Bubblegum Blonde (21 page)

I'm not sure what I expected Tyler's kiss to be like, but I'm certain I couldn't have imagined it any better.

His lips were firm yet soft. Commanding yet gentle. His fingers tightened in my hair at the same time his arm did around my waist. He pulled me tighter against him. I melted into his embrace and relished his attentions.

The kisses I'd shared with Silas had been hot, toe-curling even, but they had
nothing
on what was happening to me while in Tyler's strong arms.

This wasn't a good thing, Tyler kissing me, and yet I couldn't come up with a reason why I should make him stop. Was there really a good reason? We were both grown adults. We were able to make our own decisions.

The kiss ended, and instead of setting me aside as Silas had done, Tyler held me close and peered down into my eyes.

"I don't want you to get hurt again, Barb."

I grinned up at him like an idiot. Because at the moment, I felt like a teenage girl being swept away by the quarterback of the high school football team.

"Because you lliiikkke me?" I said in a singsong voice. Call me crazy, but the thought of being a little more than friends with the good detective suited me just fine.

"Maybe a little." He chuckled then became serious once again. "I know that this is your job, but promise me you won't do anything overly dangerous. Go home tonight and stay there. If you have to snoop around, take one of the girls with you, and call me, please. I can't do my job if I'm too busy worrying about you."

"You worry about me?" I smiled.

He grinned and shook his head like he couldn't believe my antics or whatever it was that he was feeling for me.

"I'm tired of fighting it, Barb. As insane as it may be, I like you…a lot," he admitted and smoothed a strand of hair behind my ear.

I'd never checked in with a man in my entire life, but something about the way Tyler asked, the way he was looking at me, had me nodding my head in agreement.

He was a detective. I'd be wise to listen to his judgment once in a while.

"I know you won't tell me about anything you've found since our talk last night, so I'm not even going to ask, but I will ask this, do you have plans to do any sneaking around tonight?"

"Unfortunately, no." I shook my head. "I plan on going home, taking a hot bath, eating leftover pizza, and watching a movie. An extremely cheesy action flick, if I can manage it."

"Would you like some company? I'll bring fresh pizza
and
beer?"

Even though his proposal sounded like heaven to a homebody like me, I had to get one thing straight first.

 "What is this?" I motioned between us. "I just… I need to have some idea of what's going on between us."

I was a simple girl with simple needs, and one of those simple needs was the need to know exactly what was or wasn't happening between me and the man standing across from me.

He shook his head, ran his fingers through his thick, black hair, and then blew out a breath. "Honestly, I don't know, Barb. All I know is that I like you, I'm attracted to you, and I don't want you to get hurt. I want to get to know you better. On a personal level."

That was as good an explanation as any that I could give at the present moment should he have asked me the same question. Despite how handsome the doctor had been, and how insanely hot Silas was, they just didn't top Tyler. I liked him, found myself thinking about him at the most inopportune times, and he was genuine.

I smiled. "Good. In that case, you're on, but only if you promise you won't forget the beer. I could really use one right about now."

"I promise. How's eight o'clock?"

"Perfect," I said.

He kissed me quickly on the lips then hurried out of my office as though he was afraid I'd change my mind if he stuck around any longer.

Once Tyler was gone, Kelly and Mandy stuck their heads around the doorframe and grinned. Kelly shook her finger at me. "A sex-god gigolo
and
a hunky detective all in one day? Someone's been a busy girl."

Once the alpha males had left the office, I'd lost track of time while catching up with clients over the phone about now-closed and ongoing investigations. I finally left the office around seven-thirty. Mandy and Kelly had called it quits shortly after six o'clock.

After the events of the past twenty-four hours, the ten-minute drive to my small house on the outskirts of town felt more like an hour.

The neighborhood was quiet, small, and filled with mostly retired couples and newlyweds just starting on their marital adventure. All in all, it was paradise for an outgoing introvert such as me.

I'd be lying if I said that there weren't times when I felt a bit out of place being the only person in the neighborhood who was still single, who worked all hours of the day and night, and had zero kids, unless you counted my cat Mickey, which most people didn't.

But everyone was always polite, and my neighbor, Mrs. Grady, brought over a tamale casserole every Wednesday night in exchange for me helping her with her crossword puzzle. So it all evened itself out in the end I suppose.

I pulled the green eyesore into the driveway, killed the ignition, and made my way up the pathway leading to my front door, jangling my keys the entire way. The porch light was off, which I found odd, as it was solar-activated and came on automatically when the sun started to set, but as tired as I was, I didn't give it a second thought.

I climbed the three short steps up to my porch and reached for the doorknob, but when my fingertips touched the knob, the door rocked open an inch.

I always locked my doors, not just for my safety but for Mickey's as well.

The grogginess I'd had disappeared.

Nothing like the possibility of a murdering intruder to wake a person up.

I reached behind me, pulled my gun from the waistband of my jeans, and then slipped silently into my house. With my back pressed against the wall, I looked around cautiously.

Nothing appeared out of place.

My main concern wasn't really for my belongings, but for my cat. Where in the world was he? Was he all right?

On silent feet, I eased deeper into the house, careful to keep my back pressed against the wall every step as I made my way toward the bedroom. The guest bathroom door stood open. I peeked in and found it in the same shape I'd left it in. I eased on down the short hallway to my bedroom, keeping my eyes peeled for Mickey the entire time. I stepped into the room quickly with my gun thrust out before me. Much to my surprise, it too was in the same shape I'd left it in…with the exception of the bathroom door.

It was shut tight. I always left the bathroom door open because Mickey liked to sometimes sleep on the closed toilet seat. He liked the fuzzy cover Mona had insisted I put on the lid when I'd moved in.

My ancient cat could be a bit goofy at times, but I loved him all the same.

I crept my way to the door, pressed my back to the wall beside it, counted to three, then flung the bathroom door open, and stepped into the doorway with my gun drawn.

Mickey came bounding out of the bathroom so hard and fast he slammed into my legs. I lost my grip on the gun, and it fell to the floor as I stumbled backward, arms flailing in the air reaching for purchase

I fell into a hard body. I turned, fully expecting to see Tyler, but I saw the butt of a pistol slamming into my temple instead.

My head pounded like a speaker at a heavy-metal concert.

I wanted to open my eyes, to look around and see where I was, but my lids felt like they weighed fifty pounds each and just wouldn't cooperate. I tried to reach up and rub them, but my arms were already above my head. That's when I realized that my hands were bound, as were my feet.

Panic shot through me. I pried my lids open. They felt gritty, like the backs of my eyelids were made of sandpaper. I struggled to focus. I looked through blurry eyes at the ropes twisted around my wrists. My hands were tied in front of me and connected to a rope that looked to be about a foot long. The rest of the rope was looped around a bedpost at the foot of the bed. The binding was surprisingly soft but still incredibly tight. I tested my bonds, but they held firm. Someone obviously knew how to work a rope.

A terrible taste sat heavily in my mouth, and my head swam. I felt drunk, and my stomach rolled with nausea, I'd either been drugged or had one heck of a concussion.

I took deep, cleansing breaths hoping to rid myself of the groggy feeling and gather my wits. I was in one heck of a situation with no idea how I'd ended up there in the first place.

A soft grunt sounded to the left of me. I forced my stiff neck to turn in the direction of the sound and gaped at what I found.

"Silas? Jason? What in the hell?"

Silas was tied like me to the opposite bedpost at the foot of the bed. I glanced around and spotted Jason tied up on the floor in front of the dresser.

I blinked in an attempt to clear my blurry vision and continued my deep breathing. Jason was out cold, but Silas was groaning and slumped to the side toward me. I scooted my bottom as far as I could in Silas's direction, then reached out and kicked him once, twice, a third time.

"Darn it, knock it off!" he growled then craned his neck to look at me. "Barb?"

I hadn't meant to kick him in the head, but I didn't have time to worry about the pained, accusing look he finally directed toward me. He was awake, and two heads were better than one. Jason was too far away, and he was hog-tied instead of leashed to the bedposts as Silas and I were.

"What are you doing? Where are we? What happened?" he asked as he struggled to sit up. He blinked his eyes and leaned his head back against the post. He pulled at the binding on his hands and cursed. "What in the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," I said and glanced around the bedroom. "We're obviously in a bedroom, but I don't know whose, where, or why."

Silas looked around and then frowned.

"I know where we are."

"Where?" I asked.

"We're at the cabin. This is Lydia's room. The master bedroom. Max's bedroom now."

"Lydia's room?"

"Auditions," he simply said.

I knew what he meant from our previous conversation.

"If we're at your cabin, where is everyone? Why haven't we been found? Surely someone would notice you being dragged into this room and Jason and I being carried in."

"This is mine and Max's day off." Silas frowned. "He's visiting his mother in Vegas. Billy and Chase were booked for overnights with clients. They won't be back until Sunday morning."

"Why do you know each other's schedules?"

"It's safer for each of us to know where the others are. What would happen if a crazed husband or boyfriend attacked us or killed us, and no one knew our last whereabouts or who we were with?"

"That makes sense."

"And we're friends. We talk to each other, you know. I'm sure you tell your girls where you're going. You discuss vacations, jobs, and such. Am I right?" he asked.

I nodded and immediately regretted the action. My stomach rolled, and my head throbbed.

Breathe. Just breathe, I told myself.

"So, it looks like we're on our own," I said.

"Looks like it," Silas answered. "What's the last thing you remember?"

I thought back as bleary memories slowly returned to me. "I left the office late and had just gotten home. The door was unlocked." I thought back. "Someone broke into my house. I was searching the place when someone hit me in the head. Next thing I know, I woke up here," I said.

Silas nodded. "I left your office, came home, and then went into my bedroom. I was about to shower when the same thing happened to me."

That explained why he was wearing only a pair of tight, spandex-like boxer briefs that left little in the package area to the imagination. Had we not been in a dire situation, I might have taken a moment to enjoy the view.

"Someone hit me over the head," he continued, "and that's all that I remember until you decided to kick me in the head and remind me how badly it hurts."

"Sorry about that."

I looked over at Jason. "We need to wake him up and figure out a way to get the heck out of here. Maybe he knows who took us."

"I'll do it. I'm closer to him," Silas volunteered. I swear I saw the corner of his mouth tick up mischievously.

Silas scooted as far away from the bedpost as he could then kicked out with his foot. I almost smiled when the ball of his foot collided with the side of Jason's head.

I didn't feel as bad about Jason being smacked in the head as I did when I'd kicked Silas. I guess a part of me still resented Jason's treatment of me when we were together and his lying about his involvement with Lydia.

Silas kicked Jason three more times before he finally groaned and glared up at him.

"Why in the hell are you kicking me? Stop it," he snapped. "Where am I?" He looked around with confusion, and then he spotted me. "Barb? What's going on? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. My head hurts, and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Other than that, I'm fine. Do you know how you got here? Did you see who took you?" I asked.

Jason couldn't sit up because of the way he was tied with his hands and feet connected by a rope behind his back, so he just lay there like a lump and told his story.

"I'd just gotten home from the office," he began with a frown. "I stepped into the kitchen to make some coffee. Then someone hit me, and everything went black. The next thing I know, I'm waking up to that Ken doll kicking me in the head." He glared again at Silas.

Silas actually grinned.

I'd come to the conclusion that nothing fazed that gorgeous man.

I liked him.

"We need to get the heck out of here before whoever took us comes back." I stood up on shaky legs and looked around the room for something to cut away the ropes with. The dresser was too far away to even consider searching for anything of use there. The same went for the side tables next to the window and door. That left the nightstand, if I could actually reach it. I had about a foot of rope between the bedpost and me, which meant I had about a foot of freedom.