He reached for her, but she pushed his arms away, and stepped back. The loud crunch of dead petals came from beneath her bare feet.
She sprang away from the stem as though it had bit her. “Tell me what it says.”
Gage read the note and a chill raced up his spine. “It should have been you, not my wife.”
Face pale, she balanced on one foot while she brushed off crushed petals from the other.
The girls dashed into the room and threw their arms around Harley’s waist. She gathered them close, her gaze never leaving his face. “So what do we do now?”
He tucked the card back into the box, took his cell phone out of his pocket, and punched in Mike’s number. “We find the person who sent them.”
The call went straight to voice mail.
Gage turned his back on Harley and the girls, and met his dad’s concerned gaze. Into the phone, he said, “Hey man, it’s me. Call me when you get a minute. It’s urgent.”
As he hung up the phone, he scooped up the brittle rose off the floor, dropped it back into the box, and tied the lid on with the ribbon. “I’ll call Adam and get him to pick this up, take it to the station, and have it checked for fingerprints. I don’t want you or the girls left alone.”
“What about going home tomorrow?”
He turned to face her, keeping his voice deathly calm. “Looks like you won’t be going anywhere without me for a little while.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
While Gage talked to Adam outside and passed over the box of flowers to him, Harley bathed the girls and tucked them into bed. Moments after their heads touched the pillows, they were fast asleep.
She headed into the bathroom for a shower.
The flowers played heavily on her thoughts as did Gage’s last words.
Looks like you won’t be going anywhere without me.
She didn’t fear Mike, at least, not very much. He wouldn’t really hurt the girls or her.
Would he?
Harley climbed out of the shower, and slipped on a cool cotton sundress and a pair of white panties. She poked her head into the girls’ bedroom and confirmed they were still sleeping like the little angels they were not. Hoping for a drift of a cool breeze, she opened the bedroom window, left the door ajar, and returned to the living room to wait for Gage.
Soon, she heard him enter the house, his footsteps quiet. She stood, more worried than she’d ever admit to being. “Well? What did Adam say?”
“They’ll check for fingerprints and let us know.” His gaze brushed over her. “Did you leave any hot water for me?”
“You were outside so long, there was enough time to heat water for the rest of the houses on the block.”
“Then I’m going for a shower.”
While she waited for Gage to return, she rearranged the doll on the recliner, sat down with an eReader, and tried to ignore the sound of the shower. The image of Gage naked, water droplets clinging to his skin, got stuck in her head.
She tried to ignore the image as she chewed on her bottom lip and drummed her finger tips against the device.
Was there something she could do to help Mike get better? Maybe staying away from him hadn’t been the best thing, but at the time, it seemed smart.
As a shudder of fear worked up her spine, she tried to clear her head by refocusing on the bathroom door.
Maybe she should join Gage instead of being out here, working up a new sweat because the house was too hot and she was too afraid to go outside on the deck alone. She stared at the bathroom door and wondered if he’d locked it to keep her out.
Wiping at the sheen of sweat on her arms, she pushed to her feet and opened all the windows on the main floor.
In the West, thunderous black clouds covered the mountaintops, and if they reached the town, promised to cool the air. A bolt of lightning jagged across the sky, still too far away for the sound of thunder to reach them.
Outside, the air was still and close. She retraced her steps to the living room and sat down to wait for Gage, fanning her face with the bottom edge of her sundress, jumping at every creak of the house.
Eventually the shower went silent, the bathroom door opened, and Gage appeared, water droplets on his broad shoulders, a towel wrapped around his narrow waist.
The breath left her lungs.
Okay, now this is what she’d been hoping for, a distraction from her fears.
They’d run into each other half-naked in the house before. Why should it be any different tonight? Because she knew how it felt to be in his arms, hear him sigh her name, kiss her. And she was desperate to feel him inside her.
“Feel better?” she asked to stall his disappearance and give herself time to come up with a viable excuse for him to keep her company.
Just as he was, mostly unclothed.
“Much,” he said, his voice a low rumble that jumbled her insides. “How are the girls?”
She sighed and wished she could tug off the towel with her teeth without scaring him away. “They’re sleeping soundly. We have the rest of the night to ourselves.”
Silence fell between them. He took a couple of steps across the hall toward his bedroom, stopped, and raked his fingers through his damp hair. His naked bicep flexed and taunted her to move forward and jump him while she had the chance.
Because sooner than later, she’d be out of his house and this chance to seduce him would be history.
“Let me get some clothes on and I’ll be back out,” he said.
As he whipped the towel off his body, Harley caught a glimpse of naked buttocks. “Oh mama.”
He stuck his head out the bedroom door opening. “Did you say something?”
“Umm, yeah.” She blinked and tried to replace the lust in her brain with something more G-rated. Like Mike and the twins and escaping before she got her heart broken in two. “I’ve been thinking about the note. I don’t think Mike meant it as a serious threat. He wants the girls back, and if we sit down and talk to him—”
“Hold that thought.” He disappeared, then came out of his room a minute later, bare chested, wearing grey jogging pants and apparently nothing else. Through the cotton material of his pants, she could see the outline of his manly parts. “You and the girls aren’t going anywhere without me until we’re certain. There’s nothing to discuss. That’s my final word.”
Her attention snapped back to his face.
Even if those flowers were meant for her, she was taking her life back. Tonight, she’d prove she could defend herself. Now, all she needed was a workout mat to soften Gage’s fall. “I have a proposition for you.”
One masculine eyebrow quirked as did the left corner of his mouth. “What kind of proposition?”
An indecent one actually, one that involves taking off all our clothes.
She found herself distracted by the wall of muscle and brawn on his chest, by the flex of his biceps as he moved to the edges of the living room.
Harley speared her fingers into her hair, rubbed her scalp, and attempted to get her mind back on track. Except the thought of being naked in his bed for the rest of the night was totally distracting.
“Harl?”
She blinked, ran her damp palms across the skirt of her sundress, and tried to look cool, calm, and in control. “It’s a little radical, but I think it’ll prove to you I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
“I told you there were no options.” He folded his arms across his chest, his pecs bunching and expanding, and Harley felt her insides pulsate, her nipples tighten. His gaze dropped to her chest, then returned to rake across her face.
Maybe a visit to a mountain glacier would cool her down. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Heck, she’d probably melt the damn thing and cause a mid-summer flood.
She pushed to her feet and faced him. Her heart leapt into her throat at the thought of his hands on her again. Would she even be able to concentrate? “Let’s spar.”
He quirked one eyebrow and the corner of hi
s mouth edged up. Heat filled his eyes, warming her in places that were already much too warm. It took every ounce of determination not to grab him in a neck lock and force that smile off his face with a kiss.
“Honey, I could have you on your back in under a second.”
She smiled at him. “I dare you to try. Or are you afraid you’ll be beat by a woman?”
He moved so fast, all she had time for was a girlish squeal. As he railroaded her into the center of the living room, his hands on her waist and his chest pressed to her back, awareness blazed in her belly and spread outward.
Releasing her, he circled around her, quiet as a panther. The expression on his face was part laughter, part pure male lust, and her body reacted in a rush of heat. “So how do you want to do this?”
She shrugged her shoulders and turned her back on him. “Surprise me.”
He stopped somewhere behind her, so silent she couldn’t even hear him breath. But she felt him there, and along with the anticipation building in her body, the slow swirl of desire made her dizzy.
Suddenly, he caught her in his arms, one hand clamped over her mouth, the other splayed against her abdomen, and tucked her firmly against his lean, hard body. “Give me your money or your clothes, lady,” he growled into her ear.
Definitely the clothes, Harley thought.
But first, she intended to take the cocky bastard down.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Along with the heat of her body pressed against his, Gage felt Harley’s lips move against the palm of his hand. He leaned closer so he could hear her, and put more space between his hand and her mouth. “What was that?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
He moved his hand over the soft material of her sundress, across her rib cage, down her belly. “Muggers want your cash or body, not your conversation.”
She laughed softly, her breath hot against his palm, the sound going straight to the center of him. “Why haven’t you ever make love to me?”
With his erection pressed against her delectable derriere, and every inch of the rest of her pressed tight against the rest of him, he already felt as though he were losing his mind.
He tightened his arm around her waist and pulled her back into the cocoon of his body, his hand sliding up her belly to her breast. As he cupped the soft mound in his palm, his arousal pulsed against her buttocks.
And while she stopped talking, stopped breathing, he stopped thinking of everything except sliding into her body from behind. “Jesus, woman. You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
“No.” He heard her breathe out a sigh, then laugh softly. “Except maybe for this one.”
Gage felt Harley grip his arm, follow through with a twist, and before he could react, he landed on the carpet with a thud.
Grinning down at him, she rested her hands on her hips and put one foot on his chest. “Is that proof enough for you?”
He blinked up at her and waited for his brain to catch up.
Maybe his instincts were slow. Maybe he was distracted by the heat generated between them. Whatever the case, he couldn’t let her think it was this easy to take down a man his size.
He rolled to one side, swept her feet out from under her, and she landed on his chest, a dumbfounded expression on her face.
Gage rolled her onto her back, and with just enough pressure so she couldn’t squirm out from under him, trapped her against the floor. “A smart person wouldn’t have hung around to gloat. A smart person would have turned tail and run. The smart thing to do is stay here with me. I’ll drive you and the girls anywhere you want to go until I know you’re safe again.”
She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed. Gage released her, rolled onto his back, and watched her scramble to her feet. Glaring down at him, she placed her hands on her hips, an annoyed look in her eyes. “If this had been for real, you know I would’ve run.”
He folded his hands behind his head and grinned up at her. “Prove it to me, honey.”
She kicked him gently with her toe and grumbled, “Don’t honey me. Get up off the floor and quit horsing around.”
On his way up, deciding that two could play at the distraction game, he palmed the back of her calf, the inside of her thigh.
She jumped away with a frown and turned her back on him. “Okay. I’m ready.”
So was he.
Ready to kiss the delectable expanse of her neck. Ready to pin her to the floor and talk her out of her clothes.
Gage was hard and so turned on, he was ready to throw his rule book out the window.
As he contemplated ways he could remove her sundress and panties, she crossed her arms over her chest and tapped the toes of one bare foot on the floor. “I always wondered what it was that you found so unappealing about me, why you went for other girls, but never me. I’ve analyzed my shortcomings. Maybe I wasn’t pretty enough. Maybe I was too short or my breasts were too small—”
Moving one foot, he swept her legs out from under her, catching her in his arms, cushioning her fall with his body, rolling her over so he lay on top of her.
Again.
Gage grinned down at the surprise on her face.
Her eyebrows lowered into a frown and her lower lip protruded into a sexy pout. “I wasn’t ready.”
“Muggers don’t ask you if you’re ready, honey.” He slid one hand under her hips and pushed her pelvis up against his erection. “Muggers usually want one of two things. And if I was a real mugger, I know exactly what I’d ask for.”
Her breath hitched in her throat. Gage, already rock hard, barely managed to silence a groan of desire.
And then she smiled, one of those naughty grins that always meant trouble. “We should try this again. I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”
Yeah, he could play with her all night. He pushed to his feet, reached down for her hand, and pulled her up. “And what’s the right frame of mind?”
“I wasn’t on guard.” She nodded her head, a furrow of concern forming between her eyebrows as she turned her back on him. “Let’s try it again.”
Gage crept up behind her, knowing full well he was smirking like an idiot. “You’ve listed your shortcomings all wrong, honey. You’re definitely pretty enough, tall enough, and your breasts—”
She moved at the same time he reached for her, her hand on his arm, her shoulder against his chest, her legs sweeping his feet out from under him.
Braced for the solid whack of the floor, he grabbed her and pulled her down on top of him. She landed on his chest with a grunt and another surprised look.
“Gotcha again,” he whispered.
She smelled like the flowers in the backyard, like a mixture of spring and sunshine and the newly washed earth after a storm. With one of his hands, he made a foray down the center of her back, meant to soothe and comfort. But it wasn’t comfort he wanted from her.
Not when his fingers inched across her rib cage toward the curve of her breast. Not when his mouth sought hers. Not when she turned her head and met him halfway.
As their mouths meshed, he felt himself harden even more, heard the sharp intake of her breath. His body stirred beneath her. His hand inched under her sundress, up the velvet soft skin of her thigh and hip, bunching the material up until he reached her breast. The mound of flesh fit into the palm of his hand, swelling, the nipple hardening as he grazed it with his thumb.
Gage caught the back of her head with his other hand, threading his fingers into the soft strands of her silky hair. He angled his head, gained better access to her mouth, and relished the sensation of losing himself in her, of losing control at the feel of naked skin against naked skin.
Every bone in his body turned to liquid. Every muscle begged for the feel of her hands against him. He squirmed into a more comfortable position, her lips soft against his, her mouth opening at the probing of his tongue.
Somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard a baby cry. As he pushed the sound away, Harley nestled agains
t him, a soft moan coming from between her parted lips. She tasted of peppermint and iced tea. His tongue swept across her teeth and plunged into the sweetness of her mouth.
The cry came again, louder this time. He felt her stiffen in his arms, jerk her mouth from his. He forced his heavy eyelids open and gazed into the soft brown heat of her eyes.
Resigned to spending the night in painful frustration, he gave her a lopsided grin. “Being a parent twenty-four seven is sure hell on the sex life.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“What sex life?” Harley muttered as she levered herself to her feet and headed down the hallway.
Because near as she could tell, they hadn’t gotten anywhere close to the sex part. Gage wasn’t the only one who’d be walking away with an unscratched itch.
Conscious of him following close behind, his big body solid and drool worthy, she opened the bedroom door, and found Laura sitting up in bed, the covers clutched to her chest. Harley sat down on the edge of the bed beside her and gathered the tiny girl into her arms. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
A big gulping sob escaped the older twin. “I want my mommy and daddy.”
“So do I, sweetie,” Harley whispered against the girl’s baby soft hair. She met Gage’s gaze, and watched as he knelt down at the edge of the bed and took hold of Laura’s tiny hand.
“I’m here, too, sugarplum,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a bad dream,” she whimpered. She rubbed her fists against her eyes. “Lisa saw a mon’ter in the closet.”
“She did, did she?” Gage sent the younger twin, who was still sleeping like a corpse, an annoyed look before he turned his full attention back to Laura. “Why don’t I get rid of the monster so you can go back to sleep?”
She hiccupped and nodded, and Gage straightened and headed to the closet.
Harley let her gaze slide across his broad shoulders and down his trim waist to his buttocks, before turning to scoot back against the headboard and pull Laura into the comfort of her arms. In silence, they watched him open the door an inch, peek inside, then open it another few inches. With a grin and a jaunty salute in their direction, he squeezed through the narrow opening and disappeared inside, closing the door behind him.
Terms of Surrender Page 16
