Edge of Desire

Chapter 9

Avery

I couldn’t hide my disappointment when I heard that Just Miles was leaving. Caroline didn’t tell me until that morning. She said he was leaving on Wednesday. It was Tuesday night. Justin was working and Caroline had gone to her yoga class and wouldn’t be back until eight thirty. Just Miles and I were on our own for dinner. I got home from work and took a long hot bath to ease the tension from my body. Just Miles had gone for a run and was currently in the shower. I was in my room, wearing nothing but my cute little red-and-black polka-dotted robe, when I heard the doorbell ring.

Great! My hair was still wet from my bath, and I didn’t have time to put on any clothes. I tugged my little robe as tight as possible and went downstairs to the intercom.

“May I help you?”

“I have a letter for a Preston care of Justin Middleton. I need a signature for it.”

“Okay, just a minute.”

I pressed the button to open the gate and waited for the courier to get to the porch.

When he got there, I opened the door, took the letter, and signed for it.

There was something strange about him. He was wearing a navy-blue suit. I’d never seen a courier wear a suit before. I smiled and closed the door, keeping my eye on him until he was off the property. Then I watched the gate close.

I looked at the letter and wondered who Preston was. Maybe Just Miles would know. I headed back to my room. When I got upstairs, on the spur of the moment, I decided to check with Just Miles about this letter. I knocked on his door but didn’t get an answer. I knocked again, and when I still didn’t get an answer, I opened the door and laid the letter on his bed. I was turning to leave when Just Miles walked out of his bathroom wearing nothing but a towel wrapped low around his hips.

My eyes did a quick scan from top to bottom and then repeated the motion, only this time I took my sweet time and enjoyed the hell out of the view.

His hair was spiked with water dripping off it. The droplets were landing on his chest and, God help me, he had pierced nipples. His luscious body was dotted with ink, simple tats and intricate ones. They were scattered everywhere, and they were amazing. My eyes dipped lower to his hips, and I saw another beauty winking at me. Unfortunately, that damn towel was covering most of it up. I was gonna have to do something about that. I let my eyes drift back up to his beautiful face and his lips had parted. His eyes were partly closed and for a brief moment it looked as though he might be in pain.

Something stirred in me then. My blood heated and coursed through my veins. I tried to rein myself in, but my self-control flew out the window. And then to my horror, something alien took over my body and mind. I started humming. Or maybe it was closer to purring. Next came a moan but sounded more like a meow. Not a quiet one, but a long, drawn-out one. My feet moved of their own accord. Just Miles’ eyes widened right before I pounced. Since I was quite large, that extra poundage on top of my five-foot-ten-inch frame had us both flying onto the floor. Just Miles tried to scoot away, but no, not a chance that was going to happen. Every time he moved, I moved right along with him, inch by inch, until I had him pressed against the wall.

Lust had overtaken and there was no way to stop it. I tugged off my polka-dotted robe I was so proud of, tossed back my tangled, wet hair, and flexed my fingers. The anticipation of touching Just Miles was almost more than I could bear.

I moved into a crouched position and continued to moan, or maybe purr. And then I began rubbing my body against his. Oh my God, I felt like I had rolled in catnip. I went batshit crazy on the poor man. I rubbed my cheeks all over him, purring like Puss ’n Boots. I don’t know what the hell had gotten into me. I didn’t even like cats.

Well, if the rubbing wasn’t bad enough, you should’ve seen the licking. Yep, you guessed it. Just like a kitty cat. I was in a frenzy and couldn’t stop. I’d never made noises like that in my life. By the time I made it to poor Just Miles’ mouth, I’m certain he was in shock.

It didn’t last long because I dug my little claws into his arms and sank my teeth into his lips. Oh my God, the sounds emanating from him were absolutely delicious. When I moved my hands to those pierced nipples and started playing around with them, I almost came on the spot.

Spontaneous combustion. Now I knew the meaning of that.My mouth inched down to Just Miles’ abs and his towel had parted. Good heavens, I felt like Moses did at the Red Sea. I started humming the tune of “Hallelujah.” There had never been a more beautiful sight in my mind. Just Miles was well endowed indeed. And I planned to get my mouth on him.

Right before I wrapped my mouth around its precious destination, I heard something that made me pause.

For a moment my moans ceased.

“Avery, stop.”

What? I thought he said stop. He didn’t like this?

I looked up and his eyes told me everything his mouth didn’t. A pained expression greeted me, along with something else. He didn’t want me. I’d assumed he did. And you know what they always say about that ... ass ... you ... me. Well, I was the ass for sure.

I glanced away and saw myself for what I was—an overweight girl who had gone bonkers on a guy who wasn’t the least bit interested in her.

Boy, I’d really done it this time. I had just hit a new all-time low. The bad part about me being overweight was that I couldn’t pop up gracefully. How I would’ve loved to have been able to hop up and say something biting yet clever. But no, I floundered around on the floor, butt-ass naked, looking for my cutesy robe to cover myself with. Then I bit my trembling lip to hide my utter humiliation.

Then the second worst thing I’d ever heard came out of his mouth. “It’s not what you think.”

Now didn’t that make things better? I wish he hadn’t said anything at all. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. It’s not what you think. It was exactly what I thought.

“Whatever,” I said, still trying to gracefully exit from this horrid situation I’d gotten into. I finally was able to stuff my extra-large body into my robe. Then I rolled to my knees when I saw his hand in front of my face. I ignored it and shoved myself up. That’s when I noticed my fluffy Garfield slippers and I groaned.

He noticed them too and said in a quiet voice, “I think they’re really cute, Avery.”

That was the last straw. “Shut up, Miles!”

His eyes grew quite large, but he didn’t respond. I lifted my head, drew myself up, and stiffened my backbone. I had groveled on the floor long enough. I would make a strong and noteworthy exit. As I moved to leave, my eyes landed on the bed where I’d placed that damn letter.

“Damn, I almost forgot. This was the reason I came here in the first place. This stupid letter.” I grabbed it and smacked Miles on the stomach with it as I handed it to him. He was no longer Just Miles in my eyes. “It came by courier while you were in the shower. I have no idea who Preston is. Do you?” I shouted.

His face had transformed into a ghostly shade of pale. He ripped open the letter and then, if possible, his face turned even whiter.

“How long ago did this arrive?” There was an urgency to his voice. A steely urgency.

“I don’t know. It was right before I came in here and pounced on you.” There, I thought that added a nice touch.

He took two strides and reached the nightstand where his phone sat, but he didn’t use it. He opened the drawer and pulled out a different one. Then he texted someone. Next, he made a call.

“Pete. I’ve been made. I’m in the wind and have a package.”

Pause.

“Durango.”

Pause.

“No. Ten. Fifteen at the most.”

Pause.

“Where?”

Pause.

“Got it. McChord.”

Pause.

“Colorado Springs to Andrews.”

Pause.

“I am fully aware of that, and the answer is yes.”

Pause.

“Montana. They won’t follow from Peterson if we hopscotch. Have a jet ready.”

Then he hung up and looked at me with remorse. “Avery, pack a bag. Pack only what you need. You can bring a computer as long as it doesn’t have a traceable connection. Anything else you need we can grab later. I’ll answer all your questions but right now you have to get ready pronto. We need to be out of here in ten minutes.”

“What are you talking about?” The man was crazy.

“Avery,” he said calmly, but with intensity, “listen to me. If you don’t do as I say, you’ll die and so will I.” He aimed a thumb at his chest. “I’m Preston and that letter was for me. I’m a DEA agent and one of the largest drug cartels just sent me a message telling me my cover has been blown. They’ll be here in less than an hour to take me out. Anyone else here will die too. Do you understand?”

I didn’t know what I understood. He grabbed my arm and dragged me into my room. “Where are your clothes? Travel stuff. Jeans, hoodies, things like that?”

“Over there.” I pointed to a suitcase against the wall.

“Do you have a duffle bag?”

I nodded and walked over to where my cute polka-dotted bag was. He started tossing me things. “Here, put these on.”

I got dressed in front of him. I didn’t even bother with underwear. What the hell was going on? I was shaking because he had a grave look about him, which I’d never seen before. When my bag was stuffed with everything he figured I’d need, he picked up my purse and asked if all my identification was inside. I nodded. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me back into his room.

He dropped his towel and dressed in a hurry. Pulling out a gym bag, he stuffed it with clothes and put on a shoulder holster. Then he grabbed a large gun, checked it to make sure it was loaded, and jammed it into the holster. Next, he put a holster on his leg, then crammed another gun into it after checking it too. I gaped at him. I felt I’d been dumped in the middle of a Matt Damon movie.

Before I even knew what was going on, we were out the back door, running through the yard. He took us to the furthest corner where there was an obscure gate and he unlocked it using a key code, making sure to lock it behind us. Then we slipped away, down through hedges, keeping to the darkness. We got to a parking lot where a big motorcycle was parked. He walked up to it and pulled out a set of keys. It unlocked a compartment on the back. Inside were a couple of helmets and he handed me one. When it was empty, he stuffed our bags inside the compartment.

“These have headsets on them, so don’t worry about not being able to hear each other.”

“Okay.” I didn’t give a shit about hearing him. I was more concerned about riding on the back of that monster. I’d never ridden on a motorcycle, and this one looked scary as hell.

“You okay?”

“Oh sure.” Hell to the fucking no I wasn’t okay. What kind of a question was that?

He got on and said, “Hop on.”

I lifted my leg, but the damn thing wouldn’t go up high enough for me to get on. “Um, can you scoot up a bit.”

He turned around and saw my dilemma. “Sure.”

With the extra room I maneuvered my large frame into that tiny spot and squished myself down. I had a very bad feeling about this.

He cranked that sucker up and man it was loud. Then I heard music playing in my helmet, along with his voice. “Better?” he asked.

“Just perfect,” I replied sweetly. Pretty sure I heard him chuckle.

How the hell had this happened and where were we even going? Wait! What if this guy was the bad guy and he was taking me off somewhere to murder me!

“Ack!” I screamed.

“What?” he yelled back.

“What if you’re a serial killer or something?”

“What?” He yelled that out like I was crazy. “Avery, I’m trying to save your life, not kill you.”

“Yeah, that’s what you say, but how do I know for sure?”

“Okay, I get that. But once we get to McChord Air Force Base, you’ll see. We’re flying to Colorado Springs on a military flight.”

“Oh.” Was that supposed to make me feel better because it didn’t come close?

We started moving and he didn’t waste time picking up speed. I didn’t know what to hold on to because I certainly didn’t want to hold on to him. I knew he was repelled by the thought of me, so the idea of my hands on him must have made him want to cringe.

“Avery, grab hold of me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“It doesn’t matter. Do it now. It’s difficult steering with you wobbling back there. Besides, you could fall off.”

“I’ll find something else to hold on to.”

“Damn it, Avery, there isn’t anything else. Now put your arms around me. We don’t have time to waste.”