NaturesBounty (7 page)

The man lowered his voice. “Not over the airwaves. I’m
guessing it’ll take you about twenty hours and change to get here. Don’t be
late.”

He clicked off the call. Nate swore and dropped the phone in
his lap.

“What is it?” Lydia asked. “What’s wrong?”

“He played me,” Nate said, looking out the rear windshield
for anything suspicious. “I don’t know how or why, but he played me. Damn it!”

“So those men really aren’t bounty hunters?”

Nate shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Then who are they?”

“No idea. But I’m sure as hell not going to waltz into the
bail bonds office to find out. Asa’s far too eager for me to do that.”

“Asa’s my bail bond guy.”

“Yeah.” He started the car again and drove off.

“So we’re not going back to Colorado?”

“Not yet.”

“Wait.” She started wriggling in her seat, a motion that
shook her full breasts back and forth until he had full-color memories and
images in his head that he shouldn’t be thinking about. “You’re supposed to
take me back. Stop.”

He put on the brake and glared at her. “
You
stop.
Quit fidgeting around or else I’ll hogtie you in the back seat.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me. Spare car keys aren’t the only thing I’ve got
stocked in my trunk.” She settled down, and with a satisfied nod, he drove off
again. “Are you really in that big a hurry to go back to jail?”

“No, seeing as how I’m innocent.”

He snorted. “Funny, I hear the same thing from pretty much
every skip I collar.”

“Except it’s the truth this time.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I have proof. Copies are sitting in two different states in
case the original got lost or stolen.” She sighed. “And since that’s back at
the beach house, I’d say it’s gone. And as for you, I may not be anxious for my
boss to succeed in framing me, but that doesn’t mean I want to be a hostage in
some game of yours. This is kidnapping.”

He shot her a glare. “I’m not a kidnapper. I was duly
authorized to bring you in.”

“Yeah, by a guy you apparently think is up to no good.”

Nate set his mouth in a grim line and got on the highway.
“It just doesn’t make sense. Why would he screw me over? He posted your bond.
Getting you back sooner than later is in his best interest. That’s why he
pulled me out of my brand-new retirement. He needed my expert nose to track you
fast.”

He merged into traffic and stomped on the pedal.

“You were retired?”

“Barely. My last job didn’t go so well. It spun out of
control.”

She grunted. “So far, this one doesn’t seem to be much
better.”

Nate curled his lip while he changed lanes to stick to the
I-10 East. “Considering someone wound up dead the last time, I’d say we’re
still ahead of the game.”

There was silence for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said somberly.
“Was it someone you knew?”

He tightened his grip on the wheel. “An innocent bystander.
He got caught in the crossfire when gunfire broke out.”

“That’s terrible. So you just quit, even though it wasn’t
your fault?”

“Not my fault? I ducked, and he caught a bullet meant for
me.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault.”

“So everyone says, but I decided to hang up my hat anyway. I
just didn’t have the stomach for it anymore. Then Asa talked me into one last
job. You.”

“Lucky me.” She flinched at his glare. “Maybe you just
aren’t as retired as you thought. Maybe deep down, you know you can still work
for the public good. Not in my case, of course.”

“The only reason I did it was because my cut of the bond
amount would see me through another year. Even so, there were two conditions.
One, I wanted a quiet capture. No team of macho mean stirring up a shit storm.
Two, minimal force. No guns. Since you were a first-time offender wanted for a
white-collar deal, it seemed more likely I’d get my wish.”

“But Asa obviously didn’t trust that I’d be taken that
easily, so he sent backup and guns that you didn’t want.”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think that’s it.”

“What, then?”

The glow of red brakes lit up the dark road ahead, and he
slowed down. He’d forgotten what a bitch Southern California traffic could be.
“He didn’t send them as backup. He told me they weren’t supposed to be there.”
When they’d stopped in the row of cars, he looked over at her. “They were
supposed to jump us quietly after we got back over the state line.”

Her eyes widened. “Why?”

“He won’t tell me. Says we have to meet face-to-face first.”
His eyes narrowed. “Except I highly doubt it’s so he can explain. He’s after
something, and I think it’s sitting right next to me.” He gave her a pointed
look.

“Well, obviously he’s after me. That’s his business, right?
Tracking down fools like me who try to run away from lying, unscrupulous
bosses.”

“Then he could have just let me do my job. You’d have been
in his hands tomorrow.” He felt a jab of unexpected irritation at the thought
of her in another man’s hands—in any capacity.

“Maybe those other guys tried to get me away from you
because they want your cut of the reward. Whoever hands me over gets the money,
right?”

“It doesn’t quite work that way. This isn’t the old days
where anyone could capture guys on wanted posters to get the gold. Bond
enforcers don’t go around stepping on one another’s toes because we aren’t all
given the same assignments. We’re hired to do a specific job, and we do it. Asa
trusted I could do this one, or he wouldn’t have brought me out of retirement.”

She shifted in her seat, obviously uncomfortable. “You’re
right. It doesn’t make sense.”

Traffic crept forward again. “He wanted me,” he muttered to
himself. “
Me
in particular. He knew I could find you fast.” He glanced
at her. “It’s a talent.”

“I’ll admit it bruised my ego a little. I thought I did
pretty good throwing you guys off the trail.”

“I have my ways.”

The words sank in.

“My ways,” he repeated. “My conditions. That’s why he wanted
me. He knew I could find you fast, but he also knew I’d do it alone and
unarmed. The last time we talked, he made sure of it.”

“So?”

“That would make it easier to intercept you afterward.”

“Intercept me for what?”

“Good question.” He blew out a breath as the freeway resumed
normal speed. He pressed the button for the window, took one final look at his
phone, and chucked it into the freeway’s concrete center divider. “Shit. I
liked that phone.”

“What did you do that for?”

“Same reason you apparently dumped yours in New Mexico. So
people like me couldn’t follow you.”

“So they’re following us now?”

“
Now
, they can’t.” He gave her a hard look. “But I
have an ugly feeling both of us are about to be officially declared fugitives.”

“And neither of us deserves to be.”

Plans began swirling in his head and clicking into place,
although the plans of what he couldn’t do seemed much clearer than what to do
instead.

“Someone wants to find you,” he said, as much to her as to
himself, “but not to send you back to jail. Why? There’s something else going
on.” He glanced at her. “I suppose I need to temporarily revoke my policy never
to listen to crap about innocent bond skips. I think it’s about time I heard
your side of the story.”

She stared at him then, ironically silent.

“Isn’t that what you want?” he asked. “For the bounty hunter
to hear your case and take your side?”

“I’m not sure it’ll make a difference. Andrew seems to have
this whole thing locked up tight. That was my boss. Andrew Waller, CEO of FTI.
Or as I’ve recently renamed it, Fucking Thief Incorporated.”

“An hour ago, it wouldn’t have made a difference. But now I
really need to hear what wasn’t in the file I read about your case.”

Lydia sucked in a deep breath, which pushed out her already
impossible-to-ignore chest. He rerouted his thoughts quickly.

“The short version,” she began slowly, “is that this started
six months ago when I accidentally ran across a discrepancy in the accounting
logs at my company. I told Andrew right away. I was thanked most vigorously for
my ‘sharp eye and dedication’. Before long, it was clear that was just a
brush-off. That’s when I got suspicious that the ‘mistake’ in the books was
something more.” She let out a frustrated growl. “I should have kept my nose
out of it. But I couldn’t let it alone. I started staying late and nosing
around through files. It took some doing, but I finally pieced it together.”
She shook her head and looked at him. “Andrew was siphoning funds into offshore
accounts.”

“What did you do?”

“I should have acted immediately, but I was scared. I wasn’t
sure who to tell. And as it turned out, I didn’t get the chance. I woke up to a
knock on my door.” She leaned her head against the back of the seat and closed
her eyes. “I had this bad feeling before I even answered. Sort of the same way
I felt when you first showed up.”

He felt a strange twitch in his stomach at that, but he
didn’t answer.

“That’s when it dawned on me that maybe I hadn’t been as sly
as I’d thought. There are security cameras in the building that picked up my
every suspicious move, something that looked really bad for me when the
accusations were turned.”

“So you weren’t stealing, you were trying to prove your CEO
was.”

“Exactly. But he found out and twisted it around so I’d take
the fall. While it wasn’t quite the same as the gun-toting jackholes who busted
into the beach house, I was put into cuffs and hauled away for a crime I didn’t
commit.” She gave a tight smile. “But not before I managed to smuggle out
evidence that he was the one behind it all along.”

Nate hadn’t had a chance to reply before she jolted upright.
“That’s what this is about. He knows I have the documents, but not where they
are now, how many copies I’ve made, or what I intend to do with them. He wants
to get a hold of me first, before the cops do. Maybe he wants to work a deal.”

Nate sat quiet for a while, nodding while he thought this
through. If she was telling the truth, this was all making a new sort of sense.
“If you’re right, the copy you had at the beach house will have been destroyed
by now.”

“Lucky for me, I have two more copies. One in each state I
drove through on my way here.”

“New Mexico?”

Lydia nodded. “Santa Fe and Flagstaff.” She hesitated. “So
does this mean you believe me?”

“Until a better explanation comes along, I’m not sure I have
a choice. I’m not going back until I know ‘gun-toting jackholes’, as you so
eloquently put it, won’t be waiting there to send either of us into permanent
retirement of the really bad kind.”

“I suppose as alliances go, I’ve heard better.”

He arched a brow at her. “And believe it or not, I feel an
obligation to protect the fugitives in my custody. I don’t want to see you
hurt.”

Something lit in her eyes then, a jolt that punched through
his middle.

“Then since we’re partners in not-crime,” she said, “can we
please pull over so I can get out of these cuffs? At this point, I think the
marks are going to be permanent.”

He took a moment to weigh the insanity of what he was about
to say. Was he really about to do this?

“Fair enough. For the time being.”

“Thanks.”

On a whim he added, “Stick with me, Lydia. Don’t run off on
your own. I’ll help us figure a way out of this.”

She nodded. “I trust you. Which, considering this hours-old
relationship was founded on your giant lie, probably says a lot about my issues
with men.”

That twisted the corner of his mouth upward. “We’ll turn off
the road up ahead. I want to make a stop. The cuffs will come off then.”

“What’s there?”

“I need to gas up the tank, and we have some shopping to do
before we head to Arizona.”

“Good. I could use some aspirin when we get there.
Apparently, my hangover has arrived.” She moaned. “I didn’t even get the usual
six hours of pleasure buzz out of it.”

He reached over her. “No need to wait. I’ve got painkillers
in the glove box. Along with a bottle of water.”

“Thank God. Then I take back the mean stuff I said about you
a few minutes ago.”

“You didn’t say anything mean.”

“I was thinking it in my head.”

The mood in the car shifted when he leaned over into her
personal space. When he held the pills out in his hand, her lips feathered his
palm and sent a charge up his arm. He recognized the glimmer of fire in her
piercing blue eyes, but it wasn’t merely the chemistry that had failed to dim
between them. She was, for the time being, no longer a law-breaking captive he
was returning to justice. They were a team, two magnetic opposites clutching to
one another in a common cause. He just hoped his instinct to trust her didn’t
turn out to be a mistake, like his instinct to fuck her on a dining room table.

Although, as he took another sidelong glance, he started
thinking that particular decision hadn’t been such a mistake, after all. And
judging by the way her gaze slid over him in return, maybe she was thinking
pretty much the exact same thing.

Sometime later, Lydia had the satisfaction of seeing Nate’s
eyes widen when she walked up to him with the tags still fluttering on the
outfit she was trying on. He gaped at her in almost as stunned a fashion as
when she’d followed the drunken whim to pull off her bikini top.

She stopped beside the display laptops he was poking around
and lifted her arms. “Well, what do you think?”

The way his eyes raked over her made her feel downright
caressed, and it made her skin tingle.

“I thought you don’t wear jeans,” he said.

Lydia shrugged. “I don’t like jeans.” But admittedly, these
were stretchy enough to be almost comfortable, and they fit like a soft,
sensual glove. More important, her ass and hips looked fucking great in them.

He eyed her curves again. “Well, jeans definitely like you.”

Her stomach heated. “Thanks. I just figured these would be a
smarter fashion choice for a wanted fugitive on the run.”

Nate’s head whipped back and forth at that. “Do you want to
say that a little louder?” he asked in a sharp whisper. “I don’t think the
security guard napping in housewares heard you.”

“The place is practically empty. I thought these big box
stores stayed open twenty-four hours because they’re so popular? Besides, you
didn’t comment on my top.”

When his eyes fixated on her chest, he looked annoyed rather
than appreciative. “Don’t they have some baggy t-shirts or something? I thought
I saw some over in the men’s department.”

“Why, what’s wrong with this?” She held out the front of the
long-sleeved top she’d selected. The thin, knit fabric was soft and very
clingy, and it was patterned in a subdued, floral palette. The neck was slashed
quite low, and she’d left the front ties hanging flirtatiously loose.

“The point to getting you some clothes was for you to cover
up.” He waved his hand up and down at her ensemble. “Not to, uh, accentuate
things.”

“Why, Nathan Antillean,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes
in a gesture of innocence, “I do believe that was a compliment.”

“My name isn’t Nathan.”

“Nate’s short for Nathan, isn’t it?”

“No.” He paused and shot her an unconvincing scowl. “It’s
short for Nature, if you must know.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Nature? As in Mother?
Nature
Antillean?”

“Long story.”

“I take it your parents were hippies, and you were conceived
at Woodstock.”

His eyes rolled. “I was born on a camping trip.”

“Oh.” She gave a shrug. “Cool. But back to the wardrobe
discussion, I don’t do baggy men’s shirts. More importantly, this shirt is on
sale.”

“Then maybe I like it better.”

“From the way you were staring when I walked up, I’d say you
like it just fine.” He opened his mouth to answer, but she cut him off.
“Anyway, what are you doing over here? I thought you said you were going to
grab a throwaway cell phone, not shop for a new computer.”

He held up a phone he’d set down on the shelf in front of
him. It was a smart phone that appeared to be permanently encased in stiff
plastic packaging. “I need to
use
a computer, not buy one,” he said with
another glance over the top of the shelves they stood in front of. They were
facing the electronics department’s service desk, and the clerk there had his
back to them while he fiddled with his red uniform vest.

“Can’t you check your Facebook later?” She stood on tiptoe
to peer over his shoulder. “Ooh, does that model come with a Blu-ray player?”

“I found a WiFi connection nearby,” he said. “I’m going to
use it to check something that is similar to Facebook, if you’re a guy like me
looking for people like you.”

“Sounds kinky. And what’s that supposed to mean, ‘people
like me’?”

“Criminals.”

She let out an exasperated growl. “I thought we recently
established that I am not, in fact, a criminal?”

“You jumped bail and left the state. So you are, ‘in fact’,
a wanted felon. For that if nothing else.”

“And you don’t have a laptop stuffed in the trunk next to
the spare keys and prisoner hogtie devices?”

He glanced at her. “As a matter of fact, I do. But I can’t
risk using it. There’s a chance our location could be tracked if I turn it on.”

A heavyset woman in a housecoat pushed a cart up their
aisle, and Nate clicked up a demo window to hide whatever it was that he was
doing. He switched back the minute the woman turned the corner.

He was typing furiously while keeping one eye trained on the
clerk, who was completely ignoring them. Lydia stopped watching what he was
doing and started staring at him with a whole other sort of interest. Nate in
profile was a fascinating study in male architecture. His long lashes flicked
up and down while he shot glances over the lid of the laptop, and his broad
shoulders were squared and proud even though he was a lot taller than the level
of his workspace. There was no arguing how gorgeous he was, whether he was
holding pink balloons, bending Lydia over a table, or offering her his hand in
the middle of an escape from rogue gunmen.

My, how she had thrown herself at him the second they met!
Damn alcohol. Even so, had she known he wasn’t really a stripper, no amount of
booze would have compelled her to come on to him so blatantly. What must he
have thought of her? The thought sent a flush of heat to her cheeks. She was
embarrassed, it was true. But she couldn’t drum up any remorse.

She wasn’t sorry she’d fucked him. Not one damn bit. He’d
responded to her so readily, and he’d upped her game to something far hotter
than she’d ever gotten. So good that even now, she felt a dull throb stirring
in her clit. Maybe alcohol wasn’t the only thing that got her crazy horny. Life
on the run apparently got her bikini bottoms wet. Or maybe it was the man who’d
spanked her and made her love it.

“This Wi-Fi is for shit,” Nate said, glowering at the
screen. “It’s taking forever for the damn page to load.” He glanced up and
caught her staring. “What?”

She looked away in a hurry, just in time to spot trouble.
“Uh-oh.”

He followed her eyes and grunted. “Figures,” he said under
his breath. “When you want help, they’re never anywhere to be found.”

“Can I help you folks with something?” asked the clerk who
had finally waddled himself over.

Nate hid his page with the demo again, but before he could
answer, Lydia launched into action.

“Why yes, thank you so much,” she gushed. Nate looked at her
as though springs had just shot out of her ears, but she ignored him. “I was
just asking my boyfriend what he thought, and he agrees with me.”

She wandered straight up to the guy to halt his advance on
the commandeered laptop, and along the way she deliberately put a bounce in her
step to give extra jiggle to her breasts. She pointed to them as she stopped in
front of the clerk, whose name badge read “Thaddeus”.

“I was just saying I think this shirt is a bit too snug in
the chest,” she said, thrusting her boobs out for effect. “I know this isn’t
your department, but I couldn’t find the salesgirl over in the women’s section.
I don’t suppose you can help me figure out if you carry this top in a bigger
size?”

To finish off, she peeled the blouse over her head. Before
the fabric had even cleared her eyes, she could feel that Thaddeus’ had glued
themselves to the rounded flesh that was barely covered by her string bikini.
She grabbed the tag on the shirt and held it out. “This one is a size small. I
think I need at least a medium.”

Several sounds that weren’t exactly words came out of the
man, and with a nod, he led her back to the service desk. He got on his phone
there without once looking away from her tits. While he spoke in a rush to the
clothing department, she glanced over her shoulder at Nate, who shook his head.
She waggled her brows at him before turning back.

“We have several sizes in stock,” Thaddeus said. “I’ll show
you.”

She thanked the clerk profusely while he walked her over to
the clothing aisle. Lydia delayed him for as long as she dared to give Nate
time to finish his web surfing. After she finally got rid of Thaddeus, she
grabbed her jogging pants out of the dressing room she’d abandoned earlier and
looped them over her arm while she made her way back.

Nate found her first, and he didn’t look happy. He clutched
the packaged phone, a powder-blue ski jacket he’d picked out for her, and some
snack food.

“Let’s go,” he said stiffly.

“Why, you’re welcome for the ongoing use of my tits as a
male distraction device,” she said as they headed for the checkout. “You know,
I think that guy was about to ask for my number. I hope it was worth whatever you
were looking for.”

“I found it.”

“And?”

He worked his jaw. “Asa officially fucked me hard. I’m
wanted for aiding and abetting a felon.” He flicked her a hard glance. “Guess
we
are
both fugitives now.”

She swallowed and followed him to the nearest open register.
“So what now?”

He didn’t answer right away. He grabbed several prepaid
credit cards from a hook by the cashier and divided his goods into two piles.
Nate pulled the sales tag right off the ass of Lydia’s jeans so the checker
could scan it. He paid cash for the prepaid cards and used a credit card for
the rest.

On the way to the car, he finally spoke. “We need that
evidence of yours, and I need time to think.”

“Do you think we can come up with a plan to deal with
Andrew?”

“Right now, I figure your best bet will be to use the
evidence to get your fair day in court. But I need to see the document first.
And probably sleep on it as well.” He stopped in front of the passenger door to
his car, where he glanced at her and pulled the newly purchased top out of the
bag. “Either way, as soon as I use my card to gas up the car, that’s it. We go
off the grid after that. You said the closest copy is in Flagstaff?”

She nodded and tugged the shirt back over her head.

“Then that’s where we’re headed. It’s more than an
eight-hour drive going up the back way. That’ll put us in while it’s still
dark. We’ll hit up a motel and get some sleep before retrieving that evidence.”

The word “motel” started two different alarms ringing in her
head. She ignored the louder klaxons, which were blaring over the thought of
her and Nate sleeping and showering together, and focused on the other issue
instead.

“We can’t do that if we’re going off the grid,” she said.
“They can track you by watching your credit card use. They’ll know right where
we are.”

“Which is why I won’t be using my card after the gas
station. I don’t care if they find out we stopped here to fuel up. It’s where
we go next that will be our little secret.”

“Motels won’t let you rent rooms without credit cards,” she
said. “Believe me, I tried. I couldn’t find a single place between here and
Colorado that would work with cash only.”

Nate pulled open the door for her. “There are a few, but not
enough to count on. That’s why I picked up these.” He reached in the bag and
showed her one of the prepaids.

“Those will work?”

“Yep. One of the many tricks I learned chasing down skips.”

Her mouth fell open. “I never thought of that. I wound up
sleeping in my car on the way.”

He dropped the card back in the bag and gestured for her to
get in the passenger seat. “Go figure that I picked up a few things in my
twelve years of hunting that you didn’t figure out in a week. I learned these
tricks to outthink fugitives, though. Never figured I’d be one.”

She felt a throb of guilt. It wasn’t his fault that her boss
was out to get her. But it was both of their problem now.

“We should probably stop and eat on the way,” she said when
he got in beside her. “I’m starving.”

“Drive through only,” he said. “And road snacks.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re going to be very bad for my
figure.”

He actually cracked a smile as he started the car. “That
sounds fair, since I was already very bad
to
your figure.”

The look on his face sparked something unexpected in her,
and she leaned over without thinking and kissed him full on the lips. It
started off as a quick brush, but she caved to the immediate and overwhelming
desire to keep their mouths in contact. She took hold of his face while he
tensed in apparent surprise, but his lips were pliable and willing when she
prodded his mouth with her tongue.

A hot jab of lust revved up her erogenous zones when their
tongues began an eager dance, and she flirted with the urge to climb on his
lap. By the time she pulled away, her heart was racing and Nate looked more
hungry than dazed.

“What was that for?” he asked.

She wasn’t entirely certain. “I guess that’s my way of
saying thanks.”

He blinked. “For what, exactly?”

“For doing all this. Believing me. And for not sounding
disgusted just now when you brought up what you and my figure did earlier.”

He licked his lips, looking more as though he was trying to
taste her on them rather than keep them moist.

“If this is the way we’re expressing our gratitude,” he
said, “then let me just say this.”

His sudden grab was even more unexpected than her mad
impulse, and her nipples tightened at the firm, almost demanding press of his
mouth to hers. He gripped her upper arms almost painfully while he kissed her
half senseless. His thumbs brushed the sides of her breasts, weakening every muscle
in her body.

He pulled away and gave a smiling, satisfied nod while she
reeled from the wash of happy tingles passing over her.

“So what was that one about?” she managed.

“Thanks for saving the day twice by flashing your incredible
rack at a guy.”

“Check your math. I believe that would be three times.”