"Fuck," one of the guys said. "The fucking tire is flat."
Aiden eyed the car and waited for him to notice that the front tire was flat too. But he didn't say anything. Good.
"I told you, Dan, these roads are too rough," the other responded.
His answer was met with a withering look. "Tires don't go flat like that because of a rock or two."
"Well, actually—" Aiden said, but was silenced when they both scowled at him. He shrugged.
"Get in the house," Dan said, waving the gun in Aiden's direction. "Not you, Steve. You start changing the tire. I'll be out to help in a minute." As they walked to the cabin, Dan muttered to himself. "Fucking Steve. He'll mess that up too. Drop the damn car on his head or something."
He didn't sound too upset at the idea of Steve dying. Still, the more Aiden saw these two in action, the less he thought they'd kill them. They didn't seem like they could stomach shooting them. Particularly Dan, who was currently the biggest threat. He hoped his instincts were right. Because the other alternative was that Dan was taking them inside to shoot them and leave them to die.
Dan got Aiden to enter the house first. Every muscle in Aiden's body was tight, ready to act again if he saw the opportunity. But the brute had the muzzle of the gun against Kayla's head again. His gaze scanned the empty room, landing lightly on Aiden's tools before darting over to the bedroom.
"Get in there," the goon said, nodding toward the bedroom. Once there, he nodded again, pointing with his chin. "Get in the corner."
Aiden complied.
Then Dan edged toward the window with its newly installed security bars. The guy never turned his back to Aiden nor did he drop the angle of his gun. Damn it. The bastard kept his weapon on Kayla's temple as he reached over with his other hand and rattled the bars. They were secure, like they were supposed to be. Then the guy shoved her forward.
"Get me the key to these," he said. He waved the muzzle toward the hook beside the window where Aiden had put the key. "Give it to me. Nice and slow."
"It's okay, Kayla," Aiden said. If they were being locked in, that meant they'd stay alive a little longer. "Do as he says."
Kayla fumbled to get the key off the hook, and her hands trembled as she pushed the key into the guy's waiting palm. He grinned.
"Good," he said. "Now stay put."
As if to make his point, he pushed Kayla toward Aiden. She fell forward, landing hard on her knees. Aiden rushed toward her as Dan exited the room. The door in this room had been installed incorrectly, which wasn't too surprising. A lot of these cabins were pieced together over time. But the door on this room had been fitted so that it swung toward the living room, not the bedroom. Aiden wasn't surprised to hear the telltale noise of something being pushed in front of the door. If he had to guess, he'd say it was the big oak bookcase that had been too awkward to move out of the living room. He'd been working around that thing for weeks.
"Why are you here?"
Kayla grabbed his shoulders as soon as he helped her to her feet. She shook him, but he just grinned. She was alive. And now that she didn't have a gun to her head, he couldn't hide his relief.
"Rescuing you?"
A halfhearted smile fluttered over her face. Then her gaze darted over the room. "We're locked in, aren't we?"
"It's okay. I'm going to get us out of here." But first he needed to feel her again. He pulled her into a tight embrace. He winced at the stab in his side, but she felt so good in his arms that he didn't care how much he hurt. But she didn't stay. After a fleeting hug, she was pacing the room. She tried the door, but it didn't budge.
"As soon as Dan leaves, we'll put some more weight against that," she said. "Maybe we can knock the bookcase over."
Good. She wasn't panicking. Then he heard a sound that could only be his tools being dumped on the floor. He shook his head. What was that guy doing? Another shuffle, followed by the familiar whine of his drill. What the—?
Kayla looked at Aiden. Her beautiful blue irises were surrounded by white. "He's trapping us in here."
Shit. If he was screwing the door shut, that meant he wasn't planning on coming back for them. Aiden pulled out his knife. It was time for Plan B, such as it was.
"What are you doing?" Kayla shook her head. "You can't cut through the wall; it is part of the old log cabin. As in big, thick chunks of trees… it'll take forever to whittle through… Oh, wait…There was a…" She yanked the dresser away from the wall and revealed a square that had been sealed over with wood. "I don't know what it was but we could break out there, right?"
Okay. Maybe he'd been premature about being thankful she wasn't panicking. Her words were coming out faster and faster. Aiden eyed the square. It was small. Too small for an adult to fit through. He shook his head. "I'll get you out, but not through that."
"It's too small, isn't it? Like the spaces in the bars." She looked up. "Maybe through the ceiling? No… that's all sealed over…" She paused in the midst of her discussion with herself and took a deep breath. She gasped and turned to him. "Smoke… I can smell smoke…"
Sharp panic made her words almost unintelligible.
"Oh my God… we're going to die in here, aren't we? This place is so old it'll go up in an instant."
She yanked on the security bars. Aiden set his knife aside and captured her in his arms before she hurt herself. She was trembling when he pulled her hands from the bars. When she turned her worried eyes to him, he locked his gaze with hers. With steady hands, he touched her cheeks, cradling her face.
"We're going to get out of this," he said. "Okay?"
Her breathing was coming on short pants.
"Take a deep breath, beautiful," he said calmly.
She jerked her head up and down in a sharp nod.
"I have a plan, but I need you to trust me."
She swallowed. Her gaze darted to the window.
"The bars are to keep people out, not in," he said slowly and clearly. "We're going to remove the hinges."
She let out a shaky breath. Relief and hope flickered over her face.
"But I need you to stay calm."
In the short length of their conversation, the air in the room had grown laced with smoke. They didn't have time to have her spiral deeper into fear. They needed to focus to get out of here before the fire and smoke overwhelmed them. Sure, help was on its way, but they wouldn't be expecting a fire. It'd be another ten minutes or so before the firetrucks showed up… and by then it would be too late.
She motioned him frantically toward the window. "Don't stop because of me."
He dropped a quick kiss on her forehead, then turned back to his task.
"Put something at the bottom of the door to help keep the smoke out," he said. It wouldn't help for long, but hopefully it would give him enough time to loosen the screws. He picked up his knife again and tackled the top screw. The blade on his Swiss Army knife wasn't an ideal replacement for a Phillips head screwdriver, but it was all he had.
After Kayla had returned from shoving a quilt against the gap under the door, she started pulling boxes from under the bed. Was she thinking that they needed to save what they could from this room? Because that wasn't happening. They were getting the hell out of here with whatever clothing they had on their backs. Nothing more. He wasn't going back and forth with shit someone had shoved under a bed at their vacation property.
"Aha!" Her exclamation did draw his attention. She was standing over what must have been her dad's legendary red fishing box, holding a thin blade in her unsteady hand. The man had become something of a fishing marvel at Sanctuary, and he'd always attributed it to the hoard of hooks and gear in his tackle box.
Aiden shifted so she could reach the bottom hinge while he continued to concentrate on the top one. The crackle of the fire was a lot louder than he felt comfortable with. They needed to get out of here. The air grew heavy, laden with the reek of the burning cabin. His eyes were watering when Kayla coughed violently beside him.
; "Cover your face," he said as he jerked his shirt up over his nose and mouth. He wasn't sure if that would protect them from the smoke, but it couldn't hurt.
After what seemed like an eternity, Aiden's hinge came free. He jerked the bars, but they didn't move enough for them to get out. Of course not. The freaking screws were three inches long. He bent to help Kayla with the screws on the bottom one. When the last one popped free, the security bars slumped. The only thing holding it in place was the lock on the far side. Kayla shouted in happiness as he pushed the bars out of the way. They hung lopsided and skewed on the window, but there was room to escape now.
"Turn away," Kayla said.
She broke the glass with the corner of her dad's metal tackle box. Then she used the box to enlarge the opening so that they could climb through it.
"They're here," someone shouted from outside.
Then Drew came running toward them.
"Come on, jump out," he said, extending his arms to Kayla.
As soon as Aiden threw a blanket from the bed over the jagged edge on the windowsill, Kayla didn't waste any time. She climbed out and dropped into his brother's arms. Aiden was right behind her. Pain stabbed through his side as he dropped to the ground.
As soon as he was steady, Kayla rushed into his arms. Aiden gathered her close and they collapsed to the ground. She was shaking. Hell, he probably was too. They wheezed and gasped for fresh air.
"We made it," she said. Then another cough struck her.
"I couldn't let anything happen to you," he said as he squeezed her tighter.
She looked up at him then with teary eyes. Her declaration from that morning rang through his head. She loved him. But now that the threat was gone, would she still feel the same way? Had it been a reaction to feeling like she was in danger?
Everything was okay now. They were safe. Except…
"There were two of them—" he said to Drew.
Drew patted him on the back. "It's okay. They got them."
"They?" But his question was answered when a couple of police officers ran around the side of the burning cabin toward them.
Kayla pulled back. Her fingers bit into his shoulders and then she started shaking him again. "I was so scared when I saw you attack that guy… I could have killed you."
He drew her into his embrace again and pressed his face to her hair. "He was hurting you."
"Don't do it again." The soft tone of her words took some of the gusto out of her command.
"What happened here?" one of the officers asked.
After they'd finished giving their statements and getting checked out by the paramedics who eventually arrived, reality washed over Aiden again. They'd stopped the people who were threatening her, but now there was nothing to keep her in Sanctuary…
Chapter 13
One week later
Kayla walked out of the towering Calgary Courts Centre on wobbly legs. She grabbed the cold metal railing at the steps to steady herself. It was over... at least her role was. The final deliberations were expected to wrap up by the weekend, but her part was done. All the tightly coiled anxiety she'd been enduring for the last two years was snapping free. It could be mere minutes… maybe seconds… before her whole body deteriorated into a convulsive shudder.
But it didn't matter now.
She had kept it together through all the questions and cross-examinations. Her voice had only cracked once and her hand hadn't shaken too badly when she had placed it on the bible.
And that was all because of Aiden.
He had come. She almost hadn't believed it when she'd looked at the throng of people in the audience to see him sitting there in a red plaid shirt amid the press, the poor dead woman's family and Ed's few supporters. In that instant, her nerves calmed from a deafening roar to a dull buzzing.
She hadn't seen him since they'd escaped the cabin. She'd been whisked back to Calgary to meet with more lawyers and investigators. The few calls she and Aiden had shared had been brief and awkward. There was so much she wanted to say to him and having that conversation over the phone wasn't the right way to do it.
Her gaze danced over the crowded downtown street as a biting wind whipped over her. She couldn't see his familiar salt-and-pepper head among the group of people hustling along the sidewalk, huddling in their jackets to block the frigid gusts. Where was he? He wouldn't leave without talking to her, would he?
Her chest tightened as she scanned the crowd again.
Then she looked behind her. And there he was. Watching her. He was leaning against the wall beside the brass doors that had been salvaged from the old provincial court building. The doors reminded her that whatever happened next between them, their history would always be with them… like those polished brass doors tucked under the sign to the new courthouse. His thumb was looped in his jeans pocket and he made no effort to pursue her. He simply waited, locking gazes with her. She rushed forward and threw her arms around him. His strong embrace closed around her and a feeling of being home washed over her.
"I can't believe you came," she said.
"I know you didn't want me to, but I couldn't let you go through that alone."
"Thank you." She looked up at him. "I didn't know how much I needed you there until I saw you."
The corner of his mouth lifted in a soft smile. He brushed his cold finger along her cheek. Her pulse raced at the hot look in his eyes.
"I've missed you," he whispered.
"Let's get out of here," she said.
His eyes narrowed for a moment, as if he'd been expecting her to say something different, but she didn't want to have this conversation here. She didn't want this memory set at the courthouse.
God, let what happens next be a good memory…
She slipped her hand in his, like she had when they'd strolled through the narrow streets of Sanctuary Lake. She guided him toward Stephen Avenue. They walked wordlessly along the pedestrian street with its glittering holiday decorations sparkling overhead. He didn't resist, but the silence between them couldn't be classified as comfortable either.
The closer they got to her hotel, the faster all the thoughts she hadn't been able to share with him whirled through her head. When they entered the lobby with its modern, warm décor, a new anxiety was crushing Kayla. She swallowed and looked at him for the first time since pulling him away from the courthouse.
"I have a room upstairs where we can talk privately, or we can grab a drink in the lounge if you prefer." She forced a smile. "I guess I should have asked that first, hey?"
He squeezed her hand gently and his gaze softened when it caught on hers. "You didn't tell me you were staying in a hotel."
"I didn't want to go back to my condo…" She shivered and glanced away. "Remember how I told you they'd hit my house with pig's blood? Yeah, well, it's frozen to the front of my house. I don't think I'll be able to clean it until spring."
His quiet curse jerked her gaze back to him. His mouth was compressed in a sharp line and his nostrils were flared. "That bastard—"
She put her fingers over his lips to stop his angry words. The heat from his breath curled over her hand, sending a delicious tingling sensation dancing over her. "Let's not talk about any of that, okay?"
After his head moved up and down slightly, she removed her hand.
"Let's go upstairs," he said gruffly. His eyes had darkened after she'd touched his mouth.
She nodded and guided him to the elevators. Again, silence wrapped over them. When they arrived at her room, sexual anticipation was warring with the need to talk to him… to tell him all the things she'd been thinking about… all the things in her heart.
As soon as the door closed on a soft click, Aiden pulled her into his arms. He swung her around so her back was pressed against the door. Then his mouth claimed hers.
As their lips danced, he fumbled to remove their jackets and outer layers of her clothes until a small mound of clothing lay at their feet. When his hands, still cool from their walk outside
, slipped under her shirt, she gasped. Then she pushed her fingers into his hair and held his mouth against hers. She never wanted to let go of him again. He caressed her until she moaned.
"I know I said it already," he murmured against her kiss, "but I missed you."
Then he pressed light kisses over her cheeks as he followed the waist of her dress pants to the button at the front. He tugged it free. She clung to his shoulders as his cold fingers slipped under her panties to sink into her heat. He groaned as his touch slid against her, discovering that she was wet for him. It'd only been a week since she'd been in his arms, but every moment they'd been apart had been torture. She didn't know how she'd left him time and again through the many years they'd known one another.
But she knew she couldn't keep doing it.
"I need you. Now," she said as she gripped his neck and guided his mouth back to hers.
She wasn't sure her words were coherent, but he seemed to understand. He tugged away the remaining pieces of her clothing with fresh urgency. Then he freed himself from his jeans. In a flurry of efficient actions, he rolled a condom over his erection. When he tugged her leg over his hip and the hard length of his cock nudged her sex, he ended the kiss on a hiss of pleasure. He locked gazes with her.
"I wanted to take this slow… but I can't." He shook his head as his words whispered hotly across her skin. "Not this time."
"Neither can I."
She tilted her hips toward him until the tip of his cock slipped into her. He inhaled sharply. Then he grabbed her ass and lifted her. When he pushed into her, a groan rumbled through him, giving voice to the intense, primal desire that enveloped them. Ripples of silky heat cascaded through her as he pulled back only to rock into her again, deeper.
With each driving thrust, pleasure spiraled through her. Building. Soaring. Until everything else faded and all that existed was this moment with this man. Aiden. Her one. Her only. Her release came hard and fast. As soon as her body tightened around him, Aiden stiffened in her arms and he followed her into white hot erotic bliss.
Hot Silver Nights: Silver Fox Romance Collection Page 68
