She knew she should be getting up and packing, but he wasn’t exactly in a hurry. She wanted to ask him whether everything was okay, but she stopped herself. That was what normal people did. That’s what couples would do.
She shifted and her nose brushed his neck. She took a deep breath. He smelled good. She assumed that once they’d, well, gone the distance, that little things like that wouldn’t get to her.
“Are you smelling me?” he asked.
Her eyes snapped open at the unexpected question. “No! I was breathing. Next to you.” She winced at the weak save.
“I like how you smell too.” He pushed himself up. She started to sit up, but he held a hand out to stop her. “Hell no. You’re exactly where I want you. Except when I come back, you’d better take that damn bra off.”
Melody cracked her eyes open. The sunlight streaming through the edge of the curtains told her it was past time to leave, but she didn’t want to move. Adam held her with one arm on her waist and his hard body was against her back.
It had been a long and exhausting night. Every time she’d wake up, Adam seemed ready to go again. And she couldn’t bring herself to say no. She didn’t want to say no. All she wanted was his touch.
Toni could be barging in on them any second, and who knew how thorough Forbes’s search was for them. But for right now she was warm and comfortable. As long as she stayed in this bed, she didn’t have to deal with questions. From other people or herself.
She glanced over her shoulder to see that Adam’s eyes were open. “Don’t stare,” she said as she rolled to face him. “It’s rude.”
“And here I thought I was a Southern gentleman.” He ran his fingertips over the curve of her shoulder and down her arm.
She let out a laugh. “I don’t think anyone’s ever accused you of being a gentleman.”
His hand stopped at the crook of her elbow and his callused thumb ran back and forth along the sensitive skin. “That list is a little short.”
As much as she wanted to stay like this, she knew there were too many outside factors that were going to tear them out of this bed. “I need to turn on my phone.”
He didn’t look surprised, but didn’t seem happy about it either. “Pressing need to check your Facebook?”
“No. Toni should’ve stormed through that door hours ago. Maybe her flight just got delayed, but it could be something more serious. I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
“You’re worried about the sister who is coming here to drag you out against your will?”
“Sisters,” sighed Melody as she started to reach across Adam for where her phone was on the nightstand. He groaned as her back arched, bringing her breasts even closer to his face, but she tried to tune it out. Good grief. If she gave into every impulse with this man, she was never going to leave the bed.
Once she had the phone, she rolled back over onto her back and Adam followed every movement with his eyes. She couldn’t help the self-consciousness that crept over her at his constant attention. Even in the earliest stages of her relationship with Ben, he’d always been distant in some ways.
Considering Adam was basically a mercenary who she didn’t trust, it was surprising that he could be such an attentive lover. It was as though she needed to reconcile all these different parts of him, none of which really made sense to her.
The phone took about a minute to power on and as soon as it did, the notifications seemed to blow up. “Shit,” she muttered as she brought up voicemail. Except when she thought she’d see a string of messages from her family, they were from someone much more unexpected. “Shit,” she repeated.
“Who’s Ben?” asked Adam, not bothering to hide his snooping.
“My ex.” She opened the first message.
“Mel, I don’t know what’s going on, but this chick just showed up asking for you. I would’ve thought that you’d be the first person to scream from the rooftops that we’re not together. I’m not a fucking bed-and—” The message cut off and another one started. “She says her name is Jane, won’t give a last name. I don’t know what trouble you’re bringing to me, but you need to get this chick now.” The next five messages were all more of the same. Melody hung up after listening to all of the messages as she tried to understand what happened. Adam had been close enough to hear the entire thing.
“You don’t think....”
“That the girl from Ace of Spades showed up at my ex-husband’s house?” she finished. It was the last thing she wanted to think, but that was the only random woman she’d really run into lately. And the timing worked. Huntsville was about an hour and a half out, and the first call was maybe two hours after she’d last seen the woman on the street.
Shit. She jumped out of bed and started to look for her clothes.
“What are you doing?” asked Adam, not moving a muscle.
She found some panties and then a bra in one of her drawers. “You heard him. Someone showed up at my old house yesterday, looking for me. I’m going to check it out.”
“No. I’m not going there. It’s too small and Forbes will be looking for us. It would be the perfect trap.”
Pants.... There were her pants. “I didn’t ask you to go with me.” She didn’t realize how harsh the words were until they were out of her mouth, but it was too late to take them back now. Just because they’d slept together didn’t mean she was going to beg him to put his life in danger. Besides, the idea of Adam Smith walking into Huntsville might be her worst nightmare come to life. Her two worlds didn’t need to mix, and right now it felt as if they were on a collision course.
“You want to walk into a trap without me? I know you didn’t want to sleep with me but that’s no reason for your death wish to come back.”
She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “This isn’t about you. That girl, Willa, needs us.” She winced at the slip-up. “She needs me. She wouldn’t go to some strange town and knock on a strange door unless she needed help.”
“You’re projecting,” he said, still not making any effort to move off the bed.
“Thank you, Dr. Smith, for your expert analysis. If you really want to help, get me my gun.”
That had him getting off the bed. “Your gun?”
Her eyes immediately went to the parts exposed from the falling sheet and she had to physically turn around to look away. “My gun. I bought it and let you hold onto it for me. If we’re splitting up, I’m going to need it back.”
“For fuck’s sake, Mel. I’m going with you.”
She whipped back around and thankfully Adam had managed to pull on his jeans. “You’re what?”
“If you die, your sister is going to kill me. I’m looking out for myself here.”
She knew it was a lie. Toni was the best at finding people who didn’t want to be found, but Melody knew that someone with Adam’s skills could fall off the radar so far that not even the most advanced computer hacker could locate him. Which meant he was going to Huntsville for her, which was.... Nope. She would think about that later.
For now, she had more important things to worry about. Namely, what the hell she was going to tell all her friends when she showed up in town with Adam Smith as her bodyguard.
Adam put the car in park and looked out the window. So this was Melody’s home. Well, her old home. She’d been mostly quiet on the drive out of Chicago, but he’d managed to get a little bit of information out of her.
The divorce had been quick, and one of the reasons it had been so quick was because she’d given her cheating ex pretty much everything he asked for. He wanted the house? Got it. The brand-new truck? His. Furniture? His. She said it was because she wanted to just rip it off like a Band-Aid, no matter how much skin went with it, but Adam kept his own ideas to himself.
Why would Melody want the house or furniture? She grew up as a nomad, wandering from city to city, and her mother had taught her how to land on her feet. Even though she’d told herself she wanted her idea of normal, if she re
ally wanted that, the divorce would’ve gone differently.
And now that he was here, he could see what her definition of normal really was. The house was cute. The bushes were overgrown and the garden was a mixture of weeds and dead flowers, but he had a feeling that it would never look like this back when Melody lived here.
People who wanted to be normal put a lot of emphasis on what other people thought of them.
Melody stepped out of the car and her expression was unreadable. Hard, as if she were trying to keep things from the surface. “Why don’t you hold back for a second?” She started down the front path that led to the door.
She didn’t wait for him to answer, which was good because he had no intention of “hanging back.”
The house was a beige brick ranch with a two-car garage. He couldn’t tell how old it was, but it didn’t seem to be new construction. He kept on looking to Melody, who was so stoic and expressionless and thinking how different things had been. She’d bought this place to be happy. To escape from a life she didn’t think she wanted.
When she knocked on the door, Adam was just a few feet behind her. He knew she didn’t want him to pull out his intimidation tactics, but the second her ex opened the front door, Adam almost subconsciously squared his shoulders and stood up taller. He was down one step from Melody, but he still managed to be as tall as her.
Her ex, Ben’s, face was a mask of annoyance when he saw Melody—one mark against him immediately. But the second he saw Adam, that annoyance fell right away. “Who is he?”
Melody gave Adam a warning glance over her shoulder, but he didn’t change a thing.
“He doesn’t matter. You said someone came here for me last night. Is she still here?”
Ben gave Adam a wary glance. “He can’t come in my house.”
“Your house?” Adam took a step up onto the porch.
Melody put a hand on his chest. “Ben, we don’t need to go inside. Is she still here?”
Most of Ben’s focus was still on Adam, and Adam had to fight the urge to put a hand over the handgun. Not because he wanted to shoot Ben—well, he did want to shoot Ben—but mostly because the guy looked spooked enough to do something stupid.
“Melody?” said a voice from behind Ben. The girl stepped forward and sure enough, it was the same dumb ass who had messed everything up for them.
“Yep,” said Melody. “Get your stuff. Let’s go somewhere more... accommodating.”
Ben gave Melody an angry look and Adam let out a low growl. Ben’s eyes widened and he stepped back. “You two stay out there.”
“I’ll be right out,” shouted Willa right before he closed the door.
Adam leaned closer to Mel’s ear. “I don’t like your ex.”
“I’m sure the feeling’s mutual.” Melody crossed her arms over her chest.
Soon Willa was bouncing out of the front door. “I can’t believe I found you,” she said as the words just started gushing out of her mouth. “I saw in your file that this was your last known address but with my luck, I thought the place would be demolished or something, you know?”
Adam shot Mel a quick look of exasperation before he turned and walked back to the car. But he could still hear every word Willa said.
“Who’s the hottie? I saw him with you outside the club, but he wasn’t in Jadon’s office with you. Are you friends? Does he hate Jadon too? What exactly happened at Ace of Spades? One second, I thought I was going to die and the next—”
“Why don’t we get out of here,” said Melody.
Probably a good idea considering Ben was surely listening to the entire conversation.
Adam stood by the driver’s door as Melody and Willa came down the steps. Willa was small, even compared to Melody. Not height wise. She was just a bit shorter than Melody, so probably five foot six. But her cheekbones and collarbones stood out a bit too far. Considering the clothes she was wearing even though she was supposedly on the run, he pegged her as coming from old money.
But the bags under her eyes told a different story. She might come from old money, but she was dealing with some kind of stress. The kind of stress that would lead to her begging Forbes for help with something. The kind of stress that would lead her to show up in some strange town and spend the night at some stranger’s door.
No wonder Melody was drawn to help her. They really were the same person.
He would’ve taken Willa’s bags for her, if only so he could discreetly take a look at what she’d brought with her, but she kept the designer tote close to her chest as she slid into the backseat.
Melody went around the car and he was about to warn her to be careful, but he could tell from her tight lips and tense back that she was already on edge. Instead, he reached out and gave her forearm a quick squeeze. The tiny bit of comfort he could offer.
She paused and looked at him. He knew she was confused by the action. Hell, he was confused by it. But he didn’t have any answers for those questions, so he didn’t try.
He got into the driver’s seat, and the second he heard Mel’s door shut, he threw the car in reverse.
“Where are we going?” asked Willa.
“I have no idea,” said Mel. “That depends on you. What are you doing here? Why did you track me down?”
“Because you stole from Jadon. That means you’re his enemy, right?”
“Enemy?”
Adam was happy he was in the front and Willa couldn’t see his expression.
“And he’s my enemy too. Enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? After the laptop went missing, they pulled up your file and that’s when I got your old address. I hope you don’t mind, but desperate times, right? I figured Jadon was going to kill you immediately because you stole from him. They said that the second the laptop was turned on, they’d have you but here you are, which makes me think that you know what you’re doing. Like, I knew that Matt knew his stuff, but you know how that turned out. I think we’re going to make a great—”
“Hold on,” said Mel. “Why is Jadon your enemy? Why are you running from him?”
“Oh, I thought you knew. Jadon Belli is my father.”
Melody glanced out the curtains of the small motel. Willa and Adam were unloading the car and she was hiding, unseen. She was too recognizable and they needed to get out of town before someone knew she was here. She fumbled with the phone between her fingers. Toni hadn’t called or given any indication that she was on her way. Did she call her sister, giving up her new location but making sure that she was okay? Or did she keep quiet and let her and Adam figure out their next move while carting around the lost heiress with them?
Willa talked a lot, but there was a fear beneath the surface. She was desperate. Whatever Jadon Belli had done to his daughter, she was terrified of him. Too terrified to go to the police. But getting a straight answer out of her proved nearly impossible. That was why she recommended stopping at the nearby motel. It wasn’t the best area and took cash. Melody knew that because after seeing all the cash withdrawals from her bank account, she’d followed Ben here and saw that was where he was meeting up with his girlfriend.
She let the curtain fall closed and groaned at the memory. It didn’t hurt, though. Seeing him with another woman hadn’t been as damaging as she thought it would be. By that point she’d already had one foot out the door. If anything, the cheating allowed her to start the process of leaving without the guilt.
Even so, that didn’t mean she wanted to sleep here. And she definitely didn’t want to know what the room looked like under a black light. She shuddered at the thought as she fell into one of the worn armchairs. There were two beds in the room, but Melody doubted they’d be sleeping here. Hopefully they’d be back on the road in a few hours once they had a better idea of what to do.
She had planned to go right back to Chicago to finish the job with Forbes, but Willa threw things off. Because if Willa could help with Jadon, that could lead them to Sterling.
Melody rubbed at her temples. So mu
ch revenge, too little time.
All of the sudden, the door burst open and Adam ran inside, reaching for the remote for the flat-screen TV in the cabinet. Willa followed shortly after and her face seemed paler than normal.
“What’s wrong?” asked Melody as Adam flipped through the channels.
“Everything.” Adam settled on the local news station.
Melody immediately understood what he meant when she saw her picture filling the screen. “Oh no....”
The newscaster was saying something, but the words didn’t make sense. They were speaking English, but her brain was too shocked to comprehend what they were saying. All she saw was her face staring back at her and the word “WANTED” plastered above her forehead.
“This is Forbes,” said Adam. “He had a close call and he’s not pulling any punches. This has to be airing all over the state, if not the country. We need to move now.”
“Ben knows I’m here,” she said softly. And there was no way in hell he wasn’t going to try to turn her in. The divorce had left him too bitter... too angry.
“No. This is new. He couldn’t have known this was happening when we picked up Willa. If he did, the cops would’ve been there when we were.”
The cops.... What did they think she did? Hell, last night she’d shot up a nightclub. But they were about to kill someone. And Willa would attest to that. No, those guys wouldn’t have gone to the police. Whatever they were after her for was bullshit. But it wouldn’t matter if she was arrested for something she didn’t do.
If Forbes got a hold of her, she’d never stand trial.
“We need to get out of here.”
“If Ben calls the cops, there are going to be roadblocks,” said Adam.
Melody was torn between being happy that Adam realized that and frustrated that it was a fact. “There are less than ten roads in and out of this place.” Which meant every one would be covered by an intense police presence.
“Let them cover the roads. We can walk out of here. The farm lands will make it easy. Grab whatever you can carry and let’s go.”
The Beautiful Thief (The Stolen Hearts #2) Page 13
