Accidental Bounty (Inter-Galactic Bounty Hunter Book 4) Page 6

  “I do find you attractive, but I just broke things off with my boyfriend. I don’t want to rush into anything so quickly. That would be a mistake.”

  Drake knew she was right. They were coworkers, and she did just take some kind of break from her boyfriend. She needed time to decide what she wanted. As much as he wanted to explore where things would take them, he had to try to give her that. He needed to figure out his own feelings regarding her too.

  Drake stepped back from her, or he might be tempted to grab her and prove to both of them that rules were meant to be broken. “I think we need to go somewhere to talk about this.”

  Jinx shook her head. “There’s nothing to talk about. Come on, do you really want a relationship or just a one night stand? From what I hear, you’re a player. I’m not like that. I can only be with someone sexually if I have an emotional attachment to them.”

  He considered himself a real bachelor and enjoyed many women with no strings attached. For some reason, hearing her call him a player made him furious. Drake took another step away from her.

  “If that’s how you really see me, then I guess we don’t have anything to discuss.” He turned, walking away. As he went to the bar, Drake grabbed his beer and guzzled it down. He could feel her eyes on him and wanted to strike back at her for thinking the worst of him. He turned to the big-boobed blonde on his right and gave her his best panty melting smile. “Hey there beautiful, how are you doing this evening?”

  The blonde batted her eyelashes at him and leaned forward giving him a better view of her assets. “Better now that you’re here.”

  “Actually, I was about to leave for somewhere a little less crowded.”

  She smiled up at him. “I could keep you company.”

  “Now that’s a great idea.” He motioned her to move toward the entrance of the club, all the while fighting his instincts to look back at Jinx. Maybe the blonde would help him get his mind off the pixie of a girl who was totally wrong for him.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning

  After she watched Drake leave the club the night before, she’d sat at the table with Shy who was nice enough not to question her about what was said between her and Drake. Another glass of wine and she was ready to leave. She took a hover taxi and drove by his apartment, relieved that she didn’t see his hover truck. He was probably off fucking the blonde he left the club with. She went into the apartment; using the code he gave her, and grabbed her suitcase. She was glad she had packed up everything before going to the club. The hover taxi waiting for her, and then she went to Shy’s place where she would stay until she found her own apartment.

  After a fitful sleep, she woke feeling too wired to eat breakfast. Jinx rode with Shy into the office. Going up the steps to the bail enforcement agency building, she had mixed feelings. She longed to see Drake, apologize for the things she had said that obviously hurt his feelings. At the same time, she was angry and jealous that he would dismiss her so easily and replace her with someone else. That didn’t help her confidence at all. The best thing to do would be to avoid Drake if she could. Unfortunately, fate was against her. Walking into the bail enforcement agency Jinx noticed Vic was sitting in his office with Drake. Vic motioned for her to join them. She took a deep breath and entered.

  “Good morning,” she said plopping into the chair next to Drake and ignoring him.

  “God, you’re way too cheerful in the mornings,” Vic groused.

  Was she? She didn’t feel very cheerful, but she smiled at Vic anyway. “I’m a morning person, what can I say.”

  She tried not to look over at Drake, she really did. Unfortunately, that big body of his was hard to ignore. He had his long legs stretched out, ankles crossed with a cup of coffee in one hand and a type of pastry in the other. Glancing over at him was a big mistake because she became entranced with watching him raise the pastry to his mouth to take a bite. It looked like there was a little bit of a sugar glaze at the corners of his mouth. When his tongue peeked out to lick his lips she felt her whole body respond.

  A sudden desire to lean over and lick that bit of sugar off of him was almost overwhelming. Her nipples tightened and her lower region began throbbing with need. Both males suddenly looked over at her, but with different expressions. Vic was incredulous and Drake surprised but interested. Crap! She felt heat rise to her cheeks.

  Trying to get them to ignore what she was sure they could scent from her. “So boss man, what’s the plan for the day? Do I get my first case or not?”

  “Not yet. Your skills have to be accessed before I let you out in the field. Drake is going to be in charge of the skills tests you’ll need to pass. Once I feel you have, I’ll have you working in teams for the first five cases. Drake will be judging you every step of the way.”

  She was not happy about that at all. Why Drake?

  “Because he’s the one we trust to judge your abilities honestly. Others may be a little too lenient on you. Is there some problem with Drake being your point person?”

  Crap! She had asked the question out loud. She could feel Drake’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look at him. “No problem.”

  “Good. Three days of assessments, then you can go out with a team.”

  “Sounds great,” Jinx said with a smile on her face.

  Drake nodded at Vic then stood and walked out of the office without saying a word to her.

  She was about to stand up and leave, but then asked, “When will Jagger and his mate be ready to receive guests? I am dying to see that baby and to meet Daniela.”

  “They’re coming home tonight. We’ll help them get settled in. I think sometime tomorrow afternoon they will be ready for visitors.”

  “Awesome. Do they need anything? Diapers, formula, baby bottles?”

  Vic shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the topic clearly unfamiliar to him. “I don’t know about these things. I can ask Lexi but the baby’s room looked packed full of baby shit—stuff.”

  Jinx tried to hide her smile. Vic was so cute squirming with—fear. “Are you and Lexi planning on having any children?”

  “What?” He ran his hand through his hair. “No, I don’t want my Lexi to suffer as Daniela has. I could hear her screams down the hallway as she gave birth.”

  “It’s a temporary pain Vic, and they can give pain medication to help,” Jinx reassured him.

  “Daniela was supposed to get that pain med, but by the time she got to the hospital she was too far along to receive anything. I just couldn’t handle Lexi being in that much agony.”

  Jinx reached over and patted his hand, giving it a squeeze. “One day a time will come that you or Lexi might think about having children. Talk to each other Tell her your concerns and then go together to a doctor to discuss it.”

  “What kind of father would I even be?”

  “An amazing one. You took me under your wing and encouraged me to make better life choices. You seriously changed my life, and I will forever be grateful to both you and Jagger for that.”

  Vic stood up and pulled her into a big bear hug. “You were a good kid, just had a little problem with your selection in boyfriends.”

  Jinx snorted, “Wow, pinpoint my flaws will ya.”

  He chuckled and released her. “I’ll let you know as soon as Jagger and Daniela are ready for visitors, Jinx—thanks for your support.”

  She gave him a big smile and a wink. “That’s what friends are for.”

  Leaving Vic’s office, Jinx found Drake at his desk typing on his computer with hard fingers. He looked up at her, and if looks could kill she would be dead. What the hell was his problem?

  “Okay coach, what’s the plan for the day?”

  “If you’re done flirting, we’re going to the shooting range downstairs first. I want to see how comfortable you are with a gun.” Drake stood and headed for the stairs. He didn’t bother to turn back to make sure she was coming along. What an asshole!

  She glared at his back as she followed him. Goi
ng down the stairs, she questioned him. “What are you talking about flirting?”

  “You have a real problem going after men who are unavailable.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  Suddenly the lights went out, and she stumbled on the step she was about to step down on. Her foot missed the step, and she would have fallen down if Drake wasn’t suddenly there holding her in his arms. With her higher up on the steps and him lower, it brought their faces about even. She could feel his breath against hers. His scent was something male and spicy, very sexy. Her heart was racing.

  “What are you doing?” she asked with a whisper of a voice.

  “The backup generator will kick in, just give it a few seconds. We’ve had some power issues that need to be worked on. This is the first time that the lights went out completely like this. Weird.”

  “Yeah, weird,” she agreed. They stood there wrapped in each other’s arms. Her body couldn’t help but respond to him, her nipples hardening.

  “What...what were you talking about me flirting and going after unavailable men?”

  The lights flickered back on and Drake released her. Jinx felt the loss of his body heat but she could still smell his scent. She wanted to find out what cologne he used and put it on her pillow so that she could snuggle it at night. Fuck! What was wrong with her?

  He turned and continued down the stairs. “I saw how you were all over Isaac at the club last night.”

  She frowned, “I wasn’t all over him, we were just dancing. Besides, if I want to date Isaac that’s my business.”

  He snorted. “Isaac wasn’t planning on dating you, he wanted a quick fuck. He’s too occupied with trying to find his runaway wife.”

  “Isaac’s married?”

  “I guess technically they’re separated. She just up and disappeared a few years back. He filed a missing person’s case, but the authorities closed it. They said it looked like she didn’t want to be found. He uses all his free time and our resources here at work to search for her.”

  Well, shit. That made her feel used, and she hated feeling that way. Good thing she decided not to date anyone for a while until she got herself more settled here. “It’s a good thing I’m not interested in Isaac then.”

  They reached the bottom of the stairs and took a left. He snorted. “It sure looked like you were interested by how you rubbed yourself all over him.

  She ignored his taunt. “You said men. What other man do you think I’m after?”

  “Vic. You keep touching him,hugging him and flirting. He’s got a damn fine mate and he won’t leave her for anyone else.”

  Oh, she was fucking pissed now. She kept thinking of how she wanted to handle Drake’s wrong perception of her. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  He snorted, but ignored her reaction. “I guess you don’t think much of sticking with your rule about not dating coworkers when it comes to the two of them. Or maybe you just want to fuck them.”

  “Son of a…”

  They entered the shooting range that had four shooting stalls. Two of the stalls were occupied—one with a beautiful woman whose long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the other was occupied by a handsome man in a business suit. Each one took a look a questioning look. Drake kept talking, ignoring the furious expression on Jinx’s face.

  “It will take a few days to get you up to par, depending on how weak you are with holding a weapon.”

  Fury surged through Jinx as she headed to one of the empty stalls. She grabbed a handgun sitting on the table, checked the clip and began firing until she was out of ammo.

  Drake grumbled something like, “Lucky shot.”

  Jinx ignored him and picked up a riffle and began shooting until it too had no more shells. The woman next to her stopped what she was doing to comment, “Great shooting there newbie.”

  Drake snorted. Jinx was done with his attitude. She laid the riffle down and reached for the more modern weapons, a sonic gun. She made sure that she had it on the lowest setting possible first. Instead of pointing it at her target, she turned to face the asshole and didn’t hesitate to shoot him. The strong vibrations of the blast hit him hard, knocking him back a few feet.

  The woman bounty hunter whistled as she came closer to Jinx. “You don’t seem weak handling weapons at all. My name is Asia, that’s Kalen.” She offered her hand and pointed to the man in the suit.

  Jinx smiled at the other woman. “I’m Jinx.”

  The man nodded at her with a slight smile on his face as he stepped over Drake’s body still on the ground. Then the man broke into laughter. “Drake the ladies man is definitely off his game and his feet.”

  Drake growled low, “Shut it, Kalen.”

  Jinx couldn’t help but feel relieved that she hadn’t hurt him too bad. Asia walked past Drake, who was now sitting up. She gave Jinx a wink before turning and following Kalen out. Left alone, Jinx worried she had gone too far, but he had really pissed her off. She pulled her shoulders back and looked him right in the eyes.

  He glared at her. “What is your problem?”

  “You’re the one with the problem. Just so you know, I have never before gotten involved with anyone I worked with. I’ve kept that rule for as long as I can remember. Vic and Jagger are like brothers to me and all I did was dance with Isaac.” Jinx put the sonic gun down and stomped toward him, letting her hips in the tight jeans sway side to side a little more than usual. She stopped at his feet and put her hand on her hips.

  “Just so you know, I don’t have to flirt. If I want a guy, I just tell him I want him. No batting eyes, no sexual innuendos. I’m direct and I like my men that way. Are we done with the shooting aspect of my training?”

  “Yeah, we’re done.”

  “Did I pass muster?”

  Drake nodded, his breathing uneven.

  “Good. What else is there?”

  “Go up...have Isaac go over...IT gear.”

  “Sounds great coach.” She started to move past him but tripped and ended up falling down on top of him. Her knee hit his groin.

  “Oops.”

  Gasping for air, Drake wheezed out, “Go.”

  She gave him an apologetic smile. Standing up carefully, so as not to knee him a second time, she moved away. Jinx almost felt sorry for him—almost.

  Chapter 10

  Drake stood up and felt the lingering aches of the impact from the shock gun and the knee in the groin. He walked bow-legged over and lifted the sonic gun—it was on the lowest setting. At least she wasn’t trying to kill him.

  After the sting of humiliation left him and the pain between his legs faded, Drake was left with admiration and feeling a little bit...aroused. Her shooting was spot on, and the quickness of it, she was like a pro already. That was sexy as hell.

  He couldn’t be angry with her. Drake had taunted her and insulted her. Jinx had every right to defend herself. Now he felt guilty about his verbal attack. Why had he said those things to her? He had watched her holding Vic’s hand and then Vic hugged her. An unwelcome feeling of jealousy had taken hold inside of him.

  He had no right to feel that way, but the sight of her pressed against another man after watching her with Isaac last night had him reeling. His species weren’t known for their calm sensibilities, but he worked hard to get his emotions under control enough to handle his job. If Jinx could get under his skin this easily, she would pose a serious problem.

  Maybe he was feeling tension from not getting laid, but he wasn’t lacking the opportunity. He left the club last night with a more than willing female who was just his type—leggy with a sexy curvy body—clinging to him. When they reached his hover truck, she kissed him and went to open his pants to suck him off, but images of Jinx dancing and possibly doing something similar to Isaac had dampened his arousal and his anger rising.

  After several attempts by the female named Samantha...Mandy…Sara or whatever
—he told her that he had somewhere else he needed to be. She was furious as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and climbed out of the truck. He watched as she waved down a hover taxi. Not wanting to go back inside, in case he attacked Isaac out of jealousy, Drake drove to a small bar a few blocks down and drank until dawn. Then he headed to the office early and used its shower facilities and the spare pair of clothes he kept in his personal locker.

  Gingerly, Drake took a seat on the nearest bench. He wasn’t hiding from her, he just needed a few minutes to regroup and get his training plans straightened out. After about five minutes, he sighed, stood up, and headed back upstairs. Now that he had time to think about it, what Jinx had done was kind of incredible. Drake hadn’t been able to picture her tiny hands holding a gun, but the speed and precision of her shooting aroused him like nothing had before.

  As he reached the top of the stairs, he paused on the top of the landing. He could see Jinx in the IT office though the glass walls. She was talking to Isaac, who said something that made her laugh. He envied Isaac’s ability to make Jinx laugh and smile like that. Drake’s attitude had only made her angry.

  Drake moved slowly, taking in the way the light hit the colorful strands of her hair. He admired the delicate features of her cheeks and her cute little nose. His eyes lingered on her lips, which were luscious. He knew how delicious she was and craved more. He was stalking her.

  This was insane. He was supposed to be her trainer. Maybe he should hand her training over to someone else...one of the female bounty hunters like Asia or Shy.

  Drake watched as Isaac helped her put on a bulletproof vest. The material formed around Jinx’s curves, showing more of her feminine side. He noticed Isaac’s hands lingering a little too close near the valley of her breasts. Drake growled and fought to cover it up with a cough.