Everything to Lose (3 page)

She nodded and let her hand drop. Instead of talking as he’d promised, once they were inside he grabbed one of her suitcases from the closet and started tossing her clothing and other belongings inside. When he turned his back to take more clothes out of the closet she sat on the suitcase. Sure, it was a slightly childish act but the man was determined to drive her mad.

“What are you doing?”

“You said we could talk.”

“And we will, once we’re—”

“No! I want to know what’s going on. Now.” Maybe it was the way she said now but he finally stopped.

He crossed his arms over his massive chest but at least he started talking. “A man named Richard Coleman made some personal threats against me. Me personally, not the department. To make a long story short, Coleman is heavily involved with supplying drugs to most of the East Coast.”

“Let me guess, you pissed him off.”

Despite his intense expression, a chuckle escaped and a brief smile graced his handsome face. Something she missed seeing. “You could say that. In addition to evidence, I finally found some people to testify against him.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“This is the first time he hasn’t been able to eliminate the witnesses.”

“And you think he sent someone after me? Don’t you think that’s a little crazy, going after a cop’s wife?” She pushed up off the suitcase and took a more comfortable position on the bed.

“He’s made serious verbal threats against me and with you here now, I’m not taking any chances. Especially after what just happened. He’s obviously moving fast so we’re leaving town tonight.”

“No Sean. If you’ll just sign those papers, I’ll leave. Then he’ll see how unimportant I am to you.”

His jaw clenched but he didn’t shout or overreact like she’d expected. Instead he walked over to the small refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of orange juice. Her heart leapt. Maybe he was coming around after all.

Something strange happened at the thought. Tears threatened to well up. “Give me a second okay?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer. She escaped to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Being around him shouldn’t affect her so much but it did. How could she even be upset? She wanted this. After drying her face, she walked back out.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little stressed.”

“Here, this will help.” He handed her one of the bottles which she took greedily. She’d been too nervous to eat all day and her heart was still racing from the earlier events. She took a couple of sips as he leaned against the long dresser.

“I don’t understand why you won’t at least talk about us or spend some time with me.”

“What’s the point?” She hated saying the words but it seemed being blunt was the only chance she had of getting through his thick skull that they were over.

“The point is you never gave us a chance,” he growled.

“Please don’t start this. We tried and we failed. We’re just too different.”

“Damn it Caitlyn, you’ve got to know I still love you.” The raw honesty in his voice tugged at her insides.

She took another sip of her orange juice to avoid eye contact, then looked down at her lap. “I love you too but that’s not enough if you can’t treat me as an equal.”

“I do—”

“No, you don’t. You made your feelings perfectly clear about me and my shortcomings…shor…”

In slow motion, she watched the small plastic bottle slip from her hand. The room started to spin and it was all she could do to sit up.

“I’m sorry,” Sean murmured as he walked up to her and helped her lay back against one of the pillows.

Sorry? She wanted to ask why but the words wouldn’t form in her mouth. Her tongue was too heavy. Before she had a chance to think about what was going on, blackness engulfed her.

Sean pulled into the driveway of the three bedroom cabin his friend let him use while he was out of town for the next six months. The drive was relatively short so after long jobs he used the place to unwind. When he put his truck in park, he finally allowed himself a breath of relief. He’d only stopped once to fill up with gas and now they were no longer in Florida but southern Georgia, miles from civilization. Just like he’d planned.

Caitlyn had mumbled something unintelligible a few times and the sedative he’d given her was due to wear off soon. He wanted to get her inside before she woke up. He knew he was doing a shitty thing but in his opinion, all might not be fair in war but it sure as hell was fair in love. He picked her up and tried to ignore her fresh scent. There was something she exuded that was all her. It didn’t come from a bottle and it had been driving him crazy since their first date.

He still got hot when he thought about the first time he saw her. He’d been at the hospital, going to visit a friend and she’d stepped onto the same elevator and looked at him with her electric green eyes and he’d frozen.

Literally.

He’d stared at her until she’d glanced away, a little nervously he’d noted. Somehow, in the thirty second ride, he’d redeemed himself of his strange behavior and later that day he convinced her to have coffee with him. It might have only been in the hospital cafeteria but it was the only opening he’d needed.

Before Caitlyn he’d never thought much about marriage or even short term commitments. Women were too much of a hassle and never seemed to understand his strange work hours. However, after their first conversation, he’d known she was it. She’d wanted to wait to get married but he wanted everyone within a thousand mile radius to know she was his.

Balancing her delicate body in his arms he unlocked the front door and headed for the stairs located right off the foyer. Glancing down at her still form, he inwardly shook his head. It was hard to believe things had come to this between them. When they’d gotten married everyone had marveled at what a perfect couple they were. And they had been.

After her miscarriage though, he’d handled things poorly. Blamed her for stuff that was out of her control. Anyone’s control. In a way, a small part of him was surprised she’d stuck around as long as she had, considering what an asshole he’d been. Now after five short years of marriage, he’d resorted to kidnapping his own wife.

He gently placed her on the bed in the master suite and returned to grab everything else. About ten minutes later, everything was inside, even if it was still packed and downstairs. He’d just started preparing spicy Thai chicken and rice when a loud crash sounded from above the kitchen, followed by a string of colorful curses.

Only seconds passed before she stormed into the kitchen, auburn hair flying around her face like a crazed Amazon warrior.

“What the hell is going on and where am I?” Hands on hips, she stood under the arched entryway, looking ready to cut his heart out.

And he was incredibly turned on. His cock strained painfully against his jeans. One tiny woman shouldn’t have such an effect on him. He cleared his throat. “Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll fix you dinner?”

Instead of joining him, she mumbled another colorful expletive—one he’d never heard before—and turned on her heel and left the room.

Sean returned to preparing dinner. He’d let her cool off. She might be angry but she’d get over it. After setting the table and pouring their drinks, he realized that it was quiet.

Too quiet.

He dried his hands and walked out into the hall. He had a partial view of the stairs but it was silent upstairs. His heart dropped but when he patted his pant leg, some of his fear abated. The truck keys were still there.

As he turned back toward the kitchen a rumble from outside alerted him.
Shit!
He rushed to the front door and flew outside. He’d forgotten about the Hide-a-key under the bumper. Obviously she hadn’t.

Kidnapping her had been a risk but he’d thought that once he got her here, she’d calm down. He should have known better than that.

Taillights disappeared down the gravel path. He had two choices and no time to decide. He could wait and hope she came back but that wasn’t really an option. After a two second internal debate, he sprinted into the woods. Branches and leaves scraped against his arms, legs and face but he ignored everything. The path she was on curved around but he had a straight shot through the forest. If only he could make it around the bend before her.

Since it was dark and she didn’t know where she was going, he hoped she’d be driving a little slower. His heart pounded against his rib cage as he jumped over a fallen tree. The sound of his truck rumbled not too far away but he was still ahead of her. He pushed through a clearing and skidded onto the gravel road. Standing in the middle of the path, he crossed his arms over his chest and hoped she wasn’t so mad that she wouldn’t stop.

Bright lights nearly blinded him but the truck stopped a couple of feet in front of him. Gravel flew everywhere. When the lights turned off and he got a clear picture of Caitlyn, he resisted the urge to run and hide. The statement was cliché but if looks could have killed, he’d be flat on his back and not breathing.

She jumped out of the vehicle, her thick hair flying everywhere and stormed over until they stood inches apart. “What the hell are you doing? Get out of my way!” She pushed against his chest.

Not hard but enough to make her point. As if he didn’t realize she was pissed. “Why don’t you just calm down and we’ll talk over dinner?”

“I’m not eating anything with you. For all I know, you poisoned that too. And don’t tell me to calm down!” She stormed past him and continued walking down the road.

He watched her perfect ass sway as she hurried off and fought his already growing erection. The path was miles from a main road and without any light she’d hurt herself. He rubbed a hand over his face. He hated doing this as much as he’d hated bringing her there the way he had but he wasn’t going to spend the night chasing her down. Not when they could be doing much more interesting things. He jogged after her and in one swoop, threw her over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” She pounded on his back but he ignored her.

Once they made it to the truck, he put her down.

“I’m not staying with you so you might as well let me go.” A faint flush had risen over her face, like they’d just finished an all night marathon. That thought alone and his throat closed up.

Any thoughts he might have had about letting her go vanished. In a few fluid movements, he pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket and snapped them on her left wrist before attaching the other one to his right one.

Gape-mouthed, she stared at him. Okay, maybe he’d taken it too far but it was a quick fix to his problem.

“Are you going to get in the truck or what?”

“Where is the key to this?” she demanded and held up her hand, pulling his along with it.

“Back at the house.” He couldn’t keep the smug tone out of his voice.

“You’re a monster,” she muttered before sliding into the front seat.

He slid in after her and with a little maneuvering, managed to get them back to the cabin in a few minutes without crashing.

The second they walked through the front door, she demanded the key but he refused. Dinner was interesting. He tried to make conversation but she ignored him the entire time. He’d been on the receiving end of her silent treatments before and it was something he’d never gotten used to. He didn’t mind when she yelled but when she wouldn’t even talk to him, his gut twisted.

When they got upstairs however, she finally spoke to him. “Do you think you can let me go long enough to take a shower?”

Before he had a chance to give a smart-ass answer, she elbowed him in the ribs. “When did you get so violent?” he asked, half-jokingly.

“When my husband took acting like a Neanderthal to a new level.” She yanked her arm away when he unlocked the cuffs before slamming the bathroom door in his face.

When he heard the sound of running water, he left the room and retrieved her bags. Then he took a quick shower in his room and changed into boxers. He wasn’t leaving her alone until he knew she wasn’t going to do anything stupid. Like try to leave in the middle of the night. Twenty minutes later she walked out wearing a towel. His breath hitched when her lips pulled into a thin line. He was good at reading her moods and she’d had a chance to cool down. He wasn’t forgiven yet but he was close. And that was a very good thing for what he had planned.

“What are you doing in here, Sean? We’re not sharing a room.” Her voice was resigned, which made his gut clench.

Okay, this wasn’t going exactly like he’d planned. “Are you going to try to leave again?”

She paused, which was a good enough answer for him. He pulled out the cuffs again and she tried to struggle but she also had to hold up her towel with one hand. Thankfully for him, her need for modesty won out.

“So you expect me to sleep in a towel?” Caitlyn yanked hard against him once, then let her arm go slack.

“No, naked.” He couldn’t contain his grin.

Her cheeks flushed a delicious shade of pink and she glared at him. “Fine, we’ll make this work but you get to sleep on top of the covers.” He started to pull down his boxers but she grabbed his arm and stopped him. “With your clothes
on
.”

He hadn’t planned to sleep naked, he just liked getting a rise out of her sometimes. When her green eyes flared a little brighter, he had to remind himself to breathe.

It took some controlled choreography but they both managed to get into the bed without killing each other. When she was finally settled in, he took a chance. With his free hand he stroked her arm, savoring the feel of her soft skin. The pain of living without her had been too much and the rational part of him was having a hard time comprehending that she was really there in front of him.

“That’s not a good idea,” she murmured and half-turned over.

Away from him. He fought the pang in his gut. Why couldn’t she just yell at him and get it over with?

She pulled as far away as she could while still connected to him. A few seconds later she turned back. “Okay, I’m going to lay my head on your chest but only because you insist on keeping me manacled and I can’t get comfortable.”

He didn’t respond. Just let her stretch out against him. His heart beat erratically against his rib cage as her body lengthened against his. Yeah, this wasn’t going to work. Not for what he had planned.

He half rolled over and retrieved the key. When the distinctive click of the cuffs unsnapped, she stiffened beside him. “What are you doing?” she whispered, obviously confused.

Without responding, he guided her hand up to the intricate iron headboard. By the time she figured out what he was doing, he’d snapped both wrists snugly up through one of the loops.

Slowly, methodically, he pulled her towel away. And she didn’t try to stop him once. In the darkness it was difficult to see everything but he was already rock hard anyway. Just touching her, breathing in her scent and his cock hardened painfully.

“Sean, what are you doing?” A note of panic flashed in her voice and she started to thrash around.

“Have I ever hurt you?” He stilled his hands.

In response, her body relaxed next to his. “You still didn’t answer the question.”

“I’m helping you loosen up and I need both hands to do it,” he murmured against her ear. He pulled the towel completely away and sucked in a deep breath. With her hands bound above her head, her small perfect breasts pushed upward. All for him.

His throat clenched as he stared at her. He never should have let her walk out. Not for a second. He should have cuffed her to a bed a year ago and made love to her until leaving was the last thing on her mind.

Her breathing came in shallow gasps as she stared at his face. No doubt he looked ready to devour her. Which he planned to do. But not yet.

Slow down
, he repeated to himself.

She opened her mouth to speak again, no doubt to tell him this was a bad idea so he didn’t give her the chance. He captured her mouth with his. If she wasn’t talking or thinking, she could let go of any restraints. He traced her full lips with his tongue, savoring her sweetness. Caitlyn had a taste and scent that was pure
her.
And he missed it more than he’d realized until this moment.

He tugged on her bottom lip, pulling a moan from her.
Good
, that’s what he needed to hear. With one hand he kneaded her soft breasts, alternating until both nipples were rock hard, rosy buds. Arching her back, she pushed up and moaned. Her words were indecipherable but he knew what she wanted.

He remembered everything she liked. The handcuffs were a new thing but she apparently liked that too. His head dipped and while he flicked and palmed one nipple, he sucked hard on the other, extracting a strangled whimper from her.

“More.” The word tore from her throat.

Her legs clenched together as she tried to ease the ache. An ache he understood. His cock throbbed painfully but tonight was about her. He splayed his hand across her rib cage, felt the staccato beat of her heart, moved to her flat stomach. The muscles of her stomach were so tight and bunched, he knew she was still nervous. And he hated that.