Shoving the fabric aside, his breath hot against her skin until he found the hard point of one breast, then the other. She groaned, arching against his mouth, wanting more, needing more, desperate with that need as she flung off the comforter and Jon took off her T-shirt and threw it aside. She got his shirt off, stripping away the material to press her bare, scalding flesh against his. It took her breath away as he cupped her bottom and pulled her onto his lap.
He kissed her, breathless as he pressed her against him. She shifted to push down his jeans as he tugged her panties down, and then she was sitting on him again. He entered her, his gaze locked with hers. She threw her head back as she rode him. He took one of her nipples between his teeth, rolling her off him, to pin her to the couch. They were both breathing hard as he thrust inside her, taking her higher and higher until she let out a cry, digging her fingers into his strong back.
Jon collapsed onto her for a moment before rolling to the side and pulling her close. “Katie,” he breathed against the hollow of her neck.
She closed her eyes, tears leaking out. He’d found his way to her.
The knock at the door made them both jerk around. They shared a startled questioning look for a moment before they heard the knock again. A male voice on the other side of the door called, “Room service.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
COLLIN COULDN’T SIT STILL. He paced the floor, waiting to hear what was happening at the hotel. The worst part was that he had no idea what Gerald had told his men to do. Not kill Kate. They needed Kate. Couldn’t really kill Jon—at least not in front of Kate, otherwise they would lose their leverage.
So, why was he so nervous? Because he’d lost his leverage with Kate’s daughter. He’d heard it in his Eric’s voice. So he was screwed back in Texas as well as in Canada. He feared things could get worse. But once he had enough money he could sneak into Mexico and get lost on some beach until the money ran out.
“Stop pacing,” Gerald finally snapped. “You’re driving me crazy.”
From the look in the man’s eyes, that was a dangerous thing to do. “I’m not good at waiting.”
“Then take the car down to the body shop.” Gerald told him the address. “The walk back should do you good.”
“What do I tell them?” he asked.
“Nothing. Just leave them the keys and walk back. It’s a couple of miles. You could use the fresh air.”
Collin nodded, thinking here he was again, sticking his neck out while Gerald stayed safe here. The woman at the dress shop would be able to pick him out in a lineup. Same with the mechanic at the body shop. Is that the way Gerald was planning it? Or was Collin just getting paranoid?
He couldn’t help but think about Kate as he drove. She and Jon Harper had spent the rest of the night and morning together. Jealousy reared its ugly, green head. Collin didn’t want the man touching her. He reminded himself that Jon had been trying to push Kate away. Had that changed? He reminded himself that she was still wearing his engagement ring. Or at least she had been before Jon Harper had whisked her away in the middle of the night.
For all he knew, the two had spent the rest of the night screwing. He ground his teeth at the thought. He hoped that whoever was delivering their “room service” hurt them both.
* * *
JON QUICKLY GOT up off the couch and pulled on his clothes, signaling for Kate to go get dressed. She hurriedly picked up her panties and his T-shirt and scurried from the room.
He stepped to the door, tucking his shirt in and zipping up his jeans as he went. He hadn’t expected the interruption. The last thing he’d wanted to do was let Kate out of his arms. The knock had sent his pulse hammering because for a while he’d forgotten how much danger they were in.
“Room service,” a young male voice called again, this time the voice wavering a little.
“We didn’t order room service,” Jon called through the door, all his senses on alert. He glanced back at the weapon he’d brought up from the truck. He’d left it on the end table next to the couch.
“It’s complimentary for the honeymoon suite,” the young man in the hallway said.
Jon glanced into the bedroom. Kate had gotten dressed. She was standing looking at him, looking as worried as he felt. He could see the rise and fall of her breasts, remember them pressed against his chest only moments ago.
“Give it to someone else. We don’t need it.”
Silence, then, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Can I just leave it, please?”
Jon heard that slight waver in the young man’s voice. Fear. And not fear that he would lose his job if this honeymoon breakfast wasn’t delivered.
Jon motioned Kate back as he dove for his gun on the end table and the door suddenly banged open. As he grabbed the weapon and spun back around, a metal tray filled with dishes crashed into him. Behind the tray was the young hotel personnel, his eyes wide and frightened. Behind him, a hulking man wearing a ski mask charged into the room, gun drawn.
Jon saw the barrel of the man’s gun clip the back of the employee’s head. The young man went down in the pile of food and broken dishes. Jon had tried to dodge the tray and the hotel employee but failed. Knocked off-balance, he had stumbled back, colliding with the couch to the cacophony of breaking dishes mixing with Kate’s scream.
The man in the ski mask shoved his way in, kicking the door closed behind him. Kate had grabbed a buffet lamp from the entrance table, and she swung it, catching enough of the hulking man’s head to make it bloom with blood.
Before Jon could get off a shot, the masked man had grabbed Kate and was now using her like a human shield as he pressed the barrel end of his weapon to her temple. The weapon had been equipped with a silencer.
It had all happened in a matter of seconds. The hotel employee lay unmoving, facedown on the floor, a knot forming on the back of his skull. After all the racket, the room fell deathly silent for a few moments before the man motioned for Jon to drop his weapon.
He’d already taken in the situation and knew he wasn’t going to get a clean shot—not with the man holding Kate in front of him.
“Do it or I’ll kill her,” the man said gruffly.
He looked into Kate’s wide green eyes, nodded and slowly dropped the gun to the floor, stepping back from it and keeping his hands where the man could see them.
“Now, here is what we’re going to do,” the man said in a low voice. “You do as I say, and Kate gets to live. Otherwise, I kill you both, and him, too,” he said, pointing to the employee on the floor. “If he isn’t already dead.”
* * *
“THE CAR IS READY,” Gerald announced as he came into the kitchen where Collin was making himself a sandwich. The refrigerator had been stocked with food apparently, while he’d taken the car down to the garage and walked all the way back. He noticed there was a lot more beer. He would have loved one but didn’t want to push it.