She sighed and nodded, toospent to disagree. She knew she would be sore after that, but itwas well worth it.
He reached by her andturned off the shower.
She turned around and facedhim.
He lowered his head andkissed her; it was slow and affectionate.
“Are we still going for arun?” she murmured.
He smiled down at her. “Doyou honestly think we need the exercise now after thatmarathon?”
“I don’t even know if I canstand, let alone run, so, no.”
He laughed. “Carefuldarling, my ego is big enough.” He stepped out of the shower,retrieved a towel from the rack and slung it around his hips. Hethen grabbed another and dried her off slowly.
She loved it. It was almostas if he was cherishing her, and she never knew that feelingbefore.
“Lift yourfoot.”
She did and he dried it,then the other. Finally he stood, tossed the towel over hisshoulder instead of around her, placed his hands on his hips, andlooked down the length of her. She stood there, naked, trying herbest not to feel self-conscious. Really though, his eyes heldsomething akin to deep appreciation, so how could she? He made herfeel so beautiful with that look. “Are you quite done?” She tiltedher head and narrowed her eyes.
His gaze met hers and asexy smile spread across his handsome face. It was that playfullook again. Yes, he could certainly get used to this. “Get dressed,I’m hungry.”
“I think you say that alot.”
“I do. Now I have anotherappetite.”
She sighed heavily. “We’rein trouble, aren’t we Ryan? This is wrong in so manyways.”
He pulled her naked bodyagainst his and lowered his forehead onto hers. “Like I said, Ithink that started awhile back.” He kissed the tip of her nose.“This one is on me anyway. I shouldn’t have crossed that line, butI did. I’ll protect you with everything I have.”
“I know you will. I trustyou.” But who’s going to protect me fromyou? she thought to herself.
“Get dressed,” he repeatedand slapped her ass before he left her alone.
“You’re too bossy,” shecalled after him. Her answer was a deep chuckle.
He was bossy, and she wouldbe resistant as always, but she did get dressed because rebellingby walking around the house naked, just didn’t work forher.
She walked back into hisroom as he was doing up his tie. He was so immaculate. She felt herbody tingle just remembering how he felt. What if her father doessomething to him? What if he does something to both of them? Shehad a whole new world of stress to deal with. Ryan was right, theycrossed a line. The consequences if her father found out would becatastrophic. “What’s going to happen to us, Ryan?”
He approached her whilesmoothing his tie, cupped her face and tilted her head up placinghis forehead on hers. “I don’t know, but let’s get out of hereafter breakfast so you can breathe for a bit.”
“Where? Can we go to thegravel pit again?”
“Anywhere you want, butjust you and me this time. We don’t need an audience. I’ll get acar from your father.”
She would lovethat.
Only they didn’t make it.The car Ryan was driving was suddenly t-boned by an older SUV. Itcame out of nowhere.
Shortly before that, he’dseen the familiar sedan following him at a distance about tenminutes after they left the house, then it disappeared around acorner. It hadn’t reappeared yet, but something was up.
“Ryan?” He’d suddenlybecome serious and she remembered that same demeanor when they hadbreakfast after she registered for her semester. Something waswrong.
He didn’tanswer.
“Ryan. What is it? Anddon’t lie to me.”
He really didn’t want totell her. He sighed heavily. “We’re being followed.”
She stiffened and lookedbehind them. “I don’t’ see anything.”
“They’ve gone, for now.” Hesuspected they were still being tailed though.
“Oh…God,” she whisperedsoftly.
“I won’t let anythinghappen to you.” he flicked a sideways glance at her. “Do you gotthat?”
She nodded quickly doingher best not to freak out.
He drove around for a whilelonger, to see if he was being tailed. Then the SUV burst out of aside road, striking the side of the car. The older vehicle was madeof metal, and a had big bull bar on the front. The sports car Ryanwas driving was just modern fiberglass. The impact was catastrophicand crumpled Ryan’s side like brittle plastic. The explosion ofairbags deafened him right before he lost consciousness.
When he came to, he wasdisorientated but was able to figure out they were upside downstill in the car, so he couldn’t have been out too long. He couldsmell gas, antifreeze, and burning rubber. There were faint voicesapproaching the wreck and knew they didn’t have any time to getaway. He reached over and shook Katya to see if she was alive. Tohis relief, she moaned, but he couldn’t see how badly she was hurt.There was a noise outside of the vehicle, boots on gravel. Now,beside his shattered window. He turned his head to see. Next thing,a face appeared; dark skinned with a birthmark. Then he saw theTaser. Before he could react, everything went black.
***
His senses were a mess andhis head was spinning. A loud ringing in his ears made him knowthat his head took a substantial knock from the accident. He gavehis head a shake to try and dispel the sound and force theblackness away, with it came a pounding pain in his temples. Hegroaned. A concussion.
Where was he?
Then he remembered theTaser.
Katya!
He tried moving, but hecould feel his wrists and feet were immobile. His fingers touchedmetal. They were handcuffs.
It took him a moment tonotice that he was sitting, upright in a chair. It certainly didn’thelp the dizziness he was experiencing. A wave of nausea swirled inhis gut. Shit, he was a mess.
“He’s wakingup.”
It was a male voice, heavyaccented. The blackness started to fade, and then came a blindinglight when he tried opening his eyes. They were spotlighting him sohe couldn’t see anything. He felt a sharp pain above his right eyeand the familiar warm feeling of blood oozing down the side of hisface. Most likely that
