Escape with Me Read online

  Ten and Lana were in the living room sitting on the couch with their heads together talking in whispers when Aaron came through again on his way out. Lana looked up at him. He was standing in the doorway with an overnight bag slung over one shoulder and his laptop in its case over the other. Bowser stood next to him. “We’re spending the night at Ellen’s,” he announced.

  Lana started to say something, but he cut her off with “That is if you think you’ll be safe. I wouldn’t want to leave you if you think there’s a chance Jeremy will try something tonight.”

  Now that he’d mentioned it, Lana realized she couldn’t predict what Jeremy might do. Still, if Jeremy did attempt a second assault on the house she certainly didn’t want her father anywhere nearby. “No, I’m covered,” she said with a smile. “Have fun, Daddy.”

  “I plan to,” Aaron said. He nodded in Ten’s direction. Ten nodded back. That was enough for a silent agreement to be figuratively sealed between the two men. Aaron trusted his only child in his care, and knew Ten wouldn’t disappoint him.

  Lana jumped up and walked her dad to the door. She held it open for him. “I love you, Daddy.”

  “Now, don’t go saying something like that at a time like this,” Aaron said with a smile. “They do that stuff in movies and it never ends well.”

  She tiptoed and kissed his cheek. “You’re way too melodramatic. See you tomorrow, Romeo.”

  Aaron much preferred her thinking of him as a randy old man, than to be thinking in maudlin terms. “My Juliet’s waiting. Come on, boy,” he called to Bowser.

  He jogged down the steps with Bowser following happily.

  Lana shut the door and went back into the living room where she threw herself on top of Ten. “We’re alone,” she whispered. Enclosing her in his arms and grinning, Ten’s head fell back on the couch, and he stretched out. Lana straddled him, the skirt of her sundress riding up her thighs. Their eyes locked. “I don’t want to wait any longer,” she said breathlessly. “We’ll be very quiet. I won’t scream or shout. I’ll be quiet as a mouse.”

  Ten’s penis was already hardening. Her crotch was touching his, and he not only felt the warmth of her, but the little devil was gyrating as if he was inside of her. She licked her lips and threw her head back as if in ecstasy. He could see the imprint of her aroused nipples pressing against the bodice of the sundress. He was not made of stone. How was he supposed to resist something like this?

  She bent over him and their lips met in a hungry kiss. Tenderly yet deeply they explored each other, challenging the limits of their control. “You taste so good,” Ten murmured against her mouth. Lana softly moaned her pleasure.

  Ten reached up and squeezed her butt with both of his big hands. His member was aching to be released from the confines of his jeans. Lana could feel his urgency and reveled in it. Her nipples were erect and becoming painful to the touch. She wanted to be naked. She wanted their bodies hot and slick with perspiration.

  She broke off the kiss. Once again sanity reigned. They were in the living room in front of the big picture window. She wasn’t about to give Miss Gladys an eyeful. She knew the lovely lady had a telescope, and knew how to use it.

  “Bedroom,” was her one-word command. She got up and grabbed his hand and led the way. Once through the doorway of her bedroom, clothes began to simply fall off their bodies.

  Dressed only in her underwear, Lana went over to the window and pressed a button on the wall. Electric storm windows lowered. No sunlight could penetrate through them, let alone the lens of a certain someone’s powerful telescope. She switched on the bedside lamp. Then she went and turned on the CD player. Strains of jazz floated on the air. She turned up the volume just a bit hoping to further hinder them from being heard.

  She turned back around to find Ten in his underwear. She had already seen him with his pants off but that was only in swim trunks. The man was well-formed, awesome biceps, pectorals and abdominals. He had a scar about two inches above his waist that looked like it’d been there awhile. Downward, his muscular thighs were beautifully molded and the area where the curly dark hair disappeared into his briefs...she wanted to touch him there.

  She went to him, and he reached around and undid her bra. As he freed her breasts from their constraints, they maintained their gravity. When they embraced, she felt such abandon. His warm flesh against hers felt so right.

  Biceps flexing, Ten picked her up and carried her to the bed. They kissed again, this time more urgently than before, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he felt tears on her cheeks. This, for a split second, gave him pause. Why was she crying?

  But once she was on her back against the bed, and he’d dispensed with her panties and shed his briefs, there was no turning back. He tore open the condom he’d taken out of his pocket downstairs. He was not a newcomer to intimacy and had known this day would be coming soon.

  Seconds later the condom was on and he was pushing inside of her. Neither of them spoke. They didn’t have to. They clung to each other and rode the tide of passion that had been mounting for days. They got lost in one another’s eyes. They both knew this was monumental and not a spur-of-the-moment thing, or something that would soon be forgotten. He started out on top but, after a while, she impaled herself on him. Deep, deep, and so sweetly, she wrapped herself around him.

  His hands cupped her luscious breasts. He gently pinched her nipples, heightening her pleasure. Lana rose higher on her knees and began thrusting. With each thrust, Ten grew harder and he marveled at her strength and stamina. Midway, she slowed down, got off him, turned around so that her back was to him. The sight of her backside and consequently her sex almost sent him over the edge. She reached a hand back, took him in it and guided him back inside of her. Then she rode him to climax.

  Lana lay on top of him, her feminine center throbbing with release. She moaned softly and he could feel her convulsively tightening and releasing around his shaft. Momentarily, she softly rolled off him and nuzzled in his chest, smiling.

  “For a minute there,” he whispered as he hugged her close and peered into her upturned face, “I thought you weren’t satisfied.”

  She smiled, her long-lashed eyes sultry. “Wait until I can scream. You’ll have no doubts of that whatsoever.”

  “There wasn’t much foreplay,” he said, sounding apologetic.

  “For me the foreplay begins when you enter the room,” she told him.

  Ten smiled. “That might be the sweetest thing a woman has ever said to me.”

  “Sweet, that’s me,” she whispered against his chest, softly.

  Chapter 10

  Ten was determined that there would be no screwups today. It was a beautiful day for a capture. The Carolina sky was baby blue with a smattering of clouds but none appeared rain producing. When he and Pete pulled across the street in the van that morning, pedestrians were already out and about. The bank sat on the corner, taking up much of the downtown block. It was a four-story modern edifice with a marble facade and had a Southern touch with pillars on either side of the entrance.

  Carrie and Eduardo had been chosen to pose as customers. Ten couldn’t do it because Jeremy would recognize him as Lana’s “boyfriend,” and the sting would be over with before it’d begun.

  Ten had fitted Lana with the wire, and had advised her to “Try to forget you have it on. It’s best that way. Otherwise you might inadvertently touch that spot too frequently or behave conspicuously. Jeremy’s already paranoid. We don’t want him to suspect you’ve betrayed him.”

  “I know,” she said, looking into his eyes. “I should stick to the script.”

  “Which is?” he prompted.

  “Go in, give him the key. He’ll probably have to go into the vault with a bank employee who will also have a key. They will both have to open the box together.

  “After that, Jeremy gets w
hatever’s in the box and comes out of the vault. I’ll be waiting for him. Then he will either give me my share of the loot or he’ll try to run with all of it. Either way, you all will pounce on him and give him the beat-down he so richly deserves.”

  He chuckled at her use of the phrase beat-down. “You sound like a gangster’s moll,” he joked. “And we’ll try our best to avoid violence.”

  She looked at him with such affection that a lump formed in his throat.

  A few moments later, he and Pete watched as she walked into the bank dressed to kill wearing a short dark brown dress, which was hitting on all her curves, and brown pumps. She wore designer sunglasses and carried a brown handbag that matched the shoes. Her red hair set the whole outfit off. He smiled, shaking his head. She had style.

  “Man,” Pete said in admiration. “She’s wearing the hell outta that dress.”

  “Keep your mind on the job,” Ten said gruffly.

  Pete threw up his hands. “I’m just saying...”

  Next, Carrie went into the bank followed by Eduardo a couple minutes later. Last, Ten spotted Jeremy casually stroll into the bank, wearing dress slacks and a short-sleeved dress shirt with a tie. His black oxfords were highly polished.

  Inside, Lana walked up to Jeremy as soon as he entered the lobby. His blue eyes swept over her. “Good morning, sweetness,” he said, smiling confidently. “You look quite fetching in your power attire.”

  Lana handed him the key. “Let’s get this over with,” she said without rancor. She didn’t want to appear antagonistic. She simply wasn’t going to engage in friendly banter with him.

  “All right,” he said easily as he palmed the key. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  Lana walked over to a counter that was stocked with deposit slips, withdrawal slips and various brochures touting the bank’s services. She picked up a brochure, but she didn’t allow her attention to wander from Jeremy as he walked up to an employee’s desk.

  The middle-aged man rose and offered his hand for Jeremy to shake and gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Jeremy bestowed a charming smile on the man and sat down, after which he produced the key and began to tell the man why he was there.

  Lana couldn’t hear what they were saying but Jeremy’s pantomime was sufficient for her to follow what was going on. After Jeremy had shown the employee adequate identification the man rose and left the lobby. When he returned he said something to Jeremy. Jeremy rose and walked with the employee toward the back of the bank. They disappeared through a door. Lana took the opportunity to station herself at that very door to await Jeremy’s return.

  * * *

  In the vault Jeremy and the bank employee used their keys to unlock the safe-deposit box. The bank employee said, “I’ll give you some privacy,” and left the vault.

  Jeremy carried the box to a nearby table, and lifted the lid. He took a deep breath. He’d been waiting so long for this moment. Unable to wait another second he reached in and grasped a black-velvet drawstring bag. His heart hammered in his chest as he untied the knot in the string, opened the bag and poured a handful of clear-as-crystal diamonds, all of them well over ten carats, into his hand. The excitement he felt was better than sex. Better than that first inkling that you were falling in love with that special someone. This was the high he lived for, that he would die for if it ever came down to it.

  He reluctantly poured the diamonds back into the bag. Lana was waiting. Maybe he would still try to convince her to go away with him. He could forgive her dalliance with the mystery man caught by his private detective. He hadn’t exactly been a saint during their separation. As for love, well, he loved her as much as he could ever love any woman. He certainly loved her more than he’d loved his first two wives. He’d stayed longer with her than the both of them put together. Giving her all of him, though, was out of the question. They could have fun together. Splurge on life. Go anywhere they wanted to. Live in the lap of luxury.

  He tucked the drawstring bag into the briefcase and left the vault. Once in the corridor, he looked for the bank employee but he wasn’t anywhere in sight so he started back the way he’d come. He saw Lana as soon as he was through the door.

  He smiled and patted the briefcase.

  She didn’t crack a smile. “Let’s find a private corner and divvy up the prize,” she said instead.

  But Jeremy had another idea. “No, babe, let’s go straight to Norfolk. The buyer is meeting me at the Radisson tomorrow morning. We could spend the night and catch up while we wait on him.”

  Lana’s mind was racing. He already had a buyer. But of course he did. He’d planned this down to the minutest detail. Her eyes darted around her, and as soon as she did that she regretted it because Jeremy, attuned to everything in his heightened state of excitement, noticed the gesture and immediately became suspicious. “Who’re you looking for, your new boyfriend? Did you two plan to rob me?” He searched the bank’s lobby for Ten.

  “Jeremy, don’t be silly, you’re paranoid,” Lana said calmly, her voice barely a whisper. She sighed as if she were growing annoyed with him. “Look, we made a deal. It didn’t involve going anywhere else with you. You said nothing about a buyer yesterday. We were supposed to split whatever was in the safe-deposit box, and go our separate ways, remember?”

  Jeremy’s eyes lost their frightened aspect. He was clutching the briefcase handle tightly in his right hand. He relaxed. “You’re right, we did agree to split whatever’s in here, but that’s not reasonable, Lana. What do you know about finding a buyer for millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds? I’ve got this under control. Go with me on this, and you’ll be set for life.”

  Lana saw no logical reason to argue the point with him. Carrie was only five feet away from them, pretending to fill out a form. Eduardo was sitting in a chair near the exit, apparently waiting to be called to the desk of a loan officer.

  She should simply play along with Jeremy until they got outside, at which point Ten and Pete would wrestle him to the ground and it would all be over with.

  “Okay,” she said at last. “I’ll go to Norfolk with you.” She opened her purse and withdrew a small black canister. “But if you try anything I’m going to pepper spray you.”

  Jeremy laughed shortly. “Deal,” he said. He took her arm and guided her toward the exit. But before he could place his hand on the glass door, Eduardo shouted, “FBI! You’re under arrest!”

  Lana fell back, putting some distance between her and Jeremy. Jeremy swung the briefcase over and up, hitting Eduardo under the chin. Blood spouted from Eduardo’s mouth. Carrie lunged for Jeremy’s midsection, throwing her whole body into it. Jeremy went down with her on top of him. However, Jeremy was stronger than she was and tossed her off of him and rose quickly. On his feet now, he executed a roundhouse kick, and sent her sprawling against one of the counters. She hit her head and was knocked out. Everything happened in an instant.

  In the meantime, Eduardo was on the floor, bleeding, dazed, as his eyes tried to focus. Jeremy had not only knocked some teeth loose with that briefcase to the chin move, but had also made him bite his tongue, which was producing copious amounts of blood.

  Lana, horrified, tried to run to Carrie to see if she was all right because she hadn’t stirred once since she’d hit her head on the counter, but Jeremy angrily wrenched her back, pulled her to his side and dragged her toward the exit.

  “You must be insane, attacking FBI agents!” she cried, trying to pull free of his hold. But his grip was too firm. She hoped Ten and Pete were on the ball and listening to his every word. No, she hoped they were already out of the van and waiting outside for Jeremy with guns drawn.

  “So sorry, darling, but I don’t plan on going to jail. Didn’t faking my death teach you anything?” Jeremy said through clenched teeth.

  Around them bank customers and employees were cowering
behind counters, trying to make themselves as invisible to the madman as possible. Lana wondered where the security guards were. In answer to her question, two security guards hurried toward them from the back. One looked like he had to be in his sixties or seventies. His hair was cottony-white and his tanned face held deep wrinkles, but he moved sprightly enough. As he approached them he held up his hands to show he only wanted to talk. “Young fellow,” he said soothingly. “Let’s maintain a cool head here, and talk about what we can do to get you to let the lady go and be on your way out of here, free and clear. No harm, no foul, okay?” He nodded encouragingly as he smiled at Jeremy.

  The younger security guard hung back but his hand was on his weapon in its holster at his side. His thumb was already on the release snap that would free his weapon should he need to draw.

  Jeremy held Lana tightly against his chest with the same hand in which he held the briefcase. The hard handle was digging painfully into her chest. Even drawing a deep breath was difficult. His breath, coming in quick intervals, was in her ear. “No,” he told the white-haired security guard. “The lady comes with me.”

  “My name’s Hiram,” the security guard said conversationally. He walked a little closer and as he did so, keeping his eyes on Jeremy’s eyes, he released the thumb break snap on his holster. “I’ve been working here nearly twenty years and we’ve never had any trouble. I don’t want any trouble today. Just let go of the lady, and I’ll let you walk right out of here. I promise you.”

  Jeremy smiled. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Hiram. The lady’s my ticket out of here.”

  Hiram inched a little closer. “I know you think that, son. But so far all you’ve done is hit a couple of people, if you leave this bank with her that’ll be kidnapping.”

  “She’s my wife,” said Jeremy. “A man can’t kidnap his own wife.”

  “We’re divorced,” Lana said her voice strangled.

  “Is that what this is?” asked Hiram, “a domestic dispute?” He smiled as if he were relieved that’s all this was about. “You know women, son. They don’t respond to rough handling. Let her go.”