Twin Temptation

“Jase?”

It wasn’t objection he heard in her tone. It was invitation. That alone had fire moving through his veins and whatever good intentions he had went up in the smoke. He’d promised himself that he could wait until they went back to the apartment.

But wasn’t this why he’d brought her here to this out-of-the-way spot?

He drew her closer until her body was pressed fully against his. Then, wondering if he’d had any choice at all, he murmured, “Maddie,” and touched his lips to hers.

If she had protested in any way, made a sound, put those hands on his chest to push him away, he might have been able to keep it short, quick and simple as he had earlier when he’d kissed her in the office. But her mouth went from cool to hot in an instant, burning with an urgency that mirrored his. Her arms went around his neck, she threaded her fingers through his hair and pressed herself close to him, pushing him harder into the granite boulder.

He simply had to devour her. He ran one hand down her back to her hip and splayed his fingers, drawing her closer. Her body was so strong, so soft, so supple. Just as he remembered. And those sounds she made in her throat. It seemed he’d waited forever to hear them again. He ran a greedy hand over her. More heat surged through him, incredibly, impossibly.

Suddenly frantic, he grabbed her hair, drawing her head back so that he could plunder the sweet, moist recesses of her mouth. Then, murmuring her name, he spun her around and rammed her against the granite boulder. In some part of his mind that was still functioning, he knew that he should draw her around to the other side of the rock where they would have more privacy. Then he could have her. He was skilled enough, she aroused enough. It would be crazy, wild. Wonderful.

He could raise her skirt and sink into her, lose himself in her the way he had during the night. He spun her again, moving her closer to the other side of the boulder. The second time he turned her, he felt a chip of rock sting his face.

There was only one thing Jase knew of that could dislodge a piece of granite like that. A bullet.

While his mind rocketed to full alert, his body operated on instinct, pushing Maddie behind the outcrop of rock and shoving her down.

He heard her suck in air. “What?”

“Shh.” He clamped his hand over her mouth and listened hard.

Nothing.

He glanced down at Maddie. Her face had gone white, and her eyes held both questions and fear.

He lifted his hand from her mouth and shifted his weight a bit so she could breathe.

She touched his cheek. “You’re hurt. What happened?”

“Someone shot at us.”

“I didn’t hear—”

“They used a silencer.”

“And they hit you?”

“No.” Relieved that she wasn’t going into shock, he continued, “The bullet dislodged a piece of granite.”

“Who?”

“It’s a pro,” he said, thinking aloud. “He may think we ducked behind here to make love.” Jase figured that thanks to him their actions had pointed in that direction.

“In that case, he’ll wait us out,” Jase mused. “But if the shooter doesn’t buy into that idea, it’s not going to be long before he circles through the trees to come at us from the other side to finish the job. That’s what I’d do.”

Maddie’s lip trembled, but her eyes stayed clear and focused on his. “What are we going to do?”

Jase wriggled out of his blazer, took his gun out of its holster and stuffed it in the back waistband of his jeans. “I’m going to see if we can sell him on the fact that we’re back here having at each other. And you’re going to stay put.”

Rolling off her, he crumpled up his jacket and lobbed it so that half of it fell just beyond the edge of the boulder. Hopefully, it would lie well within the sight line of the shooter.

“Now, give me yours.”

Maddie levered herself up and tugged off her jacket.

Jase took it and tossed it a little to the left of his blazer.

“Now what?” Maddie asked.

Jase’s eyes shot to her face. Her lips weren’t trembling anymore. The trace of fear was still in her eyes, but so was a gleam of determination. She was game for anything. He took her chin in his hand and kissed her quickly. Then he took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “You’re going to dial 911, fill the operator in and describe our location. We’re about half a mile into the park off the 60th Street entrance. Then cross your fingers and pray that the shooter thinks we’re back here having a good time.”

She moistened her lips. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to use the rocks for cover, crawl into the trees and circle behind him.”

“No.” She grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt. “You stay here too until the police arrive.”

“He’s a pro, Maddie. He might not have waited to see me toss our clothes. He could already be heading this way to fulfill his contract.”

“Then it’s too dangerous.”

He gripped her shoulders and let his eyes go hard. “You have to trust me. I’ve done this kind of thing before. Besides, it could be more dangerous if I stay here. We could both end up dead.”

He waited until he saw acceptance in her eyes, and then he crawled away.

WITH TREMBLING HANDS, Maddie set the cell phone on the ground beside her. The police were on their way. Talking to the 911 operator and focusing on describing their location had distracted her. But she’d lost track of the time. Plus the adrenaline that had flooded her system when Jase had told her they’d been shot at had faded.

Only the fear was left. She was still looking at the spot where Jase had crawled into the trees. How long ago had that been?Too long.

As fear raged through her, images and snatches of what he’d said to her before he left drifted back into her mind. She pictured the way he’d handled his gun before he’d stuffed it into the waistband of his jeans. He was a pro too, she reminded herself.

You have to trust me, he’d said. I’ve done this kind of thing before.

And he had, she lectured herself. He’d worked special ops.

He’d be all right. He had to be. But why wasn’t he back? Why hadn’t the police arrived yet?

Fisting her hands at her sides, Maddie listened hard. But all she heard was the distant traffic and the muted sounds of park visitors as they passed by on the footpath below. No sirens. No gunshots.

A sudden thought occurred to her. The man who’d shot at them had used a silencer. He could have already killed Jase without making a noise.

Then she heard the shots. One. Two. Three.

Without another thought, she shifted onto her hands and knees and began to crawl toward the trees just as she’d seen Jase do.

10

JASE HAD KEPT crawling for a good hundred feet before he’d gotten up. As long as he’d been on hands and knees, he’d been able to keep the sounds of his progress to a minimum. Once he had started to run in a zig-zag pattern through the trees, there was a good chance the shooter could hear him.

The upside of that was that it would take the hit man’s attention away from Maddie. The downside was that it increased Jase’s chances of getting shot. He hadn’t let himself think about that. When he thought he’d covered enough distance, Jase took cover behind a thick tree trunk and listened hard.Nothing. Even the birds and squirrels had been silenced by all the noise he’d made. While he listened and caught his breath, he focused on the grid he’d imagined of an equilateral triangle. The boulder where he’d left Maddie and the shooter’s position lay at opposite ends of its base and the point of the triangle was about a hundred yards into the trees just where he was now.

Initially, the woods had been cool, but there was no breeze. Sweat trickled down his back. When a bird returned to a tree overhead and began to sing, Jase began to make his way slowly and carefully toward the point of the triangle where he’d figured the shooter had positioned himself.

Of course, nothing was certain. The man could be long gone by now. But Jase didn’t think so. He’d always figured that being a hired assassin required almost unlimited patience. And he was betting that the shooter had decided to wait Maddie and him out. After all, how long did it take for a little lunchtime quickie in Central Park?

When Jase figured he was nearly where he wanted to be, the hair on the back of his neck stood up and a coolness settled over his mind. He slipped behind the nearest tree. Though his instincts weren’t as sharp as his partner Dino Angelis’s were, he trusted them.

He waited. The shooter wasn’t the only one who could be patient. One minute stretched into two and then five. As each one passed, Jase became more certain that his opponent was nearby.

The intermittent soft breezes he felt told him that he was close to the treeline. The shooter had to be somewhere in that direction. Very carefully, he edged his head out enough to scan the trees.

He saw nothing. And if he’d given his position away, some bark would be flying off the tree. Jase glanced at his watch. If Maddie had followed his instructions, the police should be here very soon. There’d be sirens. Once warned, the shooter would take off.

Should he wait? Jase pondered that for a couple of seconds. Nah, he decided. Squatting very carefully, he picked up a small rock, then straightened and tossed it to his left.