He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (21 page)

He groaned deep in his throat. When she moaned beneath the gentle pressure of his lips and parted hers in invitation, his restraint vanished and he swept his tongue inside to mate with hers.

Without breaking their kiss, he twisted, pulling her onto his lap. She straddled him between her thighs, her stomach clenching as she felt the hardness of his erection beneath her. She couldn’t stop herself from arching against him.

He jerked beneath her and thrust his hips in response. His hand slid along her thigh, up beneath the edge of her khaki shorts, squeezing her bottom. His other hand snaked up between them, beneath the hem of her tank top to the lacy edge of her bra. He cupped the fullness of her breast and she cried out when his thumb brushed across her.

His mouth broke free from hers and he slid his lips along the bottom of her jaw, tracing a heated path down the side of her neck. When he reached the upper curves of her breasts where they swelled above her top, he kissed his way to the valley between them and delved his tongue inside.

Amanda shivered beneath his fiery caresses and ground her hips against him. She ran her fingers across the planes of his chest, unable to get enough of him, desperate to feel his skin against hers. Frantically working the buttons of his shirt, she gasped when his hot mouth closed around her, not realizing until then that he’d worked her top and bra down, completely exposing both of her breasts.

“You’re exquisite,” he breathed against her.

By now she had his shirt unbuttoned and she moaned in delight when she smoothed her hands across the wiry hair of his chest and followed the dark line to where it disappeared beneath his waistband. The muscles of his stomach rippled and jumped as she raked them with her nails.

She was burning up and wanted nothing more than to rip his clothes from his body and drive him as crazy as he was driving her. He jerked beneath her when she ran her hands on the outside of his pants, down the impressive length of him, and then back up, her nails raking against his hard ridge as she struggled to undo his belt.

He reclaimed her mouth and slid his hands around her back, diving them deep into her hair, playing with the silky strands as his tongue tangled with hers.

Suddenly she was in the cabin again, and she heard the humming as the hooded man ran his fingers through her hair.

She whimpered and shoved him but she couldn’t break his hold.

In desperation, she raked her nails across his chest and screamed.

“Amanda!”

Her eyes flew open and she was staring into Logan’s eyes. He held her arms in a vice-like grip, lightly shaking her. “Honey? Are you with me now? Say something.”

“Y . . . yes, I’m here,” she whispered, her throat oddly raw and aching. Her gaze traveled down his chest and she saw the red angry scratches across it, oozing blood.

“Oh, my God, Logan. Did I do that? I think I’m going to be sick.”

Logan turned her to the side as she threw up her breakfast.

“It’s okay, honey. Everything is okay. Do you know where you are?” His voice was low and soothing.

Amanda shuddered and crawled off his lap, pushing away from him so she could stand up. “I know where I am,” she whispered, unable to meet his gaze.

While she straightened her clothing, he stood and repaired his as well. When he reached out to take her hand she shoved it away. Taking a steadying breath, she met his searching gaze. “I did that to you, hurt you.” She pointed to the red dots of blood that were soaking through his shirt.

“I’ve survived far worse. It’s nothing.”

“Stop being so damned understanding. Don’t you see? He screwed up my head. There’s something wrong with me. I’d given up on having a normal relationship again, and then, then I met you, and then . . .”

“Then what?”

“There’s no use, can’t you see? I actually hurt you. And I didn’t know I was doing it.”

“Let me help. I’m a great listener—”

“No,” she sobbed, shaking her head back and forth. She whirled around, her long hair rippling out behind her as she ran into the forest.

L
ogan jogged behind Amanda. He knew she needed some time alone but he wasn’t about to let her out of his sight until she was safely back in the house and Karen arrived. She wasn’t due to be here for another hour but he’d call and see if she could come over now. No point in waiting.

He couldn’t shake the image of Amanda’s pale face, eyes wild and unfocused as she clawed at him and screamed with such heart-wrenching terror.

When he woke up this morning in bed beside her, he was struck by how right it had felt. Now he wasn’t so certain. Not because his feelings had changed. They hadn’t. But he’d misjudged her, underestimated how scarred she was inside.

He’d brought her to his sanctuary by the creek, determined to share it with her, bring some peace to her after the difficult night she’d had. The kiss had been a terrible mistake. When she’d looked up at him so trustingly, he’d gotten lost in her eyes. Then when she’d looked at his mouth and leaned forward he’d lost all control, and scared her to death.

All along he’d struggled with his attraction to her, worried it would interfere with his job, worried that he might not be any better for Amanda than he had been for his ex-wife. That worry was justified. He wasn’t any good for Amanda. He needed to back off, keep it all on a professional level.

But now that he’d had a taste of heaven, how was he going to give her up?

Chapter Twelve

A
manda knew she was a coward, running away from Logan like that, but as she stood at the window in his bedroom and watched him drive away, she knew she’d had no other choice.

And running from the woods wasn’t the only running she was going to do.

She was going home.

For a few minutes, anyway, to get some more clothes and her passport. Then she was leaving—not just Shadow Falls. She was leaving the country. There was nothing else for her to add to the investigation, no reason to stay.

The memory of Logan’s sweet, sexy smile shot a stab of pain through her so intense it almost brought her to her knees. How had he wiggled his way into her heart so quickly? She shook the image away and finished stuffing her last few belongings into the suitcase on the bed.

Leaving made perfect sense. It was the right thing to do. She couldn’t bear to face Logan again, knowing she wasn’t coming back.

Getting away from the house would be easy. She’d eavesdropped earlier when Karen arrived and she’d heard Logan tell Karen she was upstairs and wanted to be alone. Karen wouldn’t expect her downstairs anytime soon.

And since Logan had stored her car next to his garage, all she had to do was wait until Karen did one of her patrols around the property and drive away.

With luck, she’d get what she needed from her house and be on her way to the airport before Logan realized she’d left. By the time he figured everything out, she’d be on an airplane and there’d be nothing he could do to stop her.

Would he care? She doubted it, not after the way she’d acted this morning. He’d probably be glad to be rid of her and all her emotional baggage, but he was a man of honor. His misguided sense of duty might force him to try to stop her from leaving, which was why she was going to sneak out now.

After shutting her suitcase, she looked around the room, memorizing it, taking a picture to hold in her heart when she looked back on what might have been.

She sat on the bed and stared out the window, waiting for Karen to leave the house.

A few minutes later, Karen stepped into her line of vision and began her patrol of the perimeter of the property.

Amanda hefted her suitcase and hurried through the house. She turned off the alarm, slipped out the back door and re-armed the alarm before heading for the garage. She didn’t relax until she was in her car and out of the driveway on her way to her house.

When she was ten minutes from home, she pulled over at a convenience store and convinced the clerk to let her use their phone. Yes, she wanted to go home and get a few things before leaving town, but she wasn’t stupid. If the killer was watching her house, she needed protection. But if she’d asked Karen for help, Karen would have tried to stop her and would have called Logan.

She didn’t know if the unmarked police car was still down the street keeping an eye on her house, and she didn’t want to rely on men she didn’t know—even if they were police.

No, what she needed was someone she could trust: someone who would trust her and believe the lie she was about to tell.

“SFPD, how may I direct your call?” an elderly voice asked upon answering the phone.

“Detective Riley, please.”

“One moment.”

She clutched the phone as she waited, guilt already riddling her for what she was about to do. Riley was a nice guy and she hated to deceive him, but she couldn’t think of any other way.

“Detective Riley.”

“Riley? It’s Amanda Stockton.”

“Amanda? Is something wrong? Logan’s in his office. Do you want me to get him for you?”

“No, no, I’m sure he’s busy and I don’t want to bother him. Actually, I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

W
hen Amanda drove up to her house, Riley was just getting out of his car. Perfect timing. She pulled into the driveway behind him.

He slammed his door shut and stood with an incredulous expression on his face.

As soon as she shut her car door, he stalked up to her and grabbed her arm. His face was red and he looked like he was struggling to control his temper.

“Riley, before you yell at me, give me a minute to explain.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, I’m not going to yell at you. You can explain why you lied to me once I get you inside. It’s not safe out here, and I value my life too highly to face Logan if something happens to you.” He pulled her toward the house, forcing her to jog to keep up with him.

He kept looking around as if he expected an attack any second. His nervousness started transferring to her and she suddenly felt very foolish.

“Riley, I know it was wrong to lie to you, but I needed to get some more clothes and my passport so I thought if I asked you to get them—”

“You did ask me to get them. I was supposed to bring your things back to Logan’s where you promised you’d be waiting. Why did you come here?”

They stood on the front porch as she tried to put her key into the lock on the front door. Riley stood with his back to her, his jacket thrown open to expose his gun. Amanda’s hand was shaking so hard now she couldn’t seem to get the key to work. “I’m sorry about lying,” she said. “It’s just that I’d decided to leave and—”

“You’re leaving without telling Logan?” he asked, glancing back at her. Perhaps noting her expression, he shook his head. “I see. That’s the point, isn’t it? You’re not a prisoner, Amanda. If you’d leveled with him, he would have taken you himself. And he would have made sure you were safe. None of this was necessary.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, catching her ring of keys as they dropped from the lock.

“Here, let me.” He reached his arms around her, shielding her with his body as he unlocked the door. “When we go in, stay in the foyer. If something happens, press the panic button on your alarm.”

“If you’re trying to scare me, you’ve succeeded.”

“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to protect you.” He pulled out his gun and shoved the door back, then entered the foyer with her close behind.

She entered her security code to turn off the alarm, closed and locked the door behind them.

He nodded his approval. “Wait here.”

He glanced into the kitchen, then hurried to the living room and disappeared around the corner. A few seconds later he came back into the foyer. In response to her questioning look, he said, “Clear so far. I’ll check the bedrooms.”

She nodded and waited.

And waited.

Something had to have happened to him or he would have been back by now, wouldn’t he? Part of her wanted to run out the front door, but Riley was here because of her, and she couldn’t deal with any more guilt if he were hurt.