Girl of Mine (9 page)

Or maybe that was what Jill wanted to hear. Her imagination was running wild, after all.

She moved away from him swiftly, before she did something she would later regret.

Coming to his senses, Luke sat up, tugging at the handcuffs as if he couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong with his arm.

Jill stood just out of arm’s reach and tossed the keys in the air and caught them, over and over, as if she didn’t have a care in the world and her escape had been massively easy.

As realization hit, Luke stilled, his eyes narrowing. “Give me back my keys, Jillian.”

“No can do, Lucas,” she said, faking nonchalance.

“Jill, c’mon. Don’t do this.”

“Hmmmm . . . funny, I remember saying something similar earlier today.” She took a few steps toward the door.

“You’re not gonna leave me here?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll call mommy and tell her to come and rescue you. No, wait, even better, I’ll call the guys at the station and let them know an officer is in need of assistance. I won’t leave you here for long.”

A small smile played on his lips. “You little minx.”

“You asked for this, Luke. You drew first blood.”

“Don’t mess with Rambo.”

“Already did. And won.” She blew him a kiss. “See ya, Luke.”

Jill stepped onto the porch and hesitated. Her fake smile died a quick death. All of the life inside of her seemed to drain from her body, making her feel heavy and downtrodden. Even though she’d won, she’d lost. Big time. They could fake this was all one big funny game between them, but really the stakes were high and they both knew it.

Jill turned and walked back into the ranch house. Luke hadn’t moved, his handcuffed hand lying limply next to him on the couch. He looked slightly forlorn.

All humor gone, she said, “Come to my house tomorrow morning. I promise I won’t avoid you. I’d like to hear what you have to say.” Her voice seemed unrecognizable to her own ears; serious and subdued.

His eyes tense, he stared her down, saying nothing.

“Bye, Luke.” Jill ran to his truck and climbed in. There were five keys on his key ring, one being the handcuff key. She tried all four keys with shaking hands and none of them fit the ignition. Telling herself to calm down, she tried each one a second time.

None of them were a match. Jill rested her head on the steering wheel. No wonder Luke was so calm. He knew she wouldn’t get far. She toyed with the idea of walking twenty miles. For all her bravado, she didn’t relish the idea of wandering around by herself in the countryside. She’d rather take her chances with Luke. Besides, she couldn’t leave him handcuffed for hours on end. What if she got lost? In spite of everything, she couldn’t treat him like that. It would be cruel.

The screen door banged loudly behind her as she entered the ranch house. Luke still sat on the couch where she’d left him, but he dangled a set of keys in front of his face, mocking her, a crooked smile on his face.

He was much too handsome for his own good, the scoundrel.
Game back on.
Jill felt like grinning from ear to ear like the proverbial Cheshire Cat. “Give me the keys to the truck, Luke. We’ll make an even trade.”

“No can do, Jill,” he said in a teasing tone.

Welcome to the dance of love.

“C’mon, handcuff keys for the truck keys. That’s fair.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. You toss me the truck keys and I’ll toss you the handcuff keys. If you can catch me before I leave, then I’ll stay.”

He pretended to think it over, tapping his finger on his lips, making a big show of his decision. “Um . . . no deal.”

Jill began to wonder why he was so calm. Shouldn’t he be slightly upset over the prospect of spending the next few hours handcuffed to the couch all alone in the middle of nowhere?

“You see, Jill, there was one thing they taught us at the police academy . . .” Luke said unhurriedly.

Jill’s eyes zeroed in on his key ring. She recognized the oddly shaped key immediately.
Oh crap.

“Always have two sets of handcuff keys in case of an emergency.”

Jill barely had time to gasp, as a matter of fact, she was mid-gasp when Luke suddenly pinned her against the wall in a blinding flash, clapping the handcuffs on her wrist once again, connecting them together in a strangely intimate fashion.

“Gotcha,” he whispered, his face an inch from hers.

Jill didn’t fight him. On the contrary, she felt as though she’d just won the grand prize. Why did her heart soar in her chest at the prospect of being Luke’s prisoner?

“You don’t play fair, Lucas Graham.”

“Can’t say that I do.”

“You fell asleep on the job. Not smart.”

“It won’t happen again, Jillian Claire Barrett.”

“Gonna sleep with one eye open?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes. You should’ve run while you had the chance.”

“Duly noted.”

He marched her back to the couch and promptly handcuffed her once again to a wooden slat. Jill was beginning to hate the furniture in the ranch house.

He clicked his tongue at her and winked. “Nice try. I’m impressed.”

“Don’t think for a minute that I’ve given up.”

“I’d be disappointed if you had.” With that, Luke returned to the kitchen and cleaned the dinner dishes, a small smile on his face.

Jill bit the sides of her mouth to keep from joining him. She now had two almost successful escapes under her belt. Not bad. “I do not want to be held against my will” had been conveyed loud and clear. What other messages had she unknowingly conveyed? The thought worried her.

She crossed her legs to give herself more time, but she couldn’t wait any longer. “I need to pee,” she announced.

“Is this a trick?”

“Try me and find out.”

Chuckling, Luke unlocked the handcuffs and she found herself breathing a sigh of relief at the small amount of freedom. Perhaps there was a touch of claustrophobia hiding inside of her. She headed for the bathroom and Luke followed close behind. “You are gonna give me privacy, right Luke?”

He stood in the doorway. “I’ll turn my back, but I’ll be right here.”

How embarrassing. “No, I insist you at least give me a little bit of alone time. C’mon, Luke.”

“Absolutely not. I know you’ll go right through the bathroom window. Don’t even try to deny it.”

The bathroom window was indeed calling to her.

“I’ll handcuff you to the toilet paper holder if you’d like. I’ll even close the door. But you’ll have to do your business one-handed.”

How like a man to not know the toilet paper holder comes apart. “You, sir, are no gentleman.”

“Never said I was.”

“Fine, handcuff me then already. I
need
to go.”

Luke proceeded to handcuff her to the toilet paper holder, but then he paused, releasing a deep frustrated breath. “Aw, that won’t work and you know it.”

“Have you ever changed the toilet paper in your entire life?”

“Of course I have. Don’t know what I was thinking.”

Luke looked around. There wasn’t one single thing he could handcuff her to in the bathroom. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Just go, will ya? I won’t look, I promise.”

Jill shook her head. “A life of crime is not for you.”

“I’ll be sure to mention you said that at my trial.”

“I’ll deny it.”

“Thought you needed to go.”

Jill gave in. “All right, but turn on the faucet. I’m not gonna have you listening to me pee.”

Luke turned on the faucet and stood in the doorway, his back to her. “Jillian Claire Barrett, don’t even think about going through that window. I will follow you.”

I’m counting on it.
Jill smiled, did her business, and adjusted her clothing while the handcuffs dangled from one wrist. In spite of the kidnapping and handcuffs, Luke really was a gentleman through and through and she knew he wouldn’t look, not for anything.

Unless he heard the window opening. Then all bets were off.

Jill stood there debating over what to do. One thing she knew for sure, she wasn’t ready to give in. She wasn’t handcuffed to anything once again and she had to do
something
.

Unless she wanted to wander the countryside in the dark—which she didn’t—escaping seemed rather pointless without the truck keys. The question niggling in her brain, however, gave her pause. Did she really want to escape from Luke?

Not really. Yet she couldn’t accept his methods either. The entire situation left her conflicted.

Nevertheless, the concept of roving around for miles in the pitch black did not appeal. Therefore, the decision to
not
make a run for it was easy.

A new idea came to her. Currently, it was dusk outside. There were quite a bit of trees and foliage surrounding the ranch house. If she could just get outside, she could hide from Luke for a few hours. He’d be forced to spend the evening looking for her. Giving Luke a hard time seemed fair payback for his outlandish actions. At least she’d feel like she’d tried a little harder to escape before acquiescing to Luke’s desires.

Let the dance continue.

Hmmmm, the wall of the hallway was just outside the bathroom door. If she gave him a good hard push, he’d hit the wall. It would startle him at most. Maybe daze him a little. She wasn’t strong enough to hurt him—nor did she want to hurt him.

It would give her enough time to get out the door. And he’d follow. No doubt about that.

She’d go outside, hide for awhile, then let him find her. It would be one last objection to being held against her will.

If she could convince him to handle their state of affairs differently, all would be well. He still had two more days left on his pass. He could come to her house again and ask to speak with her like a normal person. And this time she’d politely agree like a normal person. No more goofing around. Her curiosity was stoked and she had to admit, she did want to hear whatever earth shattering revelation he wanted to share with her.

Just not while she was handcuffed to a chair and
forced
to listen to him.

And stare at him. And look into his baby blue eyes. And hear his voice. And feel his presence. And think about how much she loved him.

What am I thinking? I can’t do this.

On second thought, maybe he could just say what he needed to say over the phone.

Stop debating, Jill. Just act.

Without further hesitation, Jill burst forward and pushed Luke out of her way.

She did surprise him. There was no resistance whatsoever. He smashed into the wall a little harder than she had anticipated and she took off running for the front door.

She almost made it too.

“Jill!” she heard him yell. Luke recovered awfully quick, lunged forward and caught her by the ankle, causing her to fall to the floor in an undignified heap. Guess that was payback for making him get up close and personal with the wall.

All at once, Jill’s emotions went on overdrive. She could no longer fake lightheartedness and she could no longer accept Luke’s actions as comedic.

The dance was over.

He’d broken her heart. He had no business bursting back into her life, expecting her to welcome him with open arms as if he were an old friend she hadn’t seen in years.

It had only been one month and she was still raw.

Jill kicked her legs frantically, attempting to free herself of Luke’s grasp. He tackled her effortlessly with his body weight and pinned her hands on either side of her head. They were both breathing heavily as they stared each other down.

“Don’t leave me, Jill,” he whispered.

“I don’t wanna do this anymore. I can’t play this game with you. This isn’t the kind of relationship I want.”

“I’m sorry. I really am. I was desperate and I couldn’t think of another way to get your attention.”

“I can’t pretend like this is funny any longer. You’re killing me.”

“Not my intention.”

“What is your intention?”

“To explain my actions.”

“That’s all?”

“I’d be lying if I said yes.”

“What else do you want from me?”

“You, Jill. I want you.”

A tear squeezed out from the corner of her left eye and Luke shook his head in the negative. “Don’t cry, Jill. Please don’t cry.”

“I can’t go through this again. A part of me died when you left me. You can’t waltz back into my life and toy with my emotions like this.”

“I’m not playing around. I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. You are everything to me, Jill. Absolutely everything.”

He leaned toward her, and it was all the permission she needed. She lifted her head off the floor, and their lips met in the middle. She had no idea which one of them initiated the kiss. Really it was both. But there was no doubt he was in control and she was the recipient. He pressed his lips to hers, hard, fast and demanding. His lips ground into hers, the action expressing deep emotion; the intense feelings of the moment. They breathed each other in as the kiss deepened, slightly frantic and out of control. The sheer desperation in his kiss said it all. He missed her, he wanted her. No explanations needed. Their mouths opened to each other and their tongues explored. The magical minutes in between dusk and darkness, in between light and shadows, settled over the ranch house. The interior became dim, intimate. The kiss renewed itself, ebbing and flowing between soft and wild as emotions calmed and then flourished with new intensity.

Luke tore his lips away, breathing heavily. “Please don’t think I brought you here just to do this. I mean, I want to do this but . . .”

“I know. Just kiss me,” she interrupted.

He pushed his lips back onto hers and the frantic journey began again. His lips traveled and explored, and she granted him full passage.

The lamp in the living room suddenly blinked on, bathing the room with light. The kiss ended as they simply stared at one another.

“The lamp’s on a timer,” Luke explained.

Jill nodded, wishing she could turn the lamp off and recapture the moment. She didn’t want the kiss to end.

Ever.

“I love you, Jill. I love you.”