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by Ella Frank

  “And waking me up at five is your version of rest?”

  “Well, no. But I know it’s yours, so I’m not overly worried that I’m depriving you in any way. However, when we get where we’re going, if all you want to do is stay in bed, then let’s just say I’m not gonna argue.”

  With my brain still waking up, I ran through Sean’s words twice over before something stuck out and grabbed me. “Get where we’re going? What does that mean?”

  Sean threw the covers back, and if he didn’t look so spectacular in his briefs, I might’ve cussed him out. As it was, I was finding it difficult to form a coherent sentence, because Sean Bailey nearly naked was sexy as hell.

  “What it means is”—Sean placed his hands on the mattress and leaned over to kiss me—“you and I are getting out of here.”

  Completely confused now, all I could do was sit there as Sean began moving around his room, pulling open drawers and tossing clothes on the bed—then he reached for his gun.

  “Wait. Why do you need that?”

  Sean looked at the weapon. “I’m always armed, it’s a habit.”

  Okay, that made sense. “So where are we going, exactly?”

  “I’m not telling you that.”

  “You’re not—” My mouth fell open as Sean went back to packing. “You’re not telling me?”

  “Right.”

  None of this was making any sense. Sean hadn’t said anything about taking a trip. I wasn’t averse to going on vacation somewhere if that was what he meant by relaxing. But it wasn’t like I had that many clothes with me, and the suitcase I did have wasn’t that big. Oh, and my special travel bag, the one with all my battery rechargers, extra laptop, and phone cords, wasn’t here. I couldn’t just up and go somewhere.

  “Sean? I can’t just…just leave.”

  “Why not?”

  Sean turned to face me, his hands on his hips, and my entire body reacted to the picture he made. Those muscled thighs led up to an erection I was dying to feel inside me, and the rest of his body? God, I couldn’t wait to feel it pressing me down into the mattress as he filled me.

  “Xander?”

  “Huh?” Blinking, I dragged my eyes up to see Sean smirking at me.

  “I asked you why you couldn’t just leave. Is there somewhere you’ve got to be?”

  “No.”

  “You got a pet you have to feed?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “You know I don’t.”

  “Exactly. So get your hot ass out of my bed and get your things together. I’m kidnapping you.”

  “Kid…kidnapping me?” I climbed out of the bed. “And taking me where?”

  Sean took hold of my chin and pressed a rough kiss to my lips. “If I tell you that, then it’s not kidnapping.”

  I arched an eyebrow as he grinned like a fool. “You’re lucky I like you.”

  Sean grabbed my hips and pulled me into his arms. “Just like, huh?”

  I looped my arms around his neck and nipped at his lower lip. “Maybe a little more than like.”

  “Mhmm, I can tell.” Sean smoothed a hand over my ass and then slapped it. “But trying to tempt me back to bed won’t work. Get your clothes together, anchorman. We leave in thirty.”

  23

  Sean

  “OKAY, SO I’M in your car, it’s dark outside, and you still haven’t told me where we’re going.”

  I glanced at Xander and grinned. In a pair of men’s leather sandals, pressed shorts, and a tucked-in button-up shirt, he was as casual and relaxed as I’d ever seen him, but then again, it was just turning five thirty.

  After I’d finally convinced him to get out of bed, Xander had packed—very meticulously, I might add—the suitcase he’d brought from his place the other day.

  The clothes inside weren’t the usual attire for where we were going, but I didn’t plan to let him wear them all that much, so I didn’t think he’d mind. Plus, I’d thrown in a couple of extra pairs of shorts and t-shirts for him to borrow, just in case.

  “So is this place local?”

  I chuckled, loving that instead of being pissed off that I’d woken him up at the crack-ass of dawn, he’d climbed in the car and instantly become curious.

  “What’s your idea of local?”

  “Hmm,” Xander said. “Anything within an hour.”

  “Then no, it’s not local.”

  “Okay. Is it somewhere we’ve been together before?”

  “As in?”

  Xander frowned. “Oh, come on, you know I came on a couple of family vacations with you. Is it one of those places?”

  I racked my brain trying to remember each of the vacations Xander had come on, and when he started to laugh, I glared at him.

  “You don’t remember them all, do you?”

  “Uh. I remember some of them.”

  Xander scoffed. “I’m not surprised you’ve forgotten. You were older than me, cooler than me, and I was there as Bailey’s best friend and—”

  “Boyfriend?” I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Wow, I’m so fucking glad you bought this up.”

  Xander squeezed my arm. “Come on, don’t be like that. It’s part of our history. We can’t change it.”

  “I know. But I don’t really want to think about it right now.”

  Xander nodded. “Fair enough. So, how about you tell me where we’re going instead.”

  “Nice try. But it won’t work.”

  “No?” Xander rested his hand on my thigh. “Bet I could convince you to change your mind.”

  “Oh yeah, and how you gonna do that, anchorman?”

  “Well…” Xander ran his hand up my thigh, and just before he reached the ache between my legs, he removed his fingers. “Maybe I won’t put out once we get wherever it is you’re taking me.”

  The comment was so unexpected, and so unlike Xander, that I couldn’t help but laugh. “Won’t put out?”

  He nodded. “Mhmm. You’ve been very high-handed and bossy lately, and I’ve just…rolled over for you.”

  The image he’d just planted in my brain did nothing to help the erection I was sporting, and judging by Xander’s smirk, he knew it.

  “You having fun?” I asked, shifting in my seat, my dick now trying its very best to bust through my shorts.

  “Maybe a little.”

  I grabbed his hand and slid his palm over the hard cock he’d teased to attention. “Ain’t nothing little about that, and I look forward to you rolling over again for me real soon.”

  Xander gave me a nice, hard squeeze, then he let go and moved back to his side of the car. “You’re not going to tell me where we’re going, are you?”

  “Now you’re getting it. So why don’t you just settle back, relax, and enjoy the ride.”

  “Do I really strike you as the type who just sits back and relaxes?”

  I shrugged. “Well, you’re doing pretty good so far, minus the five hundred questions about where we’re going.”

  “Yes, well, you didn’t see my internal conflict back at your place about packing. As for my questions, I’m a journalist. It’s in my DNA to be curious.”

  “Just like it’s in mine to have a good poker face and a stubborn resolve. Helps to wait out the criminals.”

  Xander looked out the window as we merged on to the interstate. “How long did you say it takes to get where we’re going?”

  “I didn’t.”

  Xander let out a sigh then settled back into his seat. “Fine. I’m going to sit back, close my eyes, and get another…however many minutes or hours of sleep in.”

  I chuckled, knowing it was killing him to have no idea where he was going. But in my mind, it was the perfect place. It was exactly what the two of us needed.

  “HEY, HEY, SLEEPYHEAD,” I whispered, and gently shook Xander’s arm.

  I’d just pulled into a parking spot in front of the local twenty-four-hour convenience store, and when Xander opened his eyes, I smiled. He’d looked so peaceful curled up ag
ainst the side of my car that I’d been reluctant to wake him. But this was the last place to stop and get any food and necessities we might need before we got where we were going.

  “Are we there?”

  “Not yet. But we’re close. I need to run into the store and grab a few things and thought you might want to stretch your legs, maybe grab a cup of coffee.”

  Xander’s entire body seemed to wake up. “Coffee? Yes, please.”

  “I thought that might perk you up.”

  Xander nodded and straightened in his seat, then he flipped the visor down and gave himself a quick once-over. He grimaced as he ran a hand through his hair, then looked to me.

  “This is as good as it’s going to get.”

  “Then I’m in luck, because it’s pretty fucking perfect.”

  Xander looked out the windshield. “Where are we?”

  There was no use in hiding it anymore. He could ask anyone once we stepped inside. So I opened my door and said, “Savanna. You ever been here before?”

  “No, actually. I’ve been to Savannah, Georgia. But not Savanna, Illinois.”

  “Really? Huh. Well, welcome. I love this place.”

  I walked toward the store, and Xander followed.

  “Do you come here a lot?”

  When the doors slid open and we stepped inside, the woman with the grey hair standing behind the cash register looked up and smiled.

  “Detective! It’s about time you swung through town again. We’ve missed you around here.”

  I winked at Xander. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” May, the manager, came out from behind the register and pulled me into a fierce hug, and I almost lost my breath. The woman might be small, but she had a hell of a tight embrace.

  “I’m sorry, May. I got caught up with work these last couple of months.”

  She let me go and took a step back, sizing me up, and once she was satisfied I was in one piece, she crossed her arms. “I suppose that’s a good enough excuse. But you know what I always tells you, all work and no play is no way to live your life.”

  Up until now, I’d merely placated her by agreeing with that sentiment. But when I turned to see Xander watching the exchange with a look of fascination in his eyes, I had a feeling there’d be much more play in my future.

  “Xander? This is May. She’s the manager here. And May, this is my friend Xander.”

  Xander held out his hand, and when May took it and pulled him into one of her famous hugs, I laughed.

  “Any friend of Sean’s is a friend of mine. Nice to meet you, Xander.” As she let him go, she cocked her head to the side. “That’s an unusual name.”

  “Oh, it’s short for Alexander. And it’s lovely to meet you too.”

  “Well, don’t let me keep you, detective. I know you still have a little bit of drive ahead of you. So grab what you need. I’ll be waiting.”

  I waved and turned Xander toward the first aisle of the small store, then I handed him a folded piece of paper. “Here’s your list.”

  “My list?”

  “Yeah, your shopping list.”

  As we walked down the cereal aisle, he opened it up, and then his feet came to a grinding halt. “Are you kidding? This is my list?”

  “What?” I said.

  “Instant coffee, strawberry Pop-Tarts, condoms, and lube?” Xander whispered the last word as though he were in a church.

  “Yep. They’re all the things that guarantee I’ll wake up in a good mood each morning.”

  As I started up the aisle again, Xander jogged to catch up.

  “And you want me to go through her checkout with these items.”

  I flashed him a wide grin. “Well, yeah. She’s known me since I was a teenager. She doesn’t know you.”

  “She does now.”

  “Yeah, but it’s different if I buy them—then I look like I’m the bad influence. This way she keeps thinking of me as sweet little Sean.”

  Xander scoffed and shook his head. “Since when have you ever been sweet little Sean?”

  I leaned down until our noses brushed. “Never, and I don’t plan to start now, and that’s exactly why you won’t leave this store without buying everything on that list.”

  Xander narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to make you pay for this.”

  I walked backward up the aisle and said, “Can’t fucking wait.”

  24

  Xander

  ONE SURPRISE AFTER another, that was what Sean Bailey had turned out to be, and with every new discovery I was falling in deeper and deeper with him.

  As I watched him walk up the aisle, I had the distinct feeling that this impromptu trip was about to change my life in ways I didn’t even know yet. I was seeing sides of Sean that I’d never even known existed. Sides I wanted to know more about, because despite his words just now, there was most definitely a sweet side to Sean, along with a side that made my dick hard and my brain vanish.

  That side had just left me standing in a grocery aisle imagining what it would be like to have him take me hard and fast, anytime, anyplace.

  Shit. I crumpled the paper into a ball and cursed him out as I spun on my heel and set off to find the things on this list, because there was no way I was leaving this store without the items on it. I wanted him too bad.

  Ten minutes later, I was out the door and walking toward the SUV. Sean was leaning against the hood with his arms and legs crossed. He looked casual and relaxed, as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

  But when I held out the grocery bag and said, “Your coffee and Pop-Tarts,” he quickly grabbed it from me to look inside for the other items.

  Laughing, I walked around to the passenger side. When Sean looked up from the bag, the heat in his eyes told me that no matter what else happened on this trip, by the end of it I would know exactly what it felt like to have him inside me.

  “What was on your grocery list?” I asked.

  “Oh, you know, the essentials. Ice, granola bars, rice and stuff.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard stuff is most definitely essential.”

  “It is where we’re going.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask: And where’s that? But since I knew he wouldn’t tell me, I didn’t even bother. Instead, I climbed in the car, turned on the radio, then settled back into my seat and studied my driver.

  We were about ten miles in when Sean said, “You’re staring.”

  I was, but he was so nice to look at. He’d left his cap off today, and his hair was mussed from running his hands through it. His t-shirt hugged his biceps, and those big, strong hands flexing around the steering wheel had my entire body on edge.

  I was so turned on from just sitting in the car with him that I thought I might go up in flames. Damn him for making me buy condoms and lube. And damn him for promising not to be sweet.

  “Xander?”

  “Huh?” I blinked away the sudden image I had of making him stop the car so I could climb over and sit on his lap.

  “I asked if you were okay.”

  “Oh, I’m fine.”

  “Good, because we’re here.” He slowed the SUV to a crawl and pulled off the main road, where there was an old wooden gate with a chain and padlock.

  I frowned. “Should I be worried?”

  “Probably.” Sean waggled his brows before shoving open his door and heading over to the gate.

  Where were we? I knew we’d been paralleling the Mississippi for the last stretch of the trip—Sean had told me that much. But as I sat there now, peering out the front windshield, all I could see were miles and miles of trees.

  Sean drove us through the gate and then locked it back up, and when he climbed back in for the second time, I said, “What is this place?”

  “It’s… Promise not to laugh at me?”

  “Promise.”

  “It’s where I come when I need a reminder that there’s still beauty in the world.”

 
And there it was. That glimpse of the other side, the sweet side, and when he showed it—it was breathtaking.

  “Take me there.”

  Sean nodded and reached across the console for my hand as we drove further into the dense woods surrounding us. The sun was out and shining now, and as it glittered off the leaves and through the windshield, I closed my eyes and basked in the warmth of its rays. I had no idea where I was, or where Sean was taking me, but I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

  The car came to a stop and Sean placed a kiss in my palm, and I slowly opened my eyes. I winced at the glare and tried to see out the window, but it was too bright, so I pushed open the door and climbed outside.

  Sean opened the back door, handed over his duffel, and pulled my suitcase free.

  I frowned and shook my head. “I can get that.”

  “It’s no problem. We’ve got to walk a little bit. You grab mine and a few of the grocery bags and we’ll call it even.”

  I looked all around us and realized he was serious: there was nothing here. I also realized that Sean’s version of we’re here needed a serious overhaul.

  He shut the door and engaged the locks, and with my suitcase in one hand and three grocery bags and some ice in the other, he started off toward— Actually, I had no idea what he was heading toward.

  Hefting his duffel bag up onto my shoulder, I picked up the rest of the groceries and followed him, curious beyond belief.

  After a five-minute trek through more wilderness than I’d seen in the last year, there was a clearing in the trees, and when Sean came to a standstill and dropped the bags by his feet, I stopped beside him, my mouth falling open.

  Dead ahead was a tiny wooden…shack, if you could call it that. It had a front porch that was sloping on one side with a rocking chair, and an awning that had seen better days. There was a brick chimney at one end, covered in ivy, and wildflowers and tall grasses had over grown the wooden boards leading to the front door.

  All in all, it was charming in an overgrown kind of way. But this couldn’t actually be where he expected us to stay, could it?

  “Welcome to my home away from home, anchorman. Mi casa es su casa.”