by Jill Shalvis
“Eddie talked about me?”
“He mentioned you on my first day of work. In fact, Eddie’s so young himself, I actually assumed you were just a kid.”
“He had me when he was a teenager.” Far before he’d finished sowing his wild oats, which had left Reilly alone with his teenage mother, Cheri. But because Eddie hadn’t been a cruel kid, just a stupid one without a condom, he’d given them half of the trust fund he’d been born with. Cheri had saved every penny for Reilly’s college, which he’d gotten halfway through, studying business and finance, before Eddie decided he wanted back in their lives.
Ten years later, both mother and son were still resisting Eddie’s efforts.
“You didn’t grow up with him?” Tessa asked.
“No.” He could feel her breath against his chest, could feel her waiting for more. “I told you, I’m not good at this.”
“Well, we could always escape instead.”
She was something, he’d give her that. Determined and spirited and brave as hell. But against him she felt so tiny, and he knew she’d be utterly defenseless in a fight against those four. He traced the bruises on her throat and felt an odd and unwelcoming urge to keep her safe. “It’s almost dawn. I’ll go soon.”
“But—”
He put his finger over her mouth before it could start running again. Had he wanted to protect her? Well, who the hell was going to protect him, and not from the perps, but from her? “I said I’d go.”
She pulled his hand from her mouth and blinked those dewy eyes up at him. “Okay.”
“Why do I get the feeling you don’t really mean okay?”
“No, really. I’ll…be patient.” She shot him a wistful smile. “Just tonight I was wishing for more adventure and excitement in my life. It’s why I took the job with your father in the first place. I figured a variety of different tasks at different places would help provide some of that. But now that I’ve had a real adventure and real excitement, all I want is my own bed, and maybe a bubble bath to go with it.”
In spite of himself he smiled. “A bubble bath?”
“Strawberry-scented. What are you wishing for?”
A bottle of something aged and expensive. A faceless woman. A break from the nightmares this night had brought back.
But he’d settle for just being out of here. Alone.
“Reilly?”
What the hell. “Sex.”
“What?”
“Forget it.”
“No, no,” she said quickly. “I asked.”
Yeah, she’d asked. He lay there on the small cot with her, soaking up the feeling of being so close to another human being, trying not to think of what they could be doing to pass the time.
Maybe silence wasn’t the way to go after all, because when her mouth wasn’t running off, his other senses sort of took over, starting with how her soft curves felt against him.
“Reilly? What do you do? For a living?”
“Why?”
“Just filling time.” She cocked her head. “Is it a secret?”
“Accounting.”
“You’re an accountant.” Her tone was disbelieving.
“Yep.”
“What did you do before that?”
“Why?”
Now her lips curved and he couldn’t take his eyes off them. Since she was still staring at his mouth, he figured it was only fair.
“Is that a secret, too?” she asked.
“Actually, yes.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
No. He just didn’t want to get into it. He didn’t like to talk about it, and he wouldn’t start now with the woman who was plastered against him from head to toe, feeling soft and sweet and everything he didn’t want but suddenly craved.
“It’s just that you don’t really seem the accountant type to me,” she said. “More like…secret agent man or something.”
Since that was so close to the truth, he didn’t say a word. For distraction, he looked beyond her, out the small window, and saw the pink tinge to the sky. Thank God. “Time,” he said, and carefully disentangling himself from her curvy little body, stood.
Tessa stood, too, and watching the enigmatic Reilly Ledger stretching his long, beautiful body, she felt…confused. Several times now she’d actually thought she’d seen a gentler side to this man, it was part of what had made her melt all over him, what had let her allow him to kiss and touch her like he had, and yet then she’d blinked and it had vanished.
It occurred to her how little she really knew about him, other than he had a king-sized alpha attitude. Oh, and that he kissed like heaven.
Good thing she wasn’t attracted to attitude, not in the least. Nope, give her a kind, warm, safe, beta man any day of the week.
Please give her a kind, warm, safe, beta man. It was her turn for one.
But that kissing like heaven thing…that could be a problem. “You wanted to wait until daylight,” she said, trying not to sound as ruffled as she was. “For safety reasons or whatever.”
“It’s nearly daylight now.” He eyed the access above them with the look of someone about to undergo a root canal without drugs.
“You’re just trying to get away from me.”
He looked so startled, she had to let out a low laugh. “Don’t worry. I often have this impact on people, especially…” Her smile faded, and embarrassed at what she’d nearly blurted out, she lifted a shoulder.
“Especially?”
She looked out the window.
“Oh, now you’re going to go shy on me?”
“On men,” she finished. “I often have this impact—that need-to-run impact—on men.”
He didn’t say anything so she risked a look at him. “What, no comment?”
He was looking at her, his light eyes inscrutable. “I think a guy would be an idiot not to want you. If he was looking for a woman, that is.”
“But you’re not looking.”
He gave a slow shake of his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not looking.”
She managed a wobbly smile. “You’re very sweet to be so kind about it.”
“Sweet and kind are two things I’m most definitely not. Let’s get out of here.”
“Too much confession going on?”
“Too much something.”
She looked out at the brightening dawn. The Angeles Crest Mountains were blooming, as was everything, because in April in Southern California, that’s how it went. Just another beautiful day. They were all beautiful days.
Reilly stood on the bed. He was going to get them out and then she’d probably never see him again. Suddenly she couldn’t remember what her rush was to get out.
If they got out.
His big, beautiful body was tense, his hands in fists at his sides as he stared up at the access, and despite the utter toughness emanating from him in waves, she once again sensed that there was more, much more to this man. “Reilly—”
“Watch out.” He easily reached the ceiling. His arms were taut with strength. Corded tendons stood out in bold relief as he worked the square cover of drywall loose. Under his arms were soft, sparse tufts of dark hair that matched the light spattering across his chest. And those legs…long and delineated with strength. She’d never really understood the debate between boxers and briefs, but the way Reilly filled out his black clingy knit ones made her a firm believer in boxers—
“Tessa?”
“Hmm?” She jerked her gaze off his body, a little horrified to have been caught gawking at the guy who’d been hit on the head, stripped and was now doing his damnedest to get them out of their hell.
His disconcerted gaze told her he knew exactly what she’d been doing and that he hadn’t found it so flattering. He had the drywall off and was handing it down to her.
She took it, set it against the wall and turned back in time to see him pulling himself up with the agility of an athlete. His head and chest disappeared, leaving just the bottom half—which was not a bad view at all
—and then he was gone entirely.
A flash of panic hit her, but then he poked his head back in. “I’ll be back for you.”
“No.” She’d gone all shaky again at the thought of being there alone. Before she could think, she leaped onto the cot and reached her hands up. “Take me with you.”
There was a conflicted look on his chiseled features. “I’ll be right back, Tess.”
“No. Don’t leave me here alone. Please?” She lifted her arms up toward him, knowing the impossibility of him being able to pull her up, but—
But nothing. With a grim expression, he reached down, grabbed her hand and pulled her up into the opening of the attic with such ease she could hardly believe it. He scooted back to make room for her as she sat on a beam, surrounded by more beams and insulation.
Yep, they were in the attic, which gaped open to large and unknown depths. In the darkness she could see nothing but Reilly, and had no idea how she’d imagined this as a great plan. “It’s…dark.”
“Yeah.” Hunched over his knees, he rubbed his hands over his face. “I thought for a moment there you’d been shocked into silence.”
“And you liked it, right?” She rolled her eyes and mimicked zipping her lips and tossing away the key.
“Don’t tease me,” he said, and looked around. “Okay, listen. I want you to follow me. And seriously, toss away that key. We have no idea if we’re alone and once we get over another access, any noise at all will echo down.”
“I’ll be quiet. Let’s just do this.”
“Right.” He turned away from her and looked into the black, dusty gloom of the gaping attic.
And didn’t move.
“Reilly?”
“Yeah.”
But he still didn’t budge. She touched his bare shoulder. Beneath her fingers, his muscles leaped. “Hey. You okay?”
“Terrific. I love being in a small enclosed space with no light.”
“You’re really afraid of the dark?”
He didn’t look at her.
“Or…claustrophobic?”
“Neither, exactly.” His eyes glittered with humiliation and a good amount of bad temper. “I just had a bad experience and…”
“Oh, Reilly.” Leaning in, she hugged him. She couldn’t help it, because realizing that this big, bad, brooding man was really just a soft and squishy beta on the inside was the most attractive thing about him. And given the outer package, that was saying something.
But he set her away from him with just enough barely restrained roughness to tell her she’d poked at the hungry lion one too many times. “Let’s move it.”
“You should have just boosted me up here,” she said, trying to soothe. “I could have—”
“I thought you threw away the key to your mouth.”
Okay, so she’d only imagined his soft spot.
Without looking back to see her roll her eyes again, he moved forward. “And stay on the beam,” he commanded softly.
She followed, watching the lines of his sleek, smooth back, the way the black knit boxers hugged his tight butt and thighs, trying to convince herself she was so over her momentary lapse into lustville. So over him, period.
THE ATTIC WAS PITCH-BLACK except for where the occasional vent to the outside allowed slats of light to shoot in. Grateful for any light no matter how meager, Reilly stopped and bent as close as he could to the first access panel they came across, only to hear a muffled thump from below. Not a good sign. “Does my father have a daily maid service?”
Tessa came up behind him and put her hand low on his spine as she tried to see around him.
He felt his muscles leap at the touch and knew she’d felt it, too, when she skimmed her hand up and down his bare flesh as if soothing him.
He wondered what she’d do if she discovered that her touch was doing the opposite of soothing. “Does he?”
“I don’t know.” She set her chin on his shoulder as she whispered into his ear.
Her hair tickled his nose and smelled like a bunch of flowers. “Give me some room,” he muttered, and shrugged her off. Now he was distracted again, damn it, with thoughts of stupid flowers and all the bedrooms—empty—that his father had in this house and the things they could do in those empty bedrooms—
“Reilly.”
He sighed and glanced over his shoulder.
The lines of light slashed across her features. Her eyes were as big as saucers. “I hear voices,” she said a little shakily. “And they’re not maids. Not unless Eddie has hired big thugs who like to choke and throw women.”
Ah, hell. He squeezed her hand. “Tess…”
“Why would they still be there?” She sounded a little less thrilled about their great escape now. “They could have cleaned the place out and been far gone by now if they’d wanted.”
He’d been wondering the same thing. “Did you happen to mention to the guy who grabbed you that Eddie wouldn’t be back for a few days?”
“Of course n—” She bit her lip and looked stricken. “Oh.”
“Oh, what?”
“I guess I might have said something when I was arguing with him.”
Wasn’t that just perfect?
“I’m sorry.”
Another thump, a closer one now.
Turning to her, he slid his hand across her mouth and put his lips to her ear. “Shh.”
When she nodded, he removed his hand but stared at her for a long time. Her hair was wild, and so were her eyes. He couldn’t see the bruises one of the assholes below had left on her but knew they were still there. And though he couldn’t see her thoughts, she felt icy cold, and was trembling, her terror coming through loud and clear.
He squeezed her gently, trying to get some of his warmth into her. Ironic that he was sweating from being enclosed and she was a virtual Popsicle. “I want you to go back,” he said in her ear. “Go back to where we climbed up and wait there—”
She gripped him tight. “No—”
“I’m going to go alone. I can do it silently—”
“So can I—”
“No.” He didn’t want to bet on that, as he doubted she’d ever done anything silently in her entire life. “I’m going to drop down into the farthest room I can get to and then—”
“What if they find you?”
“They won’t.”
If he’d thought her eyes were big before, they were huge now, though he couldn’t see her exact expression. “You’re afraid of the dark, but you’ll take on four armed men?” she asked incredulously.
He felt the muscle in his jaw start jumping again. “I’ve had worse odds.”
“What did you say you did before you were an accountant?”
“Go back. Go back now.”
“You were on the right side of legal though, right? You are the good guy, right?”
“Go.” He nudged her to turn around.
“But—” She fought him and turned to face him again, all the while maintaining her balance on the beam.
He was beginning to see how she’d gotten herself so roughed up last night. But when he felt the fear coming off her in waves, he gave her one last squeeze. “Look, I’m coming right back for you,” he promised, although he never made promises. “Go, Tess.”
Then he physically turned her away from him once more, and gave her a little shove. This involved putting his hands on her and shockingly, he wanted to linger. Soothe. Calm.
Wasn’t that the damnedest thing.
But to do what he had to do, he put her firmly out of his mind with one deep breath. Despite being starving and half naked, he now concentrated on the task at hand.
That being not getting his ass kicked again.
5
WHEN TESSA KNEW A BETTER WAY, she wasn’t particularly good at following directions. She tried though, she really did. She understood Reilly wanted her out of the way so he wouldn’t have to worry about her as he dropped down into the house and tried to get them out safely.
She got that
.
And she knew she’d never forget the sight of him forging ahead. Not afraid or uneasy—except for his aversion to the dark. Nope, no holding back for this man. And he hadn’t simply crawled along either.
He’d prowled. Like an animal on the hunt.
It occurred to her, and not for the first time, that under certain circumstances Reilly Ledger could be a dangerous man. Which, really, would only matter to her if she was attracted to him.
Damn it, she was attracted to him. That in turn was as unsettling as the sound of something scurrying off in the darkness.
Probably just a mouse, but she had a general thing against mice. Even so, she made it all the way back to the attic access above the room in which they’d spent the night. Huddling at the opening, arms wrapped around her knees, she looked down at the cot where they’d slept together, and that’s where she went wrong.
She started thinking.
Too much.
She started obsessing over what could be happening to Reilly right at that very moment. Clearly the guy thought he was invincible. He thought he could handle anything.
But despite his tough attitude, he was just an accountant. What if he didn’t make it? What then? What if they caught him and killed him this time?
No, she told herself when she started to shake. Reilly could take care of himself. She’d never met anyone more capable of taking care of himself.
After all, he’d had a gun. What kind of accountant carries a gun?
Don’t be the stupid chick, she reminded herself. Just climb back down into the room and huddle in a corner and be a good girl.
She had just hooked a leg over the opening when a sound from below stopped her cold. Her heart took off racing as she went as still as she could while shaking like a leaf, but it was no good. With her blood roaring through her ears she couldn’t hear.
What if someone was down there waiting for her?
