by Mia Taylor
Slightly embarrassed, Rui only shrugged.
“So, sue me. This is the closest thing I’ve had to a vacation in my life,” she sighed. “How pathetic is that?”
“It’s not pathetic. It’s just one more thing that I get to introduce you to,” Ryker replied gently, slapping her rear with the spatula. “Now, go.”
But no sooner had she situated herself on a lounge chair, listening to the hypnotic waves of Naples Bay, than her lids began to grow heavy. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept and her body was catching up with her.
“Don’t tell me I slaved over this chicken parm and you’re going to fall asleep into it face-first.”
The sound of Ryker’s voice managed to lift Rui slightly out of the trance-like state she’d fallen into, but her eyes were gritty.
“How can you still be standing after all you’ve been through?” she demanded. “Your body has taken a beating and look at you.”
She gestured at the meal he’d laid out on the patio set without her even noticing. There was a huge Caesar salad, a bowl of fresh dinner rolls and two place settings of fine bone china. Even though the sun was still blazing brightly, he’d lit two long candles and Rui had to admit it was sweet and romantic.
“I have a muse,” Ryker replied lightly. “But I am tired, too. Still, we have to eat.”
He nodded at the table and Rui rose from her lounge chair, watching as Ryker’s eyes raked over her body unapologetically. She wore the two-piece she’d bought a few hours earlier, a simple white and black striped number which accented her flat stomach and small but firm breasts.
“I really didn’t think they made doctors who looked like you,” he told her, holding out a chair. “I thought that was all on TV.”
“You don’t need to flatter me,” she teased, sitting down. “You’ve already won me over.”
“It’s not flattery when it’s true, my dear. I find it incredible that you don’t know how beautiful you are, but then again, if I was as smart as you, I don’t know if I would care how I looked either.”
A bemused smile touched her lips.
“You’re babbling in your delirium.”
“And you can’t take a compliment.”
“I’ve never really been exposed to them.”
“Well, you’d better get used to them.”
Rui sighed and Ryker looked at her strangely.
“What?”
“Ryker, we don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know how you can pretend that we’re on a holiday when someone is trying to kill you.”
He exhaled also and leaned forward to grasp her hands. She offered them freely but even when he squeezed her fingers, she wasn’t comforted. No matter what he said or did, it didn’t change the fact that their sense of security was fleeting. Someone would eventually find them there.
And even if they don’t, we can’t hide out here for the rest of our lives. I have a career and Ryker has…
She forced the reminder of what Ryker had waiting for him from her mind. Their future beyond the next few days was something she couldn’t think about. Being with a man who did what he did for a living… could Rui really overlook that because she loved Ryker?
And how can I love a man who does what he does?
She realized that she wasn’t entirely sure what it was that he did.
And I don’t want to know.
“Look at me,” Ryker told her gruffly. “Look at my face.”
She reluctantly moved her gaze to him and waited.
“Yes,” he agreed. “There is a target on my back but there has always been one. Since I was adopted by the Lucianos, I was always at risk. It was inevitable that something like this would happen.”
“How can you be so damned nonchalant about that, Ryker? I mean, aren’t you terrified? How can you choose this life for yourself?”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t choose this life for myself, remember?” he snapped back and Rui was instantly contrite. He was right, after all—he had been forced into becoming the man he was by a father who had no regard for his well-being, no matter what Ryker thought.
“Well, I can’t accept this as a way of life,” Rui muttered, shifting her eyes down. “I can’t spend my minutes worrying that you’re going to end up in the ER again. I won’t ever be able to strike that from my memory, Ryker, the way you looked, almost dead on that gurney. I’ll never get used to the feeling of sick in my stomach when I thought they were losing you. I’ll never—”
“But I’m not dead,” he interjected. “Killing me is not as easy as firing a few bullets into my body.”
“This time!” Rui snapped. “You were lucky! What if one of those bullets pierced your heart or you were shot in the brain?”
Why am I arguing this with him? He knows what I mean!
But he only shook his head.
“No, cara, even so. You know what they call me?”
“What who calls you?”
“My nickname in the family?”
She waited, unsure of what that had to do with anything.
“Il Gatto. The Cat.”
She continued to stare at him.
“How is this relevant?”
“You must be tired,” he joked. “Cats have nine lives, Rui. I have more like twelve… or infinity.”
She gaped at him in shock.
“You’ve been shot before?”
He nodded.
“In the head and in the heart, to name a few. If I can be killed by bullets, I must be the luckiest bastard in the world.”
Rui didn’t know what to say, her head spinning with the information.
“H-how is that supposed to make me feel better?” she finally managed to spit out. “That makes it worse, if anything!”
Ryker smiled sadly.
“I know it’s not what you want to hear, Rui, but it’s true. It is very difficult to keep me down. It’s you I’m worried about. That’s why I brought you out here. Yes, I need a few days to figure out who is targeting me, but I also need to keep you out of danger. Why can’t we just pretend, for a few days, that when we get back to Miami, you and I aren’t going to face a world of chaos?”
Suddenly, Rui realized he was right. In all of her turmoil, she hadn’t taken the true opportunity to just enjoy the fact that they were a man and a woman in love and in each other’s company.
What’s the harm, even if it is fleeting?
The expression on her face seemed to tell him what he wanted to hear and a tentative beam formed on his lips.
“Now, can we eat before this turns to ice? I don’t know about you but I’m starving!”
~ ~ ~
Despite her exhaustion, Ryker convinced her to join him for a swim and a dip in the hot tub after dinner. The heat and jets massaged her aching muscles. Coupled with the bottle of wine she and Ryker had consumed, it was all she could handle even though she was desperate to stay awake and be with him.
Who knows how many more times we’ll get to be together after we leave? Who knows if we’ll even make it back to Miami?
She couldn’t help the fatalistic thoughts from creeping into her mind even though she vowed to only focus on the good times.
The last thing she remembered was watching Ryker’s mouth moving as he regaled her with some silly anecdote about his past, but she hadn’t heard a word in minutes. She was trying to forge the energy to kiss him before she fell asleep, but it was too late.
When she woke, she gasped, a tingle of pleasure flowing through her body. Groggily, she looked to the side and saw that Ryker was not beside her in the California king bed. Her discombobulation was short-lived, however, when more bolts of electricity slithered through her.
The covers had been shoved aside and Ryker was positioned between her legs, his head bent so she could only see the crown of his thick mane of hair.
She moaned as he moved his mouth against her, pleasuring her with smooth, even movements.
“What are you doing
?” she gasped even though she knew exactly what was happening. In her wildest dreams, she had never envisioned waking up in such a fashion.
He is introducing me to so much more than I’ve ever known. Why couldn’t I have known him before his father influenced him? We could have had such a great life together…
Her body spasmed, the sensation of his tongue spiralling her dark thoughts out and replacing them with her mounting desire to be possessed by Ryker.
She leaned forward, digging her fingers into the mass of dark waves, her body tensing as she brought him forward.
He was too strong, his quest to bring her to climax overriding her futile attempts to be taken, and in seconds, she lost control to his tenacity, crying out.
Slowly, he slithered up her lean body, pausing to kiss every crevice along the way. Her toes curled into the Egyptian cotton as if she was trying to hold on from floating away in the feeling of headiness which enshrouded her.
Her hands closed against his naked shoulders, their eyes clashing when he finally met her head with his.
“How did you sleep?” he murmured, a half-smile on his face. Rui grabbed his neck, dragging him back toward her, their mouths crushing together. She wrapped her legs around him and without warning, flipped him onto his back, their lips never parting.
Ryker’s hand cupped her rear and slowly led himself inside her, the two of them becoming one as they had before, but this time, it was different to Rui, as if she sensed it was going to be their last time.
They fell into a now-familiar rhythm, their bodies entwined as they fed off each other’s needs.
“I love you, Rui,” Ryker told her in such a way that she knew he shared her fears, that they were grasping at their last minutes together.
“I love you, too,” she gasped, falling forward to bury her face in his neck before the tears came.
He held her closer than she’d ever been and together, they lost themselves, forgetting their impending woes. In those moments, they were only two people in love who belonged together, despite their circumstances.
In unison, they shuddered, their heart rates racing in perfect sync, and neither spoke as they fell into a deep, hypnotic trance.
Rui’s fingers trailed over the definition of Ryker’s strong abs almost automatically, her mind hazy, her body sated.
“We’ll find a way out of this,” he promised her. “Fate put us together and fate will keep up together.”
She smiled sadly and raised her head to peer at him speculatively.
“Have you always believed in fate?” she asked. “You hardly seem like the type who roamed the earth looking for your soulmate.”
“I believe that everything works out precisely how it’s supposed to.”
“Really? Everything?”
He nodded.
“Even though I probably wouldn’t have planned my life this way, I would have never met you if it hadn’t gone this way either. I know you were put in my path for a reason, Rui, and I believe we can overcome this.”
Her mouth firmed.
“Would you ever leave… the family?”
He chuckled but there was no humor in it.
“That’s not an option, cara. One doesn’t simply say, ‘yeah, I’m not doing this anymore.’ Especially not someone in my position.”
“But if they can’t hurt you—”
“They can hurt my mother, Rui. They can hurt you. There are ways to seek retribution without touching a hair on my head.”
It was just another thing that had not occurred to Rui.
Her wishful-thinking dream of running off with Ryker, starting a new life somewhere else, was just that—a dream.
They’ll never let him go and I will never be able to accept what he does.
“But if you could, hypothetically, would you?”
A deep despair touched his face.
“I would do anything to keep you safe and with me,” he told her softly. “And yes, I would happily hand over the keys to the kingdom without a second thought.”
But he can’t.
“Come here, cara.”
He pulled her head onto his chest and her body instantly relaxed to the sound of his strong, even heartbeat.
“No more talking about anything like this until it’s time to go,” he begged her. “Promise me.”
She sighed softly and nodded.
“All right,” she swore. “I promise.”
His fingers twined into her hair and she allowed herself to be lulled into sleep again.
He’s right. There’s plenty of time for sorrow and goodbyes later. For now we’ll pretend like nothing’s wrong.
And as sleep began to envelop her, she had almost forgotten that their lives were at risk… until a single bullet flew through the window, shattering the glass into a thousand pieces.
Chapter Twelve
Blinding Clarity
Instinctively, Ryker threw his body over Rui’s, covering her as another spray of bullets littered the room.
He could feel Rui trembling violently beneath him.
“Stay calm,” he growled. “Don’t move until I tell you.”
“How did they find us?” she moaned but he didn’t answer. He waited, listening for sounds of someone in the house, but he didn’t sense anyone.
“Ryker!” Rui choked. “You’re smothering me.”
It was only then that he realized he had half-shifted. Instantly, he fell off her and watched as her eyes widened in shock. He tried to turn his head away but she caught his snout with her hands and stared at him in awe.
“You’re a bear…”
“There’s no time for this,” he hissed. “Get under the bed and stay there.”
He paused at the door to ensure she had obeyed and when he was sure she was carefully hidden from view, he bolted from the room, shifting back into his mortal form.
“Come out, stronzo!” he yelled. “Come and meet me, man to man!”
His mind was racing as he counted through the people who could possibly know where he might have been.
Before his brain could settle on a proper answer, another bullet whizzed past his head and Ryker fell back against the wall. He was unarmed but that didn’t matter. The second he had the bastard in view, he was going to tear the man limb from limb without mercy.
Gauging by the direction the bullet had come, Ryker figured that the shooter was close enough to reach and he used his ultra-sensitive sense of smell to locate the intruder.
His breath faltered when he caught a whiff of the pheromones filling his nostrils.
Oh no… it can’t be…
And yet it all made perfect sense. Of course it was—why wouldn’t it be?
A thousand memories flooded his mind, one after the other until they were a blur of images, threatening to choke him. Ryker had always known there was hatred, but this much?
He fell back, containing his rage.
“You can’t kill me,” he said, almost conversationally. “You should know that by now.”
The gasp of surprise confirmed that he had the right person and that his sister had been out to kill him from further back than he could remember.
She knew I was coming to meet Mom and the lawyer that night. Mom must have told her it was somewhere we were all supposed to be. And she knew that Dad had this house. Even James didn’t know about this place.
How many times had he been shot in strange situations? His father had always written it off as turf wars or someone sending a message, but if no one claimed responsibility for it, what kind of message did it send?
“Why are you doing this, James?”
There was no response but the sound of feet shuffling down the stairs and out of the house. He resisted the urge to go after her, to pounce on her and maul some sense into her nasty blonde head but Ryker knew it wouldn’t do a bit of good.
“Ryker?”
Rui’s voice was barely audible and he whirled to see her crouched in the shadows.
“Get back under the bed
!” he barked. “It’s not safe.”
“Your butler is trying to kill you?”
In two strides, he reached her, scooping her into his arms and sweeping her back inside the bullet-riddled bedroom.
“Don’t move,” he told her. “I’m serious, Rui. Wait here until I get back.”
She nodded dumbly and bit on her lower lip. “Okay.”
He moved back into the house but he could already tell without searching that Bryn was long gone.
Reluctantly, he made his way back toward Rui, who remained huddled under the bed.
“He’s gone,” he said. “Come on. And watch out for the glass.”
She padded out gingerly and cringed when she instantly stepped on a shard of broken window.
“What the hell is he doing?” Rui demanded when Ryker flipped on the track lighting. “Why is he trying to kill you? Does he work for another family? Is he a spy? Oh God, he definitely knows about me!”
“It’s not James,” he told her softly. “It’s my sister.”
She stared at him blankly.
“What? But you said James’ name. I heard you.”
“I didn’t want her to know I knew it was her.”
A low wail of terror escaped Rui’s lungs.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” she moaned and Ryker rushed to embrace her.
“It’s okay,” he told her comfortingly.
“How?” she cried. “How the hell is this okay? Are you sure it’s her?”
“I’m sure,” he replied, relief flooding him for the first time since the entire catastrophe had occurred. “And it’s okay because she’s given us a way out of this mess once and for all.”
~ ~ ~
“How could you go AWOL like that after you were shot?” Franca screamed at him. “Your face was all over the news! I thought you were dead and this whole time, you were off on vacation?”
“You mean he was hiding like a coward,” Bryn sneered from across the dining room table. “Big shock. Dad isn’t even cold in the grave and you’re humiliating him with your actions.”
“BRYN!” Franca yelled at her daughter, horrified. “Your brother was shot!”