was the way families were when they finally came to the LOST office in Atlanta. “But . . .” And he needed to know this, if he was looking for someone who’d been missing. “The longer a person is gone, the greater the likelihood is that you aren’t going to find a live victim.”