His mouth went to my neck and down, he muttered, “Wildcat,” to my chest, my lip curled in disgust but my hand went to his side, drifting softly there then between our bodies and down his abs to the waistband of his trousers.

I pulled at my cuffed hand again and it made another clunk then I did it again and the clunk was louder.

His head came up and his hand went to his pocket.

“Fuck it,” he snapped.

I felt my lungs fill with anticipatory oxygen.

“Jerry, leave it. I’ve never done it cuffed to a bed,” I fake protested.

His eyes came to mine and his hand came out of his pocket. “I been waitin’ years for this, Sadie, and now that I got it, I want you to touch me,” he told me and I felt triumphant elation slide through me.

I hid it and muttered, “Whatever.”

He leaned up and uncuffed me, keeping the other cuff on my wrist, he slid the key back into his pocket and his eyes came back to mine. “You’re playin’ a game and you think to f**k me over, you’re back to bein’ cuffed, I’ll gag you and I don’t give a f**k if you enjoy it or not.”

I was a little surprised he wanted me to enjoy it at all but I shook this off, both my arms went around him, my mouth went to his, my eyes open and our gazes were locked again.

I smiled against his mouth and said, “You’re a pig, Jerry.”

Then I kissed him.

We went at it. There was a lot of rolling, hand action, more rolling, mouth action. I managed to evade him taking off any of my clothes (though I let him unbuckle my belt) but I got his shirt unbuttoned and used my mouth on his chest. Then, when I thought I had him, I rolled on top, straddled his hips, whipped off my sweater, exposing my lace-over-satin, blush-colored demi-bra, I pressed my h*ps into him and asked, “Do you have a condom?”

“Jesus,” was his whispered answer, his eyes were on my br**sts, his hands sliding up the skin of my sides.

When he didn’t answer, I lied, “No worries, I do.”

I lifted a leg, rolled off him and jumped off the bed.

I was across the room and digging through my purse when his arms came around me from behind, his hands moving across my belly and ribcage, his mouth in my neck.

I tried to stay cool, not to tense and freak out. I kept digging through my purse, trying to find the stun gun, hoping I’d get it out without him seeing it.

I found it, closed my eyes tight, took in a deep breath, relaxed back into him as my fingers curled around the stun gun.

“Never thought you’d be like this, Sadie,” he said into my neck. “Thought of this a thousand f**kin’ times, never thought it’d be this good.”

I felt a shiver flow through me. It wasn’t pleasure, it was fear mingled with repulsion mingled with something bizarrely sad. Jerry mistook its meaning and smiled in my neck.

“Jerry?” I called. His head came out of my neck, I turned my own and kissed him, pulled out the stun gun, twisted in his arms, our lips still attached, I went up on tiptoe, pressed myself against him and my arms went around him.

My thumb searched for the on button as I stuck my tongue in his mouth and tried not to gag.

I found the switch.

I flipped it on.

He deepened the kiss.

I heard the crackling.

I positioned it, pressed into his body and touched the prongs to his back.

One…

His mouth tore from mine, he went still and I kept the prongs on him.

Two…

Three.

He went down.

I bent over him and went back in, touched the prongs to him again, his body jerked and I kept it pushed in, counting to three again for good measure.

Then I pulled away and, without delay, I ran to my sweater on the floor, yanked it on, grabbed my purse, left my shoes and, not looking back, I ran to the door, threw it open, was two steps away before I was nabbed at the waist and pulled back roughly.

I let out a little surprised scream. I twisted and stilled when I saw, to my shock and horror, Glover, another of my father’s henchmen.

“What the…!” he started but I still had the stun gun in my hand and it was on.

I put it to his shoulder, he tensed and I kept it there but a hand curled around my wrist, it was pulled back, Glover sagged against the wall but I didn’t watch, I whirled to see who had my wrist.

It was twisted, I cried out as pain shot up my arm and dropped the stun gun, looking up, I saw Cordell, another of my father’s gentleman army and he looked bizarrely confused.

Really, why, why, why was everything so f**king difficult!

“Damn and blast!” I shouted in his face.

He bent down, put a shoulder in my belly and lifted me, carrying me back into the room.

I had the sinking feeling that, at this juncture, I was majorly screwed.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I’m Sadie

Hector

“Find her,” Seth Townsend said in Hector’s ear.

Hector’s jaw clenched, his eyes on Eddie, his body tight.

“Jerry, Glover and Cordell have been off the radar since we did the raids yesterday. All night, the whole team and half the DPD have been turnin’ Denver inside out. No f**kin’ sign. You got any f**kin’ clue where they’d take her?” Hector, hating his need to make the call, ground out each word.

Hours had gone by since he got the call that Sadie had been nabbed. There was no sign, no word and now the fear was a constant, bitter ache in his gut.

“You boys are supposed to be the best. How’d this f**king happen?” Seth snapped.

Hector didn’t know how to answer him. He’d been asking himself the same f**king question for the last five hours.

“Her cell is tracked, she left it on the table at the club. We planted a device in her lipstick, she must have left it behind. The guy guarding her left his position but warned her he was goin’, explained when he’d be back and told her to sit tight. She was with fourteen people, but walked away from the table alone. One of the girls and men tried to follow but they got held up by the crowd. A witness who tried to help her told us she told him that they roofied her, she was dazed and not in control. He got clubbed on the side of the head with a gun butt, went unconscious and Sadie got taken.”

“Why weren’t you with her?” Seth clipped.

“Because I was huntin’ down your rogue soldiers,” Hector shot back.

“They went rogue because Sadie’s with you,” Seth returned.

Hector lost his patience and his temper. “They went rogue because they’re ass**les, Seth. Don’t f**kin’ lay this shit on me. This whole trip is yours, from the Balduccis down. You left her alone, unprotected. You knew the Balduccis were out for revenge, you had boys at your disposal and you left her exposed. You put her in this position and I’ve been workin’ my ass off for six weeks tryin’ to pull her out.”