Sliding the back window open, he slipped through and then turned to assist her over the window sill as well. Closing the window, they moved silently, making their way over four more rooms and with quick dispatch, he had opened the window of another room.
Once inside he saw her turn toward him for more instructions. Good girl, he thought. “We’re okay. This is the room that Tony reserved. From here I can see where I parked the rental. If anyone comes, they’ll go to the other room. With the all-night bar down the street, they may assume we’re there.”
She nodded, the tension leaving her body. Suddenly exhausted, she slumped onto the bed. Then her eyes looked around. Bed. Bed? One bed again? Her wide-eyed gaze jumped back to his, seeing the amused expression on his face.
“Don’t worry. As hard as it will be to keep my distance, we both need our sleep. And…” he said, stalking toward her, caging her in with his long arms on either side of her forcing her to fall back on the mattress. “When we make love…and I hope to God you feel about me the way I’m feeling about you. Then when we make love, it’ll not be rushed. Not when we’re fighting danger. And not when I can’t give you everything you need.”
Lying on her back with the most gorgeous man in the world almost on top of her caused her heart to pound. Licking her lips, she wished he would lean down a few more inches and take her mouth. And then take everything else.
He did lean down, but just to give her a quick kiss knowing anything else with her lying under him would weaken his resolve to take things slow and at her pace. Standing up, he took her hand and gently pulled her to her feet.
“Take a shower or a long bath and I’ll be right out here. Gonna report into Tony while you’re in the bathroom.”
He heard water running and made his call. Once again on speaker, he knew that the men were pulling an all-nighter. Updating them on the events of the evening, he let them know they were in the alternate room.
“How you doing, bro?” Gabe asked, hearing the uncharacteristic tension in his twin’s voice.
“I want this whole fuckin’ mess to be over with,” he answered back. “She’s doing great, but she’s not used to this. Her adrenaline has spiked numerous times over the past two days, she’s running on little sleep and goddamn, if she isn’t holding up great.”
“Sounds like a winner, if you ask me,” Tony added.
The silence across the airwaves spoke volumes. Finally Vinny admitted, “Yeah, she is. But fuck, she should be sitting in some room playing her harp and not on the run from whoever the fuck is doing this.”
“We’re working on it, Vinny,” BJ promised. “So far, this is what we’ve got. The father is a tough cuss to deal with and is pissed that she put the harp on a separate plane. We haven’t told him that it will not be going through Dulles. But from everything we’ve seen, he’s clean. So are Todd and Gordon. Both assholes in their own ways, but they don’t seem to have any nefarious connections that we can see right now. They both have questionable deposits and withdrawals in their bank accounts but could be just from the entertainment business. We’re still looking at the others in her inner crew.”
Jobe spoke up, “I’m working on the security cameras that we’ve tapped into from the airports. Jack Bryant’s group is working on this with us.”
“What’s DEA found?” Vinny asked.
“So far, it looks like pure cocaine, the street value of almost half a million. But here’s the part that’s gonna upset your girl.”
Vinny’s heart lifted at hearing Annalissa referred to as his girl and then sank at knowing something was going to concern her. Before he could growl, Jobe continued.
“DEA says that it appears that the screws may have been tampered with at an earlier time, so she may have transported drugs when she was traveling before.”
The men continued to plan for a few more minutes until he heard the water stop running. After disconnecting he tossed his phone on the nightstand and pulled the covers down. Turning around as the door opened, his breath caught in his throat.
Long, dark, wet hair hung down her back. Her face, devoid of all makeup was fresh. Beautiful. And she was standing in that fuckin’ Little House on the Prairie nightgown with her bare toes peeking out from the bottom. Fuckin’ adorable.
Finding his voice, he motioned toward the bed. “Go on, babe. You need to sleep. I’ll clean up and be along shortly.”
Ten minutes later he emerged, finding her already sound asleep. Standing over the bed, he watched her gentle breathing as her face was finally at peace for the first time all day. He knew he had never watched a woman sleep before. Always fucked for the physical pleasure, not wanting to stick around…not for conversation, not for friendship, and sure as hell not for snuggling.
Shaking his head, he quickly packed their belongings into two backpacks that he always had folded into his larger duffle and checked his weapons. Just in case.
Crawling under the covers, staying to his side of the bed, he resolved to keep his distance. Yeah, right. He immediately rolled over to her, wrapping his body around hers and pulling her in tightly. Then he fell asleep. Soundly. The sleep of someone wrapped up with someone they care about.
*
The vibrations woke Vinny, instantly alerting him to the presence of someone in their other hotel room. The clock showed that it was almost three a.m. He had set sensors at the door, with a wireless alarm that was connected to his cell phone, courtesy of BJ. A warm body moved closer to him, the scent of her flowery shampoo filling his nostrils as her head lay on his chest. All he wanted was to stay right where he was, with this woman all night. Kissing the top of her head he slipped out from underneath her, walking stealthily to the window by the door. Barely pulling the curtain back he saw movement by the room they had originally rented. Fuck. Turning, he hurried to the bed, gently shaking Annalissa.
“Babe, you gotta get up. Throw your clothes on quickly and only grab what you need. We’re going to head to the rental car and leave as quickly as possible as soon as I give the all clear.”
With only a few blinks of her eyes, she jumped from the bed throwing off her nightgown as she hurried toward the bathroom, grabbing clothes as she went.
Vinny stood rooted to the floor, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the almost naked image of her as she ran into the bathroom. He knew that no matter what happened to them when all of this was over, that image would be burned into his mind forever.
The door closed and she quickly tugged on her jeans, bra, and a lightweight sweater. She ran back out of the bathroom, hopping as she slid her feet into her sneakers. Just then a loud crackle and then an explosion rocked the building. He threw her down on the floor, covering her with his much larger body as the building shook.
Hearing a commotion outside, he ran back to the window by the door, peeking out. Their new rental car had exploded. Goddamn, son of a bitch!
“Babe, we gotta get out of this room. We’ll go out the back window just like we came in. Grab this backpack. I’ve filled it with everything of yours that we can take on foot.”
“On foot?” she asked, her eyes darting from the window to him.
He walked over; putting his hands on her face he cupped her cheeks. “Stay with me, babe. Whoever the hell is after you just blew up the new rental car.”
Gasping, her green eyes widened in shock and her mouth opened but no words came out. Blinking again as he called her name, she focused on his face. The face that had become so familiar in the past two days. The face that she trusted with her life. Sucking in a deep breath, she lifted her chin.
Nodding, he grabbed his larger backpack and did a quick inventory of the room, seeing that the few items that they left behind were not necessary. Grabbing her hand he headed to the window, once again sliding it open and climbing through it. Turning, he assisted her before sliding the window shut. Tony had specifically picked a room on the back, facing the woods. Under the cover of darkness with the sound of sirens in the background, they hurried straight i
nto the thick forest.
*
Vinny knew they needed to get as far away as they could before stopping, but also knew there was no way she could keep up with his normal pace. Special Forces training had him easily moving through the woods in the dark, but with her along he needed to move slower and much more carefully.
Annalissa trotted behind him, fueled by adrenaline and determination. She knew they were not going very fast but was not sure that she could go any quicker.
He pushed branches out of the way for her and tried to point out obstacles in their paths. Thank fuck for a full moon. Even though he could have traversed the woods in almost blackout conditions, the moonlight gave her some illumination.
After almost thirty minutes, they stopped by a small creek. She was winded and plopped down on a log quickly. He cursed as he saw her trying to catch her breath. Pulling out his phone, he called Tony knowing that this time he was at home.
Filling him in on the events at the hotel, he said, “We’re hiking through the woods right now. Got a location on my phone we’re heading to. Small town, back off the highway. Gonna need some intel and you gotta let Jack’s man know that we won’t be meeting him at the airstrip later today.”
Tony cursed, knowing the mission had now changed for the worse. He not only had a man in the field, but was now responsible for keeping a woman safe who was unused to the dangers they faced.
“Look Tony, I’m gonna see if I can find somewhere safe to bunk down for a few hours until it gets a little more light. Once everyone is in later, we’ll coordinate again.”
“I’m calling everyone in now,” Tony growled.
“No, don’t do it, boss. Let everyone get a few more hours sleep in their own beds and then come in fresh.”
“Vinny, you’re the best I’ve ever seen in the field but with—”
“I got this, sir. Nothing’s gonna happen to her.”
Disconnecting the call, he turned to check on Annalissa, still sitting on the log. Even in the moonlight he could see her fatigue, now that the adrenaline rush was over. Walking over, he knelt in front of her, his massive legs on either side of hers and his arms stretched out, caging her in. “Babe, I hate to do this, but we gotta keep going for a little while.”
She looked into his eyes, a smile on her face. “I can keep going,” she assured him.
“That’s my girl,” he said, standing while pulling her up with him, loving the sound of my girl on his lips.
She smiled, the heat of his hand warming her almost as much as the words he had spoken.
He reached for her backpack, but she pulled back. “Nope, I got this. At least for now. If it gets too heavy, I’ll tell you.”
Giving her hand a squeeze, they took off through the woods once again. The terrain was difficult to traverse and he turned often to keep an eye on her. Several times he heard her grunt in exertion or make a slight exclamation when tripping over a tree root.
Her eyes were trained on the ground below trying to find her footing, while following the large man in front of her. Her breath came in pants as she wondered how he managed to make it look so easy. Her legs burned with the exertion and her aching feet sent shards of pain radiating throughout. Just when she thought she would drop from the inhuman pace, Vinny stopped suddenly.
“You’re doing great, Annalissa,” he said encouraging her on. Her face smiled up at his in the moonlight, but he could see the fatigue in her eyes. Reaching down to take her hand, he added, “We can go a little slower,” and as they continued, he did not let go of her hand this time.
After a while Vinny saw a crude hunter’s stand that had seen better days. Moving quickly to it, he tested the pieces of wood nailed to the tree trunk, finding them sound. Scrambling up, he tested the floor as well.
Climbing back down, he said, “It’s not the Ritz, doll, but it’ll keep us off the ground for a few hours while you can rest.”
She eyed the wooden slats suspiciously, but before she could object, she was boosted from behind. Grabbing the makeshift ladder, she felt his hands on her ass pushing her upwards. Landing on the floor of the wooden structure, she moved carefully on her knees, peeking over the edge.
Tossing up her backpack and his as well, he climbed up after her. He tried to move carefully, aware of his body size and the smallness of the platform. He settled with his back against the tree trunk and pulled her back with him.
“Vinny?” her quiet voice rang out in the night.
“Yeah?”
“What’s happening?” The fear and fatigue warred within, easily heard by him.
“I don’t know for sure, but it looks like whoever discovered that the harp did not make it on schedule is now looking for it.”
His statement was met with silence. Uncomfortable silence.
He turned her gently so that she was facing him. Concern and confusion filled her expression. Pulling her into his chest, he promised, “Don’t worry. We got away and haven’t left a trail. I’ve got Tony and the group on it. Their job is to plan our new mission and my job is to keep you safe until we can get to a rendezvous point to get back home. And Annalissa?” he said, willing his strength into her. “I never fail.”
Within a few minutes they settled down, her face on his chest once again as exhaustion took over. He watched as her face relaxed in slumber and wrapped his arms around her tighter, wanting his body warmth to sink into hers.
Looking up into the star-filled sky, his mind ran back over the events of the past couple of days. Heaving a sigh before stilling his body so as not to wake her, he finally closed his eyes. Whatever’s happened brought this amazing woman into my life, he thought as he drifted off into a fitful sleep.
*
Don Juarez answered his phone, noting the call coming from one of his most trusted second in command and cousin. He never greeted anyone on the phone—he simply connected and waited to see what the other person had to say.
“Boss, I’m sorry. But we’ve got a situation,” came the preface.
“I don’t have situations,” he reminded Jawan. “I only have successes. Those under me might have situations and then they fix them. Still leaving me with only successes.”
Closing his eyes, Jawan knew this was going to prove to be more difficult than he had hoped for. “I understand, Boss. I’m working on it now. We’ve lost a shipment but know who has it and where it is. It appears that who I sent bungled it the first time and the police were involved. So I sent in two more to intercept and they’ve bungled the job as well.”
“This is not boding well for your continued placement in my organization, cousin. Your job is to find the shipment, retrieve the shipment, and eliminate the parties involved. All of the parties involved. That includes the incompetents you sent the first time and the witnesses.”
“I understand. I won’t fail you, Boss.”
“I know. Failure is not acceptable, therefore there will be no failure.”
The phone disconnected, leaving Jawan to ponder his fate. Refusing to give up, he placed another call. Time to show Don that I can handle this situation on my own.
Chapter 9
The sounds of birds crept through the hazy fog of Annalissa’s sleep. The early morning sun’s rays were filtering through the leaves above, giving the woods an enchanted feel. Shifting stiffly to the side, she felt Vinny’s hard body next to hers. Smiling, she looked up at his face, his eyes on hers.
“I’ve never slept in a tree before,” she said with a smile. Wincing as she moved, she sat up adding, “But then there’s something to be said for having a mattress.”
“Babe, when we get out of this, I promise you the softest mattress we can find.”
Hearing the innuendo in his voice, she smiled, wondering if he planned on sharing that soft mattress with her.
Seeing her shy smile, he grinned back as he rose to a seated position alongside her. “You think there would be any room in that bed for me, darlin’?”
“Yeah,” she said softly, her gaze l
ifting to his. “I hope so.”
Leaning down to kiss her gently, he added, “Then that’s all the motivation I need, babe.”
He assisted her down and discreetly turned his back as she wandered a little way through the trees to take care of her morning business. As she returned, he handed her a protein bar. “I know it’s not scrambled eggs but it’ll do you good for now.”
Nodding her acquiescence, she dutifully ate the whole bar greedily and drank from the canteen.
Soon they were on their way after a quick call to Tony. The group was assembled again and she was beginning to feel as though she knew all of Vinny’s friends.
Lily and BJ gave them the coordinates for a small country store off the beaten path, mostly serving the farming community in the area.
The pace was slightly slower this morning and she found that she was better able to keep up. The sleep and power bar definitely helped. Hiking in the daylight was easier for her to see not only where she was stepping, but gave her the opportunity to look around as well.
“The woods are kind of pretty, aren’t they?” she said.
He glanced over his shoulder, glad for the smile on her face. “Yeah, I guess they are.”
“You guess? Vinny, it’s beautiful out here. Like a fairy forest,” she exclaimed, looking at the thick copse of trees around, ferns and moss on the forest floor.
Chuckling out loud, Vinny thought, Out here, running for her life and she sees beauty. His eyes, used to scanning for Intel and danger, actually began to look around. She was right. The sunlight filtered down through the thick foliage and now that they could see where they were going, the ground was covered in lush green. Once again, he reached back and gave her hand a squeeze as he handed her the canteen.
Walking for about another hour through the woods, they came to a small river. Vinny assessed the shallowest place for them to cross and hoisted his backpack high on his back. “Follow right behind me and stay close, okay?” he ordered.
Vinny: Alvarez Security Series Page 9
