The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts #6)(15)
Tristan shrugged nonchalantly, as if the fact that his father almost killed him wasn’t a big deal. “I figure he still thought he was right. That eventually, I would just know how to swim and I would find my way back to the surface. The Good Samaritan got the water out of my lungs and took me to the hospital. For the next few years, I never even set foot on the beach. I did anything I could do to avoid water.”
She thought back to what he’d opened with. That he loved water. “So what changed?”
“My dad died. All he left me with was anger and resentment. I don’t know. All shit that wasn’t doing me any good then. So one summer, I rented this little cottage on a lake in Montana. Every day, I’d go in the water and wade a little bit deeper. Eventually, I was in over my head and not drowning. By the end of the summer, I could actually swim across the lake and back without any problems. So now I love the water. It’s not a bad memory for me anymore. It’s one more thing I conquered. I beat it. So there. Now you know something about me that nobody else does.”
Tristan looked down at her. The clouds must’ve parted, because the moon was suddenly bright on his face. He said the words nonchalantly, but the expression in his eyes was so different. It seemed... vulnerable. As though he were looking to her for approval. To see whether she thought his fear of the water had been ridiculous, or she was proud of his conquering it. Shae didn’t have any comforting words to give him. She and her own father seemed to be struggling throughout her entire life, but he never tried to kill her at least. Then again, Shae had never been good with words. So she decided not to say anything. Instead, she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. It started slow. Soft. Innocent. Tristan stayed still as her hands went up to his face, and she moved her lips against his.
At first, she thought she’d done something wrong. Maybe she’d misread this. Maybe he wasn’t really into her. Maybe she’d just gone and made a fool of herself. Right as she was about to pull away, something snapped in Tristan. He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against his body as he finally kissed her back.
He opened his mouth over hers, and his tongue pushed inside as his hands moved along her back. One hand held still as the other found the curve of her ass through her dress and pulled her tightly against his very pronounced erection.
Shae gasped at the onslaught of sensations. She went through a mental list of the kisses she’d shared with different men, and nothing compared to this. This was desperate. This was all-consuming. She was confused, and turned on, and she never wanted it to stop. She willingly molded herself against his body and went up on her tiptoes for a better angle. One hand played with the back of his hair while the other roamed down a strong, muscular back, willing his shirt to disappear so it could be skin against skin. She’d just gotten to his waist when she felt something hard, and obviously not part of him. She pulled away with a questioning look, but he wasn’t looking at her. His attention was over her shoulder, and his expression was hard. He didn’t look like a man who had just been kissing her like she’d just been kissed. He looked focused and... angry?
“We have company,” he said.
She frowned at the odd words and turned to see where his gaze was going. That was when she saw the four men walking away from her house and toward them on the beach. They walked with purpose, obviously not a couple of tourists who’d wandered onto private property. “They’re wearing masks,” she muttered. She was just about to tell Tristan they needed to run when she saw him reach behind him and confirmed what she thought she felt. A small, shiny black gun was in his hand. He pulled the slide back, and she heard the little clicking of a bullet being loaded into the chamber. A cold tendril of fear raced through her and she stepped back. “Who are you?”
“We need to get out of here.”
She realized that he hadn’t answered her, but at the moment, she was inclined to agree with his assessment. Damask wouldn’t send four guys to talk to her innocently. She’d known the brick was only a warning. After what she’d done last night, it made sense he would send men after her. She should’ve been running all day, not out dining with mysterious strangers. Mysterious strangers who apparently carried a gun on them.
Without waiting for Tristan, Shae turned and ran. It was all open, and in the moonlight the men would be able to see her easily. She was all the way down by the water, so she’d have to run by them. Shit. She mentally thought of any way she could make it out of the situation, but came up empty. But she couldn’t just stay there. She had to try something. She risked a glance over at the men; she saw that they appeared to be aiming guns. Were they close enough to hit her? How good was their aim? How good were their guns? Dammit, she wasn’t equipped for this. But before they could fire, she heard a loud bang from right behind her. She flinched at the sound and tripped over her own feet. Before she even hit the sand, something warm and hard gripped her upper arm and pulled her up. Tristan was next to her, and he fired off another round at the men. It didn’t look as if he’d hit any of them, but it was enough to have them ducking for cover. Apparently firing first was a big advantage. She didn’t know how many rounds were in a magazine. She’d never even held a gun in her life. She just hoped it was enough to get them out of this.
Finally, they made it to the section of beach that had sparse bushes and plants. It wasn’t a lot, but in the darkness it was enough for her and Tristan to huddle down behind.