“Please answer.”
Slowly she shook her head.
“Is that no, you’re not going to answer, or no-”
“No, I’m not in on this whole thing.”
He stared at her for a beat, then let out a breath as he levered himself up off her. “Okay. Okay, that’s going to have to be good enough, isn’t it? Come on, we’re getting out.”
She turned to the windshield and was shocked to find it fogged up, dripping condensation. Had they done that? Steamed up the glass with just a simple kiss? Except there’d been nothing simple about it at all… “We’ll freeze to death.”
“Can’t freeze to death in hell, and I’m definitely in hell.” Sitting back, he shoved his free hand through his short hair, making it stand on end. His eyes were shadowed, his lean jaw scruffy, his clothes tattered and blood-strewn. The cut on his forehead had stopped bleeding, but she guessed from his uneven breathing that he still hurt pretty good.
She should be glad. Instead, all Abby felt was a sense of uneasiness, and-truthfully?-a secret wish that he’d go back to holding her. Because for some reason, in his arms she’d felt safer than she had in a very long time.
HAWK EYED THE GAS STATION. It was quiet and badly lit. Both things worked in their favor, or so he hoped.
But it’d only been an hour since the first explosion. Gaines’s men couldn’t be far behind them. “They’ll have figured out you’re missing by now. And we know they’re looking for me.”
Nothing from the woman cuffed to him.
“We’ll have to hurry.”
She raised an eyebrow, and wordlessly offered up her wrist to be uncuffed.
He had no right to continue to hold her to him, he had nothing but a gut instinct that said he’d saved her life. The best thing now was to get her to Tibbs. Tibbs would keep her safe.
But the thought of walking away from her killed him, though he had no idea why.
Okay, he knew why. He knew exactly why. It was her eyes, mirrors to his own soul. It was the way she brought something out in him, the best part.
And having her smoking body so close to his didn’t hurt… Clearly, kissing her had destroyed too many brain cells. “You’re going to run screaming the moment I uncuff you.”
More of her loaded nothing.
“Look, I took you with me for your own good-”
She let out a snort that managed to perfectly convey exactly how full of shit she thought he was.
“Jesus.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m a lot of things, Abby, I’ll give you that. Stubborn. Tough. Maybe even as asshole-”
She nodded in agreement, which worked wonders for his ego, it really did.
“But whatever you think of me,” he insisted. “I’m not a liar.”
She slanted him a baleful stare.
“Okay, name it,” he challenged her. “Name a lie I’ve told.”
Clearly unable to, she turned her head away.
“Okay, fine. Great. Don’t talk to me. Just promise me that you won’t scream for help.” He unzipped a small pocket on his outer thigh, pulling out a key. “Promise me, and I’ll uncuff you.”
At that, she leveled him with a furious look. “So now you
“Fine.” He tucked the key away again. “We’ll do this the hard way. Why the fuck not? We’ve done everything else that way all damn night.”
She went back to her stony silence, and he was back to talking to himself. “I’m going to slide out. You’re going to sit in the driver’s seat and give me as much slack as you can while I pump gas.”
She didn’t answer, big surprise. He reached for the door, then let out a breath at the renewed pain in his chest.
Abby looked at him, her gaze darkening with what he sincerely hoped was a tiny bit of sympathy. Some of her hair had slipped free of its bond, falling in silken curves around her face, framing those eyes he could look at all day.
“The effects shouldn’t last much longer,” she said.
He wasn’t sure why, but something turned over inside of him, and it was all he could do not to haul her close and kiss her again, just hold onto her until this nightmare was over. Except she was sending out serious back-off signals, so he got out of the driver’s seat to get the gas. She willingly shifted over, giving him enough arm room to maneuver the nozzle into the gas tank.
And that’s when he remembered. He had no money.
His gaze locked with hers, and he could see she’d thought of the same thing, since her eyes were mocking him. Christ, he was tired of fighting with her. “You don’t by any chance have a wallet on you?”
She simply arched an eyebrow.
Terrific. He hadn’t died of smoke inhalation, his wounds, or the fact that his heart had been ripped out by everyone believing he’d gone rogue. Nope, he was going to die because he’d been stupid enough to take her with him, to protect her no less, when she’d as soon rip off his nuts. “Do you or do you not have any money?”
“I don’t carry money when I’m being kidnapped.”
Hawk understood her anger, he really did. But he was hurting, too, and cold, and just about beyond frustrated. “He’s coming for you, too, Abby.”
She turned her head to lock her gaze on his. As she did, the scent of her hair drifted over him like a sweet balm. He had no time to be feeling anything since he was currently up hell’s creek without a paddle. And yet he felt plenty, mostly an inexplicable need to kiss her again. “I need your cell phone.”
“No. Don’t-” She choked as his fingers slid across her abdomen, trying to get to her pocket. “Don’t touch me.”
“Relax.” His hand brushed the warm skin of her belly just above her low waistband. “I only want the-”
Her elbow clocked him in the nose, and he saw stars. “Jesus!” He fell back against the opened door. “Jesus Christ, woman!”
Breathing like a lunatic, she glared at him, eyes hot and furious beneath the hair that had fallen in her face. “I told you not to touch.”
“Okay, yeah, getting that loud and clear. The phone, Abby.”
Her jaw tightened. “It’s almost out of battery.”
The battery didn’t matter, and they both knew it. She threw her cellphone at him, and thank you, God, the little keychain he’d seen with her mini credit card was attached to it.
“I can’t believe you expect your victim to pay for your gas.”
“No, what I expect is to wake up from this nightmare any second, but I’m not going to get that lucky.” He swiped the card at the pump and nearly fell to his knees in gratitude when the gas began pumping into the truck.
Her cell phone vibrated in his hand. Incoming text message. His gaze locked with hers, then he looked at the caller ID. “Do you know this number?”
She looked and blinked.
“Abby?”
“It’s an established line between Gaines and me. He got it after…it was just for us to communicate back and forth.”
He flipped open the phone to read: Where are you?
“Interesting that he isn’t concerned with making you think he’s dead. Interesting, and very telling.”
“Right.” She closed her eyes. “Because if I’m on his short list for the evening, it doesn’t matter if I know he’s alive. Because I won’t be for much longer.” She slid him a glance that sliced at his heart as she waited for him to nod.
Hawk slapped the phone closed against his thigh and sighed.
She didn’t say anything more, and after a moment he realized she wasn’t being obstinate-her default mood of the night-but rather trying hard to control whatever emotion she was keeping to herself. Bending closer, he risked life and limb to see into her face. “Talk to me.”
