Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
B eckett
The doc’s stare was laced with a combination of disdain bordering on indignation with only a slight hint of fear. She also didn’t appear as if she had any intention of answering me.
Sweet and innocent Mallory was too busy attempting to hide the tears sliding down her face. As she rubbed her skin, she looked everywhere but at me. Memories had resurfaced.
I dropped my gaze to what she was holding in her hand. Her phone. I’d locked the fucking door on purpose to avoid any possible confrontation. The lovely Mallory had gone from being a caretaker and victim to breaking and entering at a record pace.
Anger was about to cloud my judgment with her. I took a deep breath, doing what I could to temper my fury.
“I’m going to repeat myself and you will answer. What are you doing in my office?” My voice boomed in the small room and she jumped as if I’d hit her.
Jax was suddenly in the middle of us and she immediately dropped the anger in her expression, now favoring her adoration of my pup.
“Discovering.” Her voice was so soft, so full of fear and angst.
“Yeah? And what did you discover, sunshine?”
She finally lifted her head. “That you’re a very bad man and I have every right to be terrified of you.”
The words hung in the air. “You bet, Doc. I never lied to you about that. Did I?”
She finally shook her head, her mouth twisting as her mind processed the information she’d found.
I remained furious, but goddamn it, I admired the woman. Tenacious as fuck. What the hell did she think she was doing? Did she not understand we’d been under attack?
“Jax. Out. Now,” I commanded.
Jax wasn’t used to being told what to do, but he followed orders like a trained K9 dog when necessary because that’s the training he’d received from me. She also had no clue the dog she’d cuddled with and who’d slobbered all over her was a trained killer.
He whined but obeyed, which was more than I could ask my guest to do. She’d refuse, driving my orders into my face. The kind doctor needed to be taught a lesson that only I could provide.
“Don’t take out your frustration on that poor dog. He doesn’t deserve it.”
Now she was lecturing me about handling my dog? “Would you prefer I handle my intense frustration with you directly?”
“Go right ahead. I bet what I have to say trumps anything you feel the need to chastise me for, including breaking into your office. You’ve made me angry. That’s not something you should take lightly. Think PMS on steroids.” She slowly lifted the phone as if the evidence spoke for itself. “You took my phone.”
Why was it so damn easy to smile around her? I couldn’t help myself, creating a wave of anticipation by enjoying the present in front of me. She was far too vulnerable standing in wooly socks and my clothes. I could easily take advantage of her and the situation. But what kind of man would that make me?
“You’re correct. I also grabbed your purse on the way out after placing you inside a warm truck. So the fuck what? You have your identification with you in case it’s needed.”
“Do you mean in case my body needs to be identified at the morgue?”
Huffing, I quite frankly had no idea what to do with her. “A little morbid, don’t you think? Your phone came in handy.”
Mallory’s eyes opened wide and she laughed. “Are you kidding me? You invaded my privacy when you had no right.”
I took a step closer. It was important to keep my cool at this point. “Do you believe in coincidences, Dr. McGregor?”
My question caught her off guard. “Maybe. It depends.”
“On?”
“The circumstances.”
“Okay. Let’s assume for a moment you’re correct. Do you believe it’s a coincidence that we ran into each other at the hardware store? Soon after, you broke down on the road leading to my house. Then you gave me your business card?”
Her quiet resolve was strangely unnerving. My tone held a vibe of danger, a warning to her not to dare consider lying to me. Yet she couldn’t care less, concentrating on the lack of trust between us.
The electricity soared and my gaze drifted albeit briefly but directly to the long line of her neck and the beautiful lines of her face. Her voluptuous body was hidden beneath the baggy clothes she was being forced to wear, but there was no way of preventing the scent of our combined desire.
When I took another step closer, I noticed she had something cradled in her other hand.
“Yes, I do,” she answered. “It’s a small town. People talk. Are you going to tell me that it’s not a coincidence you walked into the same restaurant where I was enjoying brunch with my friends? We were there first.”
I’d forgotten all about the upscale diner. Seeing her there hadn’t bothered me in the least. At the time anyway. Other than what seeing her again had done to my cock. I’d enjoyed the way she and her friends had thrown looks in my direction. I’d almost been able to hear their whispers while trying to figure out the rugged-looking stranger who’d arrived in town and had refused to comply with smalltown politics.
I hadn’t given a shit about making friends or small talk.
Her eyes flashed as she grinned. “See? Coincidences. In case you haven’t figured this out during your full-blown discovery mode, I have a full plate. Your investigation into my entire life should tell you that. I’m close to being broke now that I purchased the clinic. I’ve spent a couple thousand already on trying to fix up my dad’s place since he didn’t spend a dime for years. Thousands more need to be spent. I’ve used my savings, and the limited inheritance money Dad left me. I have an old car, and my dad’s even older truck. If this clinic doesn’t take off, I’ll be forced to declare bankruptcy within four months. I have no interest in fucking with all that in hopes of what?”
“Money. You are correct in that right now you’re living paycheck to paycheck. You’ve bet on this business and I need to tell you that you overpaid for the property.”
Mallory opened and closed her mouth twice before blowing a puff of air. “Bastard.”
“I speak the truth always.”
It took her less than five seconds to gather what I was insinuating. “You think I sold my soul for heaps of cash and all I had to do was lure some stranger who easily avoided public contact for months into some trap? I think you give me a little too much credit. You’re a professional criminal. I can tell that by the notes you wrote. Here’s the thing. I don’t care who you were years before. I might be one of the few people on this earth with scruples. My mama and daddy didn’t raise me to take advantage of anyone. Did yours?”
She had a perfect way of putting someone on the spot. I closed the distance, taking her tightly fisted palm into my hand. “What do you have in your hand?”
“None of your business.”
“Everything in this house is my business.” She forced me to pry her fingers open, hissing the entire time. A key. What the hell? “Where did you get that?”
She acted smug, as if the last thing she was going to do was confess. I gripped her jaw with the same hand, even dropping my head slowly until our lips were almost touching.
“You don’t scare me, Beckett.”
“Perhaps you should think otherwise. Where did the key come from?”
When she lifted her arm, pointing toward the door, I burst into laughter. I’d forgotten all about how many homeowners had a key placed over various doors throughout the house. The possibility hadn’t dawned on me.
“Clever girl. I should punish you.” I wanted nothing more than to drag her across my lap, ripping down the sweatpants and leaving marks across her bottom with a cane. I happened to own one, although it had been left here by the previous homeowners, something that had provided me with hours of amusement when I’d first moved to the oversized cabin.
A few other items had been left as well, but none so provocative as the cane.
“But you won’t.”
“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious. She was right. I wouldn’t right now, but I’d reserve judgment for later. She’d been through enough in the last twenty-four hours to last a lifetime.
“Because you have some decency in you. I know you’ve done some bad things in your past, a period of your life you’re doing everything you can to run from. What you do now until you take your last breath is what will shape you and determine whether you end up in heaven or hell.”
“I’ve already signed the papers for a sweet condo in purgatory. I doubt the pearly gates will be open to me no matter if I repent or how often.”
The doctor didn’t try to pull away from my hold, but her eyes were blazing. The woman was challenging me to be a better man. It was too fucking late.
“Who are you running from?”
My laugh sounded bitter and devoid of any emotion. “I’m not running any longer, Doc.”
“That means you don’t care if you live or die.”
Her statement brought the truth into the forefront of my mind. “I wouldn’t give a shit except I have responsibilities.” Why had I allowed the words to spew from my mouth?
I’d further intrigued her, but she chose to leave the comment alone, finally jerking away from me. “See? I told you. You’re a decent man. I hope you realized I had nothing to do with either you or me getting attacked?” She was fiddling with her phone, her expression entirely different. The shift was all about the photograph I’d seen. I was positive of it.
The one with an unknown man, the two of them appearing very much in love. What struck me hard was the lingering jealousy I felt. It was obvious that man was no longer in the picture. Why should I care in the first place? She didn’t belong to me.
But my possessiveness, the need to dominate her was breaching the surface.
“You don’t understand what we’re dealing with. They don’t like loose ends.” I tried to rationalize with her, although I wasn’t certain either one of us was up for a basic conversation. We were far too interested in sparring.
I expected to see fear or apprehension crowding her expression as she began to fully understand the situation. There was neither, merely a return to the hardcore resolve I’d seen from early on.
“Then don’t allow those loose ends to be found. You’re the professional. You can keep us alive. Right?”
“I’m going to do my best.” It was like making a promise to her, one I feared I couldn’t keep. My mind was churning away with possibilities of how my position had been discovered. There was only one possibility and it made me sick to think that way.
“Do more than just your best. Make it happen.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
Her lower lip quivered, but only for a split second. “They won’t stop. Will they?”
“I’m beginning to wonder if you’re right.”
“Don’t let them win, Beckett. We both have lives.”
Exhaling, I nodded to her out of respect. I almost asked her why she even cared except right now, I was her lifeline and we both knew it. “Winning isn’t the object here.”
“Are you so certain?”
The woman had a good point and I scowled in response. The tension wasn’t backing down. “Who was he?”
When she reared back, I read her mind. She was debating punching me. I really wanted her to go for it because her actions would give me a reason to wrestle her to the floor. But her anger quickly faded into sadness, an emotion I had no business getting in the middle of. “Leave it alone, Beckett. I appreciate that you saved me from God knows what. I know you’re a very bad man and if you wanted, I wouldn’t be standing here right now, but please just don’t ask me any questions. Okay? Maybe we both have some things in our past that are best left dead and buried.”
Sighing, I took a few seconds before nodding.
She tried to step around me, but I stopped her cold, wrapping my fingers around her arm and jerking her until she was standing right in front of me. I didn’t want her to leave this room without at least understanding we were still in danger.
“Don’t venture off, Mallory. You might not like what you find.”
“Where am I going to venture out to? Aren’t we miles from civilization stuck in the middle of a snowstorm?”
“That we are.” But we wouldn’t have weather as a layer of protection for long. “Just do as I say and things will be fine.”
She lifted her phone, holding the screen only a few inches from my face. “Do as you say. Well, here’s one for you, mystery man. Don’t ever invade my privacy again and I won’t do that to you either. We don’t know each other. We certainly can’t trust each other completely, but we’ll need to learn to be civil with one another and that includes respecting each other. If you want to know something, ask. I’ll do the same. Deal?”
I was certain no one had ever talked to me in such frank terms before. Or had the nerve to counter anything I demanded either. “I’ll accept the deal.”
“You’ll accept? You don’t have a choice.” Her smile was so mischievous that my balls immediately ached.
“Mmm…” I eased my hand over her head and she trailed my actions with her eyes until she couldn’t see what I was doing any longer. When I smoothed my palm down her long strands of hair, she shuddered visibly and tried to push me away.
I refused to allow that to happen, fisting her hair and pulling her onto her toes. “There are a few things you need to keep in mind, Doc. This isn’t a game and you’re not the expert in this area. I am. That means you always follow my rules. Period. Any infraction and I will punish you.”
“Is that a threat or a promise?”
She enjoyed pushing me. Perhaps I did with her as well. Being challenged by anyone but especially by an insanely gorgeous woman was a sheer delight. “Both.” I lowered my head by another inch. Now our lips were only centimeters apart.
She licked her bottom lip. Her breathing was audibly ragged, just something else to keep me fully aroused.
“Do I make you nervous, Doc?”
“Very little makes me nervous.”
I forced her head back so I could stare into her eyes. “Good to know. I think we understand each other.” Why was it that I craved making her nervous in every way? Or perhaps I should say in all the best ways?
Mallory held her own, refusing to back down. And I so enjoyed pushing every one of her buttons like she did mine. When I brushed my lips across hers only once, she issued a subtle but audible enough moan. That was all the satisfaction I needed.
For now.
I lifted my head, darting my eyes back and forth across hers.
The unscrupulous lie I’d told wouldn’t hold for long.
This time, I allowed her to take several steps further away from me. There was no sense in making our time together unpalatable. We were at a sensual impasse and damn if my cock wasn’t throbbing.
“Now, if I’m allowed, I’m going to make breakfast.” She tilted her chin and the way the warm glow of light filtered across her face added another layer of sadness in her expression.
“Of course. The house is yours.”
I could tell she wanted to say something in sarcastic retaliation, but chose to leave the room instead.
Afterwards, I took several deep breaths. I’d handled hundreds of difficult situations in my various careers, some life threatening. But dealing with a feisty woman with a chip on her shoulder and a resolve like no other could quite possibly be my greatest challenge.
And my worst temptation.
One I couldn’t afford.