“Fair enough.” Travis drained his glass and slapped it down on the table. “How about I show you your room? You’ve got to be exhausted. I’m not sure when West will get here and it could be quite awhile. No sense in you waiting up.”
He didn’t say anything about getting any sleep for himself she noticed. When he’d ushered her into his beautiful home he’d set a fancy computerized alarm system after locking the door. She’d also glimpsed the shoulder holster he kept tucked under his dark blue suit. Her security was being taken seriously and for that she was relieved and grateful.
But she hated that he and West had to do it. She’d brought trouble into the lives of people she cared about even if she hadn’t planned to. If she’d left a month ago as she should have none of this would have happened.
“Thank you. And thank you for coming with us on the trip. I’m sure you have a lot more important things to be doing other than babysitting me.”
“I’m looking forward to the trip, actually. Besides, with West suspending his campaign to take you to Vegas I’ve got a lot of free time on my hands.”
Gigi didn’t believe him for a second. He ran all of the Anderson family holdings and there probably weren’t enough hours in the day to do it, but it was nice of him to pretend otherwise.
“I feel badly about that. I know how everyone feels about Cavendish and if he wins because West can’t campaign…”
She let her voice trail away but Travis was already shaking his head. “I don’t think you could talk West out of this no matter what. Your life or his candidacy? Honey, it’s not even a contest.”
Not sure what she’d done to deserve West’s devotion, she stood and followed Travis up the stairs, the carpet so thick and lush her shoes seemed to sink into the floor. Her room was at the end of the hall all decorated in shades of blue and gold.
“It’s lovely,” she exclaimed. “You have excellent taste. Your home is like something out of a magazine.”
“Thank you. It’s missing something though. I’m just not sure what. Maybe a movie screening room or a wood shop will be next.”
Gigi couldn’t imagine this house needing anything extra but if he did then she’d keep her mouth shut. What did she know about homes after all? She’d never really had one.
“Good night, Travis.”
“Good night, Gigi.”
Travis closed the door softly behind him and she barely made it to the bed before her knees crumpled underneath her. She leaned back against the headboard, the events of the evening playing over and over in her head and making her want to scream with frustration.
She was tired of this. All of it. Tired of being a victim. Tired of crying. Tired of playing hide and seek with a madman.
She wanted her life back.
West had held out the first hope she’d felt in years and she wouldn’t waste it. With his help she’d shake off the past and start building a new, better future.
Only one question remained. Would it be with him? Or without him?
Chapter Twelve
‡
“Is Gigi asleep?” West asked when he entered Travis’s house just after three in the morning. Exhausted and irritable, he wanted a stiff whiskey and a decent night’s sleep. In that order.
“She went up about twelve-thirty.”
Travis was playing mind reader and poured West a drink without being asked. West accepted it gratefully and sank down into a leather chair with a sigh of relief. It had been one long damn night and things weren’t going to get much better in the coming days.
“I talked to her for a little bit and your girl has been through the wringer. A lot of people would have just folded their tent and given up. She’s got backbone.”
West knocked back the whiskey, enjoying the fire it created in his belly. It was exactly what he needed after the day he’d had.
“She’d gone through way too much for someone so young. We need to put this Morton guy out of business for good. Did Jason call with any more information from his government buddies?”
“No, but he did say he was planning on stopping by tomorrow.” Travis glanced at the clock on the wall. “Make that today. We need to update our plans based on this new information. Morton knows where she is. Now what was once a straightforward road trip has turned into a game of hide and seek.”
A game West intended to win. Travis had texted him a copy of the picture that had in all probability tipped Morton off as to Gigi’s whereabouts. They wouldn’t make a mistake like that again. But of course West hadn’t known that she was on the run at the time, but he did now and every precaution would be taken to ensure her safety.
“I’m working on getting us reinforcements for the trip to Vegas,” West assured his brother. “Highly trained and armed to the teeth. He’ll have to go through a fucking arsenal to get to her.”
“If he can’t get to her right away he might settle for you. Have you thought about that? The photo of you two was fairly damning. You’re both looking at each other like you’d rather be in bed. That won’t make the asshole too damn happy.”
West snorted and poured himself another drink. “I can only hope he comes after me. I’d like to get this guy one on one. But I doubt he’ll differentiate between me and anyone who is trying to keep her safe. He’ll go after you or Jason just as quick. Are you ready for that?”
Travis’s smile widened. “Damn straight I’m ready. Like you I wouldn’t mind getting my clothes dirty and beating on this jerk for awhile. We might get a chance. We know he can be sloppy.”
“Sloppy? What do you mean by that?”
“He sent a couple of his men to break into the house of the head of detectives. Shit, that was stupid. The article didn’t mention your profession and he obviously didn’t do much research into who the hell you are. Otherwise he would have waited until Gigi was alone.”
West twirled the amber liquid in the bottom of the glass. “I checked Gigi’s apartment myself before I came here. Somebody had broken in. Looking for her obviously. When she wasn’t there they came for her at my place. Maybe they were desperate and afraid to call their boss and tell him they’d lost her.”
“Desperate men make bad decisions. They’re the most dangerous kind. I doubt Morton will make two mistakes in a row. If he has half a brain he’ll do some digging into your background, and by extension into the entire Anderson family. I also have to wonder if he knows about Gigi’s brother and sister. She was looking for them when she was with him. We could be walking into a trap.”
“I haven’t done anything dangerous in weeks,” West laughed. “You’re not getting scared are you?”
“No way. I’m looking forward to this as much as you are. Sitting behind a desk day in and day out gets old real fast.”
Travis was an adrenaline junkie. Jumping out of airplanes. Bungee jumping off of bridges. Riding motorcycles hell for leather and messing up his leg in the process. He always said the best feeling in the world was fear mixed with excitement and your heart racing so fast a person can’t count the beats.
In other words, Travis was a crazy bastard with a death wish.
“If Morton does do his homework on me it’s only going to make him amp up the artillery. Trap or no trap, this whole damn situation just got more dangerous. For everyone.”
* * *
Alan Morton slammed down the phone into its cradle, his body shaking with rage. Punching his oak desk with a curled up fist, he beckoned to his right hand man Elliot.
“Tony and Frank fucked up. Frank’s in the hospital and Tony’s lying low. Apparently whoever Georgette’s shacked up with met them with a gun. I need everything you can find on a West Anderson of Tremont, Montana.” When Elliot hesitated Alan stood up and leaned forward to punctuate the urgency. “Now. And send in Joe on your way out.”
“Will do.”
The younger man practically ran out of Alan’s office, his lips trembling in fear. Alan loved that part of being who he was. He loved the control he had over people’s lives
and playing with them was part and parcel of the game.
His favorite trick was to be sweet and nice to someone until they were lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he was harmless. Then…
Bam.
He showed them who they were fucking with. Elliot had learned quickly but every now and then he needed to be reminded who held the power.
“You wanted me, boss?”
Joe Stickler ambled into Alan’s office but didn’t take a seat without an invitation.
Good boy.
Alan had trained his second in command well.
“Tony and Frank botched the whole thing in Montana. I still don’t have Georgette back where she belongs and that doesn’t make me happy. I want you to run this personally. I have Elliot looking into her boyfriend’s background so maybe we’ll find something there we can use. The article said his family was filthy rich and he was a spoiled playboy.”
It had been pure luck that Joe had seen Georgette’s photo on the news website. Alan had been looking for her for two goddamn years without much luck. She’d pay for putting him through this. Once he had her under his control again she’d be lucky to see the light of day for a decade. She needed him to keep her safe. It was that plain and simple.
Poor and struggling when he’d met her, he’d turned her into a lady with elegance and class. Someone he could dress up and show off. But she’d never been happy and had fought at every turn her prescribed role in this life. She wanted to have ideas and opinions. Just like Anna.
Georgette wanted freedom. A highly overrated state of which he would cure her of. Real freedom was a lie and an illusion. Everyone answered to someone in this world.
Georgette answered to Alan.
Alan answered to Caleb Deardon. As long as he kept Caleb happy Alan would stay rich…and alive.
“Why don’t we just use–”
“No.” Alan cut off Joe, knowing what he was about to suggest. “We’re not that desperate yet. I’m keeping that in my pocket just in case. So Georgette has a boyfriend now? Don’t make this into a big deal. We take him out and get her back. This isn’t fucking rocket science. Just make it happen.”
“Got it.” Joe turned on his heel. “I’ll report back when I have something.”
Joe disappeared and Alan dug into the bottom of a desk drawer, pulling out a manila folder. He spread the contents in front of him before picking up a snapshot of Georgette taken a few weeks before she’d left him. Dressed in a long white gown with her blonde hair piled artfully on top of her head and diamonds around her neck and wrist, she might have been mistaken for a princess or perhaps a movie star. She was that beautiful. Unsmiling in the photo, she was looking off into the distance completely unaware he’d been watching.
He hadn’t thought much of it at the time but now he knew she’d been dreaming of something other than a life spent with him. At his side.
She needed him to take care of her, to love and protect her. She simply didn’t understand how dangerous the world could be and that he would make sure she was safe.
It was time to bring her home.
Chapter Thirteen
‡
Gigi’s eyes fluttered open and then closed again, the sun pouring through the bedroom window. She could have sworn the drapes were closed last night but now they were wide open and clearly showing her she’d slept in quite late.
“Finally awake, sleepy head.”
She cautiously opened one eye to see West striding out of the ensuite bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. How did he manage to look so damn good this early in the morning? A few rivulets of water ran down his muscular chest and she had to quell the urge to run her tongue over his washboard abs and lick away the moisture.
“What time is it?”
With a big yawn, Gigi sat up and rubbed at her eyes. The pillow next to her own was dented so it looked like West had joined her in bed at some point last night but she’d completely slept through it.
If it had been Alan she’d either be dead or on her way to Chicago tied up in the trunk of his car.
“A few minutes after nine. Throw on some clothes and we’ll go down for breakfast. Travis is a really good cook. He’ll make you his famous ham and cheese omelet.”
Her stomach gurgled optimistically at the mention of food. She was starving.
“What time did you get in?”
“About three.”
He had a strange expression on his face, kind of closed off as if he didn’t want her reading his emotions. Normally he was completely open, so it looked like whatever news he had wasn’t good.
“Just tell me. I can take it,” Gigi sighed. He might as well just hit her with it. She’d survived worse and things were definitely not looking up after last night.
West scratched his chin and then sat down next to her on the bed. “Someone broke into your apartment last night. I’m guessing they went there first and when they couldn’t find you they ended up at my place.”
That made sense and wasn’t surprising.
“And?” she prompted. “Is that all?”
West lifted up her hand and pressed a kiss to the knuckles. “The suspect that was hit last night? He’s in a coma after surgery and can’t tell us anything. The other guy is still at large.”
The news kept getting better and better.
“So…what does that mean for me? Do you want to lock me up here until you catch the other guy?”
West frowned but then his expression quickly cleared. “I see what you’re asking. The answer is no. We’re not going to stay here like ducks in a shooting gallery waiting for someone to try and kill me and kidnap you. We’re going to head to Vegas with a caravan of heavily armed and well-trained guards. I promised you’d see your brother and I intend to keep that promise. I know you’ve waited a long time for that to happen. It would be easy to say ‘tough’ since it’s been years so you can wait a little longer, but that’s just a crappy thing to do in my opinion. Especially how Morton kept you virtually a prisoner. I can’t do the same thing and look myself in the mirror.”
He was a man of his word, she’d always known that. But hearing that she was indeed going to see her brother soon made her heart squeeze tightly in her chest.
“Thank you. I know it only makes your job harder.”
West shrugged and pulled her into his strong arms, the scent of his freshly scrubbed skin sending tingles of awareness through her limbs. She’d never intended to get this involved with West Anderson but here she was depending on him for her continued survival. It made her breathe easier but it also made her feel guilty as hell. He hadn’t signed up for this knowingly.
“It would be easy to lock you up for weeks or months on end and tell you it’s for your own good. I’m sure that wouldn’t endear me to you though. My mission is clear, babe. Find your siblings and put Alan Morton behind bars. Sure, I could do the latter before the former but it would be cruel to make you wait that long. Let’s reunite you with your brother and then get Morton.”
“And then find Aubrey,” she added softly, her heart squeezing in her chest remembering the last time she’d seen her sister. All curls and big brown eyes, Aubrey had been so young and innocent. “I can’t believe I might have my family back soon. It seems so unreal. You know, to have hope again. It’s been so long.”
His rough fingers traced her jaw and her breath caught in her chest. “I want to give that back to you. I want you to have the life you deserve.”
A life with him?
The unspoken question hung there between them as she gazed into his green eyes. If she came out of this alive – and he managed to put Alan behind bars – she’d finally be free. Free enough to contemplate having a real future. Unfortunately at the moment she couldn’t predict much past her next meal. By the time all this ugliness was over he might not want her anymore.
Instead of answering him she leaned in and brushed her lips against his firm, warm mouth. She didn’t have the words to express feeli
ngs she barely understood. He was the most important person in her life and her attempt at leaving him had been like ripping off her own limbs.
Was that love? She had no idea. He was a man worth loving, of that she was certain. But the thought of putting herself out there…making herself vulnerable again…was terrifying.
West didn’t seem to mind her non-verbal reply. With no hesitation he quickly took control of the kiss until she found herself pressed into the mattress under his delicious weight. Her fingers dug into his biceps as he nipped a trail down the sensitive cord of her neck, pushing aside the t-shirt she’d worn to bed to expose a bare shoulder.
She shuddered, heat sweeping through her body, scorching the flesh he was kissing and licking. His hands slid under her shirt, whisking it up and over her head before tossing it away without a second glance. He ran his tongue down to the curve of her breast and she tangled her fingers in his short dark hair. She could feel his smile against her skin as he nuzzled an already hard nipple before lapping at the tip. Moving restlessly, her lids fluttered closed and a moan escaped from her lips when his teeth scraped the sensitive bud.
“Yes,” she hissed, pleasure bubbled and fizzed through her veins. His fingers slid down her torso, over her ribcage and belly, to stroke the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs. A groan escaped her lips and she lifted her hips in anticipation of the ecstasy she knew his touch would bring.
West gave a knowing chuckle, his breath a warm breeze across the tips of her breasts. sending a frisson of lightning straight to her toes. “Easy, babe. I’ll give you what you need.”
She barely heard him over the roar in her ears but she didn’t doubt him for a moment. Since the day they’d met West Anderson had seemed to know her deepest, darkest needs and how to fulfill them. He stoked a fire inside that couldn’t be quenched by anyone or anything else.
He was one of a kind. And for now he belonged to her.
She wouldn’t think about tomorrow or the next day. These last few years she’d survived by concentrating on the present. It had been the thing that had kept her sane. But could it save her immeasurable heartbreak? That might be asking too much.
Hiding From Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 2) Page 8
