Spider Game (GhostWalkers, #12)(17)

“You didn’t act so badass when f*cking Pascal Comeaux put his hand on your ass.” He leaned very close to her, stared straight into her eyes so she could see the flame that burned icy hot under all the blue. “The ass, by the way, that is mine. No one else puts their f*cking hand on your body.”


She didn’t flinch away from him.


“And don’t think I don’t know you’ve been coming into my room at night.” He took a shot in the dark. If she was really coming into his room and he wasn’t insane, that meant she got through their security and quieted the hunting dogs Nonny kept in a kennel and running yard. If Cayenne could get into the house, someone else could.


She didn’t deny it. Instead she shrugged. “I had to let Comeaux make his move. Just to make certain I wasn’t making a mistake.”


“Why’d you come into my room?” he persisted.


She looked shaken – confused, a frown moving over her face. “I-I don’t know. I couldn’t help myself. The first time, I just wanted to make sure you were all right and then…” She trailed off.


He nodded, knowing exactly why she’d risked coming to Wyatt’s compound when an entire team of GhostWalkers was staying there. She hadn’t raised a single alarm. He didn’t ask her yet how she got in, but he didn’t want her to do it again. Sooner or later someone would spot her. They were the type of men who shot first and asked questions later. Eventually he would have to know to protect the household, but asking now would only spook her, so he backed off.


“Wyatt has his three daughters there, Cayenne. No one is taking chances that someone might try to harm the girls. It isn’t safe for you there. Not until everyone gets to know you. I bought the building where they were holding you and I’m renovating it. I started with the laboratory.”


She narrowed her eyes at him. “I knew you bought the property and brought all those workmen there so they could tramp through it, making it look…”


“Like a home? Yeah, baby, that’s me. Why? Are you staying there?” He flashed a small smirk at her. “I knew you were there. You give yourself away with all those spiderwebs.” Now they were sparring, doing the dance he knew would come eventually when she tried to push him away.


She pressed her lips together and turned her face away from him. “Stay away from there, Trap.”


“I’m moving in tomorrow. You want to see me, you come there.”


“I’m not playing around,” she hissed at him again. “You take too many chances. You act like you don’t care whether you live or die.”


“Been alone most of my life, baby. It gets f*cking lonely. Got a couple of men on my trail who want to kill anything that matters to me, so I don’t let anything matter.” His eyes bored into hers. “Until you. You matter, Cayenne, whether it makes sense or not, so if you want to kill me for giving a damn about you, make your try.”


She sat back in the chair and ducked her head. Clouds of dark hair fell around her face, hiding her expression from his sight. Moodily his gaze drifted over her. Possessively. He felt possessive. He felt rage at what had been done to her simmering just below the surface. He was a man of discipline and control and yet he was close to losing both.


Wyatt, will you get a bottle of cold water for her?


You goin’ to cut me up I come near your woman? Wyatt was already at the bar talking to Delmar and keeping a wary eye on the Comeaux brothers.


Why the hell would you think that?


Because you’ve surrounded the table with shadows and that shimmer shit no one can breathe. I don’ want to choke to death and leave Pepper with our three girls to raise all alone. She might not take kindly to that.


Trap glanced across the bar to see Wyatt grinning as he reached for the bottle of water Delmar handed to him. Wyatt wasn’t wrong. Trap had enclosed them in shadows and a protective ring that would keep anyone else away. He forced himself to relax and breathe. He hadn’t made a mistake like that in years. Hearing what her life had been like, just the small bit she’d revealed, had thrown him.


Wyatt handed him the bottle of water, sent Cayenne a cocky grin and made his way to the table where Mordichai sat with his brother Malichai. Trap twisted off the cap and gave Cayenne the bottle.


“Drink water when you prefer it and the hell with everyone else, baby,” he advised. “Live free. I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks of me. I care about my team and Wyatt’s family and now you. That’s it. Everyone else can go to hell.”


“Not me.” She shook her head decisively. “You can’t trust me, Trap. Don’t for one minute think you can.”


Her fingers moved on the table, a small drumming pattern, not loud, but definitely hypnotic. He put his hand over hers. She gasped as if he’d burned her and nearly pulled her hand back at the contact.


“Be still. Breathe.”


She left her hand under his, but her green eyes moved over him broodingly. “I can’t breathe. If I do, you’re inside me. I feel you there in my lungs, moving through my body. You’re a liability. You’d better hear me this time. When I get cornered” – she leaned close – “I’m lethal.”