by Terry Towers
Her eyes narrowed at him and he could see the little wheels in her head turning, deciding if it was in her best interests or not to go along with him. He waited, breath held, hoping she'd at least have it in her heart to give him a break on this.
A wide, friendly smile lit up her features and she shrugged. "Of course. No scene, no problems, just shopping. I promise." She held out her pinkie finger to him. "I pinkie swear."
Lincoln's brow furrowed and he eyed her suspiciously. Oh, she had got to be kidding me! What are we, five year old girls? He seriously doubted she was offering up a truce. A trick more than likely, but with a sigh he nodded. "Fine."
She wiggled her pinkie finger at him and gave him a look that asked what the hell he was waiting for. Reluctantly, and feeling like an idiot, he hooked his pinky finger with hers. "Yeah, whatever."
"So, since we're friends now-"
"We're hardly friends," he was quick to correct her.
She rolled her eyes. "So what's your name?"
He scowled at her, but conceded. "It's Lincoln. Lincoln Kyle.”
Chapter 2
Angelique grinned to herself as she watched Lincoln go from annoyed to downright angry, the longer it took for her to pick out some clothing. In truth, she couldn't have cared less what she wore; she just took a small bit of satisfaction in making his life as miserable as possible.
"Okay, that's it. I'm done waiting. What size are you?" Not waiting for a reply Lincoln grabbed an assortment of jeans, skirts and tops from the racks and dropped them down on the counter in front of the stunned teenaged female cashier. "Ring them up."
The cashier glanced over at Angelique who gave her a friendly smile and rolled her eyes at Lincoln as if to say, yeah, I don't know what his problem is either.
Once the cashier finished ringing up the pile of clothing Lincoln grabbed a tank top, a pair of blue jeans and a grey leather jacket and thrust them at her. "Go change."
"The dressing room is back there, Miss," the teenaged cashier offered, motioning to the set of doors at the back of the store.
"Thanks." Angelique made her way to the dressing room, while scanning the store for some sort of exit. Her eyes spotted the back exit, but just as she noticed it she heard him coming up behind her.
"Don't even think about running," Lincoln growled from behind her. The warmth from his breath sent a shiver through her and she was surprised to find herself aroused by his closeness.
She glanced over her shoulder and locked gazes with him. "Now why would I do a thing like that?"
"Same reason you hid in a damned dumpster. Now hurry up I want to get on the road." He placed a hand at the small of her back and pushed her forward at a slightly quicker pace.
Opening the door to the dressing room stall she turned to close and lock it when he pushed her further into the stall and locked himself in it with her. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Lincoln huffed and raised a brow at her, "You honestly think I'm letting you out of my sight, even for a moment?"
She dropped the clothing onto a black plastic chair at the back of the stall and spread her hands out to the sides, "Where do you expect me to go?"
Smirking at her, he shrugged. "Nowhere, because I'm not going to give you an opportunity."
"I think what you're doing is illegal."
"Well, by all means sue me." He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and glared down at her.
Angelique growled to herself as she examined the dressing room stall. The stall was abnormally large for such a small boutique, so she was able to place a few feet between them as she eyed him. She was tempted to protest further, but the memory of his erection when he was arresting her popped into her mind.
"Alright. Have it your way." She captured his gaze, and took a step towards him until there was less than a foot between them. She popped the first button loose, and then the second.
He shifted uncomfortably, as his eyes left hers to gaze down at her breasts which were being slowly revealed, button by button. Once the fourth button was undone, she ran her finger along her collarbone and down the valley between her breasts.
Lincoln gulped and shifted once more. She didn't have to look down at his groin to know his cock was rapidly gaining altitude. "Do you go to strip clubs, Lincoln?"
"Huh?" He shook his head and cleared his throat, attempting to clear his mind of the sight of her generous breasts, constrained in a black lace bra. He quickly turned his back to her and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "That's none of your business."
Angelique grinned as she removed her shirt and tossed it to the floor. She kicked off her running shoes and slid her pants off, tossing them in a pile with her shirt. "Oh, come on, Lincoln, surely you enjoy a good strip tease now and again."
She sauntered up to him, pressed herself up against his back and ran a finger up his jean-clad outer thigh. "I considered a number of times to take up stripping as a way to pay my college tuition."
She heard a low growl coming from him, but he refused to answer her. Her smile widened. She was getting to him. Truth be known, she had no idea what she'd do with him if she was able to break through his gentlemanly demeanour. However, she was already confident in her assessment that he had too much self-restraint to fall for her little seduction act, which made it all the more fun for her. The more uncomfortable she could make him until they got to Denver, the better in her book.
"So, do you want me to strip off my bra and panties too, or just the shirt and pants?" She was already reaching for the tank top he'd given her and started tugging it over her head, already knowing the answer.
Again, he refused to answer, but she could see the tension in his stance. She chewed at her bottom lip, considering whether or not she should press him further, as she pulled the tank top down. Deciding against it, she quickly pulled on the jeans he'd picked out for her and was impressed at how well they fit considering he didn't know what size she wore.
"You can turn around now. You've lost the opportunity of seeing me naked," she teased slipping her feet back into her sneakers.
Slowly he turned, and let out a loud sigh. As he turned she couldn't stop her eyes from dropping to his groin and, as suspected, his fully hard thick dick pressed against the restrictive denim. She closed the distance between them and held her wrists out to him, giving him a wink. "Wanna cuff me back up now, or should we leave that for later?" Her eyes dipped to the bulge at the front of his pants. "Big boy."
****
"Is this really necessary?" Angelique asked as Lincoln looped one cuff around the handle connected to the dash of the passenger's side of the car and then slipped it securely around her free wrist tethering her securely to the dashboard.
"Yes, it is." With her secure in the passenger seat, Angelique glared at Lincoln as he walked around the front of the car and slipped into the driver's seat. He had the seatbelt secure around her, which was fine, but there was a fair distance between the dash and the seat so she was suspended with no back support, the belt and the cuffs both pulling her in opposite directions.
"How do you expect me to spend hours like this?"
Lincoln shrugged and slipped the key into the ignition. "Don't know, don't care."
"You know you're a jerk."
A grin touched his lips as the car roared to life and he pulled out onto the street, leaving the coffee shop parking lot and heading for the highway. "I've been called worse."
They drove in silence for close to two hours, listening to a rock and roll station. Angelique wasn't much of a fan of rock, she was an R&B type of girl, but he wasn't too concerned about her preference in music and made that perfectly clear. Finally, she couldn't handle the silence or the rock music a moment longer.
"Thanks for the clothes. I appreciate you not making me wear my uniform. I hate that thing."
"Didn't do it for you. You smelt like garbage, there was no way in hell I was letting you in my car without changing."
Angelique scowled at him and mouthed Ass
hole. "Well, thanks anyhow. I like the jacket." She looked down at the grey leather jacket he'd chosen. It fit perfectly and complimented her eyes nicely.
"Uh-huh."
"And the clothes fit well. How did you know what size to get? Girlfriend my size? Wife?" She looked over at his left hand ring finger, and noticed there was no trace of a ring. She wasn't sure why she was happy to see that, but she was. Despite her taunting him earlier, it wasn't as though anything could happen between them, even if she wanted it to. Which she didn't.
He groaned and then looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. "If I tell you then will you stop with the chitchat and just let me enjoy the music?"
She shrugged. "Sure." Pfft, yeah, right.
"Well, I have four sisters and I was the only son. So growing up in a house full of women you get pretty good at figuring out stuff like sizes. Hell, I can even tell you what make-up techniques and colours go with what skin tones and face shapes."
Angelique's mouth fell open and she watched him for a moment. The man sitting in the driver's seat beside her hardly seemed like the kind of guy that would know anything about make-up, or bone structure. Suddenly she was hit by a bout of laughter.
"What? It's true."
She laughed harder.
Lincoln frowned. "No, you don't understand. It was a damned nightmare. Except for the sleepovers." A smile tugged at the corners of his lips and his eyes took on a far away look.
Angelique snorted and rolled her eyes.
"What?" he frowned and glanced quickly over at her. "Can't a guy relish the memories of the one good thing that came from having four sisters?"
"They were teenagers!"
"I was a teenager! And let me tell you, at fifteen, having your sister's seventeen year old friends running around the house, their breasts-"
"Alright! I've heard enough.'
"So, we done talking now?" He asked glancing over at her, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah."
He chuckled and turned up the radio, savouring the feeling of his small win.
****
Chicopee, Massachusetts
"I have to pee."
Lincoln sighed, glanced over at Angelique and frowned. For the past two hours, ever since he'd had the conversation with her about his sister's friends and she'd determined that he was a sexist pig, they'd driven in silence. Just the way he liked it. "We're still an hour from where I want us to be tonight, can you hold it?"
"No."
"Well, you're going to have to."
"We've been driving for over four hours. I haven't peed for close to six... So no, I can't hold it. Just so you know, I will make a puddle on your seat," she threatened.
Glancing over at her, and seeing the anguished look on her face, he decided she wasn't lying. Damn. Looking back onto the highway he noticed a sign for an exit which had lodgings, so he turned off. He supposed cutting the first leg of the trip short by an hour wasn't all that bad; they could make up the time by leaving earlier the next morning if necessary.
Besides, his stomach had started grumbling close to an hour ago. And he had to admit, she did look pretty uncomfortable, slumped over in her seat, chained to the dashboard. He imagined that she'd be pretty cramped when she got out of the car and a hint of remorse crept into the back of his mind.
Hmmm, at least if she's cramped up it'll make it harder for her to make a run for it.
Coming up to the first motel he saw, he pulled in and parked the car outside the office door. "Don't move. I'll be right back."
She shot him a dirty look, which caused a chuckle to rise up within him. "Well, look who's a comedian now."
"At your service." Giving her a wink, he slid from the car and headed for the front door to reception. As he walked away he was certain he'd heard her call him an asshole, and supposed that was a well-deserved insult. The night clerk - who happened to be a lanky teenage boy - looked up from some graphic magazine he was browsing through as Lincoln approached.
It took close to five minutes, but once the registration was complete he was informed that the only room they had remaining was a single, with a double bed. Lincoln let out a loud puff of air and looked out into the car. He supposed he could sleep on the floor. Hell, if she pissed him off enough before they went to sleep, he'd banish her to the floor.
"Yeah, I'll take it."
A few minutes later he was carrying his extra-large duffle bag in one hand and the several bags of clothing he'd bought at the thrift shop for her in the other as they walked up to the room marked twenty-eight.
An older couple, Lincoln would have guessed to be in their late fifties, came towards them. The wife's eyes immediately focused on the handcuffs securing Angelique's wrists and she took in a startled breath.
"Oh," Angelique waved the cuffs at the woman, "yeah, don't mind these." She jerked her head in Lincoln's direction and then gave the woman a wink. "He likes to role play. Big, bad bounty hunter and the innocent prisoner at his mercy."
Lincoln groaned, rolling his eyes but said nothing.
Don't let her bait you, Lincoln. Don't let her.
The woman huffed and her husband gave Angelique a lingering look, which made Lincoln think that the husband would be more than happy to play that little game if his wife wasn't so rigid. They hurried past Lincoln and Angelique, the wife pulling her husband along by the arm.
"Was that really necessary?"
Angelique looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "Oh yeah. Get used to it."
"Keep it up and I'll be gagging you as well as cuffing."
She didn't reply, but simply laughed as they stopped in front of the room door.
"Wanna unlocked the door?" Lincoln attempted to pass the key to her, but she refused to take it, not even attempting to lift her cuffed hands, choosing to stand glaring at him instead. "For the love of God, just open the door."
She cocked her head at him and smirked. "Say please."
"What?"
"A few manners never hurt anyone you know."
"For fuck sakes!" Dropping her bags to the ground he proceeded to open the door himself and waved her in. The woman is getting damned close to sleeping on the floor. "Then maybe you could try being reasonable," he growled after her as she slipped past him and into the room, flipping on the light by the door as she entered.
"There's only one bed." Angelique walked over to the bed, glanced back at him and then to the bed.
"You don't say." Taking the keys to her cuffs from his jacket pocket he walked over to her, "You going to be good if I uncuff you?"
Her eyes darted over to the door and then back to him. Stuffing the key back into his front jean pocket he shrugged off his jacket and turned to hang it up on the coat rack by the door. "Good enough then, keep 'em on. Have fun taking that pee you so desperately need with your hands bound in front of you."
He made it two steps before he felt her hands on his arm. "I will. I promise."
Pausing, Lincoln sighed and dug his hand back into his pocket to pull the key back out. As he turned he caught her eye. "I'm trusting you." He waved the key under her nose. "If you try to run, I will catch you, and I'll be angrier than you want to ever see me. We clear?"
She nibbled at her bottom lip, causing his eyes to drop to her mouth and the insane urge to kiss her took hold of him. Quickly pulling his mind from the sudden crazy thought, he roughly grabbed the chain of the cuffs and pulled her hands up, unlocking both wrists.
"Thanks." she brushed past him, her breast grazing his bicep and headed for the bathroom, rubbing her sore wrists as she walked.
Not wanting to, but not being able to resist himself his eyes dropped to her ass, her firm round ass in the tight denim that swayed enticingly as she walked away from him. He pulled his eyes from her departing bottom when his dick began to stir in his pants.
Damn it, he sighed, walking over to the coat rack and hanging up his leather jacket. When he'd begun watching her at the coffee shop she'd been sweet and mellow, but no
w she'd turned into a royal pain in his ass and to his dismay his dick as well. Of all the bounties in all the United States, why in the hell did I have to take on Angelique Donovan?
Chapter 3
After drying her hands on a white hand towel Angelique hung it back up on the rack beside the sink and then leaned over it to examine herself in the small medicine cabinet mirror. She had dark circles under her eyes and her dark brown locks that were normally satiny smooth were a mess. Worse yet, she didn't even have a brush to comb out the tangles.
Tears began to well up in her eyes and threatened to escape. Sniffing she grabbed a few tissues and dabbed at her eyes. For what seemed like the millionth time since she’d been arrested for Nathan's murder, she wondered how her life had gone so wrong. Why had she been framed? Why her of all people? For that matter why murder Nathan at all? Nathan had been in advertising, in a lower level position within the company and didn't have an enemy that she was aware of; everyone liked him. It made no sense.
And she'd gotten nowhere in her search for answers in an attempt to clear her name. Now she was being carted back to Denver where she'd be convicted and sent to prison, possibly for the remainder of her life.
"You alright?"
Angelique jumped at the sound of Lincoln knocking at the bathroom door. She sighed, but didn't answer.
"If you don't answer I'm coming in." His voice was stern, and she knew it wasn't an idle threat.
"Yeah." She sniffed, took a deep breath in and exhaled. Dabbing her eyes once more she nodded at her reflection. She looked as good as she was going to under the circumstances. Not that it mattered anyhow. Who did she have to impress with her looks? Lincoln? She huffed at the thought. Sure, he was attractive enough, with his large, muscular build and those piercing grey eyes. Hell, he even had a touch of a sense of humour. She sensed he was actually a pretty nice guy and in a different situation she could have seen herself falling hard for him. In a different situation. But she was a bail jumper and it was his job to turn her in - end of story.
