She fell asleep before they were even out of town. He stole glances at her as he drove. She was a beautiful woman. He’d noticed that before. But now he knew it on a whole other level. He knew her.
He could still remember the way she tasted when he kissed her, and the sounds she’d made when he pushed inside her.
Damn it to hell! He shook his head, irritated with himself for thinking along those lines.
The problem was, it wasn’t just the sex that attracted him to her. Not by a long shot. For starters, the way she’d adapted to her new future made him proud. And the way she handled a gun was sexy as hell.
When he stopped for a quick dinner, he shook her awake, causing a disgruntled mumble. He smiled. Yeah, he was even intrigued by her snarly hair and grumpiness.
Something was shifting between them. In the beginning he had been protecting her. Now they were clearly in this together. A team, as she’d said.
“We’ll stay at another motel tonight, and get to our next place the night after,” he said as they went through the drive-thru. The next place would not be one of his properties. He couldn’t risk it.
“Thank you for helping me, Garrett. I’m sorry I don’t listen better. It’s always been a problem for me. Ever since I was little.”
“I can only imagine.” He chuckled, remembering photos he’d seen in her file of her as a little girl. And later…
“I was listening last night, though,” she said softly. “When you told me you wanted to fuck me in a bed.”
He choked on his soda and nearly wrecked the car.
She laughed and used the pile of napkins to dry off his shirt, despite his attempt to bat her hand away.
“I said that out loud?” He stared straight out the windshield, not daring to look at her.
“Yep.”
“I’m sorry. It was the drugs.”
“Of course.” She let it go. Thankfully.
She fed him french fries while he drove. He kept going until about ten, then got off the highway to find a motel. He couldn’t avoid it any longer.
As he walked into the office, he glanced down at the wedding ring on his finger. It was supposed to convince other people they were a couple. He needed to make sure he wasn’t convinced, as well.
It was going to be one hell of a long night.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sam stayed in the car while Garrett went to get their room. As he walked away, she started feeling nervous. What would she do if he kept walking? What if he didn’t come back, and she never saw him again?
Yes, maybe she was being paranoid for tonight. But at some point, she fully expected him to bail on her. Turn her over to some other marshal to deal with. Or simply hand her a new identity and say, “Have a nice life.”
No job was worth risking his life for hers. She understood that.
After a few minutes, he came back out with a worried look.
“What’s the matter?” she asked immediately.
“Nothing. It’ll be fine.”
He didn’t look fine. Without another word, he got back in the car and parked in front of room 118. It wasn’t far from where they were already parked. The lot was pretty full.
She noticed every detail, now that he’d said things would be fine. His nervousness made her on edge. She gripped her gun tighter and waited for all hell to break loose.
“What is with you? Why are you so tense?” he asked with a frown.
“Because you said it would be fine.”
He blinked. “Does fine mean something different to you than it does to the rest of the world? Fine means good. Everything’s good.” He muttered something to himself she couldn’t hear, then said, “I think you’re starting to crack. Put your gun away. It’s fine.”
She did what he said. Maybe if she followed his simpler instructions, he wouldn’t mind as much when she didn’t cooperate on the bigger issues.
Probably not.
They unloaded the car and she helped hold his stuff as he inserted the key card and opened the door.
He snapped on the television as soon as he had a free hand, like any red-blooded male. He flipped through the channels, landing on CNN. After adjusting the volume, he sat on the small sofa and kicked off his boots.
She noticed he was moving much more easily than the night before. And his color was good. Apparently, she hadn’t done a bad job of fixing him up.
She sat next to him and pulled her legs up under her. It was late, but after sleeping most of the day, she was wide awake.
The news was depressing. All her life, she’d heard that no matter the situation, someone else was worse off. She’d thought she’d cornered the market on worse things, but she was wrong. At least she was only pretending to be dead. She wasn’t actually dead. She was grateful when Garrett changed the channel.
As he continued to scan through the channels nervously. She started freaking out again. What was up with him?
Something was definitely wrong, and he wasn’t telling her.
She didn’t like surprises even when they were good ones. And Garrett’s surprises were never good.
“I’m going to go shower,” she announced, needing to get away.
“You didn’t ask, but I’m planning to sleep on the sofa. They only had this one room left.”
For the first time, her gaze strayed to the king-size bed. She truly hadn’t noticed. After last night with one bed, it seemed normal.
“You won’t fit on the couch,” she said. “But if you’re that worried I’ll try to seduce you, suit yourself.” She rummaged through her bag to find something to sleep in.
“I thought you might be worried about me trying something,” he said.
She genuinely laughed. “No. I know I don’t have to worry about that.”
He was all about the rules. It was obvious she was the weaker link. Even after what he’d said in his drugged state, she knew he wouldn’t give in to temptation.
She showered and put on her yoga pants and T-shirt. That was what she wore to bed normally. She wasn’t trying to start anything. Honest.
He was in bed when she came out of the bathroom. The bed was enormous. She didn’t know what he was so worried about—even if they reached for each other they probably wouldn’t touch. And he definitely wouldn’t be reaching for her.
Mainly because he was already asleep.
She cracked the drapes to let some light in from the parking lot. Four men were standing around a sedan. She watched them for a full ten minutes to make sure they really were just drunk and hanging out.
This was no way to live. Constantly watching. Always on alert. Instinctively planning an escape.
And what if it was all for nothing? What if Howe’s guys stormed their room in an hour while she and Garrett were both asleep?
Sam climbed into bed from the other side, trying not to jiggle it too much as she got situated, and slid closer to Garrett. She wanted to be near him. She couldn’t protect him if he was across the room.
She placed her gun on the nightstand and relaxed.
Or tried to.
In the dark, she stared up at the shadows on the ceiling, trying to make her brain stop. Her mind seemed intent on replaying every event of the last few days. From that kiss on the training mat to ending up here.
She twisted the wedding ring on her finger and glanced over to see the matching one on Garrett’s finger. She knew it was only pretend, but it felt nice.
“Why didn’t you want to go to that party?” he asked.
His voice startled her in the darkness. She’d thought he was asleep.
Her pulse sped. “Huh?”
“You told me the only thing you had to worry about before all of this was getting out of going to some party. Why didn’t you want to go?”
“Oh.” She took a calming breath, and tried to remember all the way back to that other life.
“You don’t like parties?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t mind so much when Lance and I were together. I c
ould go to a party and not care that no one noticed me or hit on me. I could smugly sip my beer because I had a boyfriend and I didn’t need anyone else. Even if he wasn’t at the party with me, I knew I had someone. But after we broke up—”
“You mean after he dumped you. Don’t give him the honor of making it sound like he did any of that properly.”
“Okay. After he dumped me, the idea of going to a party was awful. Nikki would try to hook me up with someone. I was worried I’d be rejected.” She shifted onto her side to face Garrett. “Although, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into a shootout at a party.”
He laughed. “The way your month’s been going?”
“Yeah, right,” she said with a snicker. After a moment, she said, “I get it, you know. Why you have rules about not getting involved with the people you’re protecting. But I’m twenty-six. I know the truth by now.”
“What truth is that?”
She turned and looked back up at the ceiling. “I have a mirror. I know I don’t fill out my jeans and my shirts like the women you probably date.”
He was quiet for so long, she thought maybe he’d fallen asleep again. “You know what I hate most about your ex-boyfriend?” he finally said.
“What?”
“That you don’t think of yourself as beautiful or sexy, which can only mean he never told you. Anyone who could touch you and hold you in his arms, and not tell you how amazing you are, is a fucking moron.”
Garrett turned toward her. She could just make out his expression in the light from the window as she considered his words. Yes, he’d told her she was pretty, but he’d been out of it. It didn’t count.
His brows creased in confusion. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I want you so bad I hate myself, but I’m trying to do the right thing? Don’t you think I’d jump at the chance to be with you again?”
A nice sentiment, but he hadn’t touched her. His perfect lips were saying one thing, but his actions were saying something else entirely.
“I have nothing to offer you, Sam. I can’t make you any promises. When you’re finally safe, I’ll have to go back to my job and you’ll have to start a whole new life. I don’t want to mess that up for you.”
“I understand.”
The room was silent as she thought about what he was saying. That they had no future together.
But the truth was, she might not have a future, at all. Howe’s men could find them tonight and kill her in her sleep.
And she would die wishing she could have been with Garrett just one more time.
She didn’t want that.
She moved toward him until she found him. The bed was so big, it seemed like she was swimming through sheets forever before she touched his warm skin.
She wasted no time. She found his mouth and kissed him.
“Sam—” His breath was sweet and hot across her lips.
“I heard what you said. I promise I don’t expect anything long term. But right now, I don’t know if I’ll even get a chance to start a new life. I want you.” She paused. “Can’t we pretend things are different? Just for tonight?”
He didn’t answer. At least not with words. Instead, he pulled her against him.
And kissed her.
Chapter Forty
Oh, thank God.
Sam moved on top of Garrett, not giving him a chance to change his mind.
She needed his kisses, his touch. All she wanted was to feel like a regular person for just one night. Was that too much to ask?
She pulled off her T-shirt as he ran his fingers down her ribcage.
“Sam,” he whispered as she bent to kiss his chest. “You’re so beautiful.” He pulled her up to his lips again. “And sexy,” he added as his hand worked under the waistband of her yoga pants. He moaned happily.
She touched him back, careful of his injuries, though he didn’t seem to care as he switched their positions so he was on top.
He took his time with her, touching every curve of her skin with his fingertips and lips until she was humming with desire. She moaned impatiently, and a grin played devilishly at the corners of his mouth. He knew exactly what he was doing to her, and he was enjoying it.
“Now you know what these damn yoga pants have been doing to me every time you wear them,” he teased, and nipped her ear.
“We should get rid of them, then.”
He wasted no time sliding them off, and continued his exploratory trail down to the lower part of her body. He trailed kisses on his way, after stopping at her breasts, he moved down farther.
He gripped her thigh, moving it wider so he could continue lower. When he tasted her, she moaned with pleasure. Two fingers slipped inside her, and the sensation made her cry out his name and clench her fingers in his hair.
When she was so desperate with need she was writhing on the bed, he reached for his wallet on the nightstand and took out a condom. She wondered how many he had in there.
At least a dozen, she hoped.
Watching him move above her into position was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. His muscles flexed under his skin as he hovered over her. She wound her legs around him tightly. He moved his hand down between them to match them up at the perfect spot, and thrust into her.
When he was fully seated, he rocked his hips upward, giving her a little bit more of him. She gasped with pleasure.
The countertop sex had been great, but this was even better. She didn’t know it could be like this. It was as if she’d been having sex with training wheels on for all those years with Lance, and now she was recklessly out of control, but also wonderfully free.
She moved in ways she’d never moved. She said things she’d never said before. Garrett had unleashed something in her, and now she felt it growing and burning in every cell of her body until, finally, she exploded in a shower of bliss.
Chapter Forty-One
Garrett fell back on the bed, gasping for air and thanking the person who came up with the idea of selling condoms in gas station restrooms. Being without a condom made him feel as unprepared as being out of ammo. And he knew his self-control was shaky at best. It was only a matter of time before he gave in. When it came to Sam, he couldn’t seem to help himself.
The sex at the cabin had been great. It had been lust and need and attraction. But this was…more.
Much more than he’d ever had with anyone else.
Sex was one thing, but his desire for Sam went far deeper. As she snuggled up against him, he waited for the regret or guilt to sneak in…but they didn’t come.
He didn’t regret a single second of being with her.
He kissed her hair and rubbed his hand down her bare back as he pulled her closer. He felt so comfortable. A smile quirked up when the light through the curtains glinted off his wedding band.
Fake wedding band, he reminded himself.
He knew very well he would regret this decision at some point, because it could only go badly for him. There was no other way for this to end but in pain.
But at the moment, he was incredibly happy. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been this happy, and he decided to enjoy it while it lasted.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last all that long.
His phone vibrated.
He didn’t need to look to know it was Thorne.
With some effort, he slid out from under Sam’s bare arm and answered. She was sleeping with a smile on her face, her hair a mess. He wished he could stay next to her forever.
Instead, he padded to the door as quietly as possible and slipped outside.
“Yeah?”
“You moved the girl,” his boss snapped.
“Yeah, I moved the girl. We were ambushed. If we had stayed, we’d both be dead right now.”
Thorne was silent for a long second. “What happened?” he demanded.
“A bunch of Howe’s men showed up at the cabin. I sent Sam away to hide, but apparently she was never taught to follow orders. She came back and shot
them all while I bled out on the floor.”
There was another long silence. Then Thorne said ominously, “I think it’s time.”
Everything in Garrett rebelled against what he was hearing. What he’d known must happen sooner or later. But it spelled the end for him. He wasn’t ready for that.
“No. Not yet,” he said.
“Why not?” Thorne asked.
Because he wanted more time with her. “Look, she’s already rattled, I think—”
“What does it matter if she’s rattled? Do you think she won’t be rattled when this all goes down? There’s no easy way around it,” Thorne said.
“Right. I know.” He really, really hated his job at that moment.
“Bring her to me.”
Garrett took a deep breath and thought over his answer. How it would affect his job, and his life.
“I’m sorry, boss. I can’t do that right now. We have a plan, let’s stick to it.”
Before Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal Josiah Thorne could yell at him, Garrett disconnected the call.
“Shit.”
Now he’d really gone and done it.
Chapter Forty-Two
Sam woke up feeling like she’d accomplished some monumental task the night before. Like the day after college graduation, or the day after she’d moved to her apartment in D.C.
A milestone had been reached.
Except this milestone was more of the emotional kind.
She watched Garrett while he slept, wishing she could tell him how she felt without scaring the hell out of him.
His left hand was draped across his chest and the right one lay at his side. The wedding ring shimmered in the sunlight coming through the crack in the drapes. The ribbon of light stretched across his face, causing his lashes to make dark shadows on his cheeks.
He was magnificent. And…he was waking up.
He blinked a few times and his gaze met hers. “Hey,” he said with a crooked grin. “How are you this morning?” He was still grinning, but there was a note of nervousness to the question.
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