Revenge for Hire (The Get Even Agency) (26 page)

Avery bit back a sigh. What had she expected? Her mother had
never shown affection and had always been more interested in herself or
whatever man currently resided in her life than anything Avery did.

“Nothing in particular. Have a good night.” Avery disconnected
the phone in the midst of her mother reminding her to send money.

She slumped forward and cried. Shed the tears she’d refused to
let
loose
all those years ago over the loss of a
mother who really hadn’t been much of a mother to begin with. Shed the tears
over the loss of a first love who’d been almost as selfish as Avery’s mother. But
most of the tears she shed were over Jude. Jude hadn’t been selfish. Not to her.
He’d given, and she’d taken. She was as bad as her mother. As bad as Scott. She’d
hurt the man she loved.

A man she started baring her soul to but had held back. Held
back for fear of being rejected. She hadn’t told Jude she loved him. Hadn’t
told him she’d fight tooth and nail to win his love back. Hadn’t fought at all
to win his affections, just given in to his demands for her to help him restore
his life. He’d cared once. Surely with time he could care again.

Why was she wallowing in self-pity when the man she loved was
somewhere in the city?

Because he’d told her to wait for his call.

When that call came, she’d give Jude the vengeance he wanted. A
vengeance better than any he could possibly imagine.

She’d give him her heart, soul, and body on a platter.

* * *

Avery must have dozed because the ringing of her cell phone
caused her to jerk. She glanced at her watch. Almost midnight. She’d definitely
dosed.

“Hello,” she answered, smothering a yawn and thinking it was
one of the girls calling to check on her.

“Where are you?”

Jude. In the background she could hear music and lots of voices.
It amazed her she could hear anything as her heartbeat drummed so loudly in her
ears.

“My place. New York. Like you said.”

“Good.” He hung up the phone not giving her a chance to say
another word.

Good? Did that mean he was coming? Or that he was glad she had
no social life?

Just in case, Avery ran to the bathroom, gazed at herself in
the mirror. She eyed her long braid, considered taking down her hair, and adding
make-up to her washed out from crying face.
 

But to do that would be acknowledging she thought Jude was
coming over tonight. He wouldn’t do that so fast, would he?

He’d made her promise one night, his terms, whenever he chose. Him
being the one to hold all the cards. The whole idea of it was the power trip of
her being at his mercy. They both knew it.

Why would he bring that power rush to an end so quickly?

She took a cold wash cloth and washed her face free of all
make-up and traces of tears. She added a touch of gloss to her lips, pinched
her cheeks, and said to hell with it. She glanced down at her jeans and
G.R.I.T.S. t-shirt. Perhaps
Girls Raised in the South do it better
wasn’t the exact message she wanted to send, but if Jude showed, tonight wouldn’t
be about seduction anyway. It was about Jude getting even.

She quivered at the thought. Would he purposely degrade her? Make
her crawl on her knees and beg him for sex? For release? What did he have in
mind? Whatever, she knew it would be sexual and that she’d willingly do his
bidding.

She’d beg for his love, anything he’d give.

Her inner thighs clenched and she cursed her physical weakness
when it came to Jude.

Why was she working herself up like this? He wasn’t going to
come. He was a smart man. He’d drag this out, make her suffer as she’d made him.
He’d placed the call to toy with her mind, just like what was happening.

She pulled off her jeans, left her t-shirt on, and brushed her
teeth. She was going to bed.

* * *

Jude called himself all kinds of a fool. Why was he here? Standing
outside Avery’s apartment considering letting himself in with the key she’d
provided so he could take his vengeance any time he wanted.

More like take her any time he wanted.

It’s what he’d insisted upon. She’d used him. Now he intended
to use her. It surprised him when she’d agreed. Agreed to give him her numbers,
free clearance with the doorman to come and go as he pleased, a key to her
apartment so she was at his mercy whenever he decided.

He’d put her life on hold, insisting she stay in New York, just
as she’d put his life on hold by her treachery. So why the hell had he come
straight after dropping his parents at his place?

Avery deserved to suffer. For him to drag this out for days and
keep her wondering, on edge. But the thought that he could be inside his dark angel,
that she’d agreed to give him complete control over her for one night, was too
much for him to resist. The taste of finally putting Mandy in her place
sweetened his tongue, but didn’t fill the void within him. He wanted complete vengeance.
Now. He slipped the key into the lock and opened the door.

Quietly, he snuck into the apartment. The large window
overlooking Central Park let in glitters of city light and cast a faint glow
around the room.

Now what? He asked himself. He was inside her apartment, had no
idea if her roommates were here, no idea which bedroom was hers, no idea what
he was going to say once he saw her.

Jude took off his shoes to keep from making noise as he
searched for Avery’s room. If her friends were home, he didn’t want to wake
them.

He straightened, tried to readjust his eyes to the light and
felt a foot connect with his mid-section. Hard.

“
Oompf
,” he groaned, doubling over
just in time for a knee to collide with his chin, jarring his bones so deep
every part of him rattled.

Enough was enough. Jude reached out and grabbed hold of a
smooth calf and pulled his attacker’s ankle toward him, knocking her off
balance. Had to be a her with legs like those.

Avery’s. He was sure of it.

A fist smashed into his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs.
Hell. She was kicking his ass.

And making him horny as hell.

“Hit me. I know you want to,” she taunted.

Hit her? Anger surged through his body. Anger at all the things
she’d done to him. But hit her? A woman? His honor would never let him.

A hard chop landed across his chest. Then she pummeled him. “Hit
me,” she demanded.

Protecting himself from her flying fists, he dropped her to the
floor and pinned her beneath him. “Not exactly the welcome I planned.”

Avery stopped fighting although he was sure she’d been holding
back all along. Had she known it was him and beat the crap out of him anyway? Why?
Trying to get him to hit her?
Hell no.

He wouldn’t appease her conscience that way.

“You didn’t say you were coming by,” she said, her breath
brushing against his cheek, reminding her soft feminine body lay trapped
beneath him.

“Wasn’t that the whole idea? To take you on my terms? What kind
of retribution would it be if I politely called and announced that I’d be
dropping by later for some S and M.” A metallic twang embittered his mouth. He’d
bit his tongue when her knee smashed into his chin. “How did you know I was
here?”

She wiggled, but not with enough effort to convince him she wanted
free. If she really wanted loose, he suspected he’d be doubled over in pain and
she’d be standing over him.

“You didn’t turn off the security system.”

“What security system?”

“The one you set off.”

Damn it. “You didn’t mention a security system.”

“You didn’t ask.”

Smart mouthed woman. He grinned, then called himself names
again. “Are your roommates asleep?”

“They aren’t here.”

“Will they be back?”

“Of course.”

“Tonight?”

“They won’t be back tonight.”

“We’re alone?”

“Yes.”

Her chest heaved, her breath stroking his cheek.

“I’m here to collect my debt.”

She didn’t speak.

“Kiss me,” he ordered.

“How?”

Damn it, was she going to ask a question every time he gave an
order?

“No more questions. When I give you a command, you improvise. Go
with whatever your gut instinct says I want.”

“Okay.”

His eyes adjusted to the low light. He could tell she stared up
at him. Stared at his lips. What was she waiting for?

“Kiss me,” he reminded, shifting his weight above her to slide his
thigh between her legs, to where he pressed against the
vee
of her womanhood.

She lifted her head from the floor and pressed her lips to his.
Her tongue traced over his lips. He got the impression she checked for tender
spots. She strained her neck, trying to deepen the kiss. That’s when he
realized he still had her arms pinned. He relaxed his hold. Immediately, her
arms slid around his neck and cradled his head.

Then she kissed him. Deep and without holding back. She made
love to him with her lips, her tongue. A low flutter rumbled in his belly,
urging him to kiss her back, to take her mouth and body and brand her as his.

A voice of reason called him a fool for giving in to his need
for her. A voice he reminded that he was here to take his vengeance, to make
her pay, to use as he’d been used, nothing more.

He ground his thigh into her, his hips creating a rhythm
growing in intensity. A rhythm that had him growing period.

He had to keep control. If just her kisses blurred his mind so
much, this was going to be harder than he’d thought.

He was harder than he’d thought.

Her lips trailed across his jaw and she latched onto his ear
lobe with her teeth. She bit him. Hard enough that he flinched. Hot breath
caressed the stinging flesh, soothing, confusing, turning inside out.

When she had his blood strumming through his body at
mach
one, she gave one last hard suckle to the lobe. “What
now?”

Jude clenched his teeth. This was about submission and
punishment. About making her feel used, cheap, like the whore she was. She’d slept
with him for money.

“Strip.” He rolled off her and felt for the light switch, found
it, and flipped it on.

His gaze dropped to the woman lying in the floor, staring up at
him. Her hair lay in a long braid to her left. Her lips were kiss swollen. Her
t-shirt hiked up around her belly revealing hips encased in a sexy pair of tiny
pink panties.

“Not much for you to take off from the looks of it.” He
purposely kept his voice unaffected. He was affected. What he wanted was to bend
over and take those panties off with his teeth and then kiss every inch of her
body.

“I could change,” she offered, sitting up and eyeing his crotch
with obvious interest.

“Do you have anything in leather?” he asked just to be ornery. He
didn’t want her to change. He wanted her naked.

She snorted. She must have an entire wardrobe filled with the
stuff. “How kinky do you want me?”

He swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth. Otherwise drool
would run down his chin.

“I’m going to make myself a drink while you do whatever it is
you need to do.” He waved his hand. “When you come back I want your hair free
and no more hitting me.”

She touched her braid.

“I want you in the skimpiest leather thing you own.”

She gave him a peculiar look then nodded. “Okay.”

Jude wandered into her kitchen and asked himself what the hell
he was doing. He’d gotten even with Mandy. At least as even as one could with
someone who’d put him through hell. Now was supposed to be Avery’s turn. He was
supposed to screw her, make her feel used. Like she’d done to him. Instead, he
wanted to make love to her, to hold her and demand she love him, to tell her
the truth about him and Mandy.

He wouldn’t.

He poured a small glass of Jack Daniels and mixed it with soda
from the fridge. Dipping his head back he emptied the glass, ignored the burn,
and poured another, not questioning too closely the need for liquid courage.

He walked into the living room, sank onto the sofa, and became
the victim of a cat stare.

“Who the hell are you?” the cat seemed to be wondering. Jude
wondered the same thing because he didn’t recognize the almost possessed man of
the past few weeks.

First, he’d been determined to find Angela at all costs. Once
he’d found her, discovered the truth, all he’d been able to focus on was
revenge. Revenge against Mandy. Revenge against Avery. Revenge mostly because
she’d made a fool of him.

Made him care for her when she toyed with him in the name of
work.