She was thinking about the way he’d stripped her naked and taken her over his knees when they got back to his house. The feel of his palm on her bottom lingered to this morning, a delicious sensation that had led to one of the best orgasms of her life.
With a smile on her lips, she opened the front door.
Two men stood there. They were huge and dressed in mostly black. Black jeans and T-shirts and boots. They looked fierce and daunting.
“Can I help—”
The one closest to the door flattened his hand on it and pushed it the rest of the way open. Without a word, he stepped inside, his friend behind him.
“Hey, what are you doing?” She jumped back, her coffee sloshing over the edge of the mug to burn her hand. When the men shut the door behind them, she dropped the mug entirely. It shattered, hot coffee splashing her bare legs.
Libby screamed. “Fuck! Get out of here. Who the hell are you?”
The slightly larger of the men grabbed her arm and hauled her toward him, lifting her almost off the floor.
She stopped breathing as she met his menacing glare. Just when she thought he might speak, the second guy grabbed her other arm and held it tight in his grip. She twisted her neck just in time to watch him jab a needle into her biceps.
Full-on panic filled her, and she jerked hard to get away from the men. She screamed as loud as she could, but the first man covered her mouth with his enormous hand.
Her heart raced, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Who the hell were these guys? What did they want from her? She kicked at the man’s shins, but her efforts were futile. She was far too small to compete with them, and whatever the man had injected her with was taking effect. She was fading.
She struggled as hard as she could, like a rag doll in the hands of a giant. Fear like nothing she’d ever experienced filled her veins, and then the world went black.
Chapter 29
Jason was standing in Tank’s office that afternoon when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered it without looking. When he was at work, most of the calls that came in were from unknown numbers anyway. Since he was always juggling several clients, he didn’t have the luxury of screening calls. “Jason Nixon.”
“Jason, it’s Christa. Have you talked to Libby today?” Her voice sounded urgent. No, she was freaked out.
Jason instinctively put the phone on speaker. “No. Not since she left my house last night. Is everything okay?”
“No. I don’t think so. I got home a few minutes ago, and she’s not here. Something’s wrong. Jason, I’m freaking out. Something is terribly wrong.” Her voice rose every few seconds.
Tank stood and came closer. Sweets and Kraft must have heard them also because they came up behind Jason.
“What makes you think something’s wrong, Christa?”
“I knew as soon as I walked in the door. It wasn’t locked, and the entryway is covered with coffee. The mug is shattered all over the tile.”
Jason’s heart stopped. “Did you try calling her?”
“Yes,” she wailed. “Her phone is on the kitchen table, and so is her purse. She didn’t take her car or anything. Jason, I think someone took her.”
“Fuck,” Jason muttered. “Get back in your car, okay? I’ll be right there.”
Tank grabbed his keys. “Let’s go.” He all but shoved Jason out of his office toward the door. “I’ll drive.”
Jason could not process what was happening. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was leaving the office with his coworkers but nothing else.
“I’ll take my car, too,” Kraft stated. “Sweets is with me. The two of you head to their condo. We’ll go to her parents’ house.” Kraft grabbed Jason’s arm. “Address?”
Jason handed his phone to Kraft. “It’s the last address in my GPS.”
Kraft tapped on the phone several times and handed it back before jogging toward his car.
Jason climbed into the passenger side of Tank’s SUV and buckled his seatbelt on autopilot. Thank God the other guys jumped into action. They were all former military after all. Action was their specialty. Jason was numb. Not thinking straight. He needed to pull his head out of his ass and focus.
“Talk to me,” Tank said. “Is there anyone who would want to harm Libby?”
Jason ran a hand over his head. The only man he knew who had ever fucked with her was Eddie, but Jesus, would the man kidnap her?
Tank was one step ahead of him. “What about this Eddie guy who’s been sending her flowers and shit?”
Jason nodded. “That’s where we have to start.”
Tank drove as fast as possible without causing them to get pulled over. He jerked the wheel to turn onto the last street hard enough for Jason to grab the door.
Jason was out of the SUV and jogging toward Christa as she got out of her car. She had her arms wrapped around her middle and she was crying.
Tank reached her first and set a hand on her back, so Jason turned and rushed toward the condo. The door was standing open, and Jason pushed it the rest of the way. He stopped breathing as he took in exactly what Christa had described. Coffee everywhere. Shattered ceramic, too. Nothing else was out of the ordinary.
Tank came up behind Jason and looked inside. “No sign of a struggle. I don’t think they ever came past the foyer.”
Jason ran a hand down his face. “I agree. Fuck.” He turned toward Christa. “Call the police. Wait for them. Tell them what you know. Unless you have any other ideas of people who might want to harm her, I suspect Eddie. We’re going to head to his house now.”
Christa nodded, tears still streaming down her face. “I think she has his
