CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

JJ hid a grin when he saw April wince as the bell over the front door tinkled at his entrance. She’d woken up that morning with a hangover, despite the aspirin. She bitched that she never got hungover, and when JJ asked how many times she’d gotten drunk lately, she’d mumbled under her breath that she couldn’t remember the last time, maybe when she was in college.

His woman was adorable when she had a headache because of too many glasses of wine. He didn’t like when she was hurting from the accident, but this? It was a little funny. Especially because she was grumpy and out of sorts, and yet when he kissed her goodbye before heading out to the worksite for the new housing development, she melted in his arms.

He and the rest of the guys had worked hard plotting out which trees needed to come down and when, in accordance with the building needs of the houses that were scheduled to go up. It was a big job but one Jack was proud to be working on. They’d talked the developer into saving as many trees as possible, to give the neighborhood an older feel, instead of just razing all the trees on the entire acreage.

He would’ve been back to the office earlier, but Marlowe had called Bob and said she was at the library with two flat tires. JJ gave his friend a ride into town, and they’d discovered two huge nails in the back two tires of Bob’s pickup. It was annoying, but luckily Marlowe had only borrowed her husband’s truck to go to the library that day instead of heading to Bangor to go furniture shopping with June, as had been her original plan.

June had woken up with odd cramps, and Cal put his foot down and refused to let her risk her health, or their child’s, on something as trivial as shopping. So Marlowe had gone over to visit her friend, then to the library to check out some books.

Getting new tires was a minor pain, but it would’ve been a disaster if the women had been on the interstate when the tires deflated or, worse, had come apart.

“How’s the truck?” April asked when the door closed behind JJ. He’d called her and let her know he was running late and coming back to the office for lunch.

“Two flat tires. It’ll be fine.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, that stinks.”

JJ shrugged, then walked around the desk and pushed her chair back before leaning against the desk in front of her.

“Um, you’re in my way,” she said with a smile.

“I know. It’s time for lunch.”

April looked at her watch. “Actually, it’s past time for lunch.”

“You already eat?” he asked, knowing the answer.

“No. But I could’ve.”

“I know. And I don’t expect you to wait for me when I’m late, hon. If you’re hungry, you eat.”

“Honestly, I had zero appetite until just before you got here. I need to remember that I’m not twenty-two anymore and apparently can’t handle my liquor like I used to.”

“I think you handled it, and me, just fine last night,” he said, not able to resist the innuendo.

She did her best to hold back her smile but failed. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

Funwasn’t the word JJ would’ve used. His woman was always passionate and sexual, but last night, with her inhibitions lowered even further because of the alcohol, she had been insatiable.

“Yeah, it was,” he agreed without hesitation. “Although I don’t want you getting drunk on a regular basis just for the sex,” he said.

April shrugged. “Ditto. I mean, I liked last night, but I like everything we do together. There’s something to be said for simply snuggling, or slow, easy lovemaking instead of . . . you know.”

“Instead of you trying to swallow me whole and then fucking me into oblivion before insisting I do the same to you like you’re the best porn star there is?”

He loved the blush that spread across her cheeks. “Yeah, that.”

“Damn, I love teasing you. But now I need to feed you. How’d the morning go?” he asked.

“Good. I got two new signed contracts back, put out feelers for the ropes course Bob wants to run, and connected with the Maine Forest Service to tell them we’d be interested in training with them for search and rescues.”

JJ shook his head. April never ceased to impress him. If she could do all that while hungover, there was no telling what else she could accomplish.

“Right, so you must be starved after all that. You want to go out or head home?”

“Home,” she said without hesitation. “We have leftovers we can eat.”

And she was sensible too. He wanted to spoil her and had a feeling she would make that hard to do. She was practical and down to earth and so much more. Frankly, everything he’d ever wanted in a partner. Why it had taken him so long to get his head out of his butt and ask her out, he’d never know. He’d been afraid of nothing.

“But I need you to move so I can shut down the computer,” she told him with a smirk.

JJ leaned down and kissed her before standing up and stepping out of her way. He watched as she efficiently did what she needed to do in order to secure the computer and the files she’d been working on, before standing to face him.

“I’m ready.”

It took everything in JJ not to pull her into the back room and throw her down on the couch. Two things stopped him—one, she’d probably pitch a fit about getting one of the couches dirty and be embarrassed about others sitting on it after they’d had sex; and two, he really did want to feed her. It would make her feel better if she put something in her belly besides the crackers she’d choked down that morning.

So, instead, JJ took her hand and led her from the building. He’d parked out front, and now he waited patiently as she locked the office before walking her to his Bronco.

It was time.

Ryan had been patient long enough.

He’d messed with the other women a bit. He was a little disappointed that they hadn’t been hurt because of his tricks but, in the end, was glad he hadn’t alarmed their men. If they thought for even a moment that someone was out there purposely trying to harm their women, he could be found out, making it next to impossible to get to the soldiers.

But he’d had his fun, at least. Now it was time for the main show to begin. And he knew exactly how he was going to get all the women together.

By the time the soldiers realized their women were gone, it would be too late. The game would be on. And it was a game. At least for Ryan. A deadly one. A game that would end his years of plotting and planning. A game that would end in the deaths of the four men he hated with every fiber of his being . . . and the women they loved.

A game that would put an end to his grief.

After he took the lives of those responsible for the death of his brother, Ryan would join him in the afterlife. There was nothing keeping him here on earth.