It turned out I hadn’t needed to worry about Chloe focusing on my dick when I stepped out because she was busy staring down at my cell phone while she paced back and forth. It was a good thing too, because the scent of her arousal hung in the room and there went my dick—it was pressed against my zipper again. I hissed in discomfort and adjusted myself quickly before walking over to her.
“It’s just a phone, it’s not going to bite you,” I teased.
“I feel like it might,” she sighed, raising wide green eyes up to my face. “You got two text messages, and I have this feeling the other shoe is about to drop.”
“Is that why”—I barely stopped myself from letting it slip that I knew she’d been in the bathroom watching me—“you look so scared?”
“Yup.”
I loosened her grip on the phone and pulled it from her hands. “Then how about you let me take a look, and we’ll see exactly how big that shoe is.”
I should have put more faith in her misgivings because the impact of the information Tex had sent me was a damn sight bigger than what a shoe would make. A fucking size fourteen combat boot had dropped on us instead.
“What is it?” Chloe’s voice trembled.
I sat on the mattress next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “Tex has been keeping a close eye on any police reports that came through with your name on them. Something popped in his system tonight. An attempted break-in.”
“At my house?” she gasped.
“Yes, but they didn’t get in,” I rushed to explain. “They broke the window at the back door, the one right off your kitchen. It triggered your security system and the blaring of the alarm scared them off. You didn’t have any of those this home protected by signs in your yard, and the yellow curtains at the door blocked the view to the security panel. He would have had no way of knowing about the alarm.”
I felt her body tense, and I ran my hand along her spine to try to sooth her. She shivered underneath my touch, but it didn’t seem to do much to help with the rigidity in her stance. I figured it was because of the break-in, but she quickly clued me into the real reason for her tension.
“How did you know the color of my kitchen curtains?” she asked. “I mean, I guess I can understand how you’d know I didn’t have a sign in my yard because it would maybe make sense for you to try my house while you were looking for me. But the backing on my curtains is white, so the only way you could possibly know their color is if you were actually inside my home.”
Her voice was starting to rise there towards the end, and I could tell she was working herself into a panic. I pressed a finger to her lips to stop her rambling and offered her some reassurance. “Your grandmother gave me her key.”
“Oh.” She slumped at my explanation. “She really must trust you then.”
My finger slid under her chin to tilt her head up so I could see her eyes. “The key probably seemed small in comparison to the faith she’d already put in me when it came to keeping you safe.”
“True,” she agreed. “Plus, it wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal to her. She always had an open door policy for our neighbors when I was growing up. There were probably half a dozen spare keys floating around when she sold the house.”
“All the same, I’m sorry for the invasion of your privacy since it was your home and not hers.”
“It’s okay. Really.” Her lush lips curved up in the barest hint of a smile. They were only inches from mine and it would be too damn easy to lean down and trace them with my tongue. “Was it a mess? I left in such a hurry, I don’t even remember if I cleaned the dirty dishes or not.”
“It looked perfect, just like you.”
The rush of color into her cheeks at my compliment only made her more beautiful to me. “Then I guess my house and I are back to matching again since I’m a wreck and my home is bound to be one too with a broken back door.”
“I’ve never seen a more beautiful mess.” I gave in to the temptation and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “And from what Tex read in the report, it didn’t sound like there was a lot of damage to your home.”
“I should probably call Detective Lancaster to see what he has to say about the break-in.” She didn’t sound excited about making the call, which was a good thing for me because I had no intention of her being the one to talk to him.
“I’ll do it for you,” I offered. “I have a couple things I want to ask him anyway.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Positive,” I confirmed. “When I’m done, how about we go grab a quick bite to eat? I’m starving.”
It was the truth, but it also worked as the perfect distraction since Chloe didn’t want to leave the motel dressed in her pajamas. She headed into the bathroom to change, and I forced my imagination away from what she looked like out of all her clothes. When I heard the shower turn on, I groaned at the thought that she might get herself off in there like I’d done. The already tight fit of my jeans got worse, until it felt like my zipper was going to leave an imprint on my dick.
“Get your head into the damn game,” I mumbled to myself, jabbing my finger at the buttons of the phone. I’d managed to calm down a little when the detective answered.
“Lancaster.”
“Hey, it’s Kael Stewart.”
“It’s damn good to hear from you, Stewart. Were you able to track our girl down? I need to speak to her about a new development in her case.”
The cop had seemed like a nice enough guy when I talked to him the day before, but his choice of phrasing pissed me the fuck off. Chloe was my girl, not ours. He had no claim over her. “If it’s about the break-in, that’s why I’m calling you,” I clipped out. “I need to know how much damage was done so I can work on getting it repaired.”
“How did you know about the attempted home invasion?” Suspicion crept into his tone. “It only crossed my desk about fifteen minutes ago.”
“I’m not even in town, Lancaster. I had nothing to do with it, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“You’re gone? After flying to L.A. from halfway across the country yesterday? You got a lead on where Chloe is, didn’t you?” His questions were fired off rapidly. It certainly hadn’t taken him long to make the leap in logic that told him the only reason I would have left. Maybe there was hope for him finding the identity of Chloe’s stalker after all.
“Yeah, I found her.”
“Where are you guys?
I remained silent, reluctant to give away our location to anyone.
“I get why you’d want to hold that information close to your chest, but please tell me you aren’t anywhere near Portland.”
“Fuck!” I hissed.
“We found evidence of a web camera on her back porch. It looks like this guy had been watching for her to return. Only he found something else, didn’t he?”
“Shit!”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You went to her house before you left town. He saw you there, somehow figured out who you were and now he’s trying to locate her by finding you.”
Damn it. I’d totally fucked up and put Chloe at risk.
Chapter 8
Chloe
Whatever Detective Lancaster had to say must not have been good because Kael’s mood had darkened considerably while I was in the bathroom. I stepped out, feeling more like myself with my hair pulled back, mascara darkening my lashes and a swipe of gloss on my lips. The change of clothes helped, too. But Kael didn’t notice because he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands as he looked at the floor.
“Was Tex wrong? Did he get into my house and trash the whole place?”
“No, he didn’t get in.”
I heaved a deep sigh of relief. “That’s a good thing, right? Why do you look so pissed off?”
Kael lifted his head, and his eyes held so much apology that I braced myself for terrible news. “He knows we’re in Oregon.”
With the way he said ‘he,’ I knew he
wasn’t talking about Detective Lancaster. My legs felt shaky, and I walked over to the bed and dropped down beside Kael.
“He left a map of Oregon on your back porch with a huge, red circle around Portland.”
Considering some of the other presents he’d left me and the notes accompanying them, a map didn’t seem so bad. I might have felt differently if it had been for the right city. “Portland’s a two-hour drive away. Why does he think I’m there?”
“I flew into Portland.”
That certainly explained the guilty look in his eyes. “He knows about you?”
“Yeah.”
I flopped back onto the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. “How?”
“I underestimated my enemy, that’s how.” Kael leaned back until he was lying next to me, his head resting on his folded arms. “They found remnants of a camera on your back porch. It looks like he installed one after you left, hoping it would show him when you returned home again.”
“A camera?” I’d spent countless hours in front of cameras when I was acting. I was comfortable around them—I had to be considering my profession. It didn’t prepare me for how violated I felt at the thought of being filmed when I was unaware.
Kael shifted and slid one arm under my shoulders, pulling me close. “They swept the house and didn’t find anything to indicate he’d gotten a camera inside.”
“So he didn’t catch me on it?”
“No, he only got me, but that was enough.”
“Are we in danger if we stay here?” It was strange to consider leaving the motel after it had become my safe haven, more so in the hours since Kael had found me.
“We’re fine here for now,” he assured me. “The break-in only happened a couple hours ago, so your stalker is still in Los Angeles. Lancaster thinks the camera was web enabled because the guy had to have seen the footage before he tore down the camera and destroyed it. He brought the map with him, which means he watched it long enough ago to have been able to identify me and discover which flight I took out of LAX.”
It felt like someone walked over my grave, and shivers raced up my spine. I snuggled against Kael’s side in an effort to warm up since I felt chilled.
“I didn’t opt for the GPS feature on my rental car, and I’ve disabled the location feature on my cell phone. I also gave Tex a status update. He’s going to do the same thing with my phone’s signal as he did with your iPad, as an additional protective measure.” His explanation was punctuated by the growling of his stomach.
“I know you said you wanted to go grab something to eat, and you’re obviously hungry,” I laughed lightly at the continuous rumbling sound. My giggle came out more like a croak because of how upset I was, but it was better than bawling my eyes out like I’d wanted to do a moment ago. “Would it be okay if we ate here instead? There isn’t much to pick from, but maybe we could get a pizza?”
His arms tightened around me, and I felt the bunching of his stomach muscles against my side as he curled upwards to a sitting position and took me with him. I found his show of physical strength comforting, as though nothing could touch me while I was in the safety of his arms. Although, I quickly forgot how firm his muscles were when I punched him after his reply to my request.
“You’re allowed to eat pizza?” He sounded so disbelieving, the jab of my fist was instinctual.
“I can eat whatever I want to eat,” I huffed. Okay, maybe that wasn’t quite true when it came to the way my agent rode me about my weight. He constantly reminded me I was curvier than the Hollywood standards. By some stroke of luck, it hadn’t negatively impacted my ability to land a movie role yet. I liked to toss that tiny tidbit of information into my agent’s face whenever he lectured me about going on a diet. “And as it just so happens, I love pizza!”
“I hope you like the same toppings as I do.”
I leaned my head back to look up at his face, my breath catching at the teasing grin I found there. “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“Because with such a puny punch, you’ll never be able to force me to pick whatever it is you like.”
My eyes dropped to his lap, zeroing in on the outline of his hardened length in his jeans. A completely inappropriate way to get him to say yes to anything I wanted popped in my head. I wasn’t exactly skilled when it came to giving blow jobs, but what I lacked in experience I was sure to make up for with enthusiasm.
Holy crap, the combination of the stress of this situation and the magnetic pull I felt towards Kael was turning me into a nympho. I jumped off the bed and dug through my bag to find my wallet. Grabbing a couple of twenties, I turned and shoved them into his hand.
“If I’m paying for it, I get to pick. Right?” I asked smugly.
“There’s no way in hell you’re paying for pizza I’m going to eat,” he growled, rising to his feet and prowling towards me.
“It only seems fair since you came all this way to help me,” I squeaked out when he didn’t stop until he was only a couple inches away.
“I’m not doing this for money.” He tucked the bills into my front pocket, his fingers lingering there.
“Then why are you doing it?”
“Because the thought of anything happening to you is completely unacceptable to me.”
Wow, his answer was so perfect it could have come straight from a movie script. “But you don’t even know me.”
“It feels like I do,” he murmured. “Ever since the moment I first saw your picture.”
“Which one did Grandmom show you?” I was curious, but his answer didn’t really matter to me. I was relieved to know he felt this connection between us, same as I did. His strange reaction to my question piqued my interest though. He jerked his hand away from my pocket, a blush tinged his cheeks and he stepped away from me—and avoided my question by changing the subject.
“So you’re good with anchovies, capers and pepperoncino?”
“Ewww,” I gagged. “No way.”
“Pepperoni and extra cheese?” he asked hopefully, moving towards the door.
“Sounds perfect to me.” Really, anything would after his original suggestion, tricky man.
About half an hour later, he was back with a pizza, breadsticks and a six-pack of pop. Since there wasn’t a table or desk in the room, I spread a clean towel across the end of the mattress and laid everything out on top of it. Although I’d barely eaten in what seemed like forever, I was suddenly starving and quickly scarfed down my first slice.
“Mmm, this is really good.” I smacked my lips after swallowing the last bite.
My head jerked up at his groan. His gaze was locked on my mouth. “Yeah, it’s great,” he gulped.
I glanced down at the slice in his hand. “Are you sure you like it? You’ve barely eaten any of it.”
“Just letting it cool down,” he mumbled. Then he shoved a huge bite in his mouth and we didn’t talk again until the pizza was demolished.
I smiled when he helped me clean up the mess, but it wiped clean away when he announced what he thought we should do the next day.
“Los Angeles? That’s the last place I want to go.”
“You can’t run away from your life forever,” he argued.
“I’d hardly call a week forever,” I muttered, knowing he was right.
“Here’s the thing, Chloe,” he said as he took my hands and led me to the edge of the bed and motioned for me to sit down. “Seeing me on the video he captured pissed this guy off, and he made a mistake because of it. He left pieces of camera equipment behind after breaking it in what Lancaster thinks was a fit of rage. It’s the first tangible lead he’s gotten, and I think we might be able to push your stalker into making more of them if we can keep him off his game.”
“Won’t he be more dangerous the angrier he gets?”
“I’ve faced worse than him while I was in the Navy,” he reassured me.
“You might have, but I haven’t.” And I really didn’t want to, either.
“You won’t have to
with him either, if I have anything to do with it,” he declared. “That’s what you’ve got me for.”
Yet again, inappropriate thoughts of other things he’d be quite good for popped into my head. Then the fear, a string of sleepless nights, my full stomach—and the effort it was taking to stop myself from doing something stupid like suggesting he take me to bed so I could experience my first orgasm that wasn’t self-induced before my stalker got a hold of me—filled me with exhaustion. All my energy fizzled out, and I let out a huge yawn.
“I feel like I can barely keep my eyes open,” I complained.
“It’s an adrenaline crash,” he explained. “With everything you’ve had going on, I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”
“I guess if we’re really going to head to Los Angeles in the morning, I might as well get all the sleep I can now. I doubt I’ll be able to get any when I’m back home,” I grumbled, letting him know I was going to go along with his plan, even though it scared the heck out of me. He rewarded me for my acquiescence by holding me throughout the night. The feel of his strong arms around me made all of the fear worthwhile.
Chapter 9
Kael
Holding Chloe in my arms all night long was harder than some of the shit I’d been put through during hell week. The tricks my Master Chief had up his sleeves had nothing on the torture of feeling her soft body against mine and not being able to do anything about it. It wasn’t the lack of sleep that got to me. It was the need to come. When she finally started to stir almost a dozen hours later, my dick felt like a baseball bat. Morning wood wasn’t anything new to me, but it had never been like this before. I practically had to hobble the whole way to the bathroom. Peeing was nearly impossible, so with no choice left I took another shower, closed my eyes and pretended it was Chloe’s small, soft hand wrapped around me as I rubbed another one out.
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protection Crisis (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4
