He was amazed Tazz was listening to him. He was even more shocked the man wasn’t knocking down Kylie’s door for answers to the memory loss. The man he’d known most of his life wasn’t known for his patience, yet there he sat, not doing a damn thing except drinking a bottle of water.
Tazz had shut down. The man could hold his thoughts close to his chest when he wanted to, and as far as planning, he’d been damn near Einstein about it before, Dare couldn’t imagine him being better at strategizing.
No doubt that’s what he was doing now. As long as he didn’t plan on doing something to Kylie, Dare was good with it. If he thought to harm her, modified genetics or not, Dare was going to dig him a shallow grave—at least to hold him until he could get Kylie somewhere safe.
He considered going out there and hashing it out, but he knew the Texan was closed mouthed when he wanted to be and right now, Dare sensed he wasn’t going to listen. Unless Dare forced him to.
The only thing Dare wanted to force was that door open, so he could insure that one little beauty stayed with him.
There was something fucked up about it, but he almost welcomed the upcoming struggle with these blackmailers so he could save her life again. Or whoever else was after her father’s work. He knew he was skating on thin ice, but he also knew he was addicted to saving her.
Right now, though, he’d best save her from falling out of a window.
If she were trying to escape, he doubted she’d be quite as thankful as she had been over the rescue in the ocean.
Decided, he opened the door without knocking. What waited for him was better than any damn Christmas gift he’d ever been given.
He’d seen more than his share of women in his life. Kylie half naked in a pale yellow lacy bra and matching panties was by far the most beautiful. Her slender legs looked like they went on forever. He fisted his hands, otherwise there’d be nothing stopping him from pouncing on her. Already his cock hardened to an almost pre-cum state. What the hell would he do once he had her in his arms? The months of celibacy, a first for him, weren’t helping matters either.
She gasped and turned to face him fully, but in her shock she didn’t cover her body. Instead they stood there, both of them lost in the moment, with his mouth hanging open, no doubt.
Didn’t matter, he decided, and drank her in. The glow to her skin, the roundness of her generous breasts, and her perfect legs that he knew would drive him insane once he got himself between them, all added up to one hell of a punch. She was perfect in all the right places. And some places were so damn right, he knew he’d exhaust himself before he ever got enough of her.
What would she feel like, sitting astride him and riding him until they both hit that edge and fell over? The question made his cock, already painfully hard, jerk against the fabric of his shorts.
“What are you doing!?” she shrieked, pulling the blankets off the bed. She yanked them around her body toga style and faced him with an angry little scowl. “Get out! You said—”
“I know, I said, I’d wait out here and sleep, but I’m a big man, I need a full sized bed.” He closed the door and reached her before she could make it too far. “And you can’t be trusted, can you?” he asked, drawing her right up against his body with his hands firmly lodged right above her lush ass. If he moved them down a half an inch he’d not be able to stop the need to rut against her like some sex-crazed maniac.
Her mouth went slack at his words or the feel of him, he wasn’t sure which, but he liked that she didn’t pull away.
She also didn’t look like she’d been on her way to escaping anything more than her clothes.
“I can,” she whispered. “Be trusted.”
He had to take a second to figure out her words, because of all the women he’d seduced, this one, this woman, he wanted more than any other. His cock was so tightly trapped in his cargo shorts it hurt.
It
at least wanted out. He wanted inside her, but hell, he also wanted her trust. That look of relief when he’d told Tazz to back off was something he wanted directed at him. Only him.
Instinctively, he guessed he couldn’t get that if he pushed her for sex. Something warned him if he did, he’d only have that with her. There would be no starting with sex and easing into a relationship. She hadn’t been brought up that way. And from what her file said about her life, she’d only dated a few men and those men had been picked by her family or her father.
He still wanted her. And he’d do his damnedest to make her want him, but he wasn’t rushing this. His body would have to wait, because the way she looked at him made her much more important than some quickie to get his rocks off. She’d been important before he’d found her, now that he had her close, she was even more so.
“We’ll sleep in here. In the morning, we’ll go to your father’s lab. I’ll help you with this Kylie.”
She stayed silent for a long moment, seeming to get how serious he was. “Why do you want to help me? Why, when your friend obviously does not,” she whispered.
He wasn’t going there. He wasn’t telling her she’d once saved his life in the desert. If she didn’t remember, he’d hold that card to his chest for now. For some damn reason he wanted her to see him now, to want him now, and not come to him with some odd gratitude or some other twisted since of obligation.
“I have my own mind, Kylie. Don’t think because Tazz and I work together, I can’t think on my own. Tazz and I are on a mission, though, and that mission is to stop you from handing over any secrets—drugs, formulas—anything they want,” he told her. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t aid you. You’re safer with us. You have to realize that, if you don’t, just remember that gun at the back of your head.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulders. “I was fine. That man wanted something, and it wasn’t me dead. I lost him, if you remember?”
“Oh, yeah? And who were they? The men that have your dad wouldn’t need to force your hand, so just how many different groups know about this work of your dad’s? Worse, you should wonder, just how many are after you, Kylie? And how many more times will you have to run, barely escaping them?” he demanded. “You forgot the ferry that quickly?”
She shot him a frown but didn’t say what she was thinking. Instead she stalked to the other side of the room, tugging the blankets up when they threatened to fall to the floor. She looked so damn innocent, frustrated and trapped, he almost grinned. How could he have ever believed she was a spy? Selling secrets to people her father had worked hard to keep away from the very knowledge she was selling? It hadn’t fit when he’d first read the file and it didn’t fit now.
What did fit was her to him. For the first time in his life, he’d found a person he could be around, someone he knew he’d never get bored of, or want a break from or, hell, want to fuck and forget.
She barely knew him, but when he tried to think of what it would be like not to have her in his life, he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He’d had a taste of missing her after she’d drugged him and left. He’d decided then he wanted more from her. Now? Now he knew it. Somehow those damn yahoos Ace, Eagle and Mac had it right. When he experienced
it
, he’d know.
He damn well knew.
Now to secure what mattered, and move them out of this trouble into something else.
What that was, he wasn’t sure, but watching her brush her long hair off her shoulder with a nervous glance at him, he knew it would be one hell of a lot of fun.
She blew out a frustrated breath at him, for being quiet he realized with a grin, and threw one of her hands up dramatically. “I haven’t forgotten the ferry. I haven’t forgotten any of it. I wish I could, but what I want doesn’t matter, does it?” She walked back to him, eyes narrowed, and looked at him like she wanted to argue with him when all he wanted to do was kiss her.
The next instant a sting sizzled along his arm where she brushed against him. Almost immediately the room began to fuzz along the edges. The already low ceiling swayed as if it was falling down on top of him and she blurred around the edges. He reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulder as the world began to tip and spin.
Damn woman had drugged him
again
? They needed some rules here, he realized. Like, no knocking him out.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you stop me. My father is alive. I will give them anything they want to get him back. I can’t chance letting you help me. Alone I have a better chance of saving my father,” she whispered. She maneuvered under his arm, tight to his side and took part of his weight.
“But you should get your friend help and soon. I will try to do what I can, but not until after I get my father out of this mess.”
Her voice grew distant and he wasn’t going to be conscious much longer. The thought floated up from the blackness, trying to suck him down. He snagged his cuffs out of the back of his belt and tried to open them. The damn things wouldn’t budge. Panic spiraled up to tighten in his chest. If she got away, he’d have one hell of a time keeping her alive. The thought came with an image he never wanted to witness in his life, her lifeless and cold body.
She circled her slim arm around his waist tighter when he sagged on his feet, but he used the movement to finally free his cuffs. She was stronger than she looked, he thought as she guided him to the bed. He fell down backwards as soon as she turned him around and eased him toward the mattress. Her face hovered above him just as it had before in the desert, then she was gone. He panicked again, until she lifted his feet onto the bed by pulling and tugging him upwards so he lay fully on the mattress.
If he could have laughed, he would have. She was puffing and huffing by the time she appeared again.
“Don’t do this. You aren’t safe.”
“I’m safe. Safer alone, than with you, can’t you see that? If I don’t go, I won’t be able to stop them, or save my dad. Tazz is right. Our research in the wrong hands would cause harm.”
He reached for her and managed to catch her hand. With his other, he unsnapped the opening to the cuff in preparation. If his mouth wasn’t so numb, no doubt he’d be grinning. Whatever she’d given him wasn’t too fast acting and from the care she was taking in getting him comfortable, he was betting on it being non-toxic just like the last time.
She came back into view and tossed her hair off her face. She’d donned one of his T-shirts and the slam of possession dimmed his intelligence for long seconds until he realized she was speaking.
“What?” he mumbled past his too large tongue. If he had to, he’d roll on top of her. She’d never get him off.
“I said I didn’t give you anything harmful. You’ll be fine in five or maybe eight hours.” He caught her arm and pulled hard. She toppled down on top of him with a soft ‘oomph’.
“Don’t go. I can protect you. Help you.”
She bit her lip and shook her head. Silky black hair fell around him, and against his chest he could feel the soft but firm roundness of her breasts. She pushed with her hand to get free and managed to half crawl over the top of him.
A laugh broke past her lips when he merely tugged her back down again. She grinned and shook her head. “Stop that! You can’t protect me. You’ve already saved my life. I thank you for that, but I can’t chance that your mission will mean more than my father.”
“It won’t,” he tried to tell her, but his words came out all jumbled and incoherent even to him. He snapped the cuff on her wrist and with a jerk, fastened the other to his own arm. He thought he heard her gasp, then she hit his shoulder.
“What have you done? Give me the key!” She sounded so upset, he used his last bit of strength to turn and curl her up in his arms.
“In the morning, sleep now,” he managed, as the darkness billowed up and swallowed the room, the light, everything but the small, warm woman in his arms.
Chapter Eight
Kylie tugged at the handcuff around her wrist one more time before letting her head fall back on the mattress. The man was impossible. How had he hidden from her that he had a set of cuffs when she’d helped him to the bed? She’d been so certain of this move. Of leaving alone. Again. Now she was not only stuck here in a room with him, but in bed with him. He’d even made it so she couldn’t get out of his arms. She was sleeping with a man. In her panties, bra and his T-shirt.
She swallowed nervously and examined his face. He was sleeping. His bigger, warmer body pressed to hers from chest to toes. He’d even lifted a leg over hers. His mouth drew her attention and she fought the instant urge to touch him. He wouldn’t know, she realized and reached up with her free hand and tested the softness of his lips.
What would it be like to have him kiss her again? He’d wanted to, she knew.
She wanted him too. Her legs had gone all weak when he’d entered the room and stood there, staring at her body in stunned silence. She’d thought he’d liked what he’d seen, and the idea had made her want to do things, like drop the blanket and walk over to him all slow and seductively to see what he’d do with her being bold.
He’d like boldness, she guessed.
He shifted his arm and she was suddenly pressed tighter to him. He was all firm muscle and warm, wonderful-smelling man. Any woman would do more than stare at him and soak in the feel of his body’s heat next to hers. No doubt, they’d also do more in bed with him than sleep.
If he’d been awake, maybe even she would have done more with him. What would that be like, to share a bed with him and spend the night making love? He was a stranger, a complete unknown. Could she be so intimate with a complete stranger?
He isn’t exactly a stranger any longer though, Ky. He even called me Ky
. Her father’s nickname had surprised her coming from him, but at the time, freezing and scared to death in the ocean, she hadn’t paid much attention. Now, she had to wonder.
Did people possess half of another? A yin and yang? Was he her other half?
He’d chased her twice now. Both times, he’d found her and kept her close. It was her who kept trying to get away. Maybe she should stop.
He’s already caught me, hasn’t he? I’m in cuffs, but the metal isn’t the only thing keeping me in his arms. I want to be here.