Kissing Fire (9 page)

I looked up and his eyes told me
everything his mouth didn’t. That pained expression was there,
along with something else. He didn’t want me. I’d
assumed
he did. And you
know what they always say about that...ass...you...me. Well, I was
the ass for sure.

I looked away and saw myself for what I was...an
overweight girl that had gone bonkers on a guy that wasn’t the
least bit interested in her.

Oh fuck! I’ve really done it this time.

I had just hit a new all time low. You know the bad
part about being overweight is that you just can’t pop up
gracefully. What I would’ve loved to have done was hop up and said
something really biting and clever. But no, I floundered around on
the floor, butt ass naked, looking for my cutesy robe to cover
myself with. Then I bit my lip trying my best to hide my
humiliation.

Then the second worst thing I’d ever heard came out
of his mouth. “It’s not what you think.”

Now didn’t that make things all better? I wish he
hadn’t said anything at all. That wasn’t what I wanted to
hear...it’s not what you think. It was exactly what I thought.

“Whatever,” I said, still trying to gracefully get
out of this horrid situation I had gotten myself in. I finally got
my extra large body stuffed into my robe and then I rolled onto my
knees when I saw his hand in front of my face. I ignored it and
pushed myself to feet. That’s when I noticed them...my fluffy
Garfield slippers and I groaned.

He noticed them too and said in a quiet voice, “I
think they’re really cute Avery.”

That was the last straw. “Shut up Miles!”

His eyes grew quite large but he
didn’t respond. I lifted my head, drew myself up and stiffened my
spine. I had groveled on the floor long enough. I would make a
strong and noteworthy exit, I told myself. As I moved to leave, my
eyes landed on the bed where I noticed that damn letter.

“Oh hell! I almost forgot. This was
the reason I came here in the first place. This stupid letter.” I
grabbed it and smacked Miles on the belly with it as I handed it to
him. He was no longer Just Miles in my eyes. “It came by courier
while you were in the shower. I have no idea who Preston is. Do
you?” I shouted.

His face had turned ghostly white. He ripped open
the letter and then, if possible, his face turned even whiter.

“How long ago did this arrive?” There was an urgency
to his voice. A steely urgency.

“I don’t know. It was right before I came in here
and pounced on you.” There, I thought that added a nice touch.

He took two strides and reached the night stand
where his phone sat. Then he texted someone. Next he made a
call.

“Pete. I’ve been made. I’m in the wind and I have a
package.”

Pause.

“Juarez.”

Pause

“No. Ten. Fifteen at the most.”

Pause.

“Sea-Tac.”

Pause.

“Colorado Springs.”

Pause.

“I am fully aware of that and the answer is
yes.”

Pause.

“My place in Montana. They won’t follow from
Peterson. Have a jet ready.”

Then he hung up and looked at me with remorse.
“Avery, pack a bag. Pack only what you need. You can bring a
computer as long as it doesn’t have a 4G connection. Anything else
you need we can get later. I’ll answer all your questions but right
now you have to get ready. We need to be out of here in ten
minutes.”

“What are you talking about?” This man was
crazy.

“Avery,” he said calmly, but with intensity, “you
have to do this. If you don’t, you’ll die and so will I. I’m
Preston and that letter was for me. I’m a DEA agent and one of the
largest drug cartels just sent me a message that my cover has been
blown. They’ll be here in less than an hour to kill me. Anyone here
will die too. Do you understand me?”

I didn’t know what I understood. He grabbed my arm
and pulled me into my room. “Where are your clothes? Travel stuff.
Jeans, hoodie, things like that?”

“Over there.” I pointed to a suitcase against the
wall.

He started tossing me things. “Here, put these
on.”

I was getting dressed in front of him. I didn’t even
bother with panties. What the hell was going on? I was shaking
because he had this severe look about him that I had never seen
before. When my bag was stuffed with everything he thought I’d
need, he picked up my purse and asked my if all my identification
was inside. I nodded. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me back
into his room.

He dropped his towel and got dressed in a hurry.
Pulling out a gym bag, he stuffed it with clothes and put on a
shoulder holster. Then he grabbed a large gun, checked it to make
sure it was loaded and jammed it into the holster. Next, he put a
holster on his leg, then crammed another gun into it after checking
it too. I just gaped at him. I felt like I was watching a Matt
Damon movie or something.

Before I even knew what was going on, we were out
the back door, running through the yard. He took us to the furthest
corner where there was an obscure gate and he unlocked it using a
key code, making sure to lock it behind us. Then we slipped away,
down through hedges, keeping to the darkness. We got to a parking
lot where there was a big motorcycle parked. He walked up to it and
pulled out a set of keys. It unlocked a compartment on the back
where we put our bags. Inside were a couple of helmets and he
handed me one.

“These have headsets on them so don’t worry about
not being able to hear each other.”

“Okay.” I was more nervous about riding on the back
of that monster. I’d never ridden on a motorcycle and I was really
scared.

“You okay?”

“Oh sure.” Hell no I wasn’t okay. What kind of a
question was that?

He got on and then said, “Hop on.”

I lifted my leg but the damn thing wouldn’t make it
high enough. “Um, can you scoot up a bit.”

He turned around and saw my dilemma. “Sure.”

With the extra room I maneuvered my large frame into
that spot and sat down. This was not gonna be fun at all.

He cranked that thing up and man it was loud. Then I
heard music playing in my helmet, along with his voice. “Better?”
he asked.

“Yeah. It’s perfect,” I replied sweetly. I thought I
heard him chuckle.

How the hell had this happened to me and where were
we even going? Wait! What if this guy was the bad guy and he was
taking me off somewhere to murder me!

“Ack!” I screamed.

“What?” he yelled back.

“What if you’re a serial killer or something?”

“What?” he yelled that out like I was crazy. “Avery,
I’m trying to save your life, not kill you.”

“Yeah, that’s what you say, but how do I know for
sure?”

“Okay, I get that. But once we get to the airport,
you’ll see. We’re flying to Colorado Springs on a military
flight.”

“Oh, okay.” Was that supposed to make me feel
better?

We started moving and he didn’t waste time picking
up speed. I didn’t know what to hold on to because I didn’t want to
hold onto him. I knew he was repelled by the thought of me so the
idea of my hands on him must have made him want to cringe.

“Avery, you need to hold onto to me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s making it hard to drive
with you wobbling back there. Besides, you could fall off.”

“I’ll find something else to hold on to.”

“Damn it Avery, there isn’t anything else. Now put
your arms around me. We don’t have time to waste.”

Chapter 10

Preston

Aw fuck! When she was standing in
my room wearing that short little polka dotted robe, with her wet
hair hanging down her back, I almost came. I don’t think I’d ever
seen anything so lovely in my life. I wanted to just
hold
her.

But then, what came after that was
paralyzing. I’m not sure how or why it happened, but it took every
single ounce of control I had not to throw her on her back and put
my mouth to use. She was fucking purring...and meowing. I’m not
sure how that kitty thing started but damn that was one hot
pussycat. Those eyes of hers made me want to wrap my hands in her
hair and just sink into them. God, they were just so damn gorgeous.
And her lovely pink mouth did all sorts of amazing things to me. I
could tell she loved all my tats. She didn’t seem like the kind of
girl that would be into them, but she went fucking crazy over my
nipple rings. Damn, I needed to stop thinking about that or I was
going to come right here, right now. Thank God Caroline had those
bedrooms upstairs carpeted. If those floors would have been just
wood, my fingers would’ve left scratch marks the way I dug into
them, trying to prevent myself from touching her. It almost broke
me when I saw her face...the hurt in her eyes when I told her to
stop. She thought I didn’t want her. Nothing could be further from
the truth. I just didn’t want her to have
me
.

Now I’d put her life in danger. She didn’t even want
to put her arms around me. Hell. I let out a long sigh. I’d been so
deep into my own thoughts, I’d let my concentration slip. I lifted
my head and noticed two sets of head lights in my side mirror. I
did a little test to see if they’d follow and damn it, I was being
tailed.

“Avery, hold on NOW and tight. I don’t care if you
hate my guts but I gotta do some tricky moves ‘cause we’re being
followed.”

I felt her arms squeeze my waist really tight. She’d
gotten my message. If only she could wrap those long legs of hers
around my waist and...damn it, I needed to focus here!

“Good girl. Now just try to mold yourself to me and
move with me. Don’t be scared. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flash. My
bike was too noisy to hear it and I was positive they were using
silencers. Swerving like a mad man, I zigzagged my way around
traffic. The last thing I wanted was for her to take a bullet
during this getaway. Bargaining with God all the way, I prayed like
hell that wouldn’t happen.

I hit the gas and made a quick
U-turn while she screamed. The foot pedal scraped the pavement but
as soon as we were upright, I hit it again and we zoomed off.
Turning again, I headed toward the expressway. I still had one on
me, so I did some more maneuvering. I jumped a median and crossed
over a couple of lanes. Avery was screaming the whole time, but I
ignored her. We headed down a sidewalk for a short bit and then
back onto the highway. I needed to get to the interstate where I
could open this baby up. It was a Hayabusa and its top speed was
248 miles per hour. I’d never taken it that fast, but I had taken
it up to 190. I’d do it tonight if I had to, but I needed the
expressway for that.

Eventually we hit a clear path and
I took it, making the entrance ramp at 75 miles per hour. By the
time I hit the lane, I had her at 110, with Avery screaming at the
top of her lungs. I took her all the way to 180, just to be safe. I
kept checking my mirrors, but there was no sign of the goons
anywhere. I didn’t let up until we hit Sea-Tac. I took the back
route into the airport and when we hit the security gate, I pulled
out all my ID and they pushed me right through. When we got to our
stopping point, I told Avery she could get off. I didn’t get any
response.

“Avery? You still back there?” I patted her arms
that were still wrapped tightly around my midsection. Still no
response. I tried to pry her hands loose but when I did, she
started to whine.

I took my helmet off so she could see my face. With
her arms still locked around me, I turned as best as I could and
lifted her helmet off. She was somewhere between gray and
white.

“Avery!” I pried her hands loose, and it took quite
a lot of prying. They’re not kidding when they talk about a death
grip. I put the motorcycle on its stand and I got up and then I
lifted her off the bike. She wasn’t small so it took some effort,
but I got her off of the thing. I walked her inside and sat her
down in the first seat I could find. Then I crouched in front of
her.

I patted her cheek and asked, “Are you with me
here?” She blinked a few times and then her face started to get
red. And I’m not talking pink here. I’m talking bright cherry red.
I got really worried for a second; that is until that fist of hers
connected with my jaw and she nailed me right in the kisser. Next
thing I knew I was on my ass, she was straddling me and punching
the hell out of me, screaming all sorts of obscenities at me. She’d
totally caught me off guard, so much so, that at first all I could
do was lay there and take it like a wuss.

When I finally regained my senses, I locked my
fingers around her wrists and pulled her arms down to her sides.
Her chest was heaving with exertion, her hair was in a mass of
tangles, those eyes that couldn’t decide what color they were had
suddenly turned a deeper shade of green and the only thing that
came to my mind was I wanted to taste her lips so badly I couldn’t
stand it. So that’s what I did. I sat up and wrapped my hands in
her hair and kissed her...and not gently either. Now it was her
turn to be shocked. Her mouth had opened to an O, so I took
advantage of it and slipped my tongue inside of it. Dear God, how
could anything taste this good? After a few seconds, she even
started kissing me back, but the sexiest thing of all was when she
started to mewl and then she bit my lip. I forced myself to stop,
and I should’ve known this was coming, but damn it, I was lost in
the sensory exquisiteness that was Avery. It didn’t last long
because that firecracker brought me back to reality when the palm
of her hand connected with my cheek. I’m sure I would have a red
mark there for at least a week.