Dangerous Surrender (15 page)

When he encircled her wrist, stopping her, she jerked back in surprise. “What?” she asked.

He lifted her arm above her head, pinning it against the couch. Just as quickly he did the same to the other, rendering her completely helpless. She loved feeling that way underneath him, knowing he could give her exactly the kind of pleasure she’d fantasized about.

“I told you what I was going to do to you,” he murmured, a dark edge to his voice that made her nipples stand up, begging for attention.

Not trusting her voice, she nodded. He’d told her he was going to go down on her until she passed out from sheer exhaustion. But he couldn’t have meant that, right?

He captured her mouth again, holding her arms in place as she writhed against him. Her hard nipples brushed against his shirt, the sensation wildly stimulating as she fantasized about what it would be like to have skin on skin contact.

When he shifted slightly so he could hold her wrists in place with one hand only to cup her mound and start teasing her with his other, she realized he’d been serious about his intentions.

At the thought, another orgasm almost tore from her.

The more time she spent with him, the more it hurt to realize he wasn’t looking for anything serious. But he was so giving and sweet and the fact that he was solely focusing on her pleasure was kind of insane. She knew things between them would be over soon, and it hurt more than she wanted to admit, so she was going to enjoy every second of time with this man.

Chapter 11

“What?” Neal snarled, answering his burner phone on the first ring. He’d received a text from his contact a couple hours ago telling him that Taylor was on her way to the office. His contact had found that out from one of the security team members. So Neal had headed there, ready to follow her after she left. He knew where she lived but doubted she’d be returning to her home. Following her should have been easy enough.

But the incompetent moron he’d hired had fucked everything up by opening fire on Taylor and her security team. He said he’d just wanted to scare them. The company vehicles were all bullet resistant, something his contact knew but Neal hadn’t ordered
him
to scare Taylor. He’d told the man he’d be taking care of that portion of his plan personally. Neal didn’t want anyone going after her but him at this point and he thought he’d made himself perfectly clear.

Apparently not.

He needed to personally take her so he could get his damn money back, not scare her into fucking hiding.

Now thanks to massive stupidity, Neal was terrified he wouldn’t be able to hunt her down and get his money. He’d have to go on the run if that happened. He didn’t want to flee from the Russians but it would be his only option. Because he wasn’t letting Alexei get his hands on him.

Though he wanted to shout at his contact for his stupidity, Neal took a deep breath and forced himself to hide his anger as he continued. “Were you able to track her or find out anything about where she’s gone?”

There was a long pause. “No. The team has closed ranks. Anyone on this security detail has strict instructions not to talk to anyone about it, per Escobar’s orders.”

Damn it.
“Does anyone suspect you’re helping me?”

“No. I only know by chance. I called to talk to one of the guys, supposedly about something else, and asked what the deal was with her and Hugh and the whole situation. He clammed up and said if I had questions to talk to Escobar. He was all apologetic about it, but I’m getting nothing from anyone. I can’t be too eager asking either or they might suspect. And where’s my fucking thank you for the risk I took tonight? I barely got away before the cops showed up.”

Neal’s jaw clenched once. The guy wanted a thank you? He wanted to lash out, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He didn’t respond fast enough because the man continued.

“And where’s my money? I haven’t been paid since before Vegas.” His voice was heated, not that Neal cared.

So that’s what the stupid shooting was about. Neal bet the man wanted more money for his ‘help’. Moron. “I can meet at our regular place soon but it has to be before sunrise. I can’t take the risk of being seen by anyone.” They met at a park on the beach for all their cash drop-offs. It was public enough during the daytime, but at night it was perfect because it was empty of people. And there weren’t any CCTVs anywhere in the direct vicinity. Ideal for what he planned to do next.

“I can be there in an hour. After this I’m done. I can’t keep taking risks for you.” His contact’s voice had lost some of its heat.

“I understand. I’ll be leaving town soon anyway.” Which was true. Neal would be leaving town as soon as he killed this moron and got what he needed from Taylor. If anyone else got in the way he’d kill them too. He hoped it didn’t come to that though because more dead bodies was a hassle.

As soon as they disconnected Neal grabbed a suppressor from his bag. He could attempt to kill the man with a knife, but a gun would be easier. The guy might be security personnel but he wasn’t fucking bulletproof. He didn’t think Neal had a reason to kill him so he wouldn’t be ready for an attack. Even if the guy was wearing a Kevlar vest, Neal wasn’t taking any chances. He’d shoot him right in the head.

He would just hide in the trees and kill him when he got close enough. The body would be found once the park opened, probably when an early morning jogger stumbled on him. Not that he cared now. He was going to be out of the country soon, leaving everything behind. After this, he’d get his money from Taylor then kill her. If he couldn’t get the money, he was gone, dropping off the radar for good.

Alexei might be a scary bastard, but Neal was only one man. Surely they wouldn’t spend years of resources on him. If he could just stay on the move for a while, never settling anywhere, maybe he could really outrun everyone.

Chapter 12

Wearing a towel, Roman exited the bathroom to find the bed he’d shared with Taylor empty. He started to frown when the scent of coffee hit him. Waking up next to an incredibly sexy woman—who wore Wonder Woman panties, something he was still laughing about—and now coffee was already made, felt almost perfect. Especially since he didn’t have to worry about his brother stealing his coffee.

Despite all the crap going on, being with Taylor was right where Roman wanted to be. He loved his job and his life, but right now he didn’t want to be anywhere else but with her. The rightness of it, especially so soon after meeting her, floored him. What terrified him more; he couldn’t see going back to his life without her in it. It would be like going from living in color to black and white. The thought was extreme but…she’d gotten under his skin. He shook that thought off and dressed. He didn’t have time to analyze whatever was going on between them.

Minutes later he found Taylor lounging on the couch he’d made her climax on multiple times last night, her laptop in her lap and a purely evil grin on her face. She might deny it, but she did evil genius well. She had on jeans and a T-shirt with a storm trooper wearing earphones and DJing. He laughed out loud at the picture, causing her to look up.

Evil genius smile morphed into a sensual one as she looked him over from head to toe. Then she blushed adorably. “Morning,” she murmured, her cheeks turning even redder.

Which was damn cute. She’d tried to go down on him last night, multiple times, but he’d needed everything to be about her. And…he wouldn’t have been in control if he’d let her do what she wanted to him. Right now he felt as if he was walking a razor’s edge and she had the ability to push him over it. Especially if she’d wrapped those pretty lips around his hard length. Even thinking about it and his dick woke up.

It was a primal thing, the only way he’d known how to take care of her in this fucked up situation. He couldn’t even describe it to himself how much he’d liked bringing her so much pleasure.

Over and over.

From the pink in her cheeks, clearly she was remembering everything. Good. He wanted everything they’d done stamped into her memory bank.

“Morning. Sleep well?” he asked.

She snorted and slid her computer off her lap. “What do you think?” Blush gone, she stood and crossed the distance to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He pulled her into a tight hug, dropping a light kiss on her mouth, loving how open she was with affection. He resisted the urge to deepen it because he had a feeling they’d end up naked and on the floor if he did. “If you didn’t then I clearly did something wrong. Which means I need to practice more.” He dropped his voice as he said it, which earned him another blush.

She seemed to forget how to speak for a moment then slightly shook her head. “There’s coffee in the kitchen and uh, I think I might have found something on Neal’s whereabouts.”

There was something in her tone that made him pause. As he headed for the kitchen, she followed and he could practically sense the nervousness rolling off her. “Well?”

She took a deep breath. “Hear me out before you say no.”

Oh yeah, that didn’t bode well for him. He nodded as he started to pour himself a mug. “Okay.”

“I did a lot of digging into Neal’s background this morning.”

He frowned. “You haven’t been up that long.”

“Well…I woke up at three and worked for a couple hours. You looked so peaceful sleeping I didn’t want to bother you.”

Roman didn’t respond, but he was beyond surprised he hadn’t stirred.

“Anyway, I did a lot of digging earlier and when I woke up again not too long ago something was bothering me. There were a few emails referencing a sale of a boat, but nothing directly to him. To this corporation. I’ve never heard of the corporation though, not being linked directly to Powers Group. So I started digging into it and I can’t be sure without more investigating, but I think it’s a front for Neal. For what, I have no idea, but I don’t think it’s for anything real. Using the information on the ‘business’, I tracked down that boat. It’s still owned by the company and according to credit card records from the same company, it’s docked at a local marina.”

“What kind of boat?”

“Forty-foot cruiser… The type someone could stay on. Live on, if need be.” She bit her bottom lip, watching him expectantly.

Wow, she was good.
Really
good. “You think Lynch is on it?”

She shrugged. “Probably not, but it’s worth checking out, right?”

“Yes, it is worth checking out. The police can do it immediately.”

She bit her bottom lip even harder and shook her head. “How am I supposed to explain to them what I found?”

“Did you break any laws gaining the information?”

Taylor looked down and crossed her arms over her chest, but didn’t answer.

“Damn it,” he muttered.

Clearly exasperated, she threw up her hands. “What I did was only a little illegal. And if we see that he’s there, we can call the police—anonymously. He might not even be there, but it’s a lead and I don’t want to pass it up. And I don’t want to give the police bad intel and have them waste resources when we could just check.”

He half-smiled, shaking his head. “Only a little illegal.” Her eyes widened as she looked at him in semi-shock. “What?” he demanded.

“I’ve never seen you smile like that before. And that doesn’t even really count, but…it looks good on you.” She grinned, sidling closer and wrapping her arms around him. She wiggled slightly, playfully rubbing her breasts against him. It didn’t matter that they were clothed, she definitely wasn’t wearing a bra and he could feel her hard nipples protruding through her shirt. He bit back a groan.

Fuck. He was so screwed. He set his coffee cup down and grabbed her hips, holding her close. “Are you seriously trying to use your sex appeal to get me to do what you want?”

“Absolutely. And logic.
Mainly
logic. We need to check this out. It’s the middle of the day, we can go just the two of us and not tell a soul. I trust Escobar but I don’t want anyone to know about this. What if one of the security team members is involved and they tip off Neal? I can’t risk that. Hugh deserves justice. The less people that know, the better. If we tell the cops and we’re wrong, they waste a lot of resources and risk tipping him off anyway. A team of cops showing up? He’s going to see that. But two people—”

“One person,” he bit out. “If we do this, I’m the only one checking out the boat. You will at no time reveal yourself publicly anywhere.
Anywhere.
Got it?”

“So you’re saying yes?” She practically jumped up and down with glee.

“I’m saying you’ll leave the checking out to me,” he muttered. He hated the idea, but she was right on all counts. If they could call in an anonymous tip on Lynch and get him arrested, the slimy bastard would flip on the guy who’d shot at Roman. Which would eliminate all threats to Taylor.

That was the carrot she was dangling in front of Roman and she had to know it. To finally get her safe, to get the men responsible for coming after her and killing her friend, was too much to pass up.

Roman knew he could keep her safe too. That wasn’t an issue. And he agreed that the less people who knew what they were doing the better. Keeping the knowledge of this to just the two of them literally eliminated any potential leaks. He didn’t like it, but he also didn’t like sitting around doing nothing. He’d planned to get her out of here today and into a new place anyway. They could make a couple stops before hitting their new safe house. “You’re going to need to change into less noticeable clothes. At least your shirt. Something plain. And we’re going to have to make a couple stops before we head there.”