by Lori Sjoberg
A spark of humor lit his face, but it disappeared so quickly she wondered whether it was merely a trick of the light. He looked her over, concern creasing his brow. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I am now. Thank you for coming.”
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then his gaze cut to the right and his eyes narrowed. Without speaking a word, he drew his pistol from the holster and fired two rounds at the open doorway. Someone cursed, and seconds later a burst of automatic gunfire sprayed the walls to their right.
“Shit, there’s more of them?” She’d meant to keep her voice down, but the words came out a lot closer to a scream.
“I only saw two when I got here. They must have called for backup before they came in.” Crouching low, Austin grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bathroom. He fired two more shots and made a low sound that she’d come to associate with pure masculine disdain. “Come on, let’s go. My truck’s parked around the side.”
The alarm blared again when he shoved the rear door open. Hand in hand, they raced across the asphalt, and when they rounded the corner, she nearly wept with relief at the sight of Austin’s truck parked by the dumpster. It was a few years old and a little beat up, with big dual wheels on the rear axle and a heavy steel bumper up front to protect the grill. He pressed the button on his key ring and the headlights flashed, an indication that the alarm had disengaged and the doors unlocked.
Nina climbed into the truck while Austin slid behind the wheel. Another burst of gunfire tore through the air, shattering the passenger side mirror. She screamed.
“Get down!” Austin shouted, and she dove for the floor.
On the bright side, at least he kept his truck clean.
He punched the gas, and as the truck sped across the lot, he fired through the open window until the gun clicked empty. A spray of return fire hit the truck, and Austin cursed when one of the rounds pierced the back window not far from his head.
The rear axle skidded when they peeled onto the main road, and he spun the wheel to the right to compensate. After the truck straightened, he handed the gun to Nina. “I need a reload. Clips are in the glove box.”
Nina crawled onto the passenger seat so she’d have enough room to open the glove box. Sure enough, she found three fully-loaded magazines. But there was one little problem: she’d been around plenty of guns, but she’d never actually handled one before. “How do I do it?”
He shot her a look of disbelief. “You don’t know how to load a fucking gun?”
“I’m sorry,” she shouted over the roar of the engine. “It wasn’t included in the employee handbook. Maybe you should add it in the next edition.”
Austin opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it and shook his head. He hooked a hard left onto a rutted dirt road, and the shift in momentum flung her against the door. “Point the barrel at the floor and press the button that’s on the left side behind the trigger. That’ll eject the magazine.”
She followed his instructions, and when the magazine slid halfway out from the bottom of the grip, she pulled it free. “Okay, now what?”
“Put in one of the loaded clips with the tips of the bullets pointing toward the barrel. It’ll click when it’s all the way in. Then pull back the slide as far as you can and let it go.”
That wasn’t so hard. The slide snapped forward, chambering a round from the magazine. She handed it to him, and he placed it on his lap.
“Good job,” he said, his gaze still fixed on the road. “You better buckle up. Things are about to get bumpy.”
Crap, that didn’t sound good. Shifting in her seat, she fastened her seat belt, and as soon as she did, the truck veered off the road and into a swampy area. She glanced back and spotted a pair of headlights that turned in their direction but were trailing far behind.
“Where are we going?”
“Fuck if I know. But I’m pretty damn sure that mom car won’t be able to follow us back here.”
Even with the headlights, visibility sucked, and there were a few times where Austin had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting trees…and the occasional deer. He got stuck in the mud once but managed to get the truck free through a bit of creative maneuvering. At last, they came upon an empty stretch of dirt road, and Austin slowed the truck to a stop.
He scanned the darkness for nearly a full minute before he pulled his phone from his pocket and switched it on.
“Who are you calling?” Nina asked.
“No one. I’m checking the GPS to figure out where the hell we are. Let’s just hope there’s a signal out here.”
She studied his features in the dim light of the truck while he tapped away on his phone. The straight line of his nose, his prominent brow. The strong jaw covered with stubble. Even in the dark, he was handsome in a rugged way that made her heart beat faster than usual.
Relief crossed his face, which meant the GPS must be functional. “Somehow, we managed to come almost full circle.” He gestured to the right. “If we follow this for a mile or so, it should lead us back to the main road.”
“Do you think they’re still following us?”
“If they are, they’re probably stuck in the mud.” He twisted in his seat to face her. For the longest time, he simply stared, as though he wanted to ask a question but didn’t know how to put it into words. Or maybe he was afraid to hear the answer. Finally, he asked, “Are you okay? Did they…hurt you?”
Now that the excitement was over, the concern in his voice triggered a wave of emotions that slammed into her with the force of a tsunami. She was pissed at her brother, and incredibly hurt by the fact he’d sent men to abduct her. It felt like such a betrayal, but considering their family, she shouldn’t be surprised. Tears stung her eyes and clogged her throat. She blinked in an attempt to hold them back, but that only seemed to make it worse. “No, I’m…they didn’t…”
“Aw, hell.” Austin leaned over the center console and gathered her into his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
It felt so good, to be held, to be consoled, and she buried her face against his chest and surrendered to the tears. All the while, he stroked her hair and murmured words she couldn’t quite make out. But the words didn’t matter; it was the tenderness behind them that loosened the tightness in her chest. Little by little, the flow of tears eased, and when they finally stopped, she pulled back from his embrace and met his worried gaze.
“Thank you. I think I’m okay now. Sorry for crying.”
His forehead crinkled. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. After what you just went through, you’ve got every right to be upset.”
She shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. “In my family, crying was considered a sign of weakness.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“That’s my family in a nutshell.” She let out a low, bitter laugh. As a child, she’d quickly learned that crying in front of her father resulted in punishment, mockery, or a combination of the two. So no matter what happened, no matter how much pain, she’d held back the tears or hid them until she was all alone in her room. And after so many years of suppressing that emotion, it felt a little strange to express it.
Reaching over, Austin cupped the side of her face. His thumb brushed her cheek. “Don’t ever feel embarrassed if you have to cry, especially in front of me. It’s perfectly natural.”
She arched one eyebrow. “Oh? And when’s the last time you cried?”
The muscle along his jaw flexed and his voice went hard. “Seven years ago. I was in the Marines, serving my third tour in Afghanistan. My convoy was ambushed. Three men in my unit got killed. One of them took a shot to the face; I held him in my arms as he died.”
“Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t apologize. It was a long time ago.” Tension radiated from him as he straightened in his seat and slipped the truck into gear. “We better go. It’s late, and for all we know those guys are still looking for us.�
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Chapter Seven
AS SOON AS they got back in town, Austin drove to the nearest police station, where Nina reported her abduction.
The cops seemed skeptical of her story at first, but their attitudes did a complete one-eighty when Austin showed them the bullet holes in his truck. Then they had all kinds of questions about what the men looked like, where it happened, the description of their car, and why anyone would want to kidnap her. For the most part Nina handled it well, only getting visibly upset when she described waking up inside the trunk of a car.
In the back of his mind, he wondered whether her brother had a hand in her abduction. Maybe not directly, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Ivan hired those assholes to do his dirty work. He’d look into it later, but he didn’t plan on broaching the subject with Nina, at least not yet. She’d been through enough, and he didn’t want to make those kinds of accusations unless he had evidence to back it up.
“Why don’t you crash at my place?” Austin asked once they were back on the road. The words flew out of his mouth before he even had a chance to consider them. But hell, after what happened to her, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight. He glanced in her direction, and the vulnerability in her beautiful eyes did strange things to his heart. “I mean, it’s late, and I’ve got plenty of room, and your roommates are probably already asleep.”
She gave a faint smile, and the strange feeling in his heart grew even stronger. “I’d like that. Thank you.”
Despite the late hour, there was a fair amount of traffic on the road, which was made even worse by an overnight construction project that narrowed three lanes to two. By the time Austin finally pulled into his garage, it was three thirty in the morning. He was bone-tired and his face throbbed where the guy had punched him, but all of that faded from his mind the second he peered over at Nina.
She appeared to be totally lost in thought, with her arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she stared out the passenger window. Her hair was a mess, most of her makeup was gone, and there were red marks around her wrists and ankles from where she’d struggled against some type of restraint. The sight triggered a barrage of dark thoughts inside him, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.
Pocketing his keys, he rounded the truck and opened the passenger door. But when he went to pick her up, she waved him off.
“It’s okay; I can walk just fine.”
Refusing to budge, he braced one arm against the truck. “Your knee is swollen, you’ve got cuts on your feet, and I saw how you limped around the police station. Now quit acting like a tough chick and let me carry you.”
Indecision played over her beautiful features while she stared at him over the space of a few heartbeats. Then her brows dipped into a frown as she slumped against the seat. “There’s nothing wrong with a woman being tough.”
“I agree. It’s one of your finer qualities. But there’s also nothing wrong with accepting help when it’s offered.” After what she’d been through, the last thing he wanted was to fight, so he kept his voice calm and steady. “I’m not the enemy.”
“I know.”
“Then let me help you.”
Her frown went even deeper before she let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. But you better not tell anyone at the office about this.”
“You have my word.” He handed her his keys, and then scooped her into his arms and shoved the door shut with his foot. The feel of her nestled against him just about had him groaning out loud, which, given the situation, was completely inappropriate. “If you want, you can tell them that you carried me into the house.”
She tried not to laugh, but it came out as a snort.
“There’s my tough chick. Always keeping it classy.”
She swatted his chest, but there wasn’t any force to the blow. Once inside, he gently set her on the black leather couch in the living room and activated the alarm.
“Stay there,” he said as he straightened. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
It didn’t take long for him to gather the supplies he needed: towels, bandages, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and a tube of antibiotic ointment. When he returned to the living room, he set everything on the coffee table and kneeled in front of Nina to grip her foot.
She stared at him as though he’d lost his mind. “What are you—no, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it myself.”
Like hell she was. She’d already been through enough. Glancing up, he shot her a pointed look. “In the last six hours, you’ve been drugged, kidnapped, chased, terrorized, shot at, and almost kidnapped again. Just let me take care of this, okay?”
“Well, all right,” she said begrudgingly. “Thank you. For everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
He shrugged. “It’s no big deal; you would have figured something out on your own.”
The expression on her face said she wanted to argue, but instead she leaned back against the couch cushions and tilted her head toward the ceiling.
One by one, he tended to her wounds, first making sure the cuts were clean and then applying ointment. He took care of her knee first, which didn’t look too bad. She’d lost a little skin, and it would probably be sore for a couple—three days, but after that it should be just fine.
The soles of her feet were in much worse shape. Carefully, he used a warm, damp cloth to wipe the dirt and debris from the open wounds. Thankfully, none of the cuts appeared bad enough to require stitches. “How far did you walk with your feet like this?”
“I don’t know. Not far. A mile, maybe two at the most.”
He tilted his head up and smiled at her. “There’s my tough chick. I know Marines who wouldn’t have made it that far.”
She smiled in return, and it warmed him up from the inside. He went back to work, and when he finished, he wrapped each foot in gauze.
“When’s the last time you got a tetanus shot?” he asked.
“Um…” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth while her brows lowered in concentration. “I think it was about five or six years ago.”
“In that case, you shouldn’t need another.” He stood and slung the towel over his shoulder. “Why don’t you get some sleep? You must be exhausted.”
“I’m not really tired. Well, I am, but I’m not sleepy, if that makes any sense.”
He nodded, understanding completely. The memories of past missions sprang to mind, when his bones ached with fatigue but his brain was way too wired to rest. He picked up the remote and switched on the television before he handed it to her. “Find something to watch. I’m getting a beer. You want one?”
“What kind do you have?”
“Nothing fancy. Just Budweiser.”
“That’ll work. You got anything to snack on? Getting kidnapped makes a girl hungry.”
“Let me check.”
He crossed to the kitchen, where he grabbed two bottles of beer and the box of leftover pizza from the fridge. By the time he returned to the couch, she’d put on one of those shows where everyone was dressed as if they were back in the Victorian era.
“It’s not Thai, but it’ll have to do for tonight.” He set the pizza box on the coffee table and flipped the lid open. Whenever they ordered takeout at the office, she lobbied hard for Thai food. Every. Single. Time. They’d eaten it so often, he knew her favorite dishes and how she liked them prepared.
The ghost of a smile creased her lips as she grabbed a slice of extra cheese and pepperoni from the box. “I don’t always eat Thai food.”
He chuckled. “Sweetheart, you eat so much of it, you probably bleed lemon grass.”
In truth, he actually liked Thai food, especially Phad Lad Na. Well, he hadn’t liked it at first, but after eating so damn much of the stuff it had kind of grown on him. Now he’d come to associate it with Nina, and every so often, he found himself picking up an order from the nearby Thai restaurant on his way home from work.
After getting his own slice, Austin grabbed the remote and s
tarted surfing channels.
“Hey, I was watching that.”
“Yeah, I know, but that looks awful.” He flipped through the menu until he found one of the Lord of the Rings movies—Two Towers, his favorite—and it looked as if they were coming up on the best part, the Battle of Helm’s Deep.
Nina perked up at his choice of movie. “Oh, okay, I can deal with this. Legolas is kind of hot.”
He froze, the slice of pizza halfway to his mouth, and shot her an incredulous look. “He weighs ninety-five pounds soaking wet and has hair like a chick.”
“He’s still hot. Just saying,” she said between bites.
He stared at her for a second or two. “Are you jerking my chain again?”
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe.”
“Brat.”
She grinned, and he couldn’t help but grin in return. More likely than not, she’d bear some emotional scars from what she went through tonight, but for now it felt good to see some of the stress leave her eyes.
They sat on the couch, eating cold pizza, drinking beer, and watching the movie like an old married couple. He had to admit he enjoyed it. After the credits rolled, the final movie in the trilogy began, and before long, Nina drifted off. She shifted in her sleep and nestled against him, her head on his shoulder and her arm draped across his stomach. It should have made him uncomfortable, but it didn’t. On the contrary, he liked it—a lot—and the realization shook him to the core. Then she let out a soft sound of contentment, and something twisted deep inside him that he couldn’t even begin to describe.
It was four thirty in the morning. His body was fucking exhausted, but his brain was still scrambling to process everything he was feeling. If he didn’t get some sleep soon, he’d be worthless in the morning.
Careful not to wake Nina, he gathered her into his arms and carried her down the hall to his bedroom. He could have put her in one of the spare rooms, but one of them was decorated in Disney for his niece Emma, while the other had been used by Ty the other day, which meant it was probably a mess. Besides, there was a part of him that wanted to see her in his bed, though he didn’t plan to share it with her.
