She fought a sob. “What if he gets you?” Her words tumbled over his thoughts.
“He won’t. We’re going to be fine.” He said it for Blair, to reassure her, but he wasn’t so sure. James had set him up perfectly. Drew couldn’t know that James had tried to kill Blair. No matter what else Drew might be, he wouldn’t hurt his sister. This wasn’t the time to worry about Drew or the whole damn mess. The most important thing was to get Blair out of the way, get her to safety.
He crouched in front of her, pulling her up, holding her in an awkward embrace, her knees against his chest, rubbing up and down her back. Her trembling stopped and Michael felt her muscles relax. “Let’s go, querida.”
Her knees shook when she finally stood, but she straightened her back and got out of the truck. Michael, tense and alert for danger, got her into the rental and drove out of the lot. No one followed. As they left the airport, Michael saw three cruisers, lights and sirens going, headed for the terminal.
“Buckle up,” he told Blair, looking across the seat. She’d been terrified, but she’d shown more courage than anyone he’d ever met.
She fumbled with the seat belt. “Where are we going?”
“Someplace safe.”
***
There could be no safe place, Blair thought. Michael hadn’t seen that man’s face. Smiling. Cold. Heartless. He’d not reacted to the screaming mothers, the sobbing children. His hard gray eyes had found her and, unflinching, he’d shot. She’d never know how or why she’d moved. But she had.
Now, at least, Michael knew who to look for. Who to hide from.
With conscious effort, she unclenched her fists. She ached all over.
Michael reassured her by his mere presence. They were on the Venetian Causeway, crossing Biscayne Bay, the sun hot behind them. Thunderclouds, huge and dark, loomed across the bright blue sky. The air conditioner blew its refrigerated air at her, cooling her sweat- soaked clothes, chilling her.
Once on Miami Beach, they turned north, the huge beach hotels towering to the right. The asphalt shimmered with heat waves. Blair wished she were outside, soaking in the warmth. She aimed the air conditioning vents away from herself. Michael turned down the blower.
When Blair realized where Michael was going, she hugged herself and bit back the shivers. “The Fontainebleau?”
“Hide in plain sight.”
“We look like we’ve been running from murderers.” For some reason her words struck her as funny. She giggled.
Michael pulled into the check-in lane, unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned toward her. With one strong hand, he cupped her cheek. “It’s okay. We’re safe.”
“As safe as you were hiding when Nell blew in?” An uncontrolled shudder shook her.
“I’m Miguel, the soccer player.”
“I don’t make a good bimbo,” she said between clenched teeth.
Michael smiled and his hand slipped to the back of her neck. “No, you don’t. You’re smart and brave.”
She tried to smile, but her face felt frozen.
“We don’t have luggage because it didn’t arrive on our flight from Buenos Aires and we’re a mess because we had a flat on the way in. They’ll understand.” His voice, as well as his hands, soothed her shattered thinking.
“I don’t know if I can walk into the lobby right now.” She hated admitting such a weakness, but better to admit it now than to fall on her face once inside.
Michael’s eyes softened. His hand on her neck gentled even more. He undid her seatbelt and pulled her closer, fitting her to him, adjusting their bodies so her head rested in the crook of his neck. He was sticky, sweaty. He’d been as scared as she. The knowledge made her pull back slightly. “I was so glad to see you.”
“I know, querida, I know. I was glad to see you, too.” His face descended to hers and he brushed a gentle kiss on her lips.
He felt so alive, so good, so very real. Blair was so thankful he hadn’t been killed. That she hadn’t been killed. She grasped his shirtfront and pulled him closer, her mouth seeking his for a deeper kiss. Michael obliged. He consumed her with passion, until she felt warm again.
Too quickly, he pulled away. His lips, so beautiful, tempted her to touch. Against her fingers, he spoke. “We need to go inside.”
"Can we afford this?"
"Your practical streak," he smiled, nodding. "Yes, but we can’t stay long. What cash I have is nearly gone."
"I have my credit—"
He shook his head. "We can’t afford to be traced."
"Oh." Of course. They’d been using cash all along.
With a quick, hard kiss, he pulled her out of the car, and, arm around her waist, led her into one of the most famous hotels on the beach.
He was good. The clerk practically fell at his feet trying to make up for the lost luggage and flat tire. They had absolutely nothing to carry upstairs, so the bellhop was dismissed, looking disappointed at missing the opportunity to take an international soccer player to his room.
Blair clung to Michael’s hand all the way across the impressive lobby with its bowtie marble floor. They’d nearly reached the bank of elevators, when Blair felt her knees go rubbery. Michael quickly put his arm around her waist again.
“The elevator at the airport. I was so stupid, I took it. He could have been there. I didn’t think—”
“It’s okay,” he soothed.
The bell chimed and one elevator opened, the passengers, all dressed in shorts, stepped out. Blair leaned on Michael, realizing her mistake. She hadn’t thought beyond her need to get away and find Michael. Hadn’t thought at all, really, until this moment when she realized just how vulnerable she had been. How vulnerable that made him. If she had died, Michael would never have known who had put him through the hell of the past weeks, who was trying to kill him.
Once inside the elevator, Michael pulled her into his arms. The solid beat of his heart made her burrow closer.
She wrapped her arms around him, loving his strength. She might never have seen him again. Stretching a little on shaky legs, she tasted the skin of his throat, where his pulse beat so strongly. She could hear his breathing, a little fast, over the muffled blipping sound of the rising elevator.
“God, Blair,” Michael said against her hair, pinning her to him.
She searched for his mouth, fear and relief mingling in a need so strong she couldn’t tell if she still shook from reaction or from want.
Michael accepted her desperation. Holding the back of her head with one hand, her hip with the other, he devoured her mouth. Eyes closed, Blair felt the consuming hunger of his kiss, the roughness of his unshaven chin.
The elevator chimed and they jumped apart in time to see the elevator door swing open on their floor. The hall was empty. Michael’s hot, dark eyes bored into hers. With a small sound of relief, she once again stepped into his arms.
Michael bent and kissed her again, his mouth open and hungry against her own. He crushed her to himself. “You’re like a drug. I can’t get enough.”
She laughed, a jerky, jittery laugh, and kissed the spot where his neck met his shoulder.
They pulled apart, walking down the empty hallway, each step bringing them closer to privacy. With one hard, biting kiss, he stopped her as he fumbled the key card.
Once inside, the door shut firmly against the world, Michael pushed her against the wall as she tugged at his shirt, desperate to pull it off and feel the heat of his skin. When he raised his arms to rid himself of the offending garment, she ran her hands through the crisp hair of his chest. Looking up into his eyes, she saw him watching her, his face stark with need.
Blair grabbed at his shoulders, her mouth seeking and finding his. She felt his hands on her arms as he kissed her.
He released her, pulling her away from the wall, running his hands down to her hips, pulling her against him. The hunger of his mouth was matched by the thrust of his hips against her. He adjusted their bodies, rubbing the hardness of his arousal against the juncture at her t
highs. Breaking the kiss, he pulled her T-shirt off and buried his face in her neck.
The room spun as he walked her backwards to the bed. His mouth sought and found her nipples through the cotton lace of her bra. The frenzied pull of his lips, the unrelenting hunger of his body, combined to make her sob with need and frustration.
Then she was falling, Michael atop her, as they tumbled to the bed. Blair opened her eyes to find him pulling down the bra to release her breasts. With fingers amazingly gentle for all the desperation of his movements so far, he caressed her, then bent and took a nipple into his mouth. Suckling, he undid the single button of her shorts and pulled down the zipper. Kneeling over her, his powerful body radiating heat, he pulled down the shorts and her panties, and pushed her knees up.
A wildness in his eyes made Blair choke back a cry. This was Michael uncontrolled. Waves of male intensity rolled off him as he jerked at his jeans. Desperate to help, Blair fought him for the zipper, her fingers feeling the hard outline of his erection.
They both sighed on ragged breaths when he took her, thrusting hard and deep.
Supporting himself above her with flexed arms, he stared down. “Blair,” he said in a hoarse and desperate voice.
He withdrew, his eyes never leaving hers, then pushed back into her. Blair had never felt anything so potent. Her body open and wanting, welcomed his invasion; her heart, open to him, reveled in the reassurance of life.
With a rumble from deep in his chest, Michael blanketed her body, his thrusts attuned to a powerful rhythm that had Blair tilting her hips to keep him with her.
Emotions and sensations spiraled out of control. Michael increased the tempo of his thrusts until Blair felt only the hardness of his body so intimately joined with hers. The bubble of heat that rolled through her wrung gasps of surprise and pleasure from her.
Above her, Michael seemed to lose all finesse, and with one hard, deep thrust, joined her.
***
Michael pulled away from the heat of Blair’s body. They were slick with sweat. He felt like he’d run ten miles. Beneath him, she lay still, her head turned to one side, her eyes closed.
He began remembering. Everything he’d done since he’d slammed the door behind them. He’d been a wild man, never giving her time, never letting her feel, simply taking over.
Fear had propelled him. She could have died. He could have lost her to a man, who for whatever reason, was determined to destroy him. With utmost care, he curved his body around hers, sliding one arm under her neck. She didn’t move.
He’d hurt her once with words. Now his actions had almost gotten her killed.
With one hand, he pushed her hair away from her neck and watched her pulse beating. He loved her beyond reason, beyond good sense.
He had to get her away from him, had to find a way to make her safe.
Her eyes fluttered open and she turned back toward him.
He never expected to see her look at him like this. Never.
Trust, relief, satisfaction, love. All shone from the clear depths of her eyes.
And for that one instant, he felt blessed contentment.
Until responsibility took over.
No one, especially not him, would ever hurt her again. No matter what it took.
Chapter 13
Michael was looking at her with something akin to fierceness. Reaching up, Blair smoothed one dark, arched brow with her fingertips.
“It’s going to be okay, niña.” He took her fingers and kissed them.
In that moment, she clearly saw, for the first time, what it was that made him who he was.
He was a protector. A man who believed in right, in justice, in guarding life. That was why he lived it so fully. It mattered to him. People mattered to him. It was why he’d gone into the Army, why he’d joined the Bureau.
Selfish, she had been so damned selfish. She had wanted him in her fantasy of that house with a picket fence. A place where he could not be what he was born to be.
She felt a tear roll from one eye. Michael caught it, rubbing the drop between finger and thumb.
“I didn’t mean to put you in danger, to hurt you, Blair.”
She swallowed. “You didn’t. That man did.”
“What about when we got here? I wasn’t exactly gentle.”
He looked so contrite, so at odds with the man he’d been only seconds ago, that Blair smiled. “I didn’t break.”
“You wanted comfort, I—”
“You gave me comfort. I wanted you. Not a carefully planned seduction.”
“Can’t accuse me of that.” Light was back in his eyes, but behind the easy words, Blair sensed something else, something he once again wasn’t sharing with her.
She was afraid to ask what it was, afraid she’d lose her resolve not to let anything come between them. Especially as she lay here, so safe, in his arms.
She only had to get through one minute at a time. She could cope, she would move on to practicalities. That had always helped her.
“Why is this James doing this?” Blair couldn’t control the shiver than ran down her body.
Michael pulled her closer, scooting her so she lay on her side facing him, legs tangled with his. With one hand, he rubbed her back gently. “He was trying to set me up. Make it look like I killed you.”
The cold words were so at odds with his touch, that Blair grabbed his hand, pressing it hard against her chest. “But why?”
“The only explanation is that he’s involved in the embezzlement. I helped him out a couple of years ago. He’d made a mistake that nearly ruined a case he was working. He said he owed me, so I asked him to double check a few things. Nothing illegal, just a second look. He’s based in Atlanta but he’s working a case that brings him to Miami pretty often.”
“Why didn’t you call Drew?”
Blair felt Michael’s body tense. “Drew’s been involved from the beginning. He’s coordinating the investigation along with another related one. I wanted someone who hadn’t seen the case as it progressed.”
“So you asked this man for help.” Blair turned that over in her mind. “Could he have sent Eddie and his friend after you?”
“It’s possible. James may have been pulled into the investigation officially at some point. I wouldn’t have known that, not after I was shot and in the hospital. Like Drew, he knew I had a friend on the island. I’m sure I probably mentioned that I’d gone there a few times. It was a good guess, luck on their part.”
“What about at the motel?”
“My carelessness, or again, a lucky guess on their part, I don’t know.”
Blair thought back. “Who got us the IDs and plane tickets in Tampa?”
“An informer I have there,” Michael said. “Informers are registered, so if Drew or James had any suspicions that I might be there, they would have contacted him.”
“Eddie was the man who claimed to be an FBI agent. But Drew was at the airport today, with James and other agents.”
Michael pulled her closer, nuzzling her neck. “I’m sure James told him. Drew knows you helped me. He knows you’re in Miami. If James had killed you, it would have appeared that I had.”
“Drew won’t believe that. I’ll talk to Drew. He’ll understand.”
Michael rolled away from her and stood. Suddenly cold and alone, she said. “Michael?”
Running his hands through his hair, he stood, keeping his back to her. “Let me deal with Drew.”
His words made Blair shiver. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’ll deal with Drew.”
Blair grabbed her T-shirt from the floor, and holding it in front of her, rose. The unyielding strength of Michael’s back confirmed that he was holding back. “I deserve to know what’s going on.”
He bent to retrieve his boxer shorts off the floor. Only after putting them on did he face her.
“Drew’s involved in the embezzlement.”
Blair couldn’t register what he was saying. “What?”
<
br /> “I found evidence that ties Drew to the theft of a lot of money.”
“You can’t believe that. Why would Drew need more money? He has plenty from the estate.”
“Do you believe I stole the money? Do you think I killed Hector Ramos?”
“Of course not!”
“You can’t believe us both, Blair. One of us is a thief and a murderer.”
“Both of you are innocent.”
He shook his head, then pushed his hand through his hair again, “Hell, I don’t know what to believe. But you can’t talk to Drew until I talk to him.”
Incredulous, Blair sat down. “You want to see if he would hurt me.” She tried to take a breath, but felt her throat tighten. “He wouldn’t hurt me any more than you would.”
“Can you honestly say you’ve been safe with me? That I didn’t endanger you? Got a little carried away when we got here?”
“You made love to me with desperation. I wanted that. You didn’t hurt me.”
“No, I almost got you killed.”
“Damn it, Michael! I chose to help you.”
“You should have been home, living your life, staying safe.”
She’d been trying to hide from the fact that she loved him. “I was so scared the whole time. And now you’re telling me that I can’t trust my own brother?”
“Let me handle this my way, okay? Let me talk to him.”
Michael was wrong. He had to be. “But if he won’t listen to you, I’ll talk to him.”
***
Not if he’d hurt you to protect himself, Michael thought. But he agreed in order to placate Blair. He’d know soon enough if Drew could be trusted to protect her.
The hot passion of an hour ago had been replaced by a silent impasse. They showered and dressed in their same sweaty clothes. Room service brought them an early dinner and they left in search of a pay phone in the city.
Michael got Drew on his cell phone immediately. Only a few curt words were necessary to arrange a meeting. Michael asked for two hours, hoping Drew would believe he hadn’t had time to check the beach, thereby giving Michael time to check the construction site he’d chosen for their meeting. He knew that also meant Drew had more time. But they had agreed Drew would come alone. That would be the first true test. If Drew was innocent and had any remaining faith in Michael, he would honor the promise he’d made.
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