Chapter 4 #2
Her heart sank to her stomach.
The guy was pushing up to his knees. Glaring at Nash. And when she peeked around Nash, the intruder’s eyes immediately locked on her.
He smiled. “You look just like the picture he sent me. Knew as soon as this jerk requested two beds that he had someone with him.”
She poked at Nash’s back. “This is yet another reason why a one-bed situation is better.”
“Get your fucking eyes off her,” Nash thundered, and the lethal intensity in his voice sent a shiver skating over Delaney.
“You got the first aid kit,” the intruder snapped. “That was another tip-off!”
Okay, if she was following along properly, the jerk on the floor had called someone to report that she was at the motel. That someone had to be Kurt. From the sound of things, Kurt had even sent the punk some picture of her? She and Nash really needed to get the heck out of there. ASAP.
“Made the call right after you got the kit,” the intruder announced. “Gonna get paid 5k when they come to collect her.” He pointed a shaking finger at Nash. “If I were you, I’d be long gone by then. No pussy is worth dying for.”
Delaney was sure that she could feel the blood draining from her face.
“Trust me, hers is,” Nash snarled right back.
Wait…what?
“No one fucking touches her, and you’re a complete dumbass if you think that you’re just gonna get some payment and get to walk away from this scene.
They’re gonna kill you, you jackass! Especially when they arrive and we are long gone.
” Nash spun back toward her. “Get your shoes. Get anything you need from this room. We’re leaving. ”
She scampered past him and ran to snag her shoes. The intruder reached out for her, only to scream in agony when Nash caught his hand and twisted. Hard.
Someone banged onto the wall to the right. “Trying to sleep, assholes!” A disgruntled yell.
Delaney grabbed her shoes. She also ducked in the bathroom long enough to heave on her bloody dress because it was better than just wearing a t-shirt.
And, besides, Nash probably needed his shirt.
Double-timing it, she ran back to him only to draw up short when she found him still holding the intruder’s arm in a twisted grip as Nash kept the younger man pinned on the floor.
“Uh, Nash?” Delaney extended the shirt. “You’re gonna need this.”
He glared down at the figure on the floor. “He sold you out. Sold us out, after I paid him for the first aid kit!”
“You only paid me fifty dollars for the kit! Ow!”
Nash had wrenched his arm even higher. “And fifty to keep your mouth shut. I want my money back, you little prick, because clearly, you did not hold up your end of the transaction.”
The little prick began to sob.
Delaney cleared her throat. “Not to be difficult but…” She was still extending the shirt toward Nash. “How about we forget the cash and just get out of here? Not real sure how long we have before Kurt and his goons show up, and I would very much prefer to be gone by the time they arrive.”
“Fuck.” But Nash nodded. He also let go of the intruder’s arm. “Have it your way.” Then he drove his fist into the guy’s face. Hard.
The intruder sprawled on the floor, groaning.
Nash took the cash in the guy’s front pocket. “Mine.”
Seriously? She grabbed Nash’s leather jacket. “Let’s go.”
Nash pointed at the still groaning intruder.
“Be smart. Get the hell out of here because you are playing way above your league.” Then he caught Delaney’s hand and hauled her with him toward the door.
They ran for the hidden motorcycle, and she shouldered into his coat.
He hopped on the bike first, even as he shoved a helmet toward her.
She jumped on behind him, secured the helmet, and locked her arms around him right before the engine snarled to life, and they flew into the darkness of the night.
Except they didn’t fly very far. In fact, they only flew a wee bit down the road. Toward a twenty-four-hour diner. Nash parked his motorcycle under some twisting trees and immediately hopped off the bike.
She blinked at him. “What is happening here?” She tried to balance on the seat.
“They know that we are on a motorcycle.”
Um, they had been on a motorcycle. Now he was off it. She was still on it. And growing increasingly terrified. Shouldn’t they be driving away?
“You’re too much of a target on a motorcycle,” Nash told her. “When you’re behind me, they can just shoot you in the back.”
A horrifying visual.
“We need a new ride,” he declared even as he whipped out his phone and seemed to be texting someone.
“And where are we going to get a new ride?”
He shoved his phone into his pocket and pointed to the far right section of the diner’s lot. Three vehicles waited there. A truck, an SUV, and a VW Beetle. “We’re taking the SUV.”
They were? “How?”
“I’m stealing it, of course.”
Of course.
He was already heading toward it, so she scrambled after him. As they closed in on the vehicle, Delaney realized why he’d chosen the SUV. The driver had left the window partially rolled down.
A bad mistake.
Nash shoved his arm inside the open window, and a moment later, he was wrenching the door wide for her. “Get in,” he ordered her.
She scampered inside. Jumped over the console and settled into the passenger seat even as her heart raced. “I have never stolen a car before.” Was it even okay for a CIA spy to do something like this? Wasn’t stealing against the rules for law enforcement? For everyone?
“I get that you never have. And it shows.” He was in the driver’s seat. His hands darted under the dash, and she frowned at him because Delaney was certain he’d just insulted her.
But the engine sparked to life, and a wide smile curved her lips because, yes, she was a bit impressed with his hot-wiring skills.
He straightened in the seat, shoved the vehicle in reverse, and as he got them out of the lot…
“Down, Delaney!”
Down? Like, what did he want? Her, in the floorboard? Her—
He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down. Because of the angle, she was halfway over the console and very close to his muscled thigh. Correction, partially on his thigh, and his dick was right in front of her face.
“If we’re spotted, then I only want witnesses to see one person in the vehicle. Not two. No need for anyone to know about you.”
This was awkward. Her hand pressed to his thigh. His really, really hard thigh. And she strongly suspected that his dick was getting bigger with every moment that passed.
Bigger, right in front of her face.
She should inch back across the console. Crouching in the floorboard was a way better option than her current position.
“Just a few more moments,” he gritted. His hand was on her back.
His touch burned through her.
“Almost there.”
Okay, this was more than awkward. This felt like…
“Done.” He gently pushed her back to her seat.
Her breath heaved in and out. “If you want me going down on you, just say so.” She was far too aware of the burn in her cheeks.
“What?”
She gestured toward him. “You were, um—”
“Hiding you? Protecting you?”
“Getting aroused,” she sniffed. She also put on her seatbelt. Because, you know, safety first. Or second, since the first thing had been hiding.
“Delaney.”
Her cheeks were flaming. “Your dick was about two inches from my face. You were getting aroused.”
“I am saving your life! I stole a car for you! I am rushing into the night, for you! If you weren’t with me, I would have stayed at that motel and fought those bastards.”
She shook her head. “You would have been outnumbered.”
He laughed.
Delaney did not. “I wasn’t making a joke. Kurt would have come with backup.” Her hand reached out and curled along his wrist as he gripped the steering wheel. “I don’t want you getting hurt for me.” More than just hurt… “Don’t you dare get killed.”
“Aw, Delaney, you sound like you’d care if something happened to me. And here I thought all the emotions you’d felt for me before were dead and buried.”
She snatched her hand back. Balled her fingers into a fist. “I don’t want anyone dying.”
“Of course, not.” Gruff. “Not you and that tender heart you’ve always carried. You stop to help turtles cross the road.”
She’d done that once. Fine, twice.
“You fret over every damn thing. I’ve even seen you pick up a bird with a broken wing and rush the thing to the vet’s office.”
Again, once.
Her head turned, and she peered out of the passenger window, staring into the night. “There’s nothing wrong with showing some kindness.”
“As long as the kindness doesn’t get you killed, sure. Stopping to help a turtle isn’t worth a freaking car slamming into you because you’re in the middle of the road and the driver doesn’t see you.” Rage seethed in his words.
He’d just given a very specific example. Unfortunately, that had been an actual incident that occurred when she’d been sixteen. She’d been carrying a turtle across the road, and a truck had come barreling toward her. But… “You saved me,” she recalled.
“I’m trying to save your sweet ass.”
Her attention shifted back to him as her head angled his way once more. “I meant when I was sixteen. You saved me then.” As if she’d ever been able to forget that day. The day of their first kiss. “You came flying out of nowhere, and you threw me off that road.”
“I tackled you,” he corrected. “Slammed you into the ground.”
The ground on the side of the road. He’d tossed her there so that she’d be safe.
“Then you kissed me,” she added. It had been her first kiss.
She had not told him that fact. You didn’t tell the older boy you were trying to impress that you hadn’t known how to kiss, that you’d only practiced against a silly pillow until he’d pressed his mouth to yours and shown you how it was really done.
“Until that moment, I’d always thought you hated me. ”
Silence.