Spider Game (GhostWalkers, #12)(29)

She doesn’t deserve to know after exposing me to the crap I’m going to get from all of you. She can get her beautiful ass home and stay up all night worrying about me.


“Before you start work, you’re going to have to let me check you out. You’ll need food, something to drink and a few hours of rest. I know you. You’re going to work day and night until you find what you’re lookin’ for. I’ll work with you, but you’ve got to follow my advice on this, Trap. We don’t know if there are any long-term effects yet.”


It might take me much longer, and I want to spend tomorrow night in my own home.


“You’ll do what I say. I’ll help, that will cut down the time. We’re already way ahead of the game because we’ve got the breakdown of Pepper’s and the girls’ venom. We know what we’re doin’ now and what to look for. I know you want to get into your home and be with her, but one or two more nights will help with gettin’ that woman nervous and anxious over you as well. She told you to leave her alone. Wait it out. She won’t be so quick to bite you when you show up.”


That made sense. Cayenne had it in her head that she wasn’t going to be his woman. She didn’t trust the connection. He had no idea how much she knew of Whitney’s experiments, but he paired his subjects using a combination of pheromones and something else no one had identified yet. She might not know that, and she’d be even more confused than he was about overwhelming emotions.


Trap didn’t give a damn if he had been paired with Cayenne by a psycho mad scientist or not – not when he knew it was more than physical attraction. He could have walked away from that, or had really great sex a lot, but there was much more than his body involved in the way he felt around Cayenne. He didn’t know if it was the same for her. Giving her a few days without him, to think it over, to miss him and worry about him was a good idea.


She should have left the area, hell, even the state, the moment she was freed from her cell. He knew that had been her intention, but she hadn’t gone. She’d stayed right there in the swamp with no home, no money, nothing at all but her connection to Trap. She’d stayed for him whether she would admit it to herself or not. She’d stayed because she couldn’t leave him any more than he could leave her.


His first reaction, when he realized they’d been paired together, was to let her go free. Not to go near her. Not to give that attraction a chance to grow, because he knew that was his only means to keep her safe. His attempt to be a decent man hadn’t lasted very long at all. Maybe she was still struggling with the idea of them together, but she’d get there eventually.


Truthfully, none of them were ever truly safe. Whitney was still after her. Cayenne was still under termination orders, and if Whitney sent a supersoldier after her, that soldier would have orders to kill on sight. At least with Trap and his team to protect her, she had a much better chance. If his uncles came after her, he’d be ready. They’d be ready.


Cayenne was no young child like his sisters and brother had been. She was no helpless woman like his aunt had been. She would fight and she would have her own arsenal, without even being armed with a gun. He was more than certain Cayenne had been trained to use a gun, a knife and every other weapon known to man. She probably could put together and take apart a bomb using an ink pen. She might not have had the practical experience, but Whitney believed in every soldier or assassin being trained and he wouldn’t have made exceptions – even if they kept her in a cage.


Trap nodded his agreement to Wyatt. His body was beginning to sweat. Little beads formed on his forehead and dripped down his face into his hair. He still couldn’t sit up, but his muscles were finally beginning to receive messages from his brain. Tremors started. Small ones. Hands first. His foot twitched. The woman had a lot to answer for.


He recognized that Draden, Mordichai and Wyatt were keeping a close watch on him in spite of nudging one another and poking fun at him.


Wyatt casually took his pulse. “Your heart rate’s up, Trap. Not a lot, because you’ve got that ice water flowing in your veins, but still, for you, it’s up.”


Trap worked his jaw. Doesn’t surprise me. She put me down hard.


Wyatt grinned at him. “Sexy as hell, right? Now you get why that woman of mine is so damned special. She makes me hard every time I piss her off.”


“You two like to live on the edge,” Mordichai observed. “Me, I’m going to get me a little yes-woman who wants to cook like Nonny, wash my clothes for me and f*ck all night.”


“What does she get out of it?” Draden asked.


Mordichai looked shocked. “I told you. I’ll f*ck her all night.”


Wyatt and Draden burst out laughing. Even Trap’s mouth quirked, although it wasn’t a bad plan.


“You think a lot of your skills,” Wyatt observed.


“’Cuz I’m that good,” Mordichai said.


Behind him, Malichai snorted as he walked in. “He giving you his life’s bullshit plan for a woman?”


“Just because you didn’t think of it first,” Mordichai snapped, “doesn’t mean it isn’t perfection. She’ll keep the fridge stocked with ice-cold beer for me.”