Witness Protection

by Barb Han

  Nick’s gun lay on the floor in between her and Steroids. Could she dive for it in time before he popped up again and got off another round?

  She tried to move but her limbs froze. Doubting herself for even a second gave Steroids the opportunity to fire another round. She resolved not to let that happen again. Her body had to move, fear or not.

  The second bullet lodged in the bricks near Burly’s head. He grunted and dropped to his knees. If Steroids had a second longer to aim, Nick would be dead. He cuffed Burly’s hands behind his back.

  In one swift motion, Nick dove and rolled, coming up with his gun and firing a round before Steroids could pull the trigger again. Nick’s body was a shield between Sadie and the gunman. Nick took aim. Steroids disappeared under the window frame. Nick fired a warning shot and then motioned for Sadie to run.

  She bolted toward the door.

  Burly had managed to maneuver his hands in front of his body. He grabbed her foot before she reached outside. She twirled and kicked, but his grip was too strong to break away from by herself.

  Boomer’s shackles raised and he stalked toward Burly, barking wildly and focused on his target. He bit, clamping his jaws on Burly’s forearm.

  He grunted. “Get that mutt off me or I’ll choke him.”

  Sadie pivoted. Burly released her boot and clasped Boomer’s throat. His yelp cut through her.

  Her shrill scream split the air.

  She gripped the doorjamb with both hands and thrust her boot at Burly’s face. The pointed tip connected with his jaw. A satisfying crunch, then blood spurted from his mouth.

  Pivoting right, she stomped her foot on his face, her heel connecting with his nose. More blood spouted.

  He grunted, “You bitch!”

  Dismissing the nausea and pounding in her temples—the mother of all headaches raging at her heels—she stomped her foot another time.

  Burly groaned and loosened his grip enough for Boomer to escape.

  Sadie hopped out of reach, glancing back in time to see Nick firing his weapon. No doubt he was trying to keep Steroids from shooting again while she got away. She hesitated on the steps but Nick was already behind her, urging her toward the woods.

  She made kissing noises at Boomer and he broke into a run beside her. Thank God he listened. Thank God he wasn’t hurt. Thank God neither were they.

  Running in boots cramped her feet and rubbed her blisters raw, but protected her legs from being cut by underbrush.

  Boomer easily matched her stride, sticking beside her as Nick set a blistering pace.

  They ran until her thighs burned and her lungs screamed for air.

  Nick halted at the sound of crunching branches in front of them. He pressed his index fingers to his lips and scanned the woods. More broken stick noises came from behind. Rapidly. Push forward and they’d run into whoever was there. Going back wasn’t an option, either.

  “What do we do?” Sadie whispered.

  “Follow me. We’ll find a hiding spot and wait them out.” Nick led them across a shallow five-foot-wide creek.

  The sun had gone down, and the moon lit the evening sky filled with a thousand stars. A chilling breeze blew. There’d been no time to put on more clothing and the cold pierced through her T-shirt. Her teeth chattered.

  “Wish I’d had time to bring something to keep you warm. I didn’t have a chance to grab my jacket,” he whispered, leading them farther east.

  The memory of his smell mixed with leather assaulted her senses.

  Another noise sounded ahead. More tree branches crunching under the weight of someone or something sizable. More people?

  Nick stopped, listened. He looked as though he needed a minute to get his bearings. “This way.”

  She followed him as he zigzagged through the trees, branches slapping her in the face.

  Faint voices grew louder. For all she knew they were running in circles. In the dark, it would be impossible for Nick to know which way they headed.

  He stopped running and she took a moment to catch her breath.

  The voices grew louder.

  Nick searched around for something. But what? Where could they hide? At this rate, they might walk into a trap set by the men chasing them.

  He stopped twenty feet away and waved her over.

  “This ditch should hide us. Jump in,” he whispered.

  Boomer led the way into the four-foot-by-five-foot hole. Sadie hopped down and crouched low.

  Nick disappeared, returning a moment later dragging several large tree branches. He used them to cover the opening. “This should buy us some time.”

  “Any chance you have matches or a lighter in that backpack to make a fire later?” Sadie gripped her cold knees, her chest heaving. She rubbed her hands together and blew on her fingers to bring the blood flow back. At this rate, she’d have frostbite before the sun came up again. Her eyes were adjusting to the blackness and she could see the outline of Nick’s face.

  Boomer’s panting slowed as she stroked his back.

  The only other sounds came from the men closing in on them and the insects surrounding them.

  The sound of footsteps came closer.

  The three of them stilled. Sadie kept her hand on Boomer’s back to calm him.

  One of the men muttered a curse. “When I find that bitch who kicked me, I’ll kill her with my bare hands.”

  Burly? Hadn’t he been shot? Must not have been enough of a wound to stop him. Should slow him down, though. Even if he found them, maybe she could outrun him?

  Another man, most likely Steroids, made a shushing sound.

  Their footsteps came closer.

  Sadie’s pulse raced. She bit her lip to keep from panicking. If Boomer so much as growled, he’d give away their position.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, willing her teeth to stop chattering and him to stay quiet. Her hand didn’t move from his back.

  Nick’s hand closed on her shoulder, radiating warmth and confidence she didn’t own.

  “Keep moving. They have to stop somewhere. When they do, we’ll get ’em,” Steroids said, disdain deepening his tone. He spit again. She presumed more blood.

  A full minute of silence passed before Sadie exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Washed-out, weepy and running through a whole host of other emotions, she leaned back against the cold hard dirt, wishing for safety, a cup of hot tea and a warm bed.

  “Here. Squeeze closer. You’ll lose all your heat through the ground.” He scooted behind her and pulled her onto his lap.

  His powerful thighs pressed to the backs of hers, sending sensual shivers rippling through her. A powerful urge to melt into him and allow his body heat to keep her from freezing surged through her.

  Or was it something more she craved?

  His body pressed to hers reminded her just how long it had been since she’d been with a man. Arousal flushed her cheeks. She was relieved he couldn’t see her face. Her physical response couldn’t be any more inappropriate under the circumstances.

  His arms encircled her waist. Impulses shot through her. She pressed her back against his virile, muscular chest and all she could hear was a whoosh sound in her ears.

  Boomer put his head on her leg. “You’ve been a good boy today,” she said.

  “He’s special.” Nick’s words came out low and thick.

  Sadie tried to focus on Boomer to distract herself from the sexual current rippling up her arms, her neck. On Nick’s lap, she could feel his warm breath in her hair and it spread like wildfire down her back. Heat moved through her body, pooling between her thighs.

  * * *

  SADIE SHIFTED IN Nick’s lap, her sweet bottom pressed against his crotch, and his tightly held control faltered. Why did he already have to remind himself this wa
sn’t the time for rogue hormones?

  Hell. It was as if he didn’t already know that. He was a grown man, not a horny teenager who got an erection every time he was close enough to smell a girl’s perfume. Sadie’s hair hinted of flowers and citrus. He needed to ask Walter why he had flowery shampoo at his man retreat.

  First, he needed to get a message to his buddy about the cabin.

  Nick made a mental note to circle back to this subject when he had Sadie tucked away somewhere safe. He liked the idea of taking her to the ranch even more when he thought about how much reinforcement he’d have there. Between his siblings, someone could keep watch 24/7.

  She shivered and he instinctively tightened his arms around her. He expected her to move away from him, but she didn’t. Instead, she burrowed her back deeper against him. He didn’t want to get inside his head about why that put a ridiculous smile on his face.

  The last thing he wanted to think about was how two thin strips of cotton kept them from being skin-to-bare-naked-skin. At least her teeth had stopped chattering. He didn’t care whether or not he was warm. He’d survive a few nights of cold. She wouldn’t. Not in those cotton shorts he’d given her to sleep in.

  He could see through the tops of the branches. The winds had picked up and the temperature had dropped a good ten degrees in the past fifteen minutes. The sky was blue-black. Exactly the way it looked when a cold front blew in.

  They needed shelter and food. Neither of which were in his possession. Nor were the means to get any anytime soon.

  Sadie shifted position, her curvy bottom grinding against him. He half expected her to push him away, but she didn’t. Instead, her hands squeezed in between his. Her fingers were near frozen. He rubbed his hands over hers, warming them.

  “Thank you. That’s better already,” she whispered.

  She wouldn’t thank him if she knew he mustered all the control he could to sit there with her and not slip his hands inside her shirt and caress those pert breasts the way his fingers itched to do. Needed to do? She wouldn’t thank him if she knew how unholy his thoughts were about those taut hips. And she sure as hell wouldn’t thank him if she knew how badly he wanted to spin her around in his lap and do things to her to remind her she was all woman and he was every bit a man.

  He needed to redirect his thoughts. What other home projects needed addressing when he got back to the apartment? Wasn’t there a small leak under the kitchen sink that needed attending to when he’d been called away last-minute for duty?

  He was sure there were about a dozen other projects around the house that needed fixing, as well. And yet, his thoughts kept wandering back to how good Sadie felt in his arms. How he’d remember the scent of her—citrus and cleanliness—that was all hers long after this assignment was over. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to see she affected him. He just hoped she wasn’t offended by the growing erection he couldn’t contain. She had to have felt it. Because blood pulsed south every time she moved, and so did his ability to think rationally.

  He dismissed it as going too long without sex.

  He’d fix that when this assignment was over. He’d have sex with the first beautiful and willing woman he could find. Hadn’t there been a few? No woman from his past could erase the naked image of Sadie from his mind; the one where her legs were wrapped around his waist and he was buried inside her.

  “Better now?” he practically grunted.

  “Much. I can feel my fingers again.”

  The sweet purr in her voice had him wanting to stay exactly where he was. But he couldn’t be sure they’d be alone for much longer. He couldn’t risk sticking around. “We’d better head out. I slowed those two down, but there could be more.”

  “One of them was bleeding. He was shot in the shoulder. Won’t he need to go to the hospital?”

  “Depends on how deep the wound is and how prepared they are. His injury might slow him down or buy us a few hours. Unless they sent more than two men. We don’t know how big the team is. Either way, they located us at the cabin, and that’s bad. We’re on foot and it’s getting cold out. We have limited supplies. They’ll expect us to camp nearby, which is why we have to keep moving. I disabled GPS on our phones for obvious reasons, so we need to keep moving until I see something familiar. If I can give our location to someone back home, they’ll come pick us up.”

  “Okay.”

  She made a move to get up and it took a minute for him to send the message to his arms that he had to let go. She felt a little too right snuggled against his chest.

  No woman, not since Rachael, had felt more right inside his arms.

  Chapter Seven

  Sadie and Nick walked for hours before his brother messaged that he was close. Headlights were a welcome sight to her after walking in the cold black night in her boots.

  Nick squeezed her hand. “I’ll have you in a warm bed in two hours.” He cleared his throat, seeming to catch how the last part sounded. “What I mean is—”

  “It’s okay,” she said on a half laugh. “I know you didn’t intend to say it like that.” Remembering his powerful thighs and chest against her body had her thinking she might not mind waking up snuggled against a strong, warm body like his. Those brown eyes with cinnamon flecks and hair blacker than night made for a package most women would consider beyond hot. Sadie wouldn’t argue.

  That she was crushing on her handler also reminded her how ridiculous she was being.

  When was the last time she’d allowed herself to notice a man? Or relax at all. There was no laughter in her life. No humor. No friends. No sex. Okay, where’d that last bit come from?

  It was true, though. There hadn’t been any sex in far too long. And nothing was funny anymore. She missed the simple pleasures of feeling warm skin against her back when she slept, or laughing at an inside joke.

  If she was being brutally honest, she couldn’t remember the last time she really laughed at anything. She could blame her hollow existence on this whole ordeal. Was that accurate?

  Sure she’d had to lie and keep people at a safe distance in the past two years. What about before then? Her boyfriend, Tom, had wanted to get engaged. Start a family. And yet she’d kept putting off the conversation. Her skin had itched and the air had become thick at the thought of making the two of them more permanent. She’d had to abandon the notion before she could really consider it.

  In the past two years, she could’ve been almost anyone or anything she wanted. What had she chosen?

  A baker.

  Someone who works in the middle of the night when everyone else slept.

  Did a little part of her shrink at the idea of becoming close to anyone because of the pain of rejection she still felt with her aunt?

  And yet with Nick, everything was different. She didn’t have to lie. She didn’t have to pretend she was someone else. She didn’t have to fake a relationship. He was her new handler. It was his job to keep her safe. He was proving capable of the task. So much so, that she was starting to feel more like herself than she had in months.

  But was letting her guard down a good thing?

  Before she could get inside her head about what that meant, a dual cab pickup truck pulled up.

  Nick braided their fingers. A slow smile spread across his almost too perfect lips. “Our salvation has arrived.”

  The passenger’s-side window rolled down, revealing an attractive man in the driver’s seat. Right away she could see the two were related. The driver had the same sturdy, muscular build. He was similar in size to Nick. He had the same nose and smile. Other than that, his hair was lighter and he had dimples when he smiled.

  “This is my little brother Luke.” He introduced the two, motioning toward the cab as he let go of her hand to open the door for her.

  “Little?” Luke scoffed. He flashed perfectly straight, w
hite teeth. “I’m second-youngest. And way better looking than this guy.”

  “Keep believing it, and maybe it’ll be true someday,” Nick grunted. “You’re as modest as ever, I see.”

  “Beautiful dog,” Luke said, as Nick coaxed Boomer into the backseat.

  “Thanks,” Sadie said. “He’s been pretty brave today.”

  Nick pulled himself inside the warm cab after her. She was so cold she couldn’t stop shivering.

  “I can see my brother didn’t prepare well enough for this trip. You’re an icicle. What are you trying to do, freeze your witness into testifying?” He cranked up the heat and pulled a blanket from the backseat, spreading it across Sadie’s lap for her. “This should help. Or you could scoot a little closer and I could put my arm around you. You know, body heat and all.” Another show of perfect white teeth greeted her. Luke seemed to be greatly enjoying teasing his brother.

  “She’ll warm up fine without your paws on her,” Nick said quickly, folding his arms.

  “This is fantastic.” Sadie pulled the blanket to her chin and leaned toward the vent. “Thank you.”

  “Where we headed?” Luke put the gearshift in Drive and handed a steaming foam cup to Sadie. “I brought hot chocolate for you.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. This is heaven.” She gripped the drink with both hands and took a sip.

  “Take us to the ranch,” Nick said.

  Luke cocked a dark brow, looking as though he needed a minute to rationalize the location before he spoke. “Darlin’, do you want the radio on while I talk to my crazy brother?”

  “No. I’m fine,” she said. Besides, she wanted to see if sparks were about to fly.

  “You just let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, you hear?”

  Sadie was certain she blushed. Good looks and charm must seriously run in this family. “I will.”

  “You didn’t tell me the package I needed to pick up was this beautiful.” Luke chewed on the piece of gum in his mouth.