Eternally Bound: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (15 page)

Her heart was in a million pieces, but she refused to feel the hurt anymore. Instead, she focused on her anger and let it consume her until she shook with rage. Bastard! And Pam? She couldn’t believe Pam would steal her man like that. She’d sat up in that girl’s chair at the salon and told her all of her and Justin’s business, so it’s not like the woman didn’t know Delaine was serious about him. For someone she’d known since their children were in preschool to stab her in the back like this was beyond painful. Oh lord, what was she going to do?

*
Suta, you are not using wisdom. This man is not like the puny Gary person.
*

‘But he slept with my best friend, Sapa! Hell, at least Gary slept with someone I didn’t know.’ She slammed her hand down on the steering wheel then looked down, expecting to see blood on her shirt from her breaking heart.

*
Your reasoning abilities are unsurpassed. Use them now. All is not as it appears, Suta. Trust me.
*

‘I do trust you, Sapa. I just don’t trust anyone else,’ she replied sadly as a lone tear made its way down her cheek.

Fifteen minutes after she was supposed to meet him, his cell phone number popped up on the caller id. She pressed the ignore button, turned the phone off and threw it in the passenger seat. Heartsick but determined not to cry over a man ever again, she dashed the tears away and instead did something she hadn’t done in all the years she’d worked with Aegis. She called in sick.

She flew home, stuffed a weekend bag with clothes, books and nothing related to work, jumped back in her Jag and headed for Nantahala Gorge. A nice quiet cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains was just what she needed.

* * * * *

Justin hadn’t called Delaine since she’d gone mental on him at finding out he was D.E.A. But it was only to give her time to cool off. He’d been totally surprised to get her message asking him to meet her for breakfast.

He’d dialed her cell several times, but it just rang and rang. Now it was going straight to voice mail. This didn’t make any sense. The woman had called him and left a message saying she wanted to see him then didn’t show up? He drove over to her house and rang the bell. At first he thought she just wasn’t answering the door, but after walking all the way around the house, noting the closed blinds on every window, he peeked through the small glass on the door that led into the garage from the side of the house. Her car was gone. Damn, she wasn’t home.

His shoulders tensed and he felt the beginnings of a nasty headache creep up the back of his neck. Flipping open his cell, he dialed her again. Where the hell was his damned woman? Had something happened that made it impossible for her to meet him? What if she’d run into trouble related to her case? What if she was casing Astin and got caught? And why the hell wasn’t she answering her phone?!

He drove toward home, his chest tight with one part anger for the way she’d arbitrarily dismissed him and one part worry at not knowing if she was all right. It wasn’t unheard of for someone to die in their particular line of work. Tired of leaving the stubborn woman messages, he finally called Derrick.

“Hey, Derrick. What’s up?”

“The usual. Chasing bad guys and doing favors for you.”

“Then everything is normal, isn’t it?” Justin said glibly.

“What the hell’s wrong with you, Jus?” Derrick asked with a bit of a grin in his voice.

“I need to know where Delaine is. She’s not answering her cell phone, she’s not at home and I haven’t seen her since we fell out a few days ago. She called me in the middle of the night and asked me to meet her for breakfast then she didn’t show up. She’s got the goods on Baker. I need to know she’s safe.”

“And what if she’s safe but avoiding you?”

Justin took a deep breath and his head conjured an image of Derrick, his mouth drawn tight with disapproval. The man had a way of making him feel like the little brother right after the big brother said, “I’m gonna tell dad on you”. He steeled himself and got ready for the I-told-you-so. “Delaine found out I was D.E.A. And not from me.”

“Man, didn’t I tell you to talk to her? I told you sistahs don’t play that junk,” Derrick said, managing to sound stern and sorry for Justin at the same time.

But there wasn’t anything he could do about it now, except try to patch things up with the woman he knew he had to be with at all costs. Whatever it took. He wasn’t even shocked anymore at how strong his feelings were for Delaine. He knew he had to find her.

“Look, Derrick, you were right, okay. But right now, I need to know my woman is all right.”

“Let me work on it. I’ll call you back in half an hour.”

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem. By the way, Spencer spoke to her boss, which is probably why she called last night. You two are supposed to close this case out together. If you can get her to speak to you ever again, that is.”

* * * * *

Delaine sat on the back porch of her little cabin and meditated. It was so peaceful and quiet here. No TV. No phone. Not even a decent cell phone signal. Only the rushing of the Nantahala River through the sheer cliffs of the gorge in the distance, and a light wind whispering through the thick towering trees. She’d never seen so many huge trees in her life. They were bare, preparing for the coming winter, but it was still beautiful up here. She shivered, wrapping the extra blankets she’d found in one of the closets more closely around her body.

‘What possessed me to literally run for the hills with the thick of winter approaching?’ she asked herself.

*
Stop running, Suta. Embrace our mate. He comes
.*

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Delaine words were flat and uncaring, and in truth, she hadn’t really been listening to what Sapa was saying to her along the bond.

The sleek mountain cat rolled her eyes and stalked away to a quiet corner of Delaine’s mind. Before she retreated, Delaine felt her frustration. Well, she could forget about meditating. All she could think about was Justin. Justin’s lips. Justin’s hands on her body. Justin treating her like the queen he proclaimed her to be. Cooking for her. Taking her on road trips.

Justin sleeping with her best friend. Rather, a chick that was supposed to be her friend.

She wanted to knock herself in the head. What had she been thinking to get involved with him anyway? He was too nice, too perfect. And you know what they say—if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. So here she was again, in a relationship with a man who couldn’t keep his dick out of another woman’s pants. Her boss might think he was a good guy, but Delaine saw him as nothing but Gary-Number-Two.

Grumbling under her breath, she rose from the back porch and stomped into the cabin. She hit the sheets early, determined not to lose any more sleep over Justin, Pam or her job.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

What the hell was that? On silent feet, Delaine jumped out of bed with her gun in hand. She checked the lock on the window in her bedroom then edged her way to the small living room.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Someone was banging on the door like they were the police. That was fine, because if it wasn’t the police, whoever it was would limp away with a bullet in the ass.

“Delaine! Open the door!”

She lowered her weapon and clicked on the safety. Justin? Oh my god. How the hell had he found her? Okay, now that was a stupid question, she thought, shaking her head. The man worked for one of the most sophisticated covert organizations in the country. Of course he could find her.

Geesh, Delaine, get yourself together, girl, she grumbled at herself. ‘And Sapa, stop all that pacing. It’s making me dizzy.’ An irritated growl resonated along the bond.

Sapa had told her Justin would come for her. She hadn’t believed it one whit, not while he had someone else’s warm body to bury his cock in. But Sapa had been wrong, in a manner of speaking. He hadn’t come for her. The bastard had come for Pam. And when she was finished with him, he’d wish he’d kept his distance

With her gun fisted on her hip, she yanked the door open and glared up at him under the light of the single bulb illuminating the small front porch.

“What the hell are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Pam?”

Justin drew his neck back, arched a brow and looked down at her like she was crazy.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Delaine ignored his innocent, confused expression and ground her words into his face. “You. Slept. With. Pam! You bastard!”

“I slept with Pam? You’ve got to be kidding me!” he laughed.

Delaine quirked a brow, not seeing any humor in the situation. His laugh seemed genuine enough, but this was a man whose job was to be an expert at hiding who he really was. As are you. She ignored that little voice and, seeing no humor in the situation, scowled at him and his stupid laughter.

“Well, I’m not kidding! She answered your phone. You know, the one at your house. She said she was spending the night with you.”

“And you believed her?”

“Well, she was there, wasn’t she? What was I supposed to believe when she answered your phone at three in the morning?”

“But, Delaine …”

Her voice full of venom and pain, she bared her teeth and poked him in the middle of his chest with the barrel of her 9mm as she spoke. “And she sounded like she’d already been screwed good that night …”

“Delaine …”

“You lying, cheating son of a bitch! I should have known better than…”

Justin had enough. He was many things, but liar and cheat weren’t on the list. He grabbed a very angry Delaine by the shoulders and shook her until her teeth snapped together. She flung away from him and headed into the cabin, intent on slamming the door in his face. He caught it with his foot just before it hit him in the nose, pushed the door open so hard it banged into the wall. He didn’t care. He stomped into the cabin on her heels.

“Delaine, will you be quiet so I can tell you what’s going on?”

“I don’t want to be quiet! I want to tell you exactly what’s on my mind, damn it!” She tossed her gun on the small rustic couch. “Better yet,” she snarled and dropped into a fighting stance, “I think I’ll just kick your ass!”

Justin’s mouth dropped open. She was serious. Balanced on the balls of her feet, her strong arms were up, ready to strike. He watched the muscles in her thighs tighten and flex as she readied herself. His mind flew back to the last time he’d seen those thighs. They were wrapped around his waist, with her head thrown back while he’d sunk to the hilt. He shook his head to clear the distracting image.

All she wore was a little white camisole and a pair of silk bed shorts. To Justin, she’d never looked sexier or more pissed. Delaine’s cinnamon skin was flushed with anger, and her chest rose and fell in agitation. The tops of her breasts peeked out from underneath her camisole. A light sheen of sweat made her body appear to glow in the dim lamplight. She was exquisite and fighting was the last thing he wanted to do with her. There was only one way to tame a woman who might be capable of beating you down.

Delaine watched him closely. Her brown eyes clashed with his smoldering blue ones and she knew he was calculating the distance between them. So he thought to take the upper hand, eh? Well, she was determined not to give it to him. She never used her fighting skills on people she knew, knowing she could seriously hurt them, but if he took one more step she was mad enough to lay him out. Damn, he stepped. And she let a right hook fly, ready to follow up with a roundhouse kick to the gut.

Eyes wide, her throat emitted a loud squeak when he countered with a perfectly executed arm figure four move. As soon as she struck, he blocked her punch and grabbed her in the crook of her elbow with his free hand. She had a fraction of a second to wince as he bent her forearm up and back just before he stepped inside her defense and took her down to the floor. Hard.

The air whooshed from her lungs when her back hit the hard wood floor. The next thing she knew, Justin was lying at her side with his right shoulder on top of hers, and her right arm pinned underneath her. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

Damn, that hurt. She instinctively tried to struggle. Justin put all his weight into the submission hold and Delaine went still. The slightest movement caused a funky pain to shoot up her shoulder and neck and then settle behind her eyes. Without releasing her from the hold, he slanted his mouth over hers and kissed the wind right out of her sails.

She had the ability to resist him for all of four seconds before she was lost in the taste of him as his tongue tormented hers. It seemed like forever since she’d enjoyed the way he explored her mouth, sucked and nibbled on her lips. He’d called her his cinnamon candy, and right now she certainly felt like it. He was eating her alive. Mmmm, she missed this. She whimpered when he pulled away from her lips.

He licked the corner of her mouth and rasped out, “Now will you listen?”

She nodded her head, eyes glazed over in a sensual stupor. Lord, the man sure could kiss. But he still hadn’t let her out of the submission hold.

“Pam came to my house talking nonsense about how she wanted me. But nothing happened, Delaine. She was drunk out of her mind and it would have been wrong to send her home in that condition. Hell, she was so snockered, I’m still shocked she made it to my house.”

“She said she spent the night with you.”

“I wish I’d known you spoke to her, baby, because she spent the night with my couch. Before she passed out, I let her ramble on about how lonely she was and it turned out she didn’t really want me. She just wants to be happy. I told her she needs to find her own man for that.”

“That ho-humping bitch! Wait until I…”

“Delaine, she was so drunk, when she woke the next morning she didn’t remember any of it. And I think the hangover was punishment enough.”

Delaine looked deeply into his stormy blue eyes and saw nothing but truth. She reached out to her spirit guide. Sapa arose and padded to the forefront of her mind.

*
He tells the truth, Suta. Take what I offer
,* the lioness lent Delaine her keen sense of smell. Delaine lay still and inhaled deeply. No scent of Pam on him at all. The only female she smelled on him was herself.