Witness in the Dark (Love Under Fire #1)(51)

“Much better. Still not happy you knocked me out, though. That will only happen once.” Though he did feel rested.

By the time she came out after her shower, he was dressed and ready to go. He’d gotten most everything packed up, including their trash. He took her damp towel from the back of the door and, with the precision of a surgeon, he went over everything in the room they might have touched. It was normal protocol. Leave no trace behind. None.

It would be too easy to track them if they left clues behind. Not for the first time, he wondered how many men Howe had on his payroll. And how many had been specifically tasked with finding Sam.

How had Howe found them? His place was off the grid, but if Tom and Wendy figured out Sam was with him, they would have had a place to start digging. And an arsenal of resource specialists to dig into his assets.

“Clean. Let’s go,” he announced. “You can sleep in the car.” She’d taken care of him, and he was more alert and able to protect her, now that he’d slept. He wished he could offer something more comfortable than sleeping against the car door, but they needed to keep going.

She fell asleep before they were even out of town. He stole glances at her as he drove. She was a beautiful woman. He’d noticed that before. But now he knew it on a whole other level. He knew her.

He could still remember the way she tasted when he kissed her, and the sounds she’d made when he pushed inside her.

Damn it to hell! He shook his head, irritated with himself for thinking along those lines.

The problem was, it wasn’t just the sex that attracted him to her. Not by a long shot. For starters, the way she’d adapted to her new future made him proud. And the way she handled a gun was sexy as hell.

When he stopped for a quick dinner, he shook her awake, causing a disgruntled mumble. He smiled. Yeah, he was even intrigued by her snarly hair and grumpiness.

Something was shifting between them. In the beginning he had been protecting her. Now they were clearly in this together. A team, as she’d said.

“We’ll stay at another motel tonight, and get to our next place the night after,” he said as they went through the drive-thru. The next place would not be one of his properties. He couldn’t risk it.

“Thank you for helping me, Garrett. I’m sorry I don’t listen better. It’s always been a problem for me. Ever since I was little.”

“I can only imagine.” He chuckled, remembering photos he’d seen in her file of her as a little girl. And later…

“I was listening last night, though,” she said softly. “When you told me you wanted to fuck me in a bed.”

He choked on his soda and nearly wrecked the car.

She laughed and used the pile of napkins to dry off his shirt, despite his attempt to bat her hand away.

“I said that out loud?” He stared straight out the windshield, not daring to look at her.

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry. It was the drugs.”

“Of course.” She let it go. Thankfully.

She fed him french fries while he drove. He kept going until about ten, then got off the highway to find a motel. He couldn’t avoid it any longer.

As he walked into the office, he glanced down at the wedding ring on his finger. It was supposed to convince other people they were a couple. He needed to make sure he wasn’t convinced, as well.

It was going to be one hell of a long night.





Chapter Thirty-Nine


Sam stayed in the car while Garrett went to get their room. As he walked away, she started feeling nervous. What would she do if he kept walking? What if he didn’t come back, and she never saw him again?

Yes, maybe she was being paranoid for tonight. But at some point, she fully expected him to bail on her. Turn her over to some other marshal to deal with. Or simply hand her a new identity and say, “Have a nice life.”

No job was worth risking his life for hers. She understood that.

After a few minutes, he came back out with a worried look.

“What’s the matter?” she asked immediately.

“Nothing. It’ll be fine.”

He didn’t look fine. Without another word, he got back in the car and parked in front of room 118. It wasn’t far from where they were already parked. The lot was pretty full.

She noticed every detail, now that he’d said things would be fine. His nervousness made her on edge. She gripped her gun tighter and waited for all hell to break loose.

“What is with you? Why are you so tense?” he asked with a frown.

“Because you said it would be fine.”

He blinked. “Does fine mean something different to you than it does to the rest of the world? Fine means good. Everything’s good.” He muttered something to himself she couldn’t hear, then said, “I think you’re starting to crack. Put your gun away. It’s fine.”

She did what he said. Maybe if she followed his simpler instructions, he wouldn’t mind as much when she didn’t cooperate on the bigger issues.

Probably not.

They unloaded the car and she helped hold his stuff as he inserted the key card and opened the door.

He snapped on the television as soon as he had a free hand, like any red-blooded male. He flipped through the channels, landing on CNN. After adjusting the volume, he sat on the small sofa and kicked off his boots.