“When are you going to realize I’m not gonna run?” he asked.
She stared at him blankly, slowly waking up. “Why are you awake?”
“I’m an early riser.”
“Of course you are,” she mumbled. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock. It was nine. When did she finally fall asleep? Not before two that morning, she was sure of that. She spent too much time staring at Archer’s prone form. Despite the fact they had been sleeping on different beds, the darkness of the room had seemed to pull them closer together. It was an intense level of intimacy that she had difficulty ignoring in the silence of night.
She pulled out the handcuff key and tossed it to Archer.
He caught it with surprise. “That was fast.”
“It’s temporary. You wanted to shower.”
“But you’re beginning to trust me.”
“Not really,” she reached under her other pillow and pulled out the gun. “If you try anything, I’ll blow out your kneecaps.”
He undid his cuffs and got to his feet. “Ever the vigilant Marshal.”
He headed for the bathroom, peeling off his T-shirt as he went.
Kate caught sight of his toned and sculpted back and snapped wide-awake. His shoulders were broad with heavy definition. A handful of scars crisscrossed down his back. They added to the raw sensuality emanating from him. Kate felt quivers in her stomach.
Archer looked over his shoulder before he slipped into the bathroom. “Don’t stare.”
Kate remembered to breathe. “Don’t flatter yourself. And don’t close the door.”
“I can hardly slip out that tiny window, even if I wanted to,” Archer said.
“You can use the shower curtain for privacy,” Kate said.
“More practice?” Archer asked. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were getting some kind of perverse pleasure from all this.”
There was nothing perverse about it, Kate wanted to say. Instead she said, “You want a shower, those are the rules.”
“Fair enough,” Archer said. “I make it a point to never argue too much with a woman who has a gun. You know, if you’re that concerned, though, you’re welcome to join me.”
She nearly jumped at the opportunity. “In your dreams. Get going, I want to be on the road before noon.”
He started pulling off his jeans. Kate caught sight of his firm thighs and felt herself flush with heat. She turned her head forward, bunching the sheets around in her fists. Once again, she battled for control of her body, and it was a battle she was slowly losing.
_____
The hot water stung Archer as it ran down his body. He welcomed the tiny pain. It felt more cleansing than the water itself. Perhaps it could even wash away his sins.
Archer felt tired. Emotionally and physically. The last six months had been long and hard. The events of the last twenty-fours had only seemed to exasperate everything that had come before. This was not what he had wanted. True, he had known what he was getting into, but he had never imagined that it would get this far or this bad.
Archer hadn’t slept much the night before. Part of it was the lack of comfort that came with being handcuffed to the bed, he wanted to toss and turn but was defeated at every attempt. Part of it was the emotional discomfort. But most of what kept him awake was Kate. She was invading his every thought.
Long after she had fallen asleep he had lain there watching her. He couldn’t help it. She was hypnotic. Lying there she had seemed so peaceful, so beautiful. Her shirt had ridden up during the night and he caught sight of the flawless skin of her abdomen. Her body spoke to him the language that only a man could understand. He ached to take her into his arms.
That kiss…
Archer had kissed his fair share of woman. Some had been great kissers, some had been great women, but none of them could hold a candle to Kate and the kiss they had shared. Just the thought of it made his blood burn with a desire he couldn’t shake. He wanted this woman in a very instinctual way, but it was more than that. Yes, it was physical, but it also went beyond the physical.
She was quite a woman.
Archer turned, letting the water wash over his face.
Maybe he should have taken a cold shower instead.
_____
Kate heard the shower shut off and she forced herself to keep her eyes on the TV.
“Shower’s free,” Archer said a moment later.
All it took was his voice.
She turned to look at him and her heart skipped several beats.
He was still dripping wet. And that water was dripping from the finest male physique she had ever laid eyes upon. She found herself getting lost beneath tightly bound muscles in his sleek chest. A terrycloth towel was wrapped around his waist and she thanked God for that.
“Are you okay?” Archer asked, concerned. “You’re looking a little flushed.”
“I’m fine,” she croaked. Her throat had gone suddenly dry. “Finish drying off and get dressed.”
She wanted to jump out of the bed and onto him. She wanted to wrap her legs around him and trace every one of those beautiful muscles with her tongue.
She gripped the bedsheets tighter. She had to stay exactly where she was until he got dressed.
“You’re going to handcuff me back to the bed while you shower?” he asked while rubbing the other towel across his chest.
“That’s pretty much the idea,” Kate said.
“Of course, you’ll be vulnerable,” Archer said. The way he said ‘vulnerable,’ it seemed to carry several definitions. Those quivers ran through her stomach again. “That makes sense.”
The longer he stood there the more a familiar tingle spread between her thighs.
This was not a battle she was going to win.
This was ridiculous, she decided and got to her feet. She picked up the handcuffs and quickly locked one down around Archer’s wrist. She locked the other back on the headboard.
“I’m not done drying off,” he said.
“I told you,” she said, “I wanted to be on the road before noon,” she couldn’t stand this close to him. The pull between them was growing stronger.
She started to turn and he grabbed her, pulling her even closer. She could feel the heat from his body.
“What are you doing?” her voice was more of a whisper than she had intended.
He searched her eyes. Her cheeks were still flushed. Her pulse quickened. His grip wasn’t tight, she could pull free at any moment, but it was sure.
He opened his mouth and for a second she thought he was going to kiss her again. She watched his lips desperately. She decided that she wanted him to kiss her again.
“Be careful with the showerhead,” he said finally. “It’s one of those cheap massage ones. Twist it the wrong way and you’ll end up with a light sprinkle.”
He let go of her.
“Right. Thanks,” Kate tore herself away from his gaze and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
She leaned against the door, her left hand clutching the handcuff key tightly. She took in deep breaths.
She could do this. She was in control.
She wanted this man so badly.
Kate turned the shower onto the coldest setting there was.
Chapter 9
“You don’t find this slightly awkward?” Archer asked.
“No,” Kate replied taking a drink from her iced tea. “Do you?”
Archer gripped the fork with his cuffed hands and scooped up his scrambled eggs. “Well, people are staring.”
Kate casually looked around the tiny diner. Only a handful of customers were present. She and Archer sat in one of the rear booths, but it was hardly secluded. She caught several uneasy faces quickly look away as she scanned the room.
“So they are,” she said, turning back to her food.
He swallowed his eggs. “I’m not used to this much attention.”
“Oh, really?” she found that hard to believe. The
man was a walking specimen of male perfection. He had to be used to some kind of attention.
“Yes, really,” he replied. “I’m more of a background kind of guy,” he shifted uncomfortably across from her. “I’m not fond of any attention.”
She bit off a piece of her French toast. “Maybe you should have thought about that before turning to your life of crime,” perhaps if she focused on the negative she could stop herself from falling for this man.
“One does not turn to a life of crime for attention.”
“Is that a fact?” Kate asked.
“I’m not going to argue semantics with you,” he said.
“It’s not semantics.”
“We couldn’t have just gotten drive-thru?”
She shrugged. “I offered to leave you in the car.”
“Oh that that wouldn’t have been awkward at all,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Eat up,” she said. “You’re not going to get this kind of food in prison.”
“You seem to know an awful lot about prison,” Archer leaned forward, over the table. “How exactly did you come across so much valuable information?”
Kate looked up from her food and found herself staring at his chiseled jaw line. She did not need him to be this close. “I’m a US Marshal,” she said, pushing him back with butt of her fork, not trusting herself to touch him again. “I’ve seen my share of prisons.”
Archer settled back. “Do you normally handle prisoner transfers?”
Kate didn’t answer.
He sighed. “It’s going to be a long trip. The least we can do is be civilized with each other,” although what he really wanted was a couple of steps past being just ‘civilized.’ Kate stopped eating and he watched her perfect lips turn into a frown.
“Civilized? Excuse me, but I’m not the one who made a career out of selling drugs to teenagers.”
“Neither did I,” Archer said. “Besides, it’s a free country. Nobody held a gun to their heads and told to them to get high.”
“Ah, I see, you just supply a product. What people do with that product is none of your concern.”
Archer stared at her smooth skin, pretending to think it over. He wanted to be sitting next to this woman, not across from her. “Close enough,” he said. “But like I said, I never actually sold any drugs.”
“Of course not. You just supervised the people who did.”
“No,” Archer said. “I didn’t do that either.”
Kate paused again. “Then what did you do?”
He shrugged. “I was the bookkeeper.”
Kate blinked. She looked at his muscular arms, his callused fingers and his rugged face. “You were the bookkeeper?”
He nodded.
“I don’t believe it.”
“It’s in my file,” he said. “You did read my file, didn’t you?”
“Your file said nothing about you being an accountant for the mob,” Kate said.
“First, Bragan’s not the mob,” Archer corrected her. “Second,” he paused. “Actually, I don’t have a second point. I’ve never seen my file so I don’t really know what’s in there.”
Kate wiped her mouth with her napkin and set it on her empty plate. “I’m supposed to believe that you spent the better part of six years as Jonathan Bragan’s accountant?”
“Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t matter,” Archer said.
“Of course it doesn’t.”
The waitress returned with a coffee pot in hand. She was an older woman, her graying hair bound up in a tight bun. “You want a refill?” she nodded at Kate’s empty mug.
“No, thanks,” she said.
The waitress tried not staring at Archer’s handcuffs and failed.
“Don’t worry,” Kate said. “He’s just an accountant. Worse case, he’ll frame you for tax fraud.”
The waitress looked at Kate, then at Archer. She couldn’t tell if it was a joke and decided that it didn’t matter. She gathered up Kate’s empty dishes and headed back to the kitchen.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Archer said.
Kate sighed. “No, I don’t normally do prisoner transfers. I’ve been in Fugitive Apprehension for the last four years.”
Archer was surprised. How could a woman this beautiful spend her days capturing the scum of the earth? He had known she was strong, but clearly she was much stronger than he had given her credit for. “You like it?” he asked.
“Not particularly,” Kate said. “Too many scumbags. Present company included, of course,” although she desperately wanted him to be excluded. She briefly wondered if there was a connection between her trust issues with men and her career.
“Why the US Marshals?” he asked.
“I did three years in local law enforcement,” she said. “It was too small, too disorganized and I made the mistake of getting involved with my superior. The US Marshals seemed like the perfect change of pace.”
Archer felt a sharp jab of jealousy at the mention of another man.
She got up. “Come on, let’s go.”
Archer pointed to his plate. “I’m not finished yet.”
“You talked too much,” she said. “Next time, less talking, more eating.”
Archer sighed and got up.
“And just so you know,” Kate said as they walked to the front, “I’m not buying this whole accountant thing. Bragan wouldn’t send an assassination squad just to kill one accountant.”
Kate paid their bill and Archer followed her out to the car. “You spend much time with Jonathan Bragan?”
Kate paused at the driver’s side door. “I’ve never met the man.”
“I spent six years with him,” Archer said. “If you doubled-crossed him over anything, he’d send an entire army to kill you.”
Chapter 10
Archer hadn’t spoken for almost two hours. Kate was grateful for the silence. That was two hours free of his hypnotic voice.
He just sat in the passenger seat of the gray four-door sedan she had rented and read. It was a paperback he had picked up at the gas station. Her libido took a much needed rest.
Accountant her butt.
Hell, just him sitting there managed to send tingles down her spine.
Kate listened to the local country music station she had found and focused on driving. They were on I-4 and had managed to avoid much of the heavy traffic thus far.
She took a deep breath and finally let herself think about Ray.
He had been her partner for the last four years. He had been a loyal friend and trusted mentor. And now he was dead.
Who had told his family? His children were all grown. He had three of them, two girls and a boy. She couldn’t remember where any of them were living. He had two ex-wives, both of them he parted with on fairly good terms. Had anyone told them? It should have been her. It was the least she could have done.
He had only been a year away from retirement. One year. He could have retired five years ago had he not switched his retirement packet to an investment plan. He took every moment to remind her of that.
He had taken every moment to remind her of that.
It was past tense now.
So instead of retiring in a year he died transporting this man: A criminal so low he’d sell out his own. So much for honor among thieves.
She wanted to cry. It was a surprise to her. She hardly cried anymore. Of course, she had never lost a partner before.
She glanced over at Archer briefly. He was still engrossed in his book. She returned her gaze to the road.
What a waste.
Then she noticed the black SUV.
At first she didn’t think anything of it. It was just a black SUV. It’s windows, though, were tinted a bit too darkly. It was after the SUV had been in her rear-view mirror almost thirty minutes she had gotten concerned.
It remained exactly three cars behind her. It never took any opportunity to pass. And it stayed in whichever lane Kate was in.
/> “We’re being followed,” she said.
Archer looked up from his book. “We are?” He tried to check his side mirror.
“Black SUV with a heavy tint,” Kate said. “They’ve been back there for about half an hour.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” she checked her mirrors again. It was still there, languishing behind a green Camry and a dark blue Mustang. “How is this even possible?”
“Bragan’s a very influential and determined man,” Archer said. “I guess this seals it. You guys have a leak.”
“Right now that leak is the least of my worries,” Kate said. “The last attempt to kill you ended with us jumping out of a plane to survive.”
He nodded. “I see your concern. Are you going to uncuff me?”
“No.”
“Of course not,” he looked over his shoulder through the rear window. “There is another possibility: You could just hand me over. I am, after all, one of the bad guys. What’s one less of us to worry about?”
Kate tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “Don’t tempt me,” she said. “I am a professional. I may not like it, but the law says you’re supposed to go to a minimum security prison in Miami. That’s where I’m taking you,” Where she’d really like to take him, though, was to her bed.
He smiled. “I’m touched that you care.”
“Don’t confuse care with doing my job,” said Kate.
“And speaking of your job, do you have a plan?”
“Not yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something at an opportune moment.”
“When would this opportune moment come around?”
“Not sure,” Kate said, watching the mirrors again. The SUV was now only one car behind them. “But you’ll be the first person to know.”
“When’s the next exit?” He asked.
“Not for another twenty miles. It’s a long empty stretch of highway.”
Archer tried to be concerned but he caught sight of the determined look on Kate’s face. She was an amazing woman.
Then the rear window exploded as bullets struck.
Outlawed Love Page 4
