Blaine, Destiny - Breakfast by the Sea (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  “When I went to the restroom, everything was all right. I didn’t know Ramone had been dubbed by world leaders and other officials as a dangerous, psychotic killer. I knew nothing of an underworld, even though I later discovered my father was a practicing member of that corrupt society.

  “At that time in my life, I was so naïve that I didn’t even pick up on words like marked, target, and hit. But later, after the whole ordeal, I realized that when I went to that bathroom, I had maybe three or four seconds to call for help. And if I’d made the call, the outcome would’ve been the same.”

  She cleared her throat and studied him. He tried to act concerned but not overwhelmed, even though hearing from an eyewitness brought too many emotions to the surface.

  His vision became foggy, and his head hurt, throbbed with a severe sensation, one he would compare to a continual stabbing. What was she about to tell him? Was he strong enough to hear what she planned to say?

  “When I reentered the suite, a gun was pointed at this man’s head. The news later said that he was—”

  “A criminal attorney,” Jeff interrupted her.

  “Yes,” she said, arching a brow but still not asking questions. “Ramona had a knife to his wife’s throat. Trony had the girls, one tucked under each arm.”

  “And the older couple?”

  “They were already dead,” she told him, dropping her head. “Those were the shots I heard when I left the bathroom.”

  “Then what happened?”

  She had this faraway look in her eye. A profound sadness washed across her face. “Ramone asked the man if he knew who he was. He only nodded and refused to look him in the eye when he did. Ramone told him he was a fool to let his family travel with him. He said he was ‘as good as dead’ when he walked into that private room.

  “Back then, I was opinionated. I had an answer for every question, a solution for every problem. I remember later thinking I didn’t react like a normal person should have. I also remember seeing Trony with those girls and thinking how frightened they must have been. Here was a three-hundred-pound goon tossing them from side to side, waving them in front of their father like he couldn’t wait to break their backs.” She paused and flinched.

  Bile rose in the back of Jeff’s throat. He wanted her to finish the story, but not because he didn’t know how it ended. Unfortunately, he knew the concluding details. He’d lived through the pages of life like one horror-filled novel, and he hadn’t been able to rectify the crimes against his loved ones.

  “I told Ramone to let them go. I walked over to Ramona at one point and asked her to drop the knife. She nicked the woman’s flesh, just a little, enough to draw blood. The woman didn’t cry out, though. In fact, she remained very calm. She was the strong one in all this. She understood she was going to die, I think.”

  Paige stopped talking, and her brows furrowed. She looked like an agonized woman trying to relay a story too horrific to finish.

  “Go on,” he urged, aware his voice cracked with the request.

  “Ramone told the man that he’d watched his brothers and his loyal soldiers go to prison because he hadn’t accurately represented them. The man said that was false and told Ramone he had done everything in his power to help those men.

  “At one point, Ramona left the man’s wife on her knees and told her if she moved, Trony would kill her girls. She retrieved a briefcase, found some legal documents, and scattered them on the floor next to the attorney.

  “And then what happened?”

  Paige took a deep breath. “The man only glanced at the papers. He said he’d seen them before. Said he’d signed them.

  “Ramone said, ‘You will die as you have lived, a coward,’ and then he nodded to Trony. Trony flashed the most evil smile I’d ever seen in my life. He slammed the girls together, forcing them to butt heads like animals. One of the girls screamed, the other one passed out. I rushed toward him, screaming. He knocked me away.

  “The man begged for the lives of his family, tried to offer money and jewelry. He asked what he could do to save them. Ramone ignored him. He continually made gestures toward Trony. I remember being at Trony’s ankles, and I bit him. He later called me a rabid dog, a nickname he used whenever he saw me.

  “He struck the girls so violently that after two or three blows, I don’t think the little things knew what hit them. Their mother sobbed uncontrollably, and…and I vaguely remember her praying aloud. She prayed for a son she’d never see again, the daughters she was losing, and she prayed for their sins, those that had cost her and her husband their lives.

  “When I wasn’t a match for Trony, I fought Ramona.” She opened her palm. His gaze immediately followed a scar he hadn’t noticed before. Starting in the center, running past the heel of her hand, across her wrist, and halfway up her forearm, a jagged and defined scar marked its permanent place—the obvious signs a blade had been there cutting flesh, tissue, and muscle. A significant reminder of what she’d survived that his family had not.

  “Trony and Ramone tried to intervene, and Ramona shouted she wanted me for her own. I told the man’s wife to run, noticing the way Trony and Ramone seemed more interested in two women rolling around on the floor fighting for the only weapon there other than the gun. It was no use. Once Ramona cut me, I lost my strength. I still yelled for the woman to escape. After hearing her prayer for a son she’d never see again, I wanted her to have a chance to live, even if I lost my life. She had a child to live for, someone waiting for her, depending on her. I had no one but my father, and he’d survive without me.”

  Paige’s eyes watered. “I have no idea what happened after that. When I awoke, I was in Egypt. Ramone stood by my bed, calling me his new, feisty little hellcat. Later, when Ramona spoke to my father on the phone, I eavesdropped. That’s when I discovered Ramone, Ramona, and my father were business acquaintances. I wasn’t on that flight or in that airline hospitality suite by chance. I believe it was all previously arranged.”

  Jeff studied her for a long time. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t comprehend all of what he’d just heard. How small could the world be that the very woman he’d had in his bed was also the very woman who’d fought for his family?

  Adam walked in all at once. By the look on his face, he’d overheard the entire conversation thanks to their mobile surveillance unit. “Jeff,” he said softly, “I didn’t know all this. There’s no way I could’ve known.”

  Jeff pushed by him. He wasn’t sure if he said goodbye to Paige. He wasn’t sure if he bothered speaking at all.

  His mother and father had been killed by the same monster Paige had once claimed as a husband. No, she wasn’t given a choice in the matter, and yes, he’d realized this from the first time he’d been with her intimately.

  They seemed to continually find a way to connect. With every layer Paige revealed, Jeff was somehow already there. Their lives crossed at every path—new and old ones alike.

  Now this? Was fate trying to make good on the bad hand he’d been dealt?

  Why now? Why hadn’t he been told of an eyewitness before? Didn’t someone know she was there, witnessing the suffering his parents and sisters endured?

  Jeff walked into the living room. He passed Miles. bumped into Connor, and moved right by Callan in the hallway.

  “Jeff?” Callan called to him. “Jeff, damn it. There’s no way she could’ve known, man!”

  He kept right on walking.

  Jeff had a man to kill. He had a murder to avenge. He had a woman to later thank for telling him the harrowing truth when the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

  Oh, yes, Jeff tasted Carpasia’s death. And he wanted Ramone Carpasia to know who he was. He wanted him to know who had taken the woman he cared about to his bed. And then he planned to tell him more.

  Jeff was going to look into Ramone’s eyes and tell him as he died that Paige Lambert—not Jillian Carpasia the Queen of Hearts, but Paige Lambert—was going to be cared for and loved. He was also goi
ng to tell him something even more detrimental.

  Jeff planned to enlighten Ramone Carpasia and let him know that Ramone’s beloved Jillian would one day become his wife.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “You told him something he didn’t need to hear right now,” Adam explained.

  “I don’t understand,” she said, eyeing Connor when he entered the bedroom.

  Adam sat on the corner of the mattress. “What you just shared with Jeff was his story, too. Those girls were his sisters. The man Ramone killed was his father. The woman? His mother.”

  Talk about a shot through the heart. “His family?” Her hand flew to her chest. “Those people were his family?”

  Adam nodded. “Jeff’s father represented known members of the Columbian cartel, several mob bosses, and many high-profile criminals.”

  “But the last names…”

  “You wouldn’t have had any way of knowing. Jeff took his mother’s maiden name after the murders. His father was Jeffery McIntire Senior. Jeff was barely eighteen when Ramone killed every one of his living relatives.”

  Paige stared straight ahead. “Did you know this when you rented rooms at my bed and breakfast?”

  “Of course not,” Adam said softly. “There was a lot we didn’t know. We never found any reason to believe there were witnesses left behind. We’ve tried to locate those airport surveillance tapes for several years. We had a lead on them a few months ago, and our handler has been trying to negotiate a price for the recordings but comes up short every time.”

  “You could prosecute Ramone and Trony if you had those tapes, couldn’t you?”

  Adam and Connor exchanged a quick look full of meaning.

  “Of course not,” she muttered, answering her own question. “We’re talking about Ramone Carpasia. He gets away with everything, doesn’t he?” She closed her eyes. “I can’t believe I…of all the stupid things I could say or do! Why did I feel like I needed to tell him what I’d witnessed?”

  “Hey,” Connor said, “listen, Paige, you had no way of knowing that you were telling Jeff about the final moments of his family members’ lives. You can’t blame yourself.”

  “I don’t confide in anyone. I don’t know why I told him anything about my past.”

  “Maybe it was meant to be,” Connor suggested.

  Adam looked out the window and then glanced toward the spiral steps in the corner of the bedroom. “We don’t have any time to waste. Paige, I’m sorry you had to find out like this. I hate Jeff knows you were there when his family members were murdered, but we must move into position. Jeff is nothing more than a cocked gun now, and he’ll need back-up.”

  Paige rose, stepped toward her luggage and noticed a few items missing. “He’s taken two of my guns, maybe four or five grenades.”

  “Good,” Miles said, joining them. “He’ll need them more than we will.”

  Adam arched a brow. “Something you need to tell me?”

  “He’s in position. Callan is meeting him at the bar now.”

  “Which one?”

  “They’re at the pub. The lobby bar was too crowded.”

  “I didn’t want them contained. We had a better chance of surrounding them in the lobby bar,” Adam said.

  Miles shrugged. “I guess Jeff is playing by his own rules now.”

  “He always does,” Adam grumbled. “Okay, here’s the plan. Paige, can you fire a gun or not?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Sort of.”

  “What do you mean sort of?” Miles asked, snippy as always in matters of business.

  “I’ve practiced. I used to set up targets on the beach. I’m a pretty good shot.”

  “Define that, please,” Connor said.

  “I can hit the target when I practice…a lot.”

  “Great,” Connor said.

  Miles grinned wider. “I’d like to stick Ramone in front of her and let her work on her marksmanship.”

  Adam barked orders, “Miles, you’re in the mobile unit…go. Connor, you’ll continually sweep the property. I’ll take the crow’s nest position in the turret.”

  “And what about me?”

  “I want you to change into something more appropriate. The dress is…” He looked at Connor and they shared a smile before he said, “provocative and sexy, but not exactly what you’ll want to wear if we have to make a quick move.”

  “Got it,” she said, turning her back to Connor. “Can you unzip me?”

  Adam pursed his lips and Connor willingly obliged. She held the dress against her chest but realized Connor had a very good view of her backside when the zipper parted at her hips.

  “Modesty serves no purpose when you’ve seen the real thing in living color,” Connor told her.

  “And I watched everything,” Adam acknowledged, “so you don’t have to cover up for me.”

  Her skin felt hot. How many nights had she spent with Adam guarding over her, wishing she could touch him, quietly hoping he’d make the effort to hold her. She still found Adam incredibly handsome. He had an alluring quality about him. His bedroom eyes were like sparkling jewels, and she longed to see the lust in them.

  Paige’s gaze met his, and she released the material, letting the top fall to her waist and then shimmying her hips enough to step out of the entire dress. Her nude body was fully exposed, and she felt confident, like it was the most natural thing in the world to parade around the bedroom in front of Connor and Adam.

  “Good Lord,” Connor said.

  Adam’s burning gaze moved over her as swiftly as his hands might have if they’d had time to explore any possible chemistry. He cleared his throat and then turned away. “Get dressed, Paige. I’ll see you upstairs. Connor, get out of here.”

  When Adam disappeared, Connor eyed her. “You’re trouble, aren’t you?”

  “That’s precisely why you want me, Connor. Don’t fool yourself. If I was a safe place to park your cock, you wouldn’t waste your time fighting for the space. You like me because they like me. You want me because you think you can’t have me. Maybe even because you think Jeff already has my complete attention.”

  He tilted her chin. “Baby, that’s where you’re dead wrong.”

  She waited for him to kiss her. He looked like he might.

  Instead, he let her go and then smacked her behind. “I want you because I think you’re the sexiest fucking woman in the world. And you’d best keep your little ass covered. I’d hate to take time out to do what I wanted to do earlier.”

  “Which was?” she asked, squatting next to her luggage and allowing her legs to part.

  She gave Connor the best view she could think of, teasing him enough to provoke that hard-on he had quite visible in his pants after he stared straight at her pussy. She gasped when he knelt next to her. His thighs bunched and he placed one hand on his left knee and the other on her mound.

  Heat pooled around her pussy lips, and he pushed three fingers inside her, twirling them a few times. “He fucked you, didn’t he?”

  “When?”

  “You’re wet, soaking wet. It’s highly possible you’ve just been romped all over the place.”

  She swallowed. “Are you jealous?”

  “Did he screw you?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “I saw the way he looked at you when he brought you in this room. He took you in the bathroom, and he fucked the hell out of you.” Connor wedged his fingers between her pussy lips, thrusting them inside her channel until she groaned.

  “I’d like to lay you down right here and do the same thing, too. But if I do that now, I may not stop today, tomorrow, or even the day after.” His fingers forged deeper, parting her folds. His mouth opened and closed as his fingers worked their magic.

  “I’m hot for you, Paige. We all are. But we still have a job to do, and in less than an hour, this whole mission could blow up in our faces if we aren’t prepared.” He withdrew and backed away. “See if you can’t take care of yourself.” He walked toward the door
, leaving her dripping with new waves of intense desire. “When this is all over, all five of us will be kicking down your bedroom door. You’d better decide which one of us you’ll allow in.”

  She snatched a pair of pants and a white blouse from her bag. “What if I welcome all of you?”

  Connor had just about disappeared into the living room. He stopped, looked over his shoulder, and said, “That would be the smartest thing you’ve done since we’ve arrived here. But taking care of five men probably isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.”

  “I’m sure none of you are easy.”

  “Oh, we’re easy all right. And we’re always hard, if you know what I mean.”

  “Connor?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, the playful edge leaving his voice.

  “Look after Jeff, okay?”

  “Did you ask Jeff to look after me?”

  “You don’t need someone to watch over you.”

  “And Jeff doesn’t, either,” he reassured her, with his gaze working its way over her body again. “He’s the best on our team, Paige. He’ll be fine. You’ll see. He’ll be the first one popping the cork on the champagne when we close out another mission. That’s who he is.”

  “I guess so.”

  Connor’s brow creased. He took another body tour, eyeing her with so much lust that she felt like she was about to get fucked. She’d certainly welcome time alone with Connor if they didn’t have the small current issue at hand—protecting their own hides.

  “Something else?” she asked, dressing.

  He rubbed his lips back and forth with his index and middle finger. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  “Who?” As if she didn’t know.

  “Jeff. You’re in love with him.”

  “Connor, I don’t have time for this.”

  “Answer the damn question.”

  “What does the damn question have to do with what we’re facing out there?”

  “A lot.” Connor’s demeanor changed suddenly. “Have you told him how you feel?”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Answer me! Does he know you love him?”