by Nico Rosso
Again, she just had to play along and collect what she could while not putting herself or Arash in any more danger than they already were. They certainly didn’t give Olesk any reason to doubt their diligence. Moving from the electronics, they immediately started addressing the suspension and steering. The minivan began to tighten into a coiled snake.
Stephanie completed removing the spare tire and all its accessories, trimming weight, and walked to the whiteboard. She was about to erase the task from the list with a rag when Arash stopped her. He put his hand on her forearm and glared over at Thom and Hector. “Don’t erase anything. Cross it off to show those punks how much we’ve done.”
“If you keep needling them...” She shook her head.
“Backing down now would put me on the run.”
“You don’t run, do you?” Indulging him, she crossed off nearly all the tasks on the list.
“I’ve walked away,” he said straight. “But I’ve never run.”
“Whoever you walked from, it’s their loss.” She understood the difference, having done the same when she dissociated from her father’s business.
“Damn right.” A smile glinted in his eyes.
She placed the whiteboard in full view of Hector and Thom before joining Arash at the front of the minivan. They discussed a plan for the aftermarket shock absorbers, came up with a consensus and executed. Each step brought them closer together, either in thought or physically. She felt the significant strength of his body as he moved a part into place. Her own muscles flared, yearning for that kind of release and effort while gripping him and being held by those arms. And having those legs to wrap her own around.
Even after all the work was done for the day, her body remained charged with energy. Showering alone was such a waste when the two of them could’ve been naked and free to explore their bodies. But not in this house, not with Olesk and the others so close.
Arash cooked the same meal as the night before, but she wasn’t bored by it. The food was real, from his hands. She was tempted to tell him about her grandmother’s hong shao rou, but the other people in the house were coming and going through the kitchen, collecting their own dinners and taking them out to the living room. She’d made the recipe for red braised pork belly and it never took less than two hours from start to finish. She and Arash didn’t have that kind of time. Maybe once this mission was over.
But that was an even bigger question. She had to stay in the moment, because each second could turn toward disaster. And each second with Arash had to be savored while neither of them knew what was coming next.
“First car you wrecked?” Arash stood and collected the plates.
She followed him to the sink and piled the pots and pans in it. The memory made her wince. “1997 Acura NSX.”
“Oh, damn. The six-speed?” He clutched a fist to his chest.
“Yeah. I was seventeen years old, past midnight, driving someone else’s car too fast through Half Moon Bay. Got loose in a turn, put the tail in a ditch and rolled it over.” Her friends had been following in another car and hollered with more excitement than fear as she and the passenger hung upside down.
“Were you hurt?”
“Bumps and bruises.” And quite a bit of shouting from her father and mother. “Hinata got a new car out of it, so no lasting damage.” She leaned against the counter so her leg pressed against his. “What was your first wreck?”
“Pontiac Fiero, year unknown, owner unknown.” He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head with a small smile. “I was pushing it hard, cracked the header, popped some hoses and it burst into flames. Put it sideways into a telephone pole as I was trying to get the hell out. I think the scorch mark is still on the ground.”
“I’ve probably driven by it.”
“Think of me each time you do.” His leg rubbed against hers.
“You know I will.” But that would be somewhere back in the Bay Area, after this mission, and she couldn’t think that far ahead.
“Any more of those cookies?” His gaze lingered on her mouth.
“They were all crushed.” She licked her lips.
“Wait.” He pulled away from the counter and strode into the rest of the house. A moment later he reappeared at the border between the kitchen and the living rooms. Dangling in his hand were the keys to the minivan. He looked at her while speaking to Olesk and the others. “We’re going to take the minivan out to test out the mods.”
She approached him, each step closer making the fire in his eyes burn deeper. Over his shoulder, she saw Olesk look up briefly from his usual spot at the table with his phone. “Good idea. You’ll have time to make adjustments tomorrow.”
Ellie turned away from the video game Hector and Thom were playing to smile at Stephanie. “Have fun.” Before Stephanie could step toward the back door with Arash, Ellie added, “There’s a new development under construction a few miles to the north. Not a lot of traffic that way.” She winked and turned back to the video game. Neither Thom nor Hector looked up to acknowledge anything had just happened.
“Light it up.” Arash tossed her the keys. The metal was still warm from his hand.
It took all her strength to walk steadily with him out the back of the house without running her fingers through his hair and pulling his mouth to hers. The night cold didn’t have a chance against the heat snapping between her and Arash. Their paths separated as they approached the unassuming minivan waiting in the dirt lot among the other cars being worked on. She got behind the wheel and he climbed in beside her.
The engine sprang to life with way more power than any minivan should. Throwing the shifter into Drive sent the car straining against the brakes. She eased off the brake and didn’t even have to touch the gas to jump out to the front of the house. Hitting the accelerator hinted at the beast under the hood. Dirt sprayed behind the tires and the minivan sped onto the long drive. She twisted through the turns there, then onto the main road. The minivan tracked like it was on rails.
“Ellie said north.” Arash turned in his seat to look behind them in that direction.
“We need dessert.” She shot him a sly smile and turned more of the beast in the car loose, pushing them both back into their seats in a giddy rush.
“It moves.” Arash nodded emphatically, face lit with pleasure.
“Like a bullet.” She stepped on the gas and took them even faster down the road. And there was still plenty of power remaining. Once they reached the edge of the closest suburban development, she slowed to a more normal speed that still made the streetlights streak past.
She aimed the car at the largest glow in the development and found a strip mall with a twenty-four-hour convenience store anchoring one end. There was a pickup truck and a compact car parked out front, with a couple of bored-looking teenagers holding up one wall. The minivan fit right in, but she wondered if the hidden beast would refuse to be shut down. The engine did spin to a stop, and the whole car creaked as the bolts and welds adjusted to the transitions.
The latent energy of the ride still cranked in her. Maybe she was the beast who couldn’t be controlled. Arash, too, had that wild look in his eye that only came from speed, torque and handling. They got out of the minivan and met at the front, where they stared at it. She whispered, “It looks like we’re just on a milk run.”
“And cookies.” His carnal gaze lit onto her. The things she wanted to do with him could not be done in the light of a convenience store. She corralled her urges, for now, and headed inside. Arash angled toward the back of the store. “Bottle of water?” he asked.
“And you pick the cookies.”
His growling chuckle matched the look in his eyes as he sauntered off. The danger of the operation continued all around her, and she stayed sharp to it, but she also allowed herself to feel the good in the connection with Arash. For once, she focused on her own needs. And her pu
lse rushed with the thrill of wanting.
She reached the front counter and asked the cashier for a package of condoms. The young white guy behind the counter was a professional and remained deadpan as he retrieved them. Arash joined them with two bottles of water and a couple different packages of cookies. He already had his cash out and paid for everything.
Outside again, Arash took the bag of goods from her and peered inside. “I thought you were prepared for everything.”
She had the keys out but stayed on his side of the minivan. Each step closer to him made her breath rush faster. They met, faces close, bodies sharing heat. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. He leaned into the touch. She brought her mouth to his cheek and whispered the truth. “I was not prepared for you.”
“I wish—” He brushed his lips against hers.
“Don’t wish.” She placed her palm on his chest and curled her fingers into his jacket. “We have this, right now. I want this.” A tremble started in her stomach and moved up her chest and along her arms. “I want you.”
He kissed her, fierce and hungry, then pulled away. “Give me the keys.” She did and they got into the minivan, him behind the wheel.
The engine blasted to life and Arash threw it into Reverse. “How’s it handle?” Turning to look behind them brought him close to her again and she wanted to grab hold of his lapels and take more of those kisses until she was sated. Which felt like it would be never.
“Wound tight and ready, but you still have to ease through the transitions.” The tremble continued through her. “It’ll be a wreck if we push too hard too fast.”
He released the steering wheel to align the edge of her hair at her cheek. “I’ll drive. You navigate. We won’t wreck.” He backed the minivan through the parking lot. The tires chirped when he shifted to Drive, amping up her already-racing pulse. He smiled, then sped them back into the night.
Chapter Fifteen
For the first time since leaping into this nightmare of revenge and danger, Arash didn’t mind that he didn’t know where the road ahead was leading. In fact, he loved that pure blackness stretched out in front of him and Stephanie. Because he was with her. He finally had time to be alone with this woman who had challenged and surprised him with every turn.
His pounding heart outpaced the engine of the minivan as the modified car rocketed out of the suburbs. Stephanie had been right—it was a bullet, and if it was aimed in the wrong direction, it would kill. His focus couldn’t waiver and he understood her again. Wishing for something else ignored the moment. He had to hold on to what he had. Now.
Black hills streaked past around them. Stephanie sat, alert in the passenger seat. Her gaze swept over the landscape, and when it moved across him, he felt the electric heat. She tapped her knuckle on the side window. “There’s the compound.”
The house was set back quite a bit from the road, but small squares of light revealed that the members of the gang were still up. Throughout the teardown and buildup of the minivan, neither he nor Stephanie had found any bugging devices, though that still didn’t set his mind at ease. He held back several curses he could’ve used against the STR and instead stood harder on the gas. The minivan sent its own message with the throaty growl of the engine.
Stephanie smiled as they sped faster, and the thrill charged him, as well. The road north curved, giving Arash a chance to test more of the car’s handling. For the most part the minivan took corners tight and blasted out of them. At the higher speed, though, a wobble shook the back end as he pushed out of a tight bank.
“Feel that?” He shifted the steering back and forth on the straightaway but couldn’t reproduce it.
“Definitely.” Stephanie stared into the rear of the minivan.
“We’ll drop the spare back in—could use the counterweight.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” She tapped the side of her temple.
“That’s why we’re good.” He put his fist out.
She bumped it. “We’re better.”
“And bad when we need to be.” He needed to be with her.
She leaned from her seat and brought her face close to his. “Drive faster.”
He stepped on the gas and the rapid acceleration pushed them back into their seats. Darkness thickened around them. The lights of the compound were long gone, and there didn’t appear to be any more houses in those hills. The minivan ate up the miles and never seemed satisfied. He slowed when the road tightened into curves through a narrowing valley. Once through the pass, the land opened up flatter and the development Ellie had spoken of was dimly visible ahead.
Stephanie leaned forward to peer into the approaching collection of uncompleted houses. “We’ll probably be on city streets.”
He sped into the development and tested the handling in the twisting planned suburb. The shimmy was still there, but otherwise the car sprang neatly through the curves. He and Stephanie were nudged side to side, and four-point harnesses would’ve been much better than the stock seat belts.
The development climbed the side of a hill and he took them higher into where the more expensive houses with a view would be. Most of them were just wooden frames, but a complete house stood above all the rest. Arash took them there and parked in the deepest shadows at the edge of the development, where the last of the asphalt dissolved into the hard dirt of the mountains.
The engine spun to a stop. The car ticked and silence descended. Fabric rustled as Stephanie slid against her seat. Her hands curled into his jacket and she pulled him to her for a kiss that was heated with more power than the motor.
They parted and got out of the car, into the night. Cold air slid down the side of the hills with the aroma of mineral rock and sturdy plants. He and Stephanie huddled together as they walked toward the completed house. She carried the bag from the convenience store. Her other hand wound with his and pulled their bodies closer. “Breaking and entering?” she asked.
“It’s been a while.” Around the time when he was wrecking Pontiac Fieros.
“Same.” He believed her ethic now, proven with all this Frontier Justice business, but he didn’t fully know the person she’d been before.
Instead of approaching the front of the house, they skirted around back and across a dirt lawn with trenches cut for the sprinkler system. The rear patio spanned the entire ground floor of the house. Sliding doors at the dining area would create a huge indoor-outdoor space. Arash tested the latch. Locked.
Stephanie moved to a window just a few feet away and pried the screen off. The window opened quietly and she gestured at the wide gap. “No breaking necessary.”
If there was a security system, it wasn’t hooked up yet. No flashing lights or keypad anywhere. Arash slipped inside and put his hand out for her. She took the assistance, even though he knew she didn’t need it, and climbed through. Any excuse for them to touch. Having her fingers laced with his in the still, quiet house shook him more than he expected. They were finally alone, in a safe place.
“Upstairs.” He directed them to the stairs and they stirred the air with their ascent. The top floor explained why this was the model home for the development. A huge master bedroom overlooked the narrow valley below, with a hint of the glow from Reno in the distance.
But more inviting was the large platform bed. The two of them moved in that direction as if it had a gravity of its own. Stephanie dropped the bag next to the bed and turned to face Arash. She swept her hands up his chest, over the sides of his neck and through his hair. Each touch burned him to life. He held her waist and pulled her to him.
They kissed with no one watching, no one listening. He kissed her, knowing more of this woman than ever before. And revealing all that he was to her. She pulled his jacket over his shoulders and he tugged it off. He did the same for her and froze when he wrapped his hand around the small of her back. She was wearing a gun.
“You’ve been carrying this whole time?”
“Since we landed in Reno.” She looked him up and down. “You don’t...”
“I drive better than I shoot.” He always knew that however it was going to end with Olesk, it would be on the road.
“We’re safe here for now.” She approached him again and unzipped the front of his hoodie. “And I’m not wearing a gun if I’m naked.”
* * *
SHE’D NEVER WANTED to be this naked before, and that scared her. Without a weapon or pretense or an escape route. Her need was stronger than all that. It challenged her to face Arash and her own urges.
She ran her hands across his chest and pushed the open hoodie off his shoulders. It fell to the ground, revealing the angles of his chest and waist in his T-shirt. The room was dark, but she still saw the heated glint in his eyes. He curled his hands in the hem of her sweater and tugged up. She helped him and she was soon one step closer to naked.
He sat on the edge of the bed and removed his boots and socks. She joined him there and did the same. Before she could stand again, he pulled her into his arms and joined their mouths with another kiss. Only thin cotton separated their chests and the heat built between them. His hands ranged across her back, then higher until his fingers slid through her hair. She sighed into the kiss and let herself be supported by his strength.