by Dianna Love
“You may be getting in over your head on this one, bud,” Ben warned.
“It is what it is.”
“Oh, man, this does not sound good, but you aren’t listening so I’ll shut up now. Drop off everything you’ve got. I’ll run it through as soon as I get back to the lab, but I’m telling you I won’t sugarcoat it.”
“Thanks, Ben.”
“And another thing. If the people who tagged her come after her, you damn well better call me, hotshot. You’re not bullet proof. I’ll have your back.”
Zane wouldn’t even answer that. No way would he bring Ben anywhere near this. “Give my love to Kerry.”
Zane thumbed the button to end the call, but heard Ben mutter something profane that questioned the position of Zane’s head relative to his ass.
Two more turns until he reached his apartment.
Streetlights flickered on along the highway in the dusty, early-evening glow as the sun was swallowed by the western tree line. Three hours had passed since Angel had vanished.
Sick disappointment settled in his chest.
She hadn’t been at the airport or the boat. He couldn’t think of anywhere else she might go.
With Ben and his wife in the delivery room, Zane wouldn’t get a rundown on the fingerprints for at least another day or two.
By the time he found out who she was it could very well be a moot point.
Angel would be long gone, maybe permanently.
His stomach churned at the idea that someone was trying to kill her. He forced his thoughts away from the idea that they might succeed.
She’d been a frustrating puzzle from the minute he’d met her – a multi-layered, three-dimensional puzzle with dangerous, razor-sharp pieces missing.
Where had she been kept against her will, and why?
All he knew was she had the talent of an elite athlete and had lost a scholarship for some unknown reason. Everything came back to that one word – unknown.
He wanted to shake some sense into her, make her understand how much she needed his help. The thugs he’d met in Jacksonville had been dressed in two-thousand-dollar tailored suits.
Against an organized and financially robust lethal group, how did she expect to protect herself, much less him, too?
He couldn’t recall when a woman had put him first in her life. Certainly not Sylvia, the dazzling jewel he’d fallen for in Texas. She’d been anything but what she’d presented. Truly a woman who planned for her future by covering all bases, Sylvia had still been engaged while dating him.
Just when Sylvia had convinced Zane she loved him, he’d discovered she had a clueless fiancé who couldn’t wait to marry the lying bitch.
Good thing Ben had still lived in Houston then. Observing Sylvia with objective eyes had given Ben cause to run a very revealing background check.
All Sylvia’d really sought was the material wealth Zane’s family name and eventual inheritance would offer. Basically a businesswoman, Sylvia had been shopping her engagement deal to see if she could improve the return on her investment. Since then, Zane had given few women more than casual interest. Others had proved to be just as materialistically driven.
Except for Angel.
For someone who desperately needed assistance just to stay alive, she’d refused his every offer until she’d been forced to take his help.
Trusting few people in his life, he understood Angel’s reluctance to share her private problems, but she wouldn’t survive on her own for long. Not without a lot of luck and a chunk of money. Neither of which appeared readily available to her. What would it take to convince her she could depend on him?
He might never find out.
She was gone, maybe forever. Out of sight, out of mind?
Whoever came up with that saying had never met Angel. Auburn hair and mile-long legs remained emblazoned as a header to all his thoughts.
As he made the last corner into his apartment complex, images of Angel clicked past his mind’s eye in slow motion. Wide-eyed and terrified in his airplane, then sleeping curled up on his patio.
Dancing her fingers through the wind as she’d ridden beside him in the truck. Shampooed and showered, draped in a single towel next to his laundry. Zane smiled, remembering the look on her face when he’d found her.
Then there was the one vision he’d never forget – her half-covered in his shirt and sleeping in his bed.
Her hazel eyes flashed with fire when he annoyed her, but they were pure whiskey – warm and intoxicating – when he kissed her.
He shook his head at his wandering thoughts. What was he going to do? He couldn’t keep walking this damned fence between right and wrong. Indecision was ripping his insides apart.
Go back to the basics. Stick with what you know.
Ben was right. If Zane did corral Angel again, he should turn her over to the authorities. They had more time to deal with an uncooperative female in trouble.
Right?
He parked the truck and sat there, watching the halogen parking lot lamps begin to brighten.
Who was he kidding? He snorted at his lack of honesty.
Even if he didn’t have concerns over their ability to shield her, would he really hand her over to a bunch of strangers? No way. If he found her, he knew what he’d do – drag her into his arms and kiss her senseless. There’d never been a woman he’d been driven to have in the way he desired Angel.
Correction. If he got her in his hands again, he’d do a hell of a lot more than kiss her.
Chapter 26
CK needed to do some housecleaning. And he would when this job was finished. Joe was one of his best men, but one more mistake and he’d be demoted.
Demotion in CK’s world was permanent, all the way down to the bottom of a lake.
“I don’t have wings,” Joe complained, his exasperation coming through. “Not much we can do when she takes off on foot through six lanes of traffic. Besides, we had company.”
“Who?” Had Mason gotten nervous and hired a backup group? He’d called CK twice in the past twenty-four hours. Mason was high-maintenance but not usually a nuisance, which meant someone had his nuts clamped in a vise.
Who? Now that would be valuable information.
Joe said, “Don’t know, but I think that’s why she ran. Some guy jumped out of a dark blue Yukon not far behind her and the pilot in a turn lane. When the girl took off like a bat outta hell, the guy from the Yukon jumped back in the passenger side and the truck turned at the light. They were too far away to nail a tag number.”
Joe had just added another demerit point to his next evaluation. CK couldn’t believe this bitch was outmaneuvering some of his best men.
“Cover all the bases and don’t lose the pilot. She thinks she’s safe with him. She’ll go back to him at some point.”
“How long we going to do this? Be easier to grab her.”
Joe echoed CK’s thoughts. “My orders are to pick her up only when she’s alone and without drawing any attention. If those orders change, you’ll know.”
CK ended the call and set the phone on the desk in his hotel room. This didn’t fit Mason’s MO. What was stopping Mason from turning CK loose to grab the girl, and disappear anybody else who got in the way?
Mason wanted the girl in hand no later than Saturday and CK wasn’t leaving without getting his bounty. That meant, as far as CK was concerned, that deadline would override the “don’t draw attention” orders if his men couldn’t corner Angel before tomorrow morning.
And if that happened, Mason would just have to live with the consequences.
Chapter 27
Zane parked the truck then trudged to his apartment, hating the emptiness that awaited him inside. He unlocked the door. When the alarm system failed to sound its warning beep, he tensed.
He’d set his alarm when he left.
Reaching down into his boot to retrieve his Keltec, Zane eased the door ajar. Through the dark shadows cast across the room he could just make out a
figure in the low light filtering into his living room from the kitchen.
His throat closed.
Angel. He couldn’t believe she was there.
She stood with her back to him, but he’d seen her tense when he’d opened the door.
He stepped inside, closed the door, and dropped the gun back into his boot. He moved gradually into the room, afraid she’d vanish. His lungs struggled to draw air.
She was really here.
How? The how didn’t matter so much right now as his relief that threatened to take the starch out of his knees.
An arm’s length away, he stopped. She knew he was here, but hadn’t moved to acknowledge him. Scattered thoughts raced across his mind, but only one broke through to the surface.
She’d come back to him.
He swallowed and whispered, “Angel?”
A soft glow from the under-counter lights in the kitchen barely reached this room. With her back to it, her face was hidden in shadows until she lifted her head. The sight of the pain in her eyes broke his heart.
He opened his arms and she came into them. Zane wrapped her in a close embrace, so very glad to feel her warm body next to his.
“I thought you were gone,” he said, his voice raw with emotion. “Forever.”
She shook her head against his chest. Tears dampened his shirt.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded against his chest, hugging him around the waist.
“How’d you get in?”
“Trish came by. Saw me on the patio and thought I’d gotten locked out.”
He stroked up and down her back, his fingers massaging along her spine. His chin rested against her silky hair. A lump of gratitude formed in his throat. She was alive.
Angel tilted her head back. Sad eyes beseeched him through wet lashes. “I had to get them away from you.”
Her fervent declaration shook him. She didn’t need to protect him. It was the other way around.
He breathed out a deep sigh and leaned his forehead against hers, pleading in a whisper, “Honey, I wish you’d trust me enough to tell me what’s going on.”
She pushed her hands up his chest then clasped each side of his face, stroking lightly until two fingers rested on his lips.
He kissed the soft pads.
“I told you, you’re the one person I do trust, but I’m not taking you down with me if my situation goes bad. If that happens, you need to be able to distance yourself from me.”
There was one problem with that advice.
He couldn’t distance himself because he couldn’t let her go. With or without her help, he’d get to the bottom of this and find a way to stop whoever was after her.
Her sheer breath flowed against his neck. She trailed her fingers across his face and neck, tormenting him with the wispy touch. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come back here, but I had nowhere else to go.”
“I’m glad you came back. You can always come to me.”
“My being here puts you at risk. I never meant to cause you trouble. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
He hugged her close. From what was she trying to protect him? “Who’s the guy that’s after you?” he urged.
She shook her head “no” against him.
He’d have laughed at her favorite word if he weren’t so damned worried. “I can’t keep guessing. Help me out here,” Zane said. “He’s not your boyfriend or husband, is he?”
“No,” she said, barely above a whisper.
“Then you either did something to make him angry as hell or you have something he wants,” Zane said.
“Yes.”
“Which is it?”
“Both.”
What did she have? Zane had the compass, but that couldn’t be it. Could it?
“If you give it back, will he leave you alone?” Zane asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t belong to him,” she explained.
Zane drew his head back. She was killing him. None of this made sense.
All his questions fled when she blinked up at him through wet lashes.
Nothing mattered at that moment. Not her past, not his future, nothing but the luxury of her in his arms.
Zane lowered his lips, gently raking across hers. He kissed her cheek, her nose, her eyes, tasting the salty tears.
He moved his lips along her chin up to the crest of her ear and buried his face in her hair, inhaling the wonderful fresh smell. She’d showered again. Between that sweet scent and her wearing nothing but his T-shirt, relief gave way to a want so deep and hungry his hand shook when he stroked his hand along the smooth contour of her back.
Caution sirens screamed in his head.
Her scent overrode them.
Her fingers twined around the back of his neck, drawing herself up against him. His lips swept softly over her warm mouth when he wanted to do so much more.
She surged up, returning his kiss with an intensity that rocked him.
He clenched a fistful of her T-shirt. Her mouth urged him to take what she offered. He scooped her bottom and lifted her against him.
Her legs wrapped around his waist then she rubbed up and down against his arousal, sending what blood was left in his body surging into his groin.
Holy mother of...
He held her with one arm and used his other hand to reach up under her T-shirt to cup her breast. The minute his finger brushed over her nipple, she surged against him again.
One more time like that and they’d end up on the floor.
He turned and lowered her to his sofa then hovered above her on his knees. Now he could touch all of her. Pushing her shirt up, he stared at her plump breasts rising and falling with labored breaths. His gaze raked down across all that smooth skin blanketing her abdomen to a thatch of dark auburn hair.
When he lifted his gaze back to her face, eyes hot with passion stared up at him until she looked away, embarrassed. “I’m skinny.”
“No, baby, you’re magnificent.” Then he lowered his mouth to her breast, bent on proving just how perfect she was. He licked her nipples and she squeezed her legs against him. Then he suckled one breast while teasing the other one with his finger.
She clenched harder against him. “I want...”
He lifted his head then gently tortured both nipples with his thumbs. “This?”
She made a sound that was half cry and half yes.
Not enough. He wanted more. He released one breast, sliding his fingertips lightly over her skin, watching her tremble. When his fingers tangled in the curls between her legs, she started panting. “Please don’t...”
He stilled his hand. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t ... stop.”
Damned glad to hear they both had the same idea. He caressed the soft folds that were already damp and pressed a finger inside her.
She cried out, shaking, so close ... but not quite.
He bent down and nibbled on her breast, lightly scraping his teeth over the turgid tip. At the same moment, he pulled his finger out of her and drew a wet stroke to the spot that sent her arching. He’d only flicked back and forth twice over the sensitive nub and she tensed. He quickened his pace and she shrieked while he held her there until she collapsed.
Nothing could be more beautiful than watching that.
He kissed her, sending his tongue in to enjoy the sweet taste that could only be Angel. Her arms had fallen limp, but she lifted her hands again, holding his head to her.
A chirping noise broke through his fervor.
What the hell was that?
She tugged on his hair when he tore his mouth away. He moved his lips along her shoulders. She stretched against him, a sated feline leaning in to be stroked.
The chirping grew more constant.
Damn. What was that?
Ah, hell, his damned cell phone was ringing. He pictured it sailing across the room and slamming against the wall.
With each
loud chirp of the phone, consciousness hammered his aroused senses back to reality. Angel said Trish had been by today. His sister and her friend Heidi had the number for emergencies.
High Vision’s dispatch could be calling.
Just once, Zane wished he was undisciplined enough to ignore his responsibilities.
Every nerve in his body stood on end. He was so hard the zipper outline had to be embossed on his erection.
Resigned to his fate, Zane pulled his hand from Angel’s breast. He stroked her shoulder and kissed her face. God, he didn’t want to take his hands off of her.
“Honey, I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Sorry they weren’t in his bed, sorry his life was not his own, sorry some jerk had invented cell phones.
Angel lifted her head. She stared at him as though he’d said there were elephants coming at them. Her swollen lips begged to be kissed.
If their lips touched again, he wasn’t sure he could back away.
Quiet reigned for several seconds once the phone ceased, but then the irritating sound resumed.
“Damn.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ve got to take this call.” He eased out of her arms, off the couch and stood, pulling the phone from his hip.
“Zane,” he snapped, anger, frustration and self-disgust wrapped around the short salutation.
“This is Heidi. I’m sorry to bug you, but you said to call if Trish ever needed you.” As his sister’s best friend from Houston, Heidi had decided to stay in Ft. Lauderdale after one visit. She was the closest Trish had ever come to having a sister. Her concern for Trish rivaled Zane’s, the reason she was the only person besides his sister who had his cell number.
“What’s wrong? Where is she?” Several possible situations crossed Zane’s mind, all of which soured his stomach.
“She’s okay,” Heidi said. “But she’s at the Pink Baby and some guy is giving her a hard time. I dropped her at the shop earlier and was supposed to meet her there, but when I went home to let Dazzle out in the yard my car died. I can’t get it started. I know you don’t want her walking to a bus at night.”
Zane growled under his breath.
“She heard from one of the other girls this guy’s into weird stuff. I think he scares her. Trish didn’t want to bother you, so I told her I’d get a ride and come get her, but you’re only fifteen minutes away. I’m close to an hour once I get the car going.”
