Imminent Danger (Adrenaline Highs) (39 page)

“Where I made you buy clothes that cost the equivalent of your next vacation.”

“Shut up,” she said, smacking his chest, but she was laughing and he liked that. She had a great laugh. Low and husky. It matched the rest of her very sexy self. She straightened his collar and her fingers lingered. Then her green-eyed gaze locked onto his.

Leo took her hand and held it against his chest. Usually, he couldn’t get away from a woman fast enough after he slept with her. But he’d never run across a woman who wanted to get away from him.

“So I guess I should go,” she whispered, but she glanced at his lips and heat simmered under his skin.

“Yeah,” he said. Only he didn’t mean it. Maybe he could keep her here, maybe if he… Leo bent his head and she leaned up and before he knew it, their lips brushed in a soft tantalizing taste. He still had her bag in one hand and couldn’t—fuck it—he dropped the bag and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her flush against his chest as he took the kiss into hotter territory. Tonsil territory.

He let go of her hand just so he could wrap her up tight in his arms and feel her heat. One of her warm palms cupped his nape while the other fisted the collar she’d recently tried to fix. Everything faded away except the taste and softness of the woman in his arms. The way she kissed him back with the same amount of need, the same desire.

A couple of flashes and clicks brought Leo out of the moment and he looked up to see a guy with a camera. One more flash that nearly blinded Leo and the kid took off running.

“Great,” he muttered.

“Who was that?” Kim asked. She cleared the husky out of her voice.

“Paparazzi, probably.” He looked at her. “Sorry about that. Be prepared to be page one of a rag magazine.”

She shrugged it off. “Whatever. I’m nobody. Doesn’t matter. And I’m leaving,” she reminded him. She started to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“Wrong.” He searched her eyes. “You aren’t a nobody to me.”

Her soft smile cut that same path deeper in his chest. “I better not be after the past week. I better be your best friend. Or at least a good friend.”

That’s what it was. She’d become his friend. He admittedly didn’t have too many of those. But Kim had forced him to sit down with her and she’d shown him everything he’d been too busy or bored or not interested enough to learn when it came to his money. She’d forced him to grow up.

He nodded. “A great friend,” he said. A great friend he’d laughed with and made love to. “And to think you didn’t like me,” he said, teasing her as he nuzzled his nose against hers.

“Yeah, just goes to show you that I am occasionally wrong about things.” She leaned up and gave him a soft kiss. He was a heartbeat away from diving in for another hot, slick tonsil tango when she stepped out of his arms and reached for her bag.

He snagged it out of her hands. “I’ve got it. C’mon, I’ll walk you in.”

“You told me you hate airports,” she said, falling into step next to him. “You don’t have to walk me in. I’m a big girl.”

“Trust me. I know that. I want to.”

The mile-long security line gave Leo a few more minutes with her. The people around them asked for pictures and autographs.

Kim grabbed his shirt and tugged him close after the last few left. “Go home. I know you don’t want to be here.”

Wrong. He wanted to be wherever she was even if he had to put up with strangers. “We’re almost at the end. I’ll take off when they send you through. Another ten yards.” God, he was pathetic…and so fucking scared to face this mountain without her.

She looked torn. Maybe he had half a chance of her changing her mind. “You’ll call those numbers I left on your desk and finalize the pick-ups for the auction items?” A subject he didn’t want to talk about.

He caught her gaze and nodded. “Check. Numbers on the desk. Finalize the pick-ups. Anything else?”

“The list is in the file on the desk. You can’t miss it.”

They moved up in line and Kim reached up and kissed him softly. “Go,” she said at his lips. “Go home.”

The place that wouldn’t be his home much longer. He hated the sympathy in her eyes.

Fuck that.

He slapped on the Leo smile that wooed millions of women around the world. “I’ll see you around,” he said with a casualness that implied they’d never made love or kissed or done anything else that two people who had been highly intimate would do. He sauntered out of the line and walked out of the sliding doors without a backward glance.

Just one more Oscar winning performance.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ten days after the ordeal, Abbey slipped into Blake’s old room at his parents’ house. His bruises had almost all healed thanks to his mother’s holistic cream. The royal blue paint brought out the color of his eyes as he eased up against the headboard of the double bed. Tons of trophies, pictures and sports books filled the giant oak bookcase on the sidewall.

After his five-day hospital stay, his mom had insisted he come home to recuperate. Blake hadn’t argued. He’d told Abbey no one argued with his mother when she gave
the finger.
Her index finger. She didn’t use it often, but Abbey had learned that when Terry St. John stuck that thing out and gave her famous narrow-eyed stare, it meant the recipient was in for a Battle Royale. Still Blake insisted this was his last night at home and wanted back in his apartment. Abbey suspected he wanted privacy so he could ease the ache he’d been talking about, an ache that only she could relieve.

“Your man parts can wait a few more days,” she’d scolded last week. Besides, his two cracked ribs still made it tough for him to move, and she didn’t see any chance in hell of being intimate with him for at least a week, and more like three.

His face lit up when he saw her. The cuts and bruises had faded. So had hers. The man she adored with all her heart patted the bed next to him. “Are you the evening shift? Because I am in dire need of some TLC.”

Abbey bent low and kissed his lips lightly before sitting next to him. “Not only am I the evening shift, but your mother and father are going out for dinner and a movie. You’re going to be stuck with only me for about the next four hours.”

Blake’s jaw nearly hit his chest. “What? Are you serious?”

She practically saw the word
sex
written across his eyeballs as he reached for her and she deftly batted his arms away. “They’re still here. Your mom’s getting ready, then she’s coming in to tell you to behave while they’re gone.”

Blake scoffed. “She’s not the boss of me.”

“Yes, she is,” his father said from the hallway as he walked past the room. “She’s the boss of all of us,” he called as he trudged downstairs.

Abbey could totally see how his mom ruled the kingdom. She’d watched how all of Blake’s brothers had been on their best behavior in her presence and saved the brotherly trash talk for when she left the room. It wasn’t that Terry was mean in any way, but she expected the best from her boys and the people they chose to bring into their lives. Abbey lifted an eyebrow. “I do not want to get on your mom’s bad side.”

“Pfft. She loves you. Are you kidding me? You’re her favorite kind of person.”

“Oh, yeah?” Abbey’s hopes sparked. Though they’d both been fixtures at Blake’s hospital bedside, their conversations had revolved more around Blake. “What kind of person is that?”

“The kick-ass kind.” Blake grinned up at her. “Tell me again.” The unmistakable pride in his eyes made her feel a hundred feet tall. She couldn’t believe this gorgeous man belonged to her.

Glancing at the ceiling, Abbey shook her head. Her first retelling of the story had been scary, but the more she told it, the braver she became. “No. You’ve heard it a dozen times already, I’m not telling you again.”

He stuck his bottom lip out in a little boy pout. “Please.” He pulled her closer and kissed her softly. “One last time and I won’t ask you ever again.”

That was a new one. “Really? Not ever again?”

Blake tipped his head from side to side. “Well, I mean, you’ll have to tell our grandkids.”

What!
Abbey leaned back, her eyes wide. “What are you talkin’ about, boy?”

Laughing, Blake grabbed his chest. “No fair. You can’t make me laugh. It hurts.” He flustered her faster than anyone else on the planet.

She stood up next to the bed. “You can’t throw out a bomb like that and not expect a big reaction. We’re not even official yet,” she added.

His smile vanished and his blue eyes softened. “We are most definitely official, Ab.” He reached for her hand and brought her back down on the bed. “I am officially yours from now until the end of time.”

Heat blazed into Abbey’s cheeks. “Blaaake.” He was the sweetest, most amazing man in the world.

“Abbeeeey,” he said back. He stroked a lock of hair off her cheek. “Tell me,” he whispered.

Goose bumps rose along her arms when he touched her like that. “Fine.” He wanted to hear about that minute in the living room when she’d been in that dickwad’s grasp and Kwami had gone after him. “I told you I had the knife in my purse, which was around my neck the whole time. He didn’t even think about frisking me. He found me in the closet and I shot him, but not enough to do serious damage. His left arm wasn’t working very well since I shot his shoulder. He not only had his gun in his right hand, but he had that same arm around my neck. I thought Kwami was going to kill you and I had to remind myself to be on the offensive, not the defensive, so I went limp. I thought if I could force him down then shoot back up again, I could knock his head back and throw him off balance long enough to reach for the knife in my purse.”

“And where’d you get that brilliant idea?” Blake asked, the smile back on his face.

“I happened to see someone’s boot that had a knife in it and it gave me the idea to carry one myself.”

“Must be one smart person.” He lifted a dark eyebrow twice and made her laugh.

“Anyway,” she went on. “I reached for the knife. I don’t even remember slicing him. I just remember yanking it out and up and spinning at the same time. The next thing I knew he was on the floor holding his neck.” She shuddered and doubted she’d be able to retell this story so many times if the man hadn’t survived. Somehow, she’d missed his jugular and because paramedics arrived at the scene so fast, he’d survived, just as Kwami had. “I’m just glad it’s over.” At least until the trial started. But that was many months away.

“I still can’t believe Paul Facinetti’s cousin was part of the whole ring. Makes me wonder if anyone in that family is on the up and up.”

“It explains how they knew about the Santa Monica house,” Abbey said. “It was the perfect place to hide out since it’s all boarded up. I just wish they’d find that cousin already.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Did Troy ever say whether it was Wyncott or Facinetti who found out about their accountant’s knack for stealing their money?” Abbey asked.

Blake shook his head. “Not yet. Wyncott hasn’t said anything and Michael is still underground.” He squeezed her hand. “I don’t want to talk about them anymore. They give me heartburn.” The look in his eyes as he watched her was pure pride. Pure love. “C’mere,” he whispered and she leaned over and gave him a soft kiss.

“Blake,” his mom said from the hallway before entering his room. Abbey pulled away quickly and stood next to the bed as Terry came in. Dressed in straight leg jeans with awesome black high-heeled boots and a black, flowing shirt that accentuated her beautiful figure, Blake’s mom looked almost half her age. “Listen to Abbey while we’re gone. We’ll be home around eleven.”

“Mom, I’m not ten.” Blake rolled his eyes like a ten year old and Terry lifted her brows at Abbey as if to prove her point. A look only a mother could pull off. To which Blake rolled his eyes again. Abbey bit back the urge to smile. She not only loved Blake but she was growing to love his parents too.

“Abbey, can I talk to you for one minute?” Terry motioned her out to the hallway and Abbey’s heart suddenly chugged faster.

Uh oh. What did she do? Was she in trouble with Terry?

In the hallway, Terry linked her arm with Abbey’s. Even in those heels, Abbey had her by a couple of inches. “My son is completely in love with you, you know that right?”

Had Blake told her that? Or was it that obvious? Abbey swallowed. “Um…” No reason to lie. “Yes.”

“And you feel the same way about him?”

She watched Terry’s serious blue eyes for any sign of what might be in store, but had no clue where this was going. “Yes.” He’d helped her become the kind of woman she’d always wanted to be. Someone able to reach out and grab all life had to offer. “I love him very much.”

Terry nodded and a smile broke over her face. She winked. “I kind of thought so, but I wanted to be sure. I love my kids more than anything Abbey and I’ll do anything for them. And for the people they choose to love. So from now on, our home is your home. Your problems are our problems. We’re a unit and even if the boys don’t live here anymore, we stick together. Blake told me your parents moved to North Carolina a couple of years ago, so if you’re ever feeling like you need a mother’s shoulder to cry on or just some girl time, you can always call me.”

A fresh sense of belonging hit Abbey straight in the heart. “Thank you,” she replied. To be included so unconditionally in such a close family made her chest tight. She missed her parents and Bernie like crazy so this offer meant the world to her.