He let out a long-suffering sigh. What?
I have another option than sleep.
He opened his eyes, the look in them blatantly sexual. Oh, yeah?
Oh boy, definitely alpha. Extremely alpha. So why his low, husky tone and those suggestive words made her body tingle, she hadnt a clue.
What did you have in mind? His voice dripped an earthy sensuality.
Uh Oddly enough, the only thing she had in mind right now was X-rated. I forgot.
His gaze ran over her from head to toe, flared with heat, shocking her, before he closed his eyes. Okay, then.
Okay, then.
2
REILLY DRIFTED off pleasantly, to a place where his head didnt hurt and he was wearing clothes-
Okay, then.
2
REILLY DRIFTED off pleasantly, to a place where his head didnt hurt and he was wearing clothes-
Reilly. This extremely loud whisper was accompanied by a shove at his shoulder.
She was ba-a-ack. His fathers latest fling, the petite pixie with the shoulder-length brown hair and mossy-green eyes that flashed her every thought for the world to see.
Was she even of legal age?
Reilly?
He had no idea why she bothered to whisper, when she was doing it so loudly she could have woken the dead.
I think you should wake up now, she said, and added another teeth-rattling shake. Come on. Get up and count to ten or something.
Honest to God, the woman talked more than any woman hed ever met.
Just to make sure you dont go into a coma. Another shake. Its only been five minutes but I cant remember how long youre supposed to let someone with a bleeding head injury sleep.
Im not in a coma, he said with his eyes still closed. It wasnt really sleep he was interested in, but a way to pass the time other than looking at the oddly sweet and sexy Tessa. And my head is no longer bleeding.
I still dont think you should sleep.
All those years in the army and then the CIA, one thing had stuck with him-how to catch quality Zs in five short little minutes. Hed rather have had longer than five minutes. Say the whole night, so the time would have passed painlessly, but slowly he opened his eyes, staring into her wide green ones. Im fine.
How many fingers am I holding up? She wriggled three in front of his nose.
He grabbed them. Im fine, he repeated.
Fine enough to go up the attic access in the ceiling? I think it has good escape potential.
In the meager but adequate light he took in her slight little form bending over him, her hand on his chest. Not that he minded a womans fingers on him, but his head felt like it was going to roll right off his shoulders. And if she shoved him one more time, yet again jarring his head, he was going to roll her pretty little body beneath his to hold her still. Escape potential, he repeated, and she smiled at him and nodded.
All you have to do is climb up. Then shimmy your way through whatever is up there, and drop down through another access in another room. Voilà, escape. I know you said you didnt grow up here, but you could probably find a phone, right?
Hed had his cell on him, before hed made the mistake of actually coming here to see Eddie. Before hed knocked out three of the four idiots, then realized too late there was one more idiot behind him. Suddenly, hed seen stars from the hit with a vase probably worth enough to feed a small country.
Which made him the idiot.
And to think, all hed wanted was to tell his father to knock it off, to stop sending sexy little temps to his office and to stop sending him messages to come visit.
Instead, hed ended up on the wrong end of a strip search, being held hostage by his own gun no less. He, a guy who knew how to kill a man in more ways than he could count, had been taken down by a few punks with a vendetta against his father.
If that didnt bite, watching them mess with his gun while he sat in his shorts sure did. And if that didnt also say how much hed lost his edge, how dead-on-target his decision had been to get out of the CIA, he didnt know what did.
He supposed it could have been worse.
They could have killed him.
Can you? Find a phone?
The cute young thing was still talking. He let out a long breath and opened his eyes. Probably.
Sowill you?
No.
She blinked. What?
No, he repeated clearly.
Butwhy not?
Because its dark.
She eyed him from head to toe, making him glad hed been allowed to keep his shorts because for some reason, even though she drove him crazy, his body didnt seem to want to agree with his brain on that assessment.
The dark shouldnt bother a guy like you, she finally said.
Think again, sweetheart. Ill go at daylight.
But
Daylight. Nowwas there something you wanted to do to pass the time?
No, she squeaked.
Fine. He tried to forget he was stuck with one of his fathers babes. She looked like heaven, hed give her that, but she talked too much. At the ripe old age of thirty-one, Reilly had come to realize he liked women, he liked them a lot, but he liked them quiet, reserved and controlledmuch like himself, actually.
But this one couldnt be quiet to save her life, much less be restrained and controlled. She was pacing the floor right this very second. Were not going to get out of here for a few hours, so you might as well stop wearing a hole in that tile.
She stopped and looked at him as if hed lost his mind.
And in truth, maybe he had. Certainly the old Reilly would have gotten up and rescued the damsel in distress.
The new Reilly, no longer of CIA, no longer of anything or anyone else except Reilly Ledger of Accountant-4-Hire, his small accounting firm with clients as reclusive as he was. He pushed papers around when and how he felt like it, didnt take orders from anyone but himself, and never, ever rescued damsels in distress.
Unless it was accounting-related, and, in that case, he charged by the hour.
She put her hands on her hips, a gesture it appeared she used a lot to compensate for being so short, but it did draw his attention to her mid-thigh sundress. It was pale-green with flowers on it and was actually quite demure, except that every time she moved it danced around her tanned, toned legs.
Very distracting, those legs.
Theres no good reason why we have to stay in here, she said.
Other than were trapped?
Honestly, all you have to do is crawl through-
I said no.
She crossed her arms, plumping up the breasts he imagined could use a little plumping. Give me one good reason other than you wont be able to see.
He stretched, and winced at the ache at the base of his skull. Thats the reason.
She stared at him, then tilted her head up and eyed the access, which was indeed wide enough for his body, and indeed a most excellent escape route. You cant be afraid of the dark. She shook her head. No. I dont buy it. That would make you a sensitive man, and frankly, Im not getting a lot of sensitivity here.
Youre not getting out tonight.
Fine, if you dont want to do it. I will. She dropped her arms and straightened, visibly swallowing while she mustered up all her courage. If he hadnt been pissed and hurting, he might have admired her.
Boost me up, she said.
From flat on his back, he laughed, his first all night. Let me get this straight. Youll go crawling through the attic in the pitch dark, drop into a room you dont know, possibly into the waiting arms of the guy I didnt knock out, and then what? Let them have another stab at you?
Her determined expression faltered, and the terror came through. Youre right, she whispered. This is really serious, and I think its just hitting me. Im sorry. Then she blinked those wide, expressive eyes and hugged herself. He felt like a jerk.
He closed his eyes. Youre just going to have to wait. Eddie will figure out youre missing and come looking for you.
He closed his eyes. Youre just going to have to wait. Eddie will figure out youre missing and come looking for you.
Hes in Cabo with his girlfriend for two days.
That had his eyes opening again. I thought you, Statutory Rape Lawsuit Walking, were the girlfriend.
You- I- She sputtered, then laughed. She laughed hard and so genuinely, he actually felt the knot loosen in his belly because she was being honest, which meant his father hadnt seduced this woman who was too cute and too young for him.
Im twenty-six years old, she finally informed him. Quite legal. And not that this is any of your business, but I am not your fathers girlfriend. I work in his temp agency.
Ah. He didnt want to think about why that made him feel a lot better, so he closed his eyes again.
A thunk sounded and with a sigh, he cracked open an eye. Looking small and defenseless, shed sat on the floor against the far wall, beside the locked door, still hugging herself. Her knees were up, her head down on her arms.
Fine. That was a good place for her, far away from him, with her mouth thankfully shut for once.
He might have been able to pretend he was somewhere else other than lying on a damn cot with no clothes and a bump on the back of his headif she hadnt shivered.
He closed his eyes against it but he could have sworn he could hear her teeth rattling together. Damn it. Get over here.
She lifted her head, and in the glow from the light outside the window, he saw her expression. Gone was the temporary bravado. Gone were all signs that she was holding up under what even he could admit had been a fairly traumatizing experience. Wet now, her eyes were the color of rain-soaked leaves, and her mouth trembled. The bruises on her throat had blossomed.
Hell. You all right?
Give me a minute. She scrubbed her hands over her face. I know Im talking, talking, talking, but thats nerves and fear. Ill try to stop, I promise.
Slowly he sat up. No dizziness, which he figured was a good thing, so he risked standing. Barefoot, bare everything except the essentials, he took the few steps that brought him close. You take the cot.
She stared at his knees and shook her head.
Tessa.
She ignored him. Since hed been trying to ignore her for half an hour now, he understood and appreciated the sentiment. But it was possible she was going into delayed shock, and that even he couldnt ignore, as his training was too ingrained. He hunkered down beside her and, wanting to check her pulse, reached for her wrist.
Startled, she jerked back and into the wall, crying out at the contact and wincing away from him at the same time.