PS02 - Without Regret (36 page)

The idea of kissing him again had her nearly squirming in her seat so she forced herself to concentrate.

“Use the restroom in the front of the store,” he said as he uncuffed her right hand. “Don’t even think about taking off,” he

warned and she would have said a few choice words about the veiled threat, but as soon as the last cuff was off she was out of

the vehicle and doing a power walk towards the store. When he yelled at her to slow down she didn’t even bother to look over

her shoulder as she gave him a one finger salute.

*********

Where the hell was everyone, he wondered as he shoved his personal phone in his front pocket and headed towards the

restrooms at the front of the store. He called his brother, father, sister, grandmother and even Madison and no one answered.

He wasn’t too surprised when Madison didn’t answer. She was pissed at him after all.

The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint Madison, but he really didn’t have much of a choice and in time she’d

understand that. He knew that she wanted him to have someone of his own, but she had to realize that there was no way he

could accept her if that meant that he had to leave his family behind. That was too much to ask of him. He couldn’t spend the

rest of his life worried about his family and helpless to keep them safe.

At least by sending Izzy to an island compound he would never have to worry about her being safe. He could find out how she

was doing any minute of the day.

Not that he expected her to talk to him after this. No, he knew the second she was escorted onto the plane that would take her

away from everyone and everything that she’d ever known that she would truly hate him.

She might claim to hate him now, but he knew that was bullshit right along with her claiming to like Joshua more than she liked

him. If this connection was screwing with her the same way that it was screwing with him then he knew she actually preferred

to be around him and that everything in her calmed when he was around and she felt whole.

There was no question that Madison and his father were his best friends, the people he felt most comfortable with, trusted and

loved, but he’d never felt this with either one of them. When he was around Izzy he felt comfortable, relaxed, whole and happy.

He only met her a few days ago, but he couldn’t help the way he felt, especially since they completed their mating, a mistake he

didn’t plan on making again no matter how badly he wanted to sink into her again.

Just thinking about fucking her had his balls pulling tight and his dick filling. Something he didn’t need in the middle of a busy

store, he mused and he paused in front of the restrooms and nearly groaned at the “Do not enter” signs posted on each door.

Great, just what he needed, he thought as he pulled out his Sentinel phone and scanned his thumb. Twenty seconds later he

activated the tracker he’d placed in Izzy’s back pocket the last time he groped her beautiful ass.

He really needed to stop think about her ass, he decided as he discreetly shifted his pants to hide his growing erection. Relief

surged through him when he saw that she was still in the store, not that he wouldn’t have been able to track her down, but he

didn’t want to prolong this any longer than necessary. The faster they got the hell out of here and to Boston the better. He really

didn’t know how much longer he could stand being around her and not touch her again.

It was just another reason why she had to go. He couldn’t handle feeling like this about anyone. He needed his head clear and

his dick down if he was going to do his fucking job and he couldn’t do that with Izzy around making him feel relaxed and horny.

He just hoped that when she left that his damn dick would get back in the game and behave.

For twenty-seven years he barely noticed it. Now he couldn’t help but notice and he was half afraid that he was starting to think

with it. Since meeting her, the damn thing was at half-mast most of the time. Maybe he should pick up some loose jeans while

he was here, he thought just as his Sentinel phone rang.

“Thank god,” he murmured when he saw that it was Eric calling him. The man better have his ass in gear and ready to take his

little tormentor off his hands.

“Hey, Eric,” he said as he headed towards the back of the store.

“Chris, I need you to do me a favor,” Eric said in way of greeting and he knew the man was about to fuck him over. “I need you

to hole up in a hotel for a day, two at the most.”

This was not fucking happening.

“Why?” he asked as he tried not to let his irritation show. He could not spend another day with Izzy. It was already going to be

hard on both of them when they had to separate. Prolonging the inevitable was not in their best interest, definitely not his. He

already found himself enjoying being around her and couldn’t risk her doing the same. He might be an asshole, but that didn’t

mean he wanted her hurt and keeping this going longer would only hurt her in the end.

“The shit hit the fan and I can’t get you and Isabella into Boston safely right now. I need you to stay low until I can find a way

to sneak you into the city. I don’t know if they found out or if it’s just pure shit luck, but Boston is being swamped right now

with demons, vampires and mercenaries and they’re all looking for your mate.”

“Fuck me,” he snapped, earning a gasp from an elderly woman as he passed the men’s section.

“Exactly. Give me a day or two to deal with a few things and I can get you into the city,” Eric explained. That wouldn’t work

for them and right now was not the time or the place to go into it with Eric.

“How about this? I’ll take her to the Manhattan compound and wait for you there,” he suggested. He’d still be stuck with her

for a few days, but he was pretty sure he could avoid her easily enough in the large skyscraper until Eric was able to come get

her.

“No, I need her in Boston,” was Eric’s answer and Chris barely bit back the stream of curses that were threatening to break

out.

“Then let me bring her in. We both know I can get her in there undetected,” Chris suggested, hoping, hell praying that Eric

would go for it. Every second he was with his little mate he felt himself softening more and more.

After a slight pause Eric said, “No, I’m sorry, Chris.

You’re good, really good, but right now I need a guarantee that nothing and I mean absolutely nothing happens to Isabella,” he

said, sounding almost desperate.

That had him frowning. “What’s going on, Eric?”

“I can’t really go into it too much right now because I have a few other things that I really need to get to, but we want her

program Tattletale. After what you told me I spoke to a few contacts at the FBI and let’s just say her program would go a long

way to taking control back from the Masters,” Eric explained. “But, in order to do that I need her safe and happy, Chris.”

“Meaning,” Chris prompted, having a funny feeling he wasn’t going to like this at all.

“I need you to be nice to her. Use your connection with her to keep her calm and happy. We need her to feel comfortable with

us and accept the life that we can give her,” Eric stressed and Chris did his damndest not to wince. “Just don’t let her know that

we want it. I want her convinced to give it to us. From what I’ve read and heard that will be our only bet.”

Right now there was no chance in hell that Izzy would want to help them, especially with the way he’d been treating her. Since

he really didn’t think there was a chance in hell that he could do anything to change the way she felt about him, he decided that

he wouldn’t even bother trying. Not that he would tell Eric that. He wouldn’t.

No, the best thing for both of them was to continue to be the asshole she expected and use the time he was stuck with her to

either convince her to do whatever the hell Eric needed her to do or simply scare the shit out of her.

Either way he was pretty sure he’d find a way to get what he needed. Once he did her ass was going to be on a plane to Europe

and out of his hair.

“Okay,” he said, knowing he had very little choice in the matter, but they were going to do things his way. She was going to be

quiet, stay the hell out of his way and keep her little hands away from him, because he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t doom

them both to a lifetime of misery by fucking her

“Good. I have to go. Call if you run into any problems.”

“Wait,” Chris said, stopping him from hanging up.

“Have you heard from my family? I can’t seem to reach them.”

“They’re fine as far as I know.”

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem. Stay safe and remember what I said, make her happy,” Eric said before hanging up.

Keep her happy? Not a chance in hell at this point. But he could keep her safe and make her willing to give up her program. For

his job and his family he’d do whatever the hell he had to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to purposely hurt her even when she

pissed him off.

But he could definitely spank her beautiful ass, he thought seconds later when his smiling little mate pushed an overflowing

shopping cart towards him, which was actually kind of impressive since she’d only been in the store for twenty minutes.

“What the hell is all that shit?” he demanded.

She looked up at him, blinking innocently as she said, “Necessities.”

He cocked a brow as he picked up one of her “necessities” and held it up. “You really need a five pound bag of Hershey’s

kisses?”

She nodded solemnly. “I really do.”

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t buy me chocolate I’m probably going to take my misery out on your balls,” she said with a sweet

innocent smile that he found both hot and a little frightening.

Chapter 30

“Ow! Stop slapping my hand!” Chris bit out even as he reached across the table, again.

She didn’t even hesitate in slapping his hand again.

“Don’t touch my bacon,” she said simply as she pointed her butter knife at him, more than willing to use it if he came between

her the only food she’d had in days.

“It’s not like you’re going to be able to eat it all, Munchkin,” he grumbled.

“That’s what you think,” she said, narrowing her eyes on him in warning before she returned her attention back to the large

plate of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon and hash browns.

It was so good, she thought, moaning around a large bite of maple syrup soaked pancake. When she saw Chris’ hand edge

towards her plate again she raised the knife. His eyes shot to the knife and then back to her before he reached out and snatched

up a sausage link.

He chuckled when she kicked him under the small table and threw her a wink as he snatched her plate of extra bacon she’d

ordered and dug in.

“Why did you order just coffee if you were hungry?” she demanded, pulling the rest of her plates closer so that she could

protect them from the big jerk, but there really wasn’t much room to move anything on the small table in their hotel room so she

settled on warning him off with a glare.

“I wasn’t hungry then,” he said simply, reaching out once again, but this time snatching one of her large thick pancakes.

“Then order your own damn food!” she snapped, reaching out to rescue her poor pancake only to have the jerk roll it up and

stuff it into his mouth.

“Why when I can just steal your food?” he asked with a chuckle and a carefree smile that she liked. So she allowed him to steal

another pancake while she focused her attention on her hash browns.

She couldn’t remember ever being this hungry before.

Granted it had been more than twentyfour hours since the last time she ate, but she’d done that before and never felt like she’d

be sick if she didn’t eat something.

Sometimes when she worked she forgot to do simple things like sleep or eat. She usually became too focused on whatever

program she was working on at the time and forgot about everything else around her except emergency runs to the bathroom,

which she usually put off as long as possible and her never ending supply of Coke.

Speaking of Coke……

After she shoveled five huge bites of food in her mouth she stood up, snatched the sausage link from Chris’ lips and headed to

the waist high dark oak bureau and snatched up the loose change and crumbled one dollar bills that Chris tossed there an hour

ago.

“Where are we going, Munchkin?” Chris asked, getting up from the table, but not before shoving the last pancake in his mouth.

“We aren’t going anywhere,” she said as she sat down on the edge of the tan loveseat to pull on her new shoes.

“I’m going downstairs to hit the vending machines and get a Coke.”

He folded his arms over his bare chest and she nearly forgot what she was doing. Did he not realize that she found his bare

chest a bit distracting? She licked her lips, remembering how good it felt to touch him. It was too bad there was never going to

be a chance to do it again.

Not that the sex hadn’t been great it had even if it had been quick…..really quick. If it hadn’t been so damn good and still had

her toes curling every time she thought about it she might have felt bad for Chris. It was his first time, well according to him

and she’d admit that she hadn’t really believed him, but after that performance there was no doubt left in her mind.

It was probably the reason why he’d been such a surly bastard afterwards. He was probably mortified that he’d come so