Taken Hostage (9 page)

She looked like hell. Her waves had turned
wild, and the remnants of the make-up she’d put on before work days
ago had stained her face unflatteringly. She turned on the water
and bent over the sink, splashing handfuls of it over her face and
scrubbing at the old make-up with her fingertips. When she
finished, she almost felt fresh. She tackled her hair too, taming
it as best she could with damp pats and handfuls of water.

A bottle of mouthwash on the counter caught
her eye. Oh, what the hell. She was on the run with bank robbers,
what was sneaking a mouthful of mouthwash compared to that?
Marianna probably wouldn’t care anyway. She untwisted the cap,
filled it and poured the gloriously minty liquid into her mouth,
gurgling. When she spit it out, she felt like a new woman. She
paused to use the toilet and wash her hands before returning to the
kitchen where she’d left James and Rolando.

They were both still there, along with
Marianna, who was ogling James as she handed him a glass of what
appeared to be lemonade. Tiffany drifted to his side, and he turned
to survey her fresh attire. ‘Well, you’re looking a lot more
respectable,’ he said with a small smile. His eyes clung to her
still-noticeable nipples, and his gaze seemed to imply he was glad
that she wasn’t looking
too
respectable. ‘Thirsty?’ he
offered her his glass.

Tiffany took it with a murmured ‘Thank you’
and sipped as Marianna, who hadn’t missed anything during the
exchange – verbal or non-verbal – glared at her.

‘So will you guys be staying for dinner?’
Marianna asked.

Rolando shook his head. ‘Sorry, Mari, we’re
in a hurry.’

Marianna eyed James questioningly, like a
child turning to her second parent after being denied by the
first.

He shook his head. ‘We’re on a schedule.’

‘Well, you look like you’ve been traveling
hard,’ Marianna said, casting Tiffany an unflattering glance. ‘If
you’re trying to get somewhere for the night, don’t worry about it.
You can stay here.’ At this, she cast a flirtatious glance at
James. Tiffany had no doubt that James would be welcome to spend
the night in her bed. She fought down a sudden urge to smack
Marianna across her pouting face as she continued to sip her
lemonade.
Mine
, she thought quietly, remembering how James
had claimed her in the driveway, and before – without words – in
the woods.

To Tiffany’s smug satisfaction, James seemed
indifferent. ‘Thanks,’ he said, ‘but no. We’ve got to get going.
Rolando, will you go get the trunk?’

Rolando eyed his cousin beseechingly.
‘Marianna?’

‘I’ll get it for you, just hold your horses.
You don’t need to leave this very minute. At least have some
snacks. I can get out some chips and—’

‘Marianna,’ Rolando interrupted, ‘let’s get
the trunk first.’

Marianna glared at her cousin, biting her
lip, which she was jutting out in a spectacular display of
poutiness. ‘What’s wrong with you guys? I just wanna have a little
fun before you go. It’s really boring out here. Nobody ever stops
by.’

Silence.

‘Look!’ Marianna added. ‘I know that you guys
robbed a bank!’ She stared at James intensely. ‘I saw you on TV.’
She inclined her head briefly in Tiffany’s direction. ‘And you,’
she added belatedly.

Rolando sighed.

James frowned down at the lemonade Tiffany
had handed back to him.

‘So I know you’re on the run from the
police,’ Marianna continued. ‘Why don’t you just chill out here for
a while? No one will ever look for you here.’ She turned to her
cousin. ‘They don’t even realize you’re with them, do they? So
you’re safe here.’ She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled
in self-satisfaction.

‘Marianna—’ Rolando began

‘Don’t tell me you have to leave!’ she
snapped. ‘Where do you have to go that’s so much better than
here?’

James interrupted the tense glares the
cousins were shooting at each other. ‘Look, we appreciate your
offer, but we already have something more permanent set up, and we
only have a small window of time to make it there, or we’ll miss
out.’

Marianna turned to address James with another
smile. ‘Did you know you’re one of America’s
Most Wanted
?’
she asked. The tone of her voice made it clear that she thought he
deserved the title.

James shook his head and tipped it backward,
draining the last of the lemonade from the glass he and Tiffany had
shared.

‘Well, you are,’ Marianna said. ‘I saw it on
TV.’ She paused dramatically to eye him from head to toe. ‘I never
thought I’d meet anyone so dangerous.’

James thrust his glass at her. ‘Could I get
some more lemonade?’

Marianna continued to shoot flirtatious
glances in James’ direction as she refilled his glass. ‘Here you
go,’ she purred when she handed it to him.

‘The trunk, Marianna,’ Rolando said from
where he stood against one of the kitchen counters.

Marianna began to protest, but James cut her
off. ‘We need it now.’

Marianna’s face fell. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’ll
take you to it, if you do something for me first.’

‘What?’ James asked, eyeing her suspiciously
from above the rim of his glass.

She tipped her head toward her bedroom with a
smile, reaching out to place a hand on James’ arm. Tiffany was
seized by a vicious jealousy that would have put Alicia and Cyndi
at their worst back in New York to shame.

‘No time,’ James said firmly. ‘We need the
trunk
now
.’

Marianna withdrew her touch immediately,
whirling toward the counter with a blistering glare. She snatched
up a telephone from its receiver and the tension in the air was
palpable as she dialed, eliciting two electronic
beep
s. She
stood with her finger poised above the third button – 1 – and
smiled cruelly. ‘I’ll have 911 on the line in a split second.
Unless…’ She eyed James deliberately.

James stared at the phone in her hand,
perhaps comparing the distance between himself and Marianna with
the almost non-existent space between her finger and the ‘1’
button. He set his glass down on the nearby counter and wiped
traces of lemonade from his full lips with the back of one hand.
‘Alright.’

Marianna beamed.

‘Now put down the phone,’ he said.

Marianna shook her head and wagged the finger
she’d been holding poised over the ‘1’ button at him. ‘Not yet. Not
until I’m sure you’re not going to go back on your word. Follow
me.’

She began to saunter back to her bedroom,
holding the phone close to her chest. She cast a beckoning look
over her shoulder at James, and a shorter glance of haughty
satisfaction at Tiffany.

Tiffany watched James follow Marianna to her
bedroom, feeling as if she’d swallowed all of the ice from the
lemonade jug, and a few lemons besides. The noise of the running
air conditioner in the kitchen window suddenly sounded like a lion
roaring in her ears. Her heart beat frantically. Every inch of her
body burned with the desire to take James and claim him again as
her own.

Mine,
her mind screamed
. He’s
Mine
!

The bedroom door closed behind James. Tiffany
was suddenly sure she was capable of ripping it from its hinges, of
storming into the bedroom and …

‘Are you alright?’ Across the kitchen,
Rolando was eyeing Tiffany with apparent concern.

A giggle sounded from the bedroom and echoed
through the hall and into the kitchen. It was followed by a loud
bang
. Perhaps the sound of a headboard slamming against a
wall. Tiffany shut her eyes, but the mental image of James driving
Marianna into the bed hard enough to make that sound was plastered
across the back of her eyelids. She ground her teeth while every
fiber of her being sparked with rage.

The bedroom door swung open with a second
bang
, and Marianna stumbled out, followed closely by James.
Tiffany’s heart leapt at the sight, and fluttered when she realized
that they were both fully clothed – well, Marianna’s dress was
certainly disheveled, but it was still on. For some reason, her
hands were tucked behind her back. As Marianna stumbled forward at
James’ urging, it became obvious that it was because they’d been
tied there. The phone was no longer in her hands.

The roaring in Tiffany’s ears dulled
somewhat, and she deliberately stopped grinding her teeth. It had
been a ruse! James had agreed to go with Marianna to her bedroom so
he could catch her off guard and take the phone from her. Tiffany
felt like shouting for joy. And she still felt the raw, primal urge
to make love to James, to claim him as
her
man. Like he’d
said – she was his. And he was hers. She intended to make that
clear as soon as she had a chance. For now, she settled for leaning
against the counter, trying not to shake as the tension swept out
of her and relief replaced it.

Marianna cried out in frustration. ‘What’s
your problem?’

James reached into the waistband of his jeans
and pulled out the same gun Tiffany had stared down the barrel of
when he’d robbed the bank in New York. ‘Where’s the trunk?’ he
asked as he aimed it directly at Marianna.

Marianna seemed to be on the verge of tears,
but managed to appear somewhat pouty, even with a gun trained on
her. ‘Screw you,’ she spat.

‘Come on,’ James said. ‘Ten thousand dollars.
Tell us where it is and we’ll give you the ten thousand Rolando
promised you.’

‘I’m not telling you! I’ll keep it all for
myself and you can … you can burn in hell!’

James fired the gun, and Tiffany jumped,
shocked.

A bullet pierced the plaster in the wall a
couple feet above Marianna’s head. Tiffany hoped no one had been
driving down the road outside the house when he’d fired.

‘Tell me!’ James commanded.

Tiffany shot a glance at Rolando, who was
watching the scene unfold with a look of desperate anxiety
plastered across his face.

Marianna sobbed.

James fired another round into the wall,
closer this time.

‘It’s in my closet!’ Marianna cried. ‘It’s in
my bedroom closet!’

James lowered the gun and stalked off in the
direction of the bedroom, his boots falling heavily on the floor
boards. Tiffany darted after him.

Inside Marianna’s bedroom, James flung the
closet door aside and knelt, shoving a small avalanche of shoes
aside. The tension in his shoulders eased visibly, and Tiffany
enjoyed watching his powerful arms flex as he pulled a heavy metal
chest from the depths of the closet. He tried the lock and found it
secure. Tiffany crossed the distance between them and placed a hand
on his shoulder.

He turned to face her, his gaze intense. The
tingling sensation between Tiffany’s legs flared with sudden
acuteness. She bent and pressed her mouth against his. He responded
with fervor and pulled her down to the floor where he kneeled. He
pressed her shoulders down and rolled onto her, something pressing
against her belly. She thought for a moment that it might be the
gun he’d tucked into his pants earlier, but the idea was dispelled
when she caught a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye and
saw the weapon lying on the carpet.

James lifted his hand from the floor to
Tiffany’s chest, where he squeezed her breasts beneath the thin
cotton of the T-shirt she’d donned. She reached down and grasped at
the hard rod of his erection, her fingers scrabbling against the
tautened fabric of his jeans. With her second hand she undid the
brass button, barely pausing to pull down the fly before she
plunged her hands into the fabric of his underwear, finally able to
touch him as she wished.

‘You’re mine, James,’ she whispered into his
ear as she clutched his cock. It jumped and throbbed beneath her
touch.

He moaned and tightened his grip on her
breast, squeezing so hard she gasped. She glided her hand up and
down his long shaft while she placed the other on her own hip,
where she tucked a thumb into the waistband of her pants and
yanked, wiggling her hips until they were free of clothing. Once
her pants had gotten over the swell of her ass, they slid off
easily. With a few tugs, James’ jeans slid down too, and he was
free.

‘Stop it,’ he whispered in her ear as she
stroked him, ‘you’re going to make me come.’

She smiled and relented a little, massaging
more gently and slowly as she guided him toward her slippery sex,
reveling in how different this encounter was than the one they’d
had in the woods, where he’d played her body like an instrument,
making her gasp and scream all of the right notes. Now it was her
turn. Finally. ‘Am I?’ she purred provocatively.

He moaned in response and she wiggled deftly
out from under his body. He reclined on his right side as she slid
down to his waist-level, taking his cock into her mouth as she had
in the car. She tightened her lips around the broad shaft, gliding
back and forth over the underside with her tongue until he said
‘Please, Tiffany. Stop.’ She did. ‘I don’t want to come yet,’ he
told her. ‘I want to come
in
you.’

She released him slowly, dragging her lips
and tongue backward in a way that made him groan again. When her
lips left his hot, stiff flesh it gleamed with her saliva. She
repositioned herself so his erection throbbed against her belly,
its nicely rounded tip resting in the hollow of her navel.

‘Hey James!’ a sudden voice interrupted them.
‘Did you find the trunk?’

James cursed under his breath. Tiffany
reached down to caress him again, and he trembled as her fingertips
brushed his cock.

‘Yeah,’ he called, his voice as steady as
could reasonably be expected under the circumstances. ‘Just give me
a minute.’

She let her fingers glide past the head and
down the shaft of his stiff member as she rolled onto her back and
spread her legs in invitation. James’ eyes went wide. ‘Now,’ she
whispered. ‘Come here.’