Danger Zone

by Dee J. Adams

  “I love you,” he rasped.

  Boom. Total meltdown. Every molecule erupted inside her core and sent pounding waves over and back again. Quinn thrust deeply one last time, baring his teeth, clenching his jaw and digging his head into the pillow as his climax hit him just as hard.

  After every last spasm had wrung her out, Ellie collapsed on top of him. Quinn’s words echoed in her ears. She was strangely calm when she should’ve been panicking. Maybe he thought he loved her. Or loved the woman he thought she was. The fact remained that he didn’t really know her.

  Another fact loomed large. She loved him too. She couldn’t run from it, though God knew she’d tried. Love was the emotion she’d seen in his eyes. The same thing he’d no doubt seen in hers. His heart thundered as she lay on his chest, as they both fought for breath and let the moment sink in.

  She didn’t have too many options. Any way she looked at it, she lost. She had to pretend. She was great at pretending. For their little time remaining, she could be everything he wanted and once he left, he wouldn’t know the difference. Actually, if she looked at this the right way, it was perfect. He was leaving and he never had to know the truth about her. The problems only started if he stayed and that wasn’t going to happen.

  Didn’t that just break her heart?

  Quinn couldn’t believe his ears. I love you? Had he really said it out loud? In the middle of sex? That might have been the girliest thing he’d ever done in his life. “I tried not to say anything,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, I really tried.” Holding Ellie tight, he felt her tense. “It was in my brain and I couldn’t keep it in.”

  She lifted her head and looked down at him, her hair a blond curtain around them, her green eyes soft, but intent. “Did you mean it?”

  “Fuck yeah, I meant it. What kind of question is that?” Jesus, had he blown this? He’d never told anyone he loved them. No one. What if she didn’t—

  “Don’t get your attitude all up,” she said, a smile creeping across her face. She stroked his cheek and his stubble rasped against her thumb. “I love you too.”

  Every thought stopped. Had he heard her right? “You do?”

  She brushed her lips over his. “To quote a phrase. ‘Fuck yeah,’” she whispered. Pulling away, she scolded him with dark eyes. “And tell me you didn’t just apologize for saying you love me.”

  “No, I didn’t.” She loved him! Goddamn, what a feeling! He ran his hands up her arms and down her smooth back. He loved having her on top of him, having her at his fingertips. “I apologized for not keeping quiet. But knowing that those little words set you off, I see very good things in your future.” He saw even better things in their future.

  She laughed and the sound wrapped around him, warmed him with a sense of peace. In that moment, he realized it was peace that had been missing from his life, and Ellie had given him that with her attitude and her smile.

  “So, I was thinking,” he said, “Once I convince Mac to sell the company, I’ll go back to London, get rid of it and come back to you.”

  Her eyes opened wider. “I thought no one could pay you to live in Los Angeles?”

  “I thought you were getting out of the business. I thought you were going to the Midwest to get closer to race-car central.”

  She shook her head and moved off him. “I can’t,” she said, avoiding his gaze. Someone may as well have thrown a bucket of ice on her. “That was just a stupid fantasy. I’m not going anywhere.” After fluffing the pillow, she leaned back, but she still wouldn’t look at him.

  “Why are you giving up on yourself when you won’t give up on me? I heard the excitement in your voice when you talked about being behind the wheel. Hell, I could see it on your face and I wasn’t even in the car with you. You were meant for it. Just like Trace.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she finally faced him. “You’re telling me you won’t freak out every time I’m behind the wheel of a car?” She turned and leaned on an elbow. “What’s the difference between stunt work and race-car driving?”

  “Stunt work involves a whole lot of shit I know nothing about. At least, I know about race cars. I know how they’re built and I know driver’s safety.” Oddly, she still seemed unconvinced as she leaned back on the pillow. Why? Quinn got up and tossed the condom in the trash. Of course, she did have one big reason that would change her mind.

  “You’re worried about Ashley, aren’t you?” he asked.

  She nodded, her gaze meeting his. “I can’t just leave her. I don’t know how long she’ll be in a coma and she’ll need me when she comes out of it.”

  Quinn admired her unfailing loyalty. He climbed on the bed and kissed her softly. “What if she…” No, he couldn’t say, never comes out of it. “You can’t stay with her for…” Forever. But he couldn’t say that either. The look in Ellie’s eyes stopped him. She refused to consider the possibility. “She’s lucky to have you for a friend,” he said instead.

  “I’ve always been lucky to have her,” Ellie whispered. She rolled away and headed to the bathroom. Her somber attitude struck a foreign chord.

  He was definitely missing something. Ellie had to know she couldn’t live her life based on Ashley’s coma.

  His cell phone rang and he checked the number. Mac. Great, just what he needed. “What?” he snapped.

  “Don’t be a little shit, Quinn. If anyone is entitled to a bad attitude it’s me because I’m the one with the bruise on my face.”

  Quinn flexed his sore fist. He should’ve felt guilty for popping his brother, but Mac had asked for it. “Sure hope you didn’t call for sympathy,” he said.

  “Hardly. Meet me in the trailer tomorrow afternoon at one and we’ll discuss the details of selling FRD.”

  Quinn sat up, but kept his voice neutral. He didn’t want to give anything away or say something that might change Mac’s mind. “Fine.”

  “Fine.” Mac hung up, leaving Quinn to stare at the phone.

  Hell, he should’ve hit his brother months ago.

  Tuesday morning, Ellie had to be on set at 7:00 a.m., so Quinn went along for the ride. He wanted as much time with her as possible before leaving town. They hadn’t talked yet about how they were going to make their relationship work. Quinn didn’t know how long he’d have to remain in London after the company changed hands. It all depended on the terms of the deal. All of those things started with what he and Mac decided today.

  Driving into the studio, Ellie had been suspiciously quiet. She may have been thinking about Ashley or the fact that he was leaving town in thirty-six hours. Neither of those things fostered happy thoughts.

  “How about a nice romantic dinner tonight? Just the two of us. Maybe some candlelight. Soft music.”

  Her lips curved into a smile, but she didn’t take her eyes off the road. “Trying to go out with a bang, huh?”

  “We’ll do that after dinner.”

  She laughed and the sound had Quinn’s chest feeling heavy. He didn’t want to leave her. Not for a second. Without even trying, she’d caught him in a trap; one he didn’t want out of. Her smile faded and the same serious expression clouded her features.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.

  She exhaled long and slow. “We said some serious stuff to each other last night, but I don’t expect…I’m not expecting you to…” She shook her head. “I know once you go back to London, you’ll have a ton of work to do. I don’t want you to worry about me, that’s all.”

  “You mean because of your job, or Ashley or because there’s some nutcase trying to hurt you? I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

  She’d told him she no longer thought about being a target, but she worried that he was the one in danger. “No, I mean…I don’t expect because we said…certain things to each other…it’s going to change either one of us from living our lives.”

  Huh? “You want to try that again? In English.”

  She inhaled sharply and set both hands on the wheel, her grip tense. “
I’m sure that for a while, we’ll keep in touch, and that’s great, but I don’t expect you to try and make some long distance relationship work.”

  Quinn couldn’t believe it. Not after everything they’d been through together…from the day they thought Ashley had died to the incident with the car to all the amazing sex they’d shared. “Why?”

  Ellie looked as miserable as he felt. “We don’t know how long it will be and I don’t expect you to…”

  “You’ve said the word ‘expect’ about a dozen times in the last minute without saying what you don’t expect.” Whatever she had on her mind, she couldn’t spit it out, which gave him a good idea. “You don’t expect me to stay celibate? Or faithful? Is that the word you’re looking for? You don’t expect me to be faithful? What the hell brought this on?” He was more than a little hurt. Maybe she loved him, but she sure as hell didn’t trust him.

  “Look, I know our time together was kind of a turning point for you since your accident and I’m okay with that,” she told him. “It was the same for me because of Ashley. I just don’t want you to think that I’ll fall apart if you want to go back to your life.”

  Meaning the life he had before his accident. The lonely life where no woman cared about anything except how much money he spent on her, or how often they slept together.

  “The life I want is the one I’ll be leaving when I get on that plane tomorrow, Elle.” They got to the studio gates and Ellie flashed her badge for the guard. Quinn sat quietly, seething. She didn’t trust him. Or maybe she just didn’t trust what they’d found with each other. He wasn’t sure which it was.

  She pulled into the structure, found a parking spot on the fourth level and cut the engine.

  The tense silence had grown unbearable.

  Quinn snatched the keys out of her hand. “I’m calling. I’m emailing. I’m doing whatever it takes to stay in your life until I can be back. Is that clear enough to understand?”

  Defiance burned in her eyes as she looked at him. “I don’t have a computer,” she said quietly.

  That about knocked him off his ass. Only then did he realize that he hadn’t seen a computer in her apartment. He’d never met anyone who didn’t own a computer. “So we’ll buy you one.”

  Her chin trembled and she shook her head. “I don’t want one,” she said. “I’m seriously computer-challenged. I don’t understand them and they dislike me in return. It’s a mutual hate society.”

  “They’re easy. I’ll teach you. We can go out tonight and pick one up. I’ll set it up for you if you—”

  “No, Quinn. You aren’t listening to me. No.”

  “Is it a money thing, because I’ll buy it? It’s not a big de—”

  “No. N. O.” She opened her door and slammed it shut. Then she retrieved her pack from the backseat.

  She was twenty-eight years old and didn’t have, or know how to work, a computer. It was almost inconceivable. Quinn hopped out of the car and caught up with her. She didn’t say anything as she stalked toward the stage.

  Was she upset because he was leaving? He took her arm and stopped her. “Hey, it’s not a problem, okay? No computer. I get it. So we’ll rack up a phone bill. I can do that.”

  She nodded, but didn’t meet his gaze. Swiping at her eyes, she started walking again. “Fine. That’s fine,” she said. Her voice cracked on the words.

  Quinn followed her to her trailer, still baffled by her mood. After dropping her bags, Ellie headed toward makeup. Quinn tagged along when someone called her name. They both turned. The detectives, Patrick and O’Kelly, who’d been assigned the case, met them in between trailers.

  Detective Patrick showed them a picture of a man who had been working on the movie as an extra. He’d been found dead over the weekend from blunt force trauma to the head. Ellie recognized him from Friday and verified that he could have heard their conversation. The detectives split up to talk to crew members and gather more information.

  Ellie looked at Quinn, the worry clear in her eyes. “I don’t believe this. This is like some kind of bad movie script.”

  Quinn hugged her tight and closed his eyes. Maybe he should call the office and tell them to reschedule his meetings next week. Maybe staying with Ellie was the right thing to do. On the other hand, if he didn’t get a handle on the production line and costs, he might very well lose the opportunity to sell FRD.

  Sometimes timing sucked.

  His phone rang as she walked to the hair and makeup trailer and Quinn checked the number. His private investigator. Already? It had taken this guy a year to find Trace when Chelsea had hired him, but considering he’d been looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, that wasn’t too bad. Although Quinn had hoped for quicker service, he hadn’t expected this quick. “Reynolds,” he answered.

  “Troy Mills,” the man said. “I’ve got the information you wanted.”

  “You have my complete attention,” Quinn said. “Go.”

  “Hank Gallus and George Brant not only went to Purdue together, but they started a company together. Since Brant funded the deal, he had more shares of the stock.”

  “So suddenly good friends became boss and employee,” Quinn said.

  “On the surface they were partners, but technically you’re right. I checked out the file your assistant sent me. Not sure if you noticed but there’s a three-year gap between the time Gallus left school and when he started with Formula Racing Design.”

  “I didn’t notice it because I never saw it. Hank’s been with the company for as long as I can remember. Keep going, what else?”

  “Brant Racing does very well for itself. For George Brant specifically,” Mills said. “Since Gallus owns fewer shares, his paycheck is good but not as good as his best pal’s. After two years, there’s talk of a new front hood design that boosts the aerodynamics and Brant is on the verge of a huge patent. Cut to Gerhardt Racing beats them to the punch. Brant loses a ton of money. Gerhardt takes the glory. Six months later, Gallus is out of a job and a gag order’s been signed and sealed. Neither party is allowed to mention the facts. End of story.”

  “Fuck,” Quinn seethed. Shades of the rearview mirror design. Had Hank been the mole for Gerhardt? Is that what happened with Brant? “What’s your guess as to what happened?”

  Mills sighed. “This is purely speculation…but because Brant now has full ownership of the company, I’d say that in exchange for keeping his mouth shut about Gallus selling company secrets, Gallus agreed to hand over any shares in the company. But that’s just a hunch. Nothing I can prove. I mean, who’d hire a guy that had a reputation for selling company secrets? Anyone who talked to Brant would find out, so this way everyone’s happy. Brant has his company and Gallus keeps his ‘good’ name.”

  “Thanks, Mills. I appreciate the work. Send me a bill.”

  “I will. I’ll let you know if I find out anything more.”

  “Right. Thanks again.” Quinn ended the call. Son of a fucking bitch. It all made sense. Why Hank didn’t want them to sell to Brant and why he was leaning toward Gerhardt. The fucker was already working for Gerhardt. The question was for how long?

  Where the hell had Hank disappeared to anyway? He hadn’t returned any of Quinn’s calls and hadn’t shown up at the office either. Giselle had said she’d notify him as soon as she’d reached Hank, but that hadn’t happened either.

  Unless Quinn had this wrong and Hank was somehow in trouble too. That might explain his disappearance. Densmore had disappeared just as suddenly. Quinn called back Mills and asked him if he had access to the flight information on Hank’s plane from Los Angeles to London. What if Hank never made it back? Mills said he could get the information and went to work.

  The whole situation was spinning way out of control.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Today. He had to take care of Reynolds today. He’d dumped his other rental and now drove something with just as much power, but not the flash. Dark tinted windows kept his face hidden and the truck
sat on high suspension. He was in a killing machine. Reynolds left tomorrow so this was his last chance to do the deed. No more waiting, no more mistakes or accidents. Today was down and dirty, no-holds-barred, do it until he’s dead. He couldn’t risk killing Reynolds in London so it had to be now.

  He’d done enough research to know how to get on the lot without anyone’s assistance. No one even knew he was here. The first chance he saw Reynolds alone, he was taking him out.

  Anger flared hot in his gut. That it came down to this last day pissed him off to no end. He didn’t like waiting until the last minute. Didn’t like that his time had dwindled to this point.

  He sat in the truck, his breathing harsh as he thought about the pleasure of running Reynolds down in the monster he drove now. He took three calming breaths. It didn’t matter how much time remained. It would only take a couple of minutes to take care of Reynolds. He wasn’t leaving anything to chance this time. He had the wheel in his hand and his plan in place. And if the blonde stuck with Reynolds…then California would have one less bimbo to worry about.

  Ellie sat outside the studio waiting for the first love scene to finish. Along with major stunts, love scenes were also shot early in a movie. Gordon had closed the set, so only essential crew members were actually on stage. All the down time had her thinking. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

  She hadn’t expected Quinn’s reaction earlier. Hadn’t counted on his unfailing loyalty or commitment to their…relationship? How could they have a relationship when he didn’t really know her? But nothing changed the fact that she loved him completely. She loved his smile and his laugh. Loved the way he made her feel special and smart. She’d been a world-class bitch this morning trying to figure out how to handle her problem.

  She’d never dreaded a day more. Because after today, came tomorrow. Tomorrow meant Quinn was leaving. She would be alone for the first time. She’d gone from her parents’ house into an apartment with Ashley and for ten years they’d had a blast. They’d relied on each other for support, friendship and sisterhood. She was twenty-eight years old and had never been alone in the true sense of the word. Even after Ashley’s accident, Quinn had been with her. He’d picked up the pieces when she’d fallen apart and he proved he could handle anything she dished out. She loved them both so much and after tomorrow she wouldn’t have either one.