Hot Contract by Jodi Henley Page B

woman,”
she continued, high and tight, holding on to her composure with
both hands. She strangled her voice down and took a deep breath.
“And I had to lose weight and drop out of school because he didn’t
want a fat wife and geeky kids, no matter how much money my dad
paid him.”
    “Jen, I’m going to tell you something and I
want you to listen, all right? Your dad is an asshole—still
listening? Asshole. Want me to repeat that?”
    She tried laughing, but it came out more like
a sob. “It was a long time ago. You’re nothing like him.”
    “I’m from your dad. I can see where you’d be
allergic.”
    “I’m trying to build my resistance. You can,
you know, kiss me again and help me out.”
    Keegan smiled crookedly. “So I’m like a shot
now? Nasty medicine?”
    “Medicine is good for you,” she breathed,
lifting her face to his.
    He pulled her tight, just holding her. “God,”
he whispered, “this is fucking unreal.”
    That startled a laugh out of her.
    “You’re smart, Jen. And beautiful, and hot—”
He hesitated. “Really hot. I can’t...think, with you in my
arms.”
    Her hands were trapped between them, and
yeah—maybe he wasn’t healed up. How she felt him flinch, he didn’t
know.
    “I hurt you,” she said quietly.
    “You caught me the wrong way. It’s just a
scratch.”
    Jen gave him a frustrated look. “I’ve seen
your shoulder. It’s not just a scratch.”
    He gently lifted her arms up around his neck.
“Trust me,” he said. “Try it like this.”
    “Tell me why you’re here?” she asked a little
later, as they watched the fire pop in the grate. “Watching over
me.”
    Keegan pulled the blanket up over her
shoulders. “Want another marshmallow?”
    “I want you to talk to me,” she hesitated,
“please?”
    Despite his best efforts to contain it, the
crap in his head was about to break loose. “Angry,” he said. “Not
at you.”
    He thought he’d worked through it, but the
guilt was still there, all bright and shiny. Self-loathing filled
him up and choked the words in his throat. If he’d only moved
faster, formulated some kind of backup plan, Connor wouldn’t be a
hostage, and Keegan wouldn’t be here...with Jen. He looked down
into her eyes and felt her concern like a sucker punch.
    “My brother,” he said abruptly. He rolled a
marshmallow in his hand and flipped it into the fire where it broke
open, throwing out flows of charred fluff. “DalCon specializes in
ransom drops, damage control. It’s understood, see? That kind of
money, there’s got to be go-betweens. We make sure everyone plays
fair. The Samoy backed out at the last minute. Kai—he's got cash,
and they wanted more. We took the kid, but the chopper was a piece
of shit. Connor and the kid fell out. We got the kid back, but the
Samoy got Connor.” Keegan rubbed at his eyes. “Two million? DalCon
is people and equipment. I don’t have that kind of money. They’ll
kill him if we insert. They’re waiting for me to try. They know us,
see? And I—I don’t know what to do. Corlis wants us to go for
it.”
    “My mother was kidnapped,” Jen said, looking
down into the fire.
    Out of the corner of his eyes, the curve of
her cheek trembled in the flickering darkness. She opened her mouth
and took a deep breath before saying, “Maybe your sister is
right.”
    “I promised to keep Connor safe and I’m not
willing to risk it. For right now, he's safe enough. A full frontal
is the last thing I want.”
    “So what do we do now?”
    “Tell me about the rest of your family. We
need to troubleshoot who wants you dead.” Keegan looked into Jen’s
eyes for the first time since he’d started talking. “I need to get
into the Project, Jen. I need to know why Terri was so important to
the Aina.”
    “It’s locked down and you don’t have ID.”
    “I have you,” he said tightly. “It’s
enough.”
    ****
    Sunlight struggled through the crappy
curtains, as gray and sour as the climate. Cheap