6. Chapter 6
He was playing with her.
Her chest swelled with joy. The one-track-minded FBI agent had a playful side.
Wildness glinted in his eyes and she melted.
But she wouldn’t go with him that easily.
She hadn’t figured out if he was a Dragon SEAL and he didn’t seem like the sharing type.
So she planted the seed in his mind—he couldn’t take her back to the field office—and hopefully he’d capture her and take her somewhere more private.
She ran through the living room, Raz hot on her trail.
His giving chase caused a bubbling in her chest: the need to giggle. The kind that only happened when she was about to cum, but his playing, this chase—was so arousing. But she wouldn’t embarrass herself around him. This wasn’t the time for desire.
She closed the door to the foyer and leaped up the stairs. She’d only made it to the fifth step as he reached the bottom, gaining on her. When she hit the top, his body warmth caressed her.
She dove over the indoor balcony railing.
With her hands stretched out in front of her, she grabbed the aerial silk hanging from the ceiling with her good hand first. Catching herself with both arms still sent a pang through her injured shoulder.
Wrapping her left wrist and ankle around the silk and engaging her core, she controlled her descent toward where the fabric ended in a semicircle above the ground.
She spun from her own momentum, drifting downward, and Raz watched her as he strode across the balcony to the spiral stairwell, his gait smooth and casual.
He riveted his eyes on her, a tiger devouring its cornered prey.
She couldn’t look away.
With an agile movement, he vaulted the rail. She gasped as he rolled into a practiced landing.
Damn, he’s talented.
Her foot hit the end of the silk, jolting her. Pay attention! She spread the two curtains in her hands to glide down. Shooting pain spasmed down her arm.
She released the silks too soon. Sliding her leg over the silk, she slipped backward. The rope caught and held firm under her bent knee, pulling muscle. Upside down, blood pooled to her head. She prepared to swing back up to correct herself, but Raz stepped in her way.
Eye to eye, she glared at him upside down, breathing hard.
Pine and mint tantalized her nose. To keep herself from twisting, her free leg was open at the hip and bent at the knee.
She’d spread her arms and arched her back out of dancing habit, presenting her breasts at his eye level.
He ran his gaze up her body, taking in the view the vulnerable position offered.
Her skin tingled, and her fingers ached to pull him closer.
Get a hold of yourself. She needed to escape this man, not lust after him.
“Let go,” he demanded, eyebrows raised.
She licked her dry lips. “Ask me nicely.”
The cold metal of a handcuff slapped over her right wrist with a metallic snap that rang throughout the three-story room. Her jaw locked. Those. Damn. Handcuffs.
“That wasn’t very nice,” she said with sugary venom.
“I don’t treat criminals nicely.”
She scowled, heart shriveling, stung by words that shouldn’t have hurt.
He may not have known this was a setup, but the judgment in his words cut straight through her.
She let go. He caught her and brought her close to his chest, cushioning the fall against him.
He held her there for a noticeably long moment, his fingers biting into her skin.
A warmth captured her in a foreign force, as if something else was also holding her.
She took a deep breath, drawing in his mint and pine scent before she rolled from his grasp.
Silently, she held her arms out to him, the open handcuff dangling.
He looked at her with a narrowed expression but fastened the cuffs in place.
She bit her lip to keep from snapping at him and gave him a dead stare.
“Come on,” he said.
He pushed her through the house but kept a grip on her arm so she couldn’t run away. Her skin burned where he touched her, making her bite her cheek harder.
“Do you want to lock up?” he asked, gesturing toward the front door while she slipped into her shoes at the threshold.
She scoffed. If anyone had the balls to steal from her—let them. She would love to give chase. Her nerves festered in the silence as they walked to his patrol car, the hair on her body tingling with an inner rage. Wonder what he’s going to do with this criminal.
He opened the back door behind the driver’s seat. She plopped down on the hard plastic before he could touch her again.
He slid into the driver’s seat. When the door closed, the space filled with his intoxicating pine forest scent. As the engine revved to life, he grabbed his walkie from the hook. Clicking the receiver on, he looked up into the rearview mirror. Their eyes locked through the safety glass.
Still silent, she sent him that message again with her gaze. Your prison can’t keep me.
He sighed and hung up the walkie.
Yes. Just where she wanted him. Biting the inside of her lip to hold in her grin, she turned toward the window.
Someone who was a member of a vigilante group like the Dragon SEALs wouldn’t worry about bending the laws to uphold justice.
He’d take her somewhere private to figure her out, and hopefully with that and other proof, she could figure out if he really was part of the team that wanted to bring Matsuda down as much as she did.
He dropped into gear and raced off.
“Giving me the silent treatment now?” he asked as his hands tightened on the steering wheel.
She continued to stare out the window.
“What a pleasant change of pace,” he muttered under his breath.
“So how’d you find me?” she asked, wanting to bother him.
“How’d you escape the field office?”
She looked up in the rear-view mirror. As if sensing her look, he met her gaze. She sent him a saucy grin that said, Wouldn’t you like to know?
He rolled his eyes, and they returned to their tense silence. When popular songs filled the space, she tapped her foot along. As he jumped onto the interstate and headed north to Chicago as if back to the field office, she frowned.
When he split off to head east toward Michigan instead of west, she rose in her seat.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Somewhere safe where we can talk in private, princess.”
She hid her inner excitement again. She couldn’t believe she might have found one of the Dragon SEALs. “This isn’t treatment for a princess. I’m still handcuffed, and these things aren’t comfortable.” She scratched under her irritated wrist.
“Is Kate your real name?”
She peeked up at him. “Yeah. I didn’t want to give you a false first name.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. He didn’t need to know that she preferred to make a decent impression since she needed his help.
At least, if he really was a Dragon SEAL.
Bracing her shoulder against the door, she rested her head against the window.
Darkness had fallen over the flatness of the Midwest. Feeling sluggish, she closed her eyes.
The last thing she wanted to do was sleep, but it had evaded her ever since she left the field office.
Reminded of the fissures of care and protectiveness in his personality, she felt safe enough to drift off.
Honk.
She jerked awake at the sound and her neck gave a twinge. She rubbed at the sore spot as grogginess faded. Raz had parked in a dark area.
“Rise and shine, princess,” he teased, turning back toward her with his face highlighted by the overhead light.
How long had she been asleep? “Where are we?”
“I brought you to my place,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Really? Trees silhouetted the darkness behind him, and the smell of pine filled the car. Even as a thrill coursed through her for her luck, trepidation stomped it out. She was in the middle of nowhere with a strange man who believed her a criminal.
Raz pushed something through the top of the safety glass between them. Clanking keys hit the ground at her feet.
“If it makes you feel safer, you can take the cuffs off,” he said, leaving the car. “But please don’t run.”
Surprised, she filled her lungs with air and worked the smallest key into the cuffs to release herself. She exited the car, feeling pine needles crunching under her shoes. When he shifted toward her, the car’s overhead light cast a glow over his features. His reassuring grin made her heart sigh.
“You doing okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, thanks,” she murmured, tucking the now loose key into her back pocket.
He eyed her with a frown. “Come on.”
The light from inside the car flicked off, plunging her into darkness. She halted with her hands outstretched. Her fingers brushed against Raz’s warm shirt.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, and a rustling sound came as if he searched his pockets before he lit up the area with a flashlight.
A rocked road lay ahead of them; a few stumps on the left side of the path kept him from parking closer.
A little way ahead, a single-story log cabin with an attached garage sat.
When he seemed to wait for her, she walked past him.
As they approached the cabin, a bright security light illuminated the area. The long porch had a pair of rocking chairs, and chestnut-colored logs made up the rest of the home besides the display window.
Her hands shook with nerves. To bring her out here meant he had to trust her on some level, or that he wanted to catch her off guard. She wasn’t the only one looking for information. She’d just have to play it safe with what she shared.
“You live out here?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Keeping his body angled toward her, he unlocked the door and pushed it open. “I come out here on the weekends. I’m not a city dweller.” His expression tightened as if he too questioned why he was telling her that information.
He leaned forward and flicked a switch. The ceiling light came on, bathing the quaint living room in a warm glow.