The Fall(24)

“I don’t do what I’m told.” I didn’t move from my place at the window and he sure as hell he wasn’t getting an apology. “Call it my character flaw.”

I didn’t expect the smile. The edges of his lips curled with a genuine amusement, his teeth startling white. And like his body, it too was beautiful. “You’re just full of surprises.” His arms lowered, his hands anchoring on his hips. “The sarcasm is still intact, even though you’ve been up here for hours.” His eyes darted around the room. “No holes in the walls either. I’m impressed you’re not rocking in a corner or begging to get out.”

It was easier to ignore that, as he stood before me missing most of his clothes and usual hard expression, he seemed less vicious. Not quite kind, but . . . human. Who knew what brought the change? His moods were so unpredictable. And as much as he probably thought I was a pain in his ass—no doubt hating my endless questions—he seemed intrigued by me.

“I’ll never beg, not you or anyone else.”

“Pity.” His head shook as his eyebrow rose. “I’m sure you would look good on your knees.”

“If that’s what you’ve come in for, you might as well forget it.” My hands flew to my hips, my stance mirroring his.

I hadn’t forgotten the man was still mostly naked, his purpose for being in the room not yet revealed. And while I had admired his finely chiseled assets when he’d walked in, there was no way I was going to have sex with him. I hadn’t completely lost my mind.

No. Way.

“Relax, sweetheart.” He laughed. “I don’t shit where I eat.” He stalked closer to where I was by the window. “And f*cking you would be too much work.”

Bastard.

It was ridiculous that it stung, but it did; his reassurances laced in another insult. No doubt designed to mess up my already scrambled head beyond repair.

“Then why are you here like that?” I gestured to the towel around his hips, the terry cloth the only thing separating him from nudity. “Hoping I’d blush nervously? You think I’ve never seen a dick?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” He leaned closer and smiled. “But seeing as you picked my room when there were two others vacant, you’re going to have to deal when I want clean clothes.”

His fingers moved to the edge of the towel—the part that was keeping it together. He watched my eyes follow his hands as it dropped to the floor.

“So deal.”





Walking into the room—my room—hadn’t been premeditated.

I’d taken a shower and decided two days wearing the same shirt and jeans was enough. So if she decided to stay in the bedroom that housed my closet, she had no reason to be pissed when I lost my pants.

Her eyes did a quick redirect, snapping up toward my face trying hard to make it seem like she hadn’t just seen my dick. And great effort on her part, she spared us both by not doing the whole shielding her eyes BS. And if her cheeks pinked, she’d camo’d that too.

“Don’t mind me.” I casually walked to my closet, my ass in the breeze with no real hurry as I grabbed a clean pair of jeans and shirt. Then it was another few strides to the dresser up against the wall and grabbed a pair of boxers, turning around before pulling them on.

There was no reason for me to put on a show. Could have easily been avoided by leaving the towel where it was, getting clean clothes and pulling them on elsewhere. But we both knew I wasn’t that considerate, and part of me liked making her uncomfortable. Made the fact she was in my personal space a little easier to deal with. Oh, and I was also a bastard who didn’t give a shit about her feelings.

“You’re still suspected dead.” I shoved one leg into my jeans before following with the other. “So we might move before they issue a BOLO. No one will be looking for a corpse in traffic, but we’re going to be careful just to be sure.” My fingers yanked up my fly.

While originally I had decided to stay put, I reassessed my plan when I’d heard over the police scanner that they were almost positive she’d gone up with the house. That would change in the next few days with the absence of a body, so time was of the essence.

“Where are we going?” She stayed where she was, doing her best to keep her eyes at head level. They may have dipped once or twice but for the most part, they were rock solid.

She was doing a lot better than I’d expected, which was probably why part of me paid her more respect than I usually would. It wasn’t because she was a woman; I mistrusted everyone. But I’ll admit, her being cool up to this point was making me less hostile.

“I have another place further out of the city.” I pulled the shirt over my head, ignoring I hadn’t properly dried off and the cotton was sticking to my damp skin. “In an industrial estate near the airport. Not so many eyes out there and a lot easier to see if anything’s coming at you. Keeps us off the grid.”

“And then what?”

Surprise, surprise. She had questions.

“We wait.”

Truth was, I had no f*cking idea what we were going to do. My job had been to get her and keep her safe. There hadn’t been any talk of relocating or an extraction. I was just supposed to babysit until Jimmy worked out how he was going to handle it.

Not sure how anyone could handle it. The people who wanted her head on a plate weren’t going to suddenly wake up a few days from now and forget. No, these f*ckers had long memories and even longer reach, so short of shipping his kid out of the country, she wasn’t going to have any chance of regular life again. I assumed that was his plan, get his ducks in a row and get her out. At the very least out of Illinois, maybe send her to f*cking Utah or something.