Hot Contract by Jodi Henley Page A

the night where it sputtered and
disappeared.
    Jen frowned. “It didn’t even sizzle.”
    “I’m getting faster,” he said. He fished in
the bag for another.
    Jen held hers out. “You can have mine. All
that ash isn’t good for you.”
    He caught her hand and looked into her eyes.
“Thank you,” he said, biting off exactly half.
    Her heart skipped a beat. “You’re
welcome.”
    He licked his lips, and she followed, leaning
in without realizing she’d moved until their lips touched.
    His hand cupped the back of her neck. “I like
marshmallows.”
    “Sweet,” she managed.
    His smile lit his eyes. “Yeah, very
sweet.”
    Except for the distant whisper of the Project
and a ripple of guitar music from farther down the road, the
campsite was quiet. Wind sighed through the eucalyptus trees and
carried the promise of rain. His arm circled her, tucking her in
close to his side.
    “You suspect anyone in particular?” he asked,
bringing her attention back to the real reason he was here.
    Jen stared into the fire. “Not Makena,” she
said slowly. “I know you don’t get along, but he’d never hurt
me.”
    “He’s the one who took you from
StallingCo.”
    She nodded.
    “Are you in love with him?”
    There was nothing in his voice to give away
what he’d just said as important, but she stared at him anyway,
letting the words, not his tone of voice trickle into her
conscious.
    “I just tongued your tonsils. And you think
I’m sleeping with my cousin?” She shoved him off the bench and
stood, the blanket gathered in her knotted fists. “I don’t know
whether to be insulted or pissed off, but I’m leaning toward
pissed—Makena isn't just my cousin, he's my friend!”
    Keegan pushed to his feet. “Don’t you think I
know that?”
    She caught his arm. “Then why did you
ask?”
    His nod came slow and hard, and his voice
sounded wrong, so rough and hoarse it was like he was ripping the
words out of a place way down deep inside him. “I am so fucking
jealous.” He met her eyes. “I care, all right? I fucking care about
you. I care whether you live and I’ll blow ‘em away if you
die.”
    “I had a boyfriend, once” she said, stunned.
Panic ground away the flow of words. She felt like she was sliding
back into a past where he couldn’t reach her.
    The anger in his eyes turned to knowledge.
“Was he the guy who hurt you?”
    “It wasn't rape,” she said all too quickly.
“It was consensual. I wanted it.” The wind whispered over her ears
and down her nape where her hair had fallen forward hiding her
face. She couldn't breathe. Her hands covered her eyes, blocking
out the sight of Keegan looming over her. She wished she could
block out the memories. “Oh, God —why am I talking about
this?”
    “He raped you,” Keegan said flatly. “I'll
fucking kill him.”
    Jen took a deep breath and couldn't stop,
hyperventilating and dizzy. Keegan pulled her into his arms and
held her tight, one hand cupped at her nape. The rapid rise and
fall of his chest made her want to cry.
    “Don't feel s-sorry for me, damn it!” Her
eyes were hot and strange—scratchy like there was something in
them. “I did it to myself. I wanted someone so bad—I built up a
fantasy. I didn't love him, I didn't even like him. I just,” she
tucked her face into the soft fabric over Keegan's chest, “…wanted
someone to care.” Her voice went very small. “Mac offered to kill
him.”
    “Your cousin knew?”
    “Mac…was doing his residency at the hospital,
but he was also the head of Security ops. He knew everything that
went on at StallingCo…the entire complex is wired. My grandfather
Stalling was p-paranoid. Mac...Mac destroyed the video...all of it.
All the copies. It was my first time. He told me…” she began, all
her pain and horror tamped down into a little ball. The same little
ball she’d kept it in for the last eight years. “That he wanted a
way into StallingCo but I was f-fat. And frigid. Not a real