Nautier and Wilder (21 page)

She knew he was close, and so was she. She wrapped her legs around his hips and lifted
against him. His groan was so enticing. She lifted her gaze to his, saw the need there,
and it made her pussy tighten around him.

“Christ,” he muttered, and reached for her knee, brought it forward and held her leg
there while he began to thrust in earnest.

As he drove in deep, she shattered.

“Jed,” she said, his name spilling from her lips as her climax thundered through her.

He followed, dropping down on her and shoving deep inside her, then gathering her
against him while he shuddered out his own orgasm. He tangled his fingers in her hair
and kissed her with a depth that left her breathless. She held onto him as if he were
her only lifeline in a storm at sea.

He rolled her to the side but didn’t let her go. Instead, they stayed like that for
a few amazing moments, with Jed stroking her hair and back and kissing her lips and
jaw.

She felt cherished. They might still be strangers and maybe it was because this was
just the first time and that’s why it felt special, but she still felt cherished,
and that was an unusual feeling.

Finally, he got up and went into the bathroom. She expected him to get dressed and
take off, but he came back and climbed into bed with her, pulled the covers over them
both and drew her against him.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

NINE

J
ed woke with a start. Disoriented, it took him a few seconds to remember where he
was.

Elena’s apartment. He felt her body next to his, pressed intimately against him.

But that’s not what woke him.

Something was wrong.

He didn’t want to disturb Elena or make any sound, so he stayed still, listening.

There. Downstairs. Footsteps.

He shook Elena awake. She moaned and he leaned near her ear. “I think someone is downstairs.”

Her eyes shot open.

Jed took a look at the alarm on the wall next to her bed.

Nothing. No blinking, no alert. Dead silent.

Shit. He knew he’d installed a foolproof alarm system, and that he’d set and armed
it. That someone was in the house meant that whoever was inside was good enough to
bypass his alarm system.

No routine burglary this time.

He pointed to her clothes and a pair of tennis shoes across the room. She nodded and
slipped out of bed as silently as he did. He grabbed his clothes and slipped into
them, got his gun and moved over to her. “Car keys,” he whispered.

She shifted her gaze to the kitchen. There, on the counter. He nodded and took her
hand, and that’s when he heard the creak.

Bottom stair. He’d heard it himself a few times coming up and down her stairs. It
was a good alert.

She squeezed his fingers. He turned to her and motioned with his head for her to stay
quiet, then backed up to the terrace. The night was warm so they’d left the door open.
He pushed her outside.

“Stay here.”

She grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

“To see who’s in your shop.”

“We should call the police.”

He nodded. “I will.” He pushed her down. “Stay here and out of sight. I’ll be right
back.”

As soon as he figured out if it was someone after what was in her shop, or someone
after Elena.

He stepped back into the room and inched over to the doorway leading to the stairs,
listening for further sounds of approaching footsteps. He slowed his breathing down,
trying to force the adrenaline to calm so he could hear something other than the rush
of blood in his veins and his pounding heart.

Once he was calm, he listened. Nothing. Whoever had made the noise on the bottom step
must have changed their mind, at least for now.

Until he saw the movement at the top of the stairs.

Shit. Someone had infinite patience, and after he’d made the sound at the bottom of
the stairs, had probably stopped and waited to see if someone came after him. When
no one had, he’d continued coming up the stairs.

Jed crouched down as the guy reached the top of the stairs and rounded the corner.

After that it happened fast. The intruder moved in a hurry, spotted Elena and pointed
his gun.

Jed pushed off and attacked, kicking the gun out of his hand.

The intruder sent off a kick and Jed’s gun went flying, as did Jed. The guy dove for
his gun but Jed tackled him, taking an elbow to the face and barely dodging a lethal
move meant to kill, not incapacitate.

This guy meant business, and now so did Jed, who hadn’t intended to do anything but
disable the gunman. But this guy was determined to take him down, then either kill
or capture Elena, and Jed wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

They rolled across the floor together, strength fighting strength. Jed fought a hard
blow to the chin and knocked the guy in the throat with his elbow. As the guy fought
for breath, Jed knocked a lamp over, grabbed the cord and wrapped it around the guy’s
throat.

He fought it off, rolled over Jed and gave him a hard kick to the kidney that had
Jed wincing. He struggled for breath, the room spinning, saw the other guy running
for his gun. Jed leaped up, dashed for his, turned, aimed and fired.

A fraction of a second faster than the gunman, who went down like a crumbling building,
hitting the floor with a thud.

Elena came running in. She fell to her knees next to Jed and put her hands on his
face.

“Are you all right?”

Jed nodded, gasping for breath. “Fine.”

She shifted her gaze to the guy across the room.

“Is he dead?”

Jed pushed up and walked over to the intruder, kicked the gun away and laid his fingers
on the guy’s neck.

“Yup. Dead.”

“Oh, my God,” Elena said, wide eyed, her hand over her mouth.

This whole assignment had gone to shit in an instant.

“I’m going to check downstairs. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. Should we call the police?”

“No.” At her shocked look, he added, “Not yet.”

He raised his gun and hustled downstairs, but he figured this guy had been working
alone. He checked the alarm, saw how the guy had circumvented it.

Clever. Dammit.

He searched the entire store. Front door was secure. No one else was here. He dashed
back upstairs to find Elena still in the same spot he’d left her. He wanted to comfort
her, but now wasn’t the time.

“We need to get out of here.”

Her gaze shot to his. “What? Why?”

“Because my guess is this guy here isn’t working alone, and his backup can’t be far
behind.”

“We’re leaving him here, in my apartment?”

“Yeah. Come on, we need to go.”

“But the police . . .”

“We need to get out of here now. You’re in danger.”

He grabbed her hand. She resisted. “I’m in danger? I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t. But I’ll explain on the way.”

“On the way to where?”

“Somewhere other than here. You’re not safe. Let’s go.”

She dug in her heels and refused to move.

This wasn’t going at all the way he’d planned. Then again, he hadn’t planned on someone
breaking in to kill her, or kidnap her, or whatever the hell the guy had come in here
to do. He wished he had time to sit her down and explain it all to her, but Elena’s
safety was his number one mission.

He turned to her and took her hands in his. “I promise I’ll explain everything to
you, but right now I have to get you someplace safe, and this isn’t it. I can almost
guarantee that whoever hired that guy will send someone else once he doesn’t check
in.”

She glanced over at the lump on the floor. “What was he sent here to do?”

“Either kidnap you or kill you.”

She went pale. He hated having to be so blunt, but it was the only way to get her
to move.

“Why?”

“This isn’t the place to explain. Let’s go.” He grabbed her keys and her hand and
headed to the back stairs. This time she cooperated. Her car was in the garage, so
Jed unlocked the garage door and flipped on the light, his gun raised. He checked
out the garage and cleared it and the Chevelle before letting Elena climb into the
passenger side.

He opened the garage door, checking the outside thoroughly, then got in and started
the engine, wincing as the Chevelle roared to life. Any other time he’d feel a thrill
at the 396 engine powering up. Now he wished she whispered like a kitten.

But the Harley wouldn’t be any quieter and he wanted the safety of four doors and
a roof to protect Elena. Plus the Chevy had some power behind her—if they needed to
move, she’d haul some serious ass.

He pulled out, dropped the garage door down and locked it, then inched to the end
of the alley. It was the middle of the night, and despite the rally, traffic was light,
so he pulled onto the main street, keeping his eye on the rearview mirror to see if
they were being followed. When he’d made enough twists and turns and gone in circles
enough times he was certain he didn’t have a tail, he pulled out his phone.

“What’s wrong?” Grange asked as soon as he picked up the phone.

“Hey, Grange, it’s Jed.”

“You can’t talk freely.”

“No kidding. It’s been a while. Just wanted to let you know I was in town. And hey,
I know it’s short notice, but my friend and I need a place to stay.”

“You’re compromised. You need a safe house.”

“I know. We kind of got run out of our place. If you can’t, I understand.”

Grange sighed. “I’ll give you directions and an address. We’ll pick you up.”

“You’re a lifesaver. I knew I could count on you.”

He gave Jed the address and directions. It wasn’t far from their current location.

“We’ll be there soon. Thanks.”

“Keep eyes in the back of your head,” Grange said.

“You got it.”

Jed hung up and started the trek south. Miles of shoreline flew by on his left, houses
and hotels on his right. After a while he plunged into darkness. He hoped he didn’t
pass the place.

“So that was a friend of yours on the phone?” Elena asked.

“Yeah. Someone I trust.”

“Jed.”

“Yeah.”

“You need to tell me what’s happening.”

“I will. Once I get you safe.” She was just going to have to trust him for now. And
he was going to have to make up one hell of a bunch of lies once they got to Grange’s
place. Hopefully Grange would help him with that, because he had no idea what he was
going to tell her.

He’d like to tell her the truth—that she had an uncle—family that cared about her
and worried for her safety. But that wasn’t his call to make. If Grange wanted to
stay out of the family picture, that was his decision.

Jed intended to do his job, which was to keep her safe, and that was all he was going
to do.

Though he’d just done more than that tonight, hadn’t he?

He’d made love to her. And it’d been damn good. He could still smell her on him, could
taste her, could feel the way her body responded to him over and over again.

His cock tightened and he had to push those thoughts away.

He’d screwed up and gotten involved.

Then again, if he hadn’t been there tonight, he might have been too late. Someone
had punched through his alarm system and gotten to Elena. Jed knew how to wire an
alarm, so this guy was an expert. If Jed hadn’t been there . . .

He didn’t want to think about what might have happened.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“It’s not much farther.” He searched for the marker the general had told him would
be there. Only another few miles or so.

There it was. A stone proclaiming a historical landmark. Just past that, a turnoff,
barely noticeable amid the desolation of the landscape.

He made the right turn into the pitch-black darkness. The road bumped and he wished
for his four-wheel-drive SUV.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were kidnapping me.”

He sensed the nervousness in her voice. She didn’t know him better. She didn’t know
him at all.

He had to hold the wheel with both hands so he couldn’t reach out to reassure her.
Instead, he shot her a quick smile. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

It was going to be okay. That was a promise he meant to keep.

Elena had no idea where she was, where they were going, or what had happened tonight.
It was all so quick.

She’d been asleep, warm and tucked in against Jed. And suddenly, he’d woken her and
her entire world had changed.

Someone was in her house. Someone with a gun. Jed had taken over, there’d been an
awful, ugly fight, and he’d had to shoot the intruder. Then he’d dragged her out of
her house telling her that her life was in danger.

She didn’t know who to trust or what to believe anymore.

She wanted to believe Jed. He’d been her savior on more than one occasion.

Unless . . .

She glanced over at him as he maneuvered the ruts in the road, so confident, so amazingly
handsome. She remembered his hands and his mouth on her body earlier tonight, and
she warmed past the chill she couldn’t seem to shake.

But how much did she really know about him? And how odd was it that he showed up at
the same time these things started happening to her? And how convenient that he was
in security, and he’d been the one to install the alarm in her shop?

The alarm that hadn’t worked tonight.

She wrapped her arms around herself and drew her knees to her chest to ward off the
goose bumps.

Had he set her up to trust him? Had this all been some elaborate scheme to put her
in this place with him right now?

Just because a man was gorgeous and seemingly capable didn’t mean he couldn’t be a
bad guy, a thief, a kidnapper or something even worse.

God, had she blindly trusted him and put herself in danger? Was she that stupid? She
had no cell phone, no purse, no credit cards, nothing but the clothes on her back
and the car Jed drove. They’d been in such a hurry to get out of the house—no, Jed
had insisted they move fast; she hadn’t even thought about grabbing her phone or her
purse.

Stupid move. Now she had no way to call for help. If she even needed to call for help.

She didn’t even know where they were. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t
paid attention to landmarks. They’d gone south on the highway. But now he’d driven
into some swampland and they were God only knows where.

Someplace remote. There were no houses, no hotels, no lights. Nothing but a barren
wasteland, a remote, single-lane road with water on both sides.

Where the hell was he taking her?

“Jed.”

“It’s just up ahead.”

Her mother would think of this as a great adventure. Elena was going to be downright
pissed if she ended up butchered to death by some guy she’d just had phenomenal sex
with and not even live to tell Marco about it.

Marco had liked him. And Marco was usually a great judge of people. He frequently
pointed out the losers she dated, steered her away from guys he told her were no good
for her. He was a lot like her mother in that respect.

So if this one ended up being a serial killer, it was going to be all Marco’s fault.

Well. At least she’d retained her sense of humor.

There. They broke through a clearing. They were on a point at a hill, the ocean at
a distance.

Jed put the car in park.