Safe Before Dawn

by Linda Castillo

  “Nothing about this is even remotely funny.” She’d hoped the words would snap them out of whatever stupor gripped them.

  They didn’t.

  Stepping closer, Chase lifted his other hand, ran his fingertips across her cheek and through her hair. All the while he searched her face with an intensity that held her spellbound. “I’ve missed you,” he said.

  “Don’t.” Her word came out as little more than a puff of breath.

  “Too late.” Tilting his head slightly, he brushed his mouth across hers.

  The initial shock of pleasure curled her toes. Her body tingled with sensations she’d forgotten existed. Lily was no stranger to intimacy. But only in this man’s arms had she ever felt true passion. Not now, was all she could think, but he’d been right. It was too late to stop.…

  Need vibrated through her with such force that her knees went weak. Intellect warred with a sudden, jarring stab of desire that went from her brain to every erogenous zone in her body.

  “Wait,” she whispered.

  Chase didn’t wait. His hand slid from her hair, down her back where he gripped her and pulled her snug against him. His body was like a stone wall against hers, all sinew and muscle and tightly restrained male need. Lily wanted to believe that’s all this was. Lust caused by months of celibacy. The aftereffects of adrenaline and fear. High danger and higher emotion.

  But one look into his eyes and she knew this moment was so much more. And while the little voice of reason screamed for her to stop, her body moved closer. The ridge of his erection nudged her swollen belly and a pang moved through her. Locking his arms around her, he devoured her mouth. A powerful wave of desire swept the length of her when he used his tongue and went deep.

  Lily didn’t think. Her mind couldn’t form so much as a single rational thought. But then it had always been that way between them. Chase induced a desire too powerful to contain. Fool, the little voice accused. But she banished it.

  Vaguely, she was aware of his hands sweeping down her back, brushing the outsides of her breasts. A shiver barreled through her. She didn’t intend to put her arms around him, but the next thing she knew her arms looped around his rock-hard shoulders that trembled with restraint. She kissed him back with equal force, equal passion. Their tongues tangled, breaths mingled. All Lily could think was that she wanted more. If she didn’t get it she would die right here in his arms.

  Slowly, he backed her toward the small table. When the backs of her legs bumped into it, he lifted her and stepped between her knees. Desire like she’d never before known knifed her. She went wet. Forgetting about all the reasons she shouldn’t respond, Lily wrapped her arms around him and kissed him with a desperation she didn’t know existed. She was keenly aware of his arousal against her. His labored breaths in her ear. Her own labored breathing rasping from her throat.

  It was too much. It was too good. Too late. Too damn insane…

  Turning her head, Lily broke the kiss. As if realizing for the first time what he’d done, Chase stepped quickly back. His shocked expression met hers. But within the depths of his topaz eyes, Lily saw all the other emotions he was usually so adept at hiding. She saw affection and shock and the undeniable realization that there was unfinished business between them.

  “I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.

  Unable to hold his gaze, Lily slid off the table. Wrapping her arms around herself, she walked to the other side of the galley and looked out the tiny nautical window. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to feel. The only thing she knew for certain was that as long as she lived, there would be no other man who could ever make her feel the way Chase Vickers did.

  That fact frightened her almost as much as the men with guns.

  * * *

  CHASE COULDN’T BELIEVE he’d kissed her. Couldn’t believe he’d crossed a line he’d sworn he wouldn’t. He chided himself as he stood on deck. Of all the stupid and impulsive things he could have done, getting physically close to Lily was the most self-destructive.

  He’d always prided himself on his ability to keep his emotions and his physical needs in check, especially when it came to his job. But then came Lily Garrett with her sunny smile and kind heart, and his resolve had gone right down the tube. She was his one and only weakness. She was a weakness so powerful it scared the hell out of him. When it came to wanting her, every logical thought, every hope of self-preservation, went by the wayside.

  Even after she’d sent him packing, he had pined for her. It was a pathetic image to say the least. But Chase had ached with missing her, with wanting her back in his life, and not just for a little while. No, Chase Vickers never did anything halfway. He’d spent months in a black hole so deep he thought he’d never find his way out. His job with Eclipse was the only thing that had saved him. Then, of course, he’d taken it to the extreme, taking on every suicidal mission offered.

  Hell of a way to heal a broken heart.

  Broken heart?

  Where did that come from? Chase wanted to deny that Lily had the power to hurt him. No woman did. He’d seen to it. With every relationship, he’d made certain he never crossed that line. Once he realized things were getting too hot to handle, Chase walked away and never let himself look back.

  Lily was different. He hadn’t been able to walk away no matter how hard he’d tried. She’d gotten under his skin, into his head, into his heart. Twenty minutes ago, when he’d taken her into his arms and kissed her until they were both breathless and dizzy and half-insane with wanting more, Chase would have sold his soul to the devil to get her back.

  “It’s only lust, you idiot,” he muttered into the darkness.

  But the words rang false.

  Now Lily was pregnant with his child. He’d brought danger to her life and into the life of their unborn child. It was the one thing she’d always made clear she wanted no part of. She hated his secret work. She hated the danger, the uncertainty, the unpredictability. Early on, he’d laughed at her fears. He’d assured her he was too careful and too damn good at what he did for anything to happen. Not only to him, but anyone he got close to. After all, he took the utmost care to keep his personal life far removed from his professional life.

  Evidently, he hadn’t been careful enough.

  Lily had been right. Her worst fears had become reality. The irony of that burned like a red-hot branding iron.

  Around him, even though it was barely dawn, the waterfront was alive with activity. It seemed as if the city hadn’t slept at all during the long dark hours of the blackout. Chase had to figure out what to do next, how to keep Lily safe. He had to get out of this mess alive and find the person responsible.

  Pulling the cell phone from his belt, he snapped it open. He was in the process of punching in Ty’s number yet again when he glanced down at the display. His heart sank when he found it dark. Just like everything else in this godforsaken city. Not to mention his own mood.

  Angry and frustrated, he headed toward the hatch to search the cabinets for a possible charger. He needed communication. He needed to find out if Ty and Ethan had been ambushed. More than anything, he wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on and track down the son of a bitch responsible.

  He descended into the galley, hoping Lily was asleep. He didn’t want to face those pretty green eyes. Eyes that accused him of everything he’d always denied. More than anything, he didn’t want to face his own shortcomings. The fact that he’d been wrong. His attraction to her. And the terrible mess he’d made of their lives.

  Fate didn’t see fit to grant his wish. He found her sitting at the small galley table, gripping a steaming cup as if it were her last lifeline to the world. She watched him descend the steps with the wariness of a hunted animal, as if he posed as much danger to her as the men hunting them.

  “I thought you’d be sleeping,” he said.

  “I tried.” She shrugged. “Can’t.”

  “Too wound up, probably.” He frowned at the cup she h
eld. “Are you sure you should be drinking coffee?”

  “It’s tea.” She smiled. “I think caffeine is the least of my problems.”

  Pulling a mug from the cabinet, Chase took a moment to gather his thoughts, an impossible task considering how jumbled his emotions were. When he turned to face Lily, she was still watching him. Still wary. So beautiful and fragile, he wanted to reach out and touch her just to make sure she was real.

  “I’m sorry about…earlier,” he said.

  She looked away. “Things are pretty confusing right now.”

  “It’s easy to get caught up in things. In the past.”

  She motioned toward the stove. “Water is still hot if you want some tea.”

  He didn’t, but he poured it anyway so he’d have something to do with his hands. He hated feeling so awkward, hated the way she looked at him as if he were a danger to her. He hated even more the hard reality that he wanted what he could never have.

  “So what do we do now?” she asked.

  When he ran out of things to do at the stove, he carried his cup to the small window and looked out. “I need to recharge this phone.” But the charger he found in the cabinet Lily directed him to didn’t fit. Disgusted, he finally sat at the table across from Lily.

  For a moment, the only sound came from the gentle lap of water against the hull. “How long is this blackout going to last?”

  Chase shook his head. “Ben Parker told me two power plants were taken out.”

  “My God. Sabotage? Why would someone do that?”

  “I think maybe it’s all related. The synchronized ambushes. The kidnapping of the vice president. The blackout.”

  She set down the cup. “Is this about you? About your…work?”

  “I think so.”

  “But how is the vice president involved?”

  He sipped the tea, but he didn’t taste it. Taking a deep breath, he told her more about that mission-gone-bad from over a decade ago, and Liam Shea’s role in it.

  “They’re not going to stop, are they?” she asked.

  “Someone is going to have to stop them.”

  “You?”

  Chase didn’t answer. At the moment, unarmed and left without communication and transportation, he was in no position to stop anyone.

  “We can’t hide out here forever,” she said. “You know sooner or later they’ll find us. Is there some place safe where we can go?”

  “I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with a place.”

  “A safe house?”

  He shook his head. “There’s only one place I can think of, but it’s out of the city. I’m not sure we can get there.”

  “Because of the traffic jams?”

  “The streets and highways are jammed with cars. Tow companies are working, but many of them are inoperable because very few have access to gasoline, thanks to the blackout. I had a hell of a time getting to the Hancock Tower. I imagine all the major highways are jammed. People were panicked, thinking this blackout was some type of terrorist act. Thousands of cars ran out of gas where they sat in traffic. Everything’s blocked.”

  “What place do you have in mind?”

  Ugly thoughts entered his mind, and Chase hesitated. No one knew about his half-brother’s house in New Hampshire. It was a virtual fortress.

  But while his half brother’s compound offered safety for Lily, it was the last place Chase would ever want to go himself. While he and Shane worked well together on their Eclipse missions, it had been years since they’d had a brotherly relationship. Chase resented his half brother. Shane reminded him of a time in his life he’d rather forget. A time when he was ten years old, alone for the first time, and powerless to change any of it. He’d worshipped his older brother. But Shane hadn’t cared. Hadn’t even noticed. And when their mother had died, Shane had gone off to college and Chase had been relegated to foster care where he traveled from family to family until he was eighteen and joined the military.

  Was he willing to set the injuries of his past aside? To keep Lily safe, he was. Chase turned to her. “Shane’s,” he finally replied. “My half brother. He lives in New Hampshire. He’s a security expert. The best, in fact. His house is the only secure place I can think of.”

  “How do you know these gunmen haven’t gone after him, too?”

  “They have. But I can tell you it didn’t happen at his house. If we can get out of town, I can stash you there. Make some calls, try to figure out what the hell is going down.”

  She stared at the cup of tea that had long since gone cold. “This baby means everything to me. I can’t let anything happen to her.”

  “I’m not going to let anyone hurt either of you.”

  She raised her eyes to his. “You can’t guarantee that. No one can.”

  He leaned close. “I said I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I mean that.”

  Her gaze searched his. After a moment, she pursed her lips. “So, do you think we can make it to your brother’s house?”

  “We have to try.” He glanced toward the window. “Sooner or later they’re going to find us. We have no communication, no means of transportation. Limited ammo. Our best bet is to run.”

  Tightening her mouth as if in determination, she nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  “You sure you’re up to it?”

  “I’m not going to sit around and wait for them to ambush us again.” Rising, she crossed to him, her eyes direct and burning bright. “But let me tell you something, Chase. Once we’re safe, I want you to go. I want you out of our lives for good. I can’t let you or your lifestyle place this baby in danger again.”

  Chase thought he’d been prepared; he’d known that when this was over they’d go their separate ways. But hearing the words aloud cut with a brutality he hadn’t expected. The pain that followed sucked his breath right out of his lungs.

  The instant he’d realized she was pregnant, that the baby was his, he’d resolved to provide for them financially. Monthly support. A college fund for the baby. Maybe a house. It was the very least he could do. After all, he’d been paid handsomely for the work he’d done for Eclipse. He lived simply, had few needs. The money he’d socked away would more than take care of the baby. And Lily, if she’d let him.

  He didn’t allow the next thought to materialize. The one where some treacherous little voice told him he wanted more. That he wanted to know his child, to be part of his child’s life. Part of Lily’s life. He wasn’t going to go there. Damn it, he wasn’t.

  Chase shoved the thoughts away, jammed them into the deep dark hole where the rest of his emotions lay stagnant. He didn’t need them. He didn’t need anyone.

  Picking up his cup, he took it to the sink and dumped it forcefully. He could feel Lily’s eyes on his back, but he didn’t turn to face her. He didn’t want her to see the pain and anger he knew were in his eyes.

  He was about to escape above deck when movement from outside the tiny nautical window caught his attention.

  “What is it?” Lily whispered.

  “They found us,” Chase said, and slid the revolver from his waistband.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Footsteps from above deck made the hairs on Lily’s neck prickle. Someone was on board the boat. At least two of them; she could hear them talking in low voices.

  She swallowed a gasp when the doorknob to the cabin rattled.

  “Damn thing’s locked,” said a male voice with a strong Bostonian accent.

  “Kick it in like you did the other one,” said another voice. “Boss told us to find them, so we gotta search all the boats, not just the easy ones.”

  “You sure this is the boat?”

  “How do I know? Kick the damn thing in.”

  The next thing Lily knew she was being pulled backward by Chase’s strong hands. A crash sounded in the general vicinity of the door. Then she was in the fore sleeping quarters. Next to her, Chase worked frantically to unhinge and open the deck hatch, his eyes never leaving t
he thin door he’d latched behind them.

  The hatch sprang open. Chase looked at her. “I’m going through, then I’ll pull you through. Once we’re on deck, I want you to run. Don’t wait for me. Don’t look back. You got that?”

  She looked at the small hatch, her stomach plummeting. “I can’t fit through there.”

  He looked at the hatch, looked at her bulging abdomen. His mouth opened, but for a moment nothing came out. “Okay. Plan B.” He looked around wildly. “Hide. In a cabinet. Under a blanket. Whatever. I’m going to go up, circle around and ambush them.”

  Unable to speak over the rapid-fire beat of her heart, Lily nodded her head.

  Chase looked as if he wanted to say more, but another crash sounded from the cabin. The boat rocked slightly, and Lily knew the men were coming down the stairs and into the galley to search for them. If the men opened the door, they would find them both.

  Giving her a final look, Chase heaved himself through the hatch. Panicked, she looked around for a place to hide. Several compartments lined the walls, but none of them were large enough for her to get inside. Realizing she had no alternative but to get under the blanket and pray it bought her a few precious seconds, she lay down and pulled it over her head.

  The knob to the sleeping quarters rattled. “It’s locked, too,” said the man with the Boston accent.

  “Kick it down. I’m going to the next boat.”

  The door burst open. She heard heavy breathing, the rustle of clothing, a whispered curse. Minutes stretched like hours as he began checking compartments. In the next instant, the blanket that covered her was jerked roughly away. Gasping, Lily sat up and found herself facing a dark-haired man with large features and the deadly blue steel of a pistol.

  “I’ll be damned,” he said. “Must be my lucky day.”

  Lily caught a glimpse of a dark blur coming at her from behind the man. An instant later the man grunted and pitched violently forward. In the light slanting through the port window, she recognized Chase as the attacker. Relief mingled with shock at the sight of him in action. His lips were peeled back in a snarl, his eyes as dark as night.