Back In The Bedroom (The Wrong Bed #29)(13)

“They won’t.”

If he’d thought her eyes were big before, they were huge now, though he couldn’t see her exact expression. “You’re afraid of the dark, but you’ll take on four armed men?” she asked incredulously.

He felt the muscle in his jaw start jumping again. “I’ve had worse odds.”

“What did you say you did before you were an accountant?”

“Go back. Go back now.”

“You were on the right side of legal though, right? You are the good guy, right?”

“Go.” He nudged her to turn around.

“But—” She fought him and turned to face him again, all the while maintaining her balance on the beam.

He was beginning to see how she’d gotten herself so roughed up last night. But when he felt the fear coming off her in waves, he gave her one last squeeze. “Look, I’m coming right back for you,” he promised, although he never made promises. “Go, Tess.”

Then he physically turned her away from him once more, and gave her a little shove. This involved putting his hands on her and shockingly, he wanted to linger. Soothe. Calm.

Wasn’t that the damnedest thing.

But to do what he had to do, he put her firmly out of his mind with one deep breath. Despite being starving and half naked, he now concentrated on the task at hand.

That being not getting his ass kicked again.





5




WHEN TESSA KNEW A BETTER WAY, she wasn’t particularly good at following directions. She tried though, she really did. She understood Reilly wanted her out of the way so he wouldn’t have to worry about her as he dropped down into the house and tried to get them out safely.

She got that.

And she knew she’d never forget the sight of him forging ahead. Not afraid or uneasy—except for his aversion to the dark. Nope, no holding back for this man. And he hadn’t simply crawled along either.

He’d prowled. Like an animal on the hunt.

It occurred to her, and not for the first time, that under certain circumstances Reilly Ledger could be a dangerous man. Which, really, would only matter to her if she was attracted to him.

Damn it, she was attracted to him. That in turn was as unsettling as the sound of something scurrying off in the darkness.

Probably just a mouse, but she had a general thing against mice. Even so, she made it all the way back to the attic access above the room in which they’d spent the night. Huddling at the opening, arms wrapped around her knees, she looked down at the cot where they’d slept together, and that’s where she went wrong.

She started thinking.

Too much.

She started obsessing over what could be happening to Reilly right at that very moment. Clearly the guy thought he was invincible. He thought he could handle anything.

But despite his tough attitude, he was just an accountant. What if he didn’t make it? What then? What if they caught him and killed him this time?

No, she told herself when she started to shake. Reilly could take care of himself. She’d never met anyone more capable of taking care of himself.

After all, he’d had a gun. What kind of accountant carries a gun?

Don’t be the stupid chick, she reminded herself. Just climb back down into the room and huddle in a corner and be a good girl.

She had just hooked a leg over the opening when a sound from below stopped her cold. Her heart took off racing as she went as still as she could while shaking like a leaf, but it was no good. With her blood roaring through her ears she couldn’t hear.

What if someone was down there waiting for her?

Suddenly, the stupid chick idea of going back to Reilly seemed like the smart chick idea.

Once the decision was made, she carefully turned around, but still managed to move too quickly and lost a shoe. She watched it fall into the gray room and gave a sort of fatalistic shrug. In the scheme of things, if all she lost was a shoe, she’d feel pretty darn lucky.

Crawling back wasn’t as easy alone. She religiously followed the exact path they’d taken earlier, only this time without her six-foot human shield, removing the cobwebs that she felt certain held big, hairy spiders. She tried not to think about that, tried to think of other things…such as what could be happening to Reilly at this very moment.

She crawled faster. When she got halfway, she paused to listen for clues, but silence reigned. As quietly as she could and holding her breath, she continued past the point where she’d left Reilly. She could see another access panel up ahead, but still couldn’t hear a single sign of life. When she got to it, she could see this was where Reilly had dropped down. He’d muscled off the cover and left a gaping hole revealing what looked like a pristine tiled guest bathroom.

Speaking of which, after a long night, she needed one badly. Stomach growling as well, she carefully lowered her head into the opening. Yep, a bathroom. She reversed her position and stuck her feet through, thinking if she could just keep a good hold on the edge, she could lower herself down the entire length of her body, and hopefully reduce her fall by a full five feet, three inches.

Okay, five feet two.

She slid through, her dress snagging up around her hips as she hung there by her fingers, praying she really was the only one in the room, otherwise she was presenting quite the picture.

She took one last peek over her shoulder, and had just enough time to realize it was still a long fall when her fingers gave way.