Love On the Run Pt. 03

"Oh, you can take that offer and shove it up your ass," she ground out. The older agent was waving frantically, mad Jessie was trying to piss off Gonzalez. "I have the money Diego is after. I want to exchange it for leaving me the fuck alone. I give it to you, and you guarantee me safe passage. That's the only deal I'm interested in."

He was silent for a moment and Helen tried to grab the phone. Jessie danced away, but was still tethered to the recording device.

"You don't have the money, puta. Why pretend?"

"I know where it is."

He was silent for a moment and she heard movement in the background. "So you have the key. I have my men watching that area twenty-four-seven, you'll never get it. I can get the money and you, same time. You an' me, we have some fun before I send Diego your head."

"Fuck you," Jessie said, and hung up, shaken knowing his threat was very real.

Helen was staring at her, horrified. "What the hell was that!?"

"He was never going to make the deal, he'd smell a trap. But now we know, just like Jimmy usually did, he hid the money, and he hid it here. A bank safety deposit box, or more likely a bus locker. Jimmy always licked bus lockers, they were cheap and convenient. The key is what we should have been looking for."

"You little shit, you ruined everything! Call him back, right now!" the younger agent yelled.

Helen put up her hand and glared at him, silencing the young man. "She has a point. Gonzalez might have been too suspicious. I would say wait until tomorrow and call back. Say you have the key and negotiate for turning it over. He might buy that."

"Before we go forward, I want to talk to Agent Vasquez," Jessie demanded.

"Hello?"

They turned as the door opened, revealing Henry. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt he looked incredible, even better than in a suit and now that he'd shaved his beard down to just a goatee. His blonde hair was loose and soft looking, and he carried a bag that smelled like heaven in one hand, something large and pink in the other.

"I'd like to meet with my client. Why was there shouting?"

"Just a misunderstanding, we were just leaving," Helen said, and stood, gathering her things. "Attorney-client privilege, James," she said when the younger agent tried to object.

"We'll make a full report and file the recording, but tomorrow you'll need to call Gonzalez back. I'll tell your handler you want to speak with him."

Jessie nodded, her eyes indicating Henry should go into the kitchen, and he did.

The young tech disconnected her phone and packed everything into a padded metal case, following his superior out. Jessie watched them go and waved at Jimenez, the current agent on her door. She saw he was playing Tetris on his phone and it made her smile. It was nice to see the agents were human, and she felt plenty safe with a guarded gate, and agents all around. As long as she didn't have to deal with any more sticks-up-their-asses agents like Helene and her minion, Jessie might be all right.

Still, Gonzalez's threat made her feel shaky. She wanted Julian there, wanted to be held by him. It was silly, she knew, and so she pushed that need aside, wondering what brought Henry to the safehouse.

"What brings you here?" she asked Henry when the door closed, walking to the kitchen and stopping in the doorway.

"I brought you dinner, and the backpack you left at my house ten years ago. I packed it with a few things to help you with boredom. And lastly, I've come to keep you company."

Nervously she crossed to the small table and grabbed for the food bag. "Mmm, this smells great, what is it?"

He'd been washing his hands and dried them now, smiling. "Your favorite meal."

She turned and grinned. "Pabellon Criollo!?"

His smile slipped. "Um, my uncle Eddie's fried chicken, coleslaw, biscuits with honey, and bacon mac 'n' cheese."

"Oh."

He sighed softly. "It was your favorite ten years ago. Silly me, we've both changed in the last decade, haven't we?"

She put her hand on his arm and felt hard muscle. "I'm sorry, Henry."

"For what? Sit at the table, let me serve. I brought a good wine too. At least my bones remind me that ten years have passed and we can both appreciate good wine."

"You're twenty-eight, Henry, hardly old."

"I feel it, sometimes." He opened the wine and set it to breathe.

"I do too," she murmured, going to the cabinet to grab plates and everything she needed to set the table.

He served the food family style and the smells finally brought her back to simpler times. Eddie was Henry's maternal uncle, and he owned a restaurant off the beach serving traditional southern food in a shack that was cheek-to-jowl with chic cosmopolitan restaurants. After games when Henry was riding high as the star they would go there with their respective teams, though many nights after practice it had been just the two of them.

The taste brought those memories back and for a moment she saw the shaggy-haired youth imposed on the man. "Tell me about your life," she said quickly for distraction.

"Well after you left I went to school, Northwestern. I decided to go into law, just like dad, but I knew it would be international law. I was hoping you were out there, doing all right. I wanted to make sure when you came back I could help you."

That warmed her and made her feel nagging guilt at the same time. Though in the ensuing years on the run he'd been in her thoughts often, never once had Jessie made a decision with him in mind. She'd always known Henry could take care of himself. "You said you almost got married."

He laughed and licked grease from his fingers. "I did. Sharon Meyers, she was a year ahead of me in law school. Smart, pretty, funny. We had several classes together and study groups, we sort of fell into dating. I never thought it was very serious but then graduation came. She sort of blindsided me, Sharon actually proposed to me."

"Really?" She laughed with him, trying to picture it. Henry was a gentle soul, but a traditional manly-man in many ways and this Sharon had to be one hell of a woman to pop the question.

"Yes. It was a farce. She came from a family practice in Chicago. I tried it, but our only real client was one family straight out of Dynasty. I liked the youngest member of the family, Sebastian Kellner, but the rest...I wished them to hell.

"I didn't fit in. I belong in a land where there's no real winter, and I didn't belong with a woman who expected me to turn my back on my dreams to fit hers...I broke it off quickly and came home. I started with my father's firm but when the chance came to join a better firm geared solely towards international law came, I took it."

"So have there been any other women?" She asked quickly out of sheer curiosity.

He blushed slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

He set his fork down, expression forlorn. "You really mean it. No jealousy whatsoever."

Though it was a statement she sighed and set her napkin on the table, reaching for her wineglass. "Henry, I-"

That was all she got out as he moved, setting her glass down. He kissed her, and once more it was nice, hell, he was great, but there was just no...oompf to it. Her body didn't light up like a fireworks display on the fourth, the juices didn't flow.

Henry cupped her cheek, tipped her head back, and did his best, but when it became clear she wasn't responding he pulled back. Still holding her face, he pulled back, his eyes filled with regret.

"I thought so."

"You thought what?" she asked.

He pulled away and leaned against the counter, his hands gripping the edge. Henry smiled softly and shook his head. "You've slept with Agent Vasquez, didn't you?"

"That's none of your business!"

"I'm not accusing. Jessie, you've changed in some ways, you're even tougher than I remember and even with that ridiculous hair you're far more beautiful than you've been in my dreams, but in other ways you haven't changed. You're not the kind of woman to enjoy casual sex."

She snorted, thinking of the night she met Julian, when her loneliness and sexual hunger had reached a fever pitch. When he sauntered into her life, she hadn't been thinking past the next hour, and what a glorious hour it had been.

"No matter what you've convinced yourself is true, I know that to be real. Vasquez is a good man."

She sputtered, blushing for a moment before a chug of wine steadied her. "Henry, I have no idea what you're trying to say."

He grinned at that. "Don't get me wrong, I'm quite a catch. I have women lined up three-deep...some nights. If I'm going to have to concede, it had better be to someone halfway decent."

"I think you're blathering. Henry, this has nothing to do with anyone else but you and me. It's been ten years, and a lot has changed. We can't go back to what it was, and it's foolish to try. I'm sorry, but I just don't...want you...that way. Any longer," she rambled on, blushing furiously. "I love you, but I'm not in love with you any more. It's been too long, too much has happened."

He stepped close and chucked her chin. "I pushed too fast, too hard. I'm sorry, Jessie. I've just had this dream, this fantasy every night for ten years."

"I know. I had it too." She felt a tear at the corner of her eye and his thumbed swiped it away.

"I'll always be your friend, and I'm still your lawyer. But I think the window of opportunity for anything else passed long ago. What I'm trying to say is I know your attentions are engaged elsewhere. I'm trying to tell you it's all right. I want you to be happy as well as safe."

She grabbed his hand with both of hers, turning it, she kissed his palm. For so long she'd dreamed of this every night as well, but now someone else haunted her dreams. "I wish things were different, Henry."

They heard a noise outside the kitchen window, overlooking the front landing.

"Shift change?"

She checked her watch. "We still have an hour or so."

"Wait here." Henry tensed and stepped into the living room, checking the peephole. "Damn it, that scared me. Just the agent in front having a cigarette."

Grateful the sad spell of regret seemed broken, Jessie smiled. "Since you are my lawyer, let me update you on the case." He followed her back to the kitchen and as they talked they cleared the table and did the dishes together.

"I think you did the right thing," he said, drying the last dish after she told him what she had said on the phone call. "Gonzalez is going to need some time to check on things. Talk to him again tomorrow, keep being surly, it seems to be working."

"So two weeks until the marshal service can take me. Where will I go?"

"Someplace safe. If events are put in motion that Diego will be put away, it might only need to be temporary. Jessie, the easiest way to get through this is to focus on one thing at a time. First, getting as much info from Gonzalez as you can. If it's enough, we'll concentrate on finding the money. Then you can work with the DEA to get Diego. Then we'll worry about a new life."

Suddenly her mind flashed to his earlier comment on her hair and she touched it. "Do you really think this is ridiculous?"

He kissed her temple as he dried his hands. "I was just always a sucker for a blond. So...now that we're all nice and friendly, tell me about Agent Vasquez."

She couldn't help herself and the story spilled. She told him everything from her decade of celibacy ended in a single impulsive moment to the desperate couplings the night before. If anything pained Henry he was good enough not to show it, nodded, asking small questions here and there.

They ended up finishing a second glass of wine each in the living room as she finished the story, and Henry laughed.

"What the hell is so funny?"

"You have feelings for him, Jessie."

"No I don't!" she insisted.

"You don't want to, but you do. There's no shame in it."

"Except he wants nothing to do with me beyond a roll in the hay."

"My friendship doesn't extend right now to helping you secure another man, so all I can tell you is to follow your heart, Jessie. If it's meant to be, it will be."

"You should get work as a phone psychic if things ever slow down at the firm."

He grinned, and it was devastating. He was truly handsome, but meant for someone else, she thought wistfully. Ah, well.

"I'm billing the DEA for my work. Thanks to you I can buy a vacation home soon."

"You already live in paradise, where would you buy a vacation home?"

"Paris," he said, surprising her. Indeed in the years they had grown up apart Henry had indeed changed, adding new depths. Checking his watch, he stood. "Shift change is in ten minutes. I'd rather not be here when Vasquez is. I love you, Jessie, and I always will. It's going to take a little time to get over being in love with you. As much as I want you happy, I want to break his nose."

She stood as well and set her glass down. "Most women dream of two men fighting over them. I'd rather have a root canal."

Laughing he kissed her temple and walked to the door. "I'll call before I stop by tomorrow. I want to be here when you make the second call. Someone's got to protect you, and though there are many good people in the DEA, ultimately keeping you safe is not their priority. Getting Diego is. Remember that, Jessie."

She said goodbye and watched him go, nodding to the agent on the door stubbing out his cigarette. Closing the door behind Henry she had to wonder if that warning extended to Julian.

She was tired and her hands were plenty greasy from dinner, so Jessie decided to take a shower. She was dying of boredom, but if Julian had been telling the truth she could look forward to some movies to watch rather than boring old TV. If he'd been honest about the types of movies, perhaps she'd have an interesting night at least. The thought made her shiver, wondering just what the darkness would bring.

Smiling she ducked her head under the hot spray to rinse her shampoo out, still using the bottles stolen from the last hotel. She frowned as rivulets of red flowed into the drain, knowing the dye was fading fast. Did she dye it again, or was there any need now that she was in protective custody? The only real argument to let the temporary dye go was so Julian could see her as she really was. Why that was so important bothered her, so she grabbed the soap and began to scrub.

Her mind turned to the night ahead. Would it be fast and furtive, or slow and almost tender? Did she tell Julian Henry had given his blessing, or ignore any mention of the other man? Would it matter once she was in his arms, wrapping her body around his, feeling all that hard muscle? She thought of the way he tasted, the feel of him buried deep inside her, the sensations his tongue raised when it touched her anywhere. Her hands slid over her naked, wet body and she whimpered, the cascade of images sending her into an erotic fugue. So much safer to concentrate on the physical, she thought, and gave herself over to it.

Suddenly the curtain jerked back and her scream was cut off when she recognized the angry man facing her. It was Julian. He was still dressed, all the way to his shoes, but he stepped into the shower with her, glaring. Before she could say a word Julian kissed her and slammed her back to the wall. Despite the madness of the moment, her body was thrilled to be confronted with the reality of her fantasy.

He lifted her and she wrapped her legs over him, his soaked clothes dragging along her skin. He reached between them to fumble with his zipper and she thought ah, good, it's going to be fast and furious.

His cock was hard and ready, and with one sure thrust he speared her. Jessie bit his lips and he growled, swiveling his hips, catching the spot inside her that made Jessie gasp, and she was lost. Pinning her with his hips, he kept the swiveling movement up and palmed a breast roughly.

She licked at his lips and he opened, but it was Julian who claimed her, filling her mouth as deeply as he filled her creaming cunt. She clung to him, breathless as he thrust deeply over and over. Their lips formed a tight seal and when she breathed in, it was his breath he took. Exhaling, Julian took her breath as well, and she grew lightheaded.

When her vision narrowed she became aware of only his hard hand on her breast, his hot cock deep inside her, the rasp of the wet material of his jeans harshly stroking her clit. She was pushed into the climax with shocking speed, screaming her release.

Julian felt weak and strong, the feel of her so soft against him, Jessie so willing it drove him mad. Inside she was so tight, so hot, despite the water he felt her creaming all over him. He'd seen her kissing Henry and the image was burned into his brain, turning him to a feral animal. When she'd been masturbating when he found her, had it been the lawyer she was thinking of?

He needed to burn away any such thoughts. With that realization clarity of mind returned and he pulled out quickly, smiling at her cry of despair.

"Go into the bedroom and lay down on the bed," he growled out.

Dazed for a long moment, she panted as he slid her down to her feet. When Jessie came to herself she nodded at his tone and slipped past him, sparing a longing glance at his cock. Blatantly he stroked himself as she grabbed a towel and Julian knew how much she liked watching him do that. No other woman had, and found he enjoyed making her watch, knowing that twitch in her leg was from the arousal pulsing between her legs, all because of him.

Once she was gone he turned off the shower and stripped down. He hung his clothes, cursing at his foolishness all the while. His shoes he left in the sink to dry, and once he was naked he stalked to the bedroom.

Jessie was breathless. She never thought it would excite her so much to give over responsibility to a sexual partner, but it did. With Julian she knew he wouldn't go too far, push too hard, that he would gift her with pleasure beyond her wildest dreams. Oh, he would make her work for it, she knew, but the anticipation would build until she was out of her mind.

She was still hot and aching when he finally joined her, striding into the room with the grace of a jungle cat. His dark hair hung in long wet tangles to his shoulders and his blue eyes glittered. His muscles were taut, throwing the lines of his body into sharp relief in the setting sunlight.

"Fold your hands behind your head," he ordered, and she moved to do as he said, trembling with anticipation.

He settled on his stomach between her legs, cupping her ass, raising her hips. "Don't make too much noise, Klein is right outside."

Then he descended.

She did her best not to scream, beg, plead, or shout but it was difficult. He consumed her, his tongue swirling and teasing, his lips parting her folds and rubbing even as he suckled. He flicked at her clit only to pull back and trace her folds delicately. Just when Jessie began to beg he engulfed her, suckling until she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. His firm hands massaged her ass and only when her legs began to shake did he flick at her clit again.

She laced her fingers and held on for dear life as he drove her to orgasm and then relentlessly pushed on. His arms pinned her legs and though she felt white-hot near pain from sensitivity he suckled and kept the fire stoked high. She lost count of her peaks this way until she was languid and achy, still needful of more.

When he shimmied up and presented his cock to her she lifted her head and licked and sucked as directed. He didn't speak a word, just gripped the headboard, straddling her chest, and pushed in. Julian was surprisingly gentle, even fucking her face as he was. She felt more moisture gush between her legs at the panting moans he made.