Ryan plopped back in his seat and reloaded his gun. “Only one car left. You’re doing awesome, Liz.”
My hands were shaking so badly now I could barely hold onto the steering wheel.
Ryan covered my shaking hand with his. “Relax,” he murmured. “You can do this. We’re almost free. Just keep your eyes on the road and your hand steady on the wheel.” He rose and turned away again to deal with the final car.
The headlights behind us grew closer. Brighter. They were gaining on us.
Our pursuers kept coming. Closer. Closer.
The blood roared in my ears. My hand shook violently as I tried to follow the center lines on the dark road and keep us on the pavement.
Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Oh God, they were going to crash into us!
My gaze darted to Ryan, whose torso had disappeared over the top of the car. Visions of his body splattered on the pavement flashed through my mind, making my stomach churn. If he didn’t get back inside the car, and we crashed, he could die.
He turned slightly toward me as he started to lower himself back into the car.
Switching hands on the steering wheel, I snagged his prosthetic hand—the only part of him within reach—and pulled hard, trying to yank him back into the car. He fell back into his seat with a startled grunt, his gaze darting to me in surprise.
Then the other vehicle slammed into us, knocking my hand off the steering wheel. I screamed as the car whipped around in a rapid blur, my airbag exploding my face.
We spun.
Flipped…
Rolled…end over end…
Crash, smack, thud, bang…
Then…
Crunch!
CHAPTER TEN
Ryan
I came to as a wave of pain crashed over me. I groaned. My head spun in a dizzy circle. Whirl, whirl, whirl…
I blinked, trying to focus on my surroundings.
Darkness.
Pain.
Flashing lights on the instrument panel.
Pain.
A deflated airbag draped over my steering wheel.
Pain.
The screech of an engine dying a painful death.
Pain.
Oh shit, Liz!
We’d been heading down the road toward the wildlife refuge when I’d noticed a tail. I’d taken out three of the vehicles before the fourth had slammed into us, causing Liz to lose control of the vehicle. She’d grabbed my prosthetic, yanking me back into the car just before they’d struck, saving me from flying out to a certain death.
I sucked in a breath. She’d saved my life. If she hadn’t pulled on my prosthetic, I could have easily flown out of the car and bounced along the pavement. Or been crushed between the vehicles. Or been mangled and splattered into a million different pieces along the road…
I cringed as I imagined all of the things that could have happened to me if Liz hadn’t pulled me back into the car.
She had truly saved my life.
The breath snagged in my throat. Liz didn’t even like me. She thought I was only out to seduce her. Yet, she’d cared enough to pull me back into the car.
My chest squeezed. Damn.
I blinked again, trying to get my bearings. I was lying at an angle behind the steering wheel of my car, my head twisted toward the open window. Safety glass in the front windshield had prevented it from shattering and sending shards into the car—and into us. But all the side windows had smashed out, except for mine, which had thankfully been down, so I wasn’t covered in broken glass like I probably would have been. As I lay there, stunned, it occurred to me that by some miracle, when the car had flipped, the top had never actually hit the ground, thereby saving us from being smashed into smithereens.
I jerked my gaze toward Liz. She moaned softly from the passenger’s seat, opening her eyes. She turned toward me, dazed, her hair a wild mess, her glasses slightly askew on her face, but thankfully not broken. The right side of her face sported several small cuts from the shards of glass that had exploded into her when her window broke out. But she appeared to be relatively unharmed.
My prosthetic had torn free, probably when Liz had pulled on it. Now it dangled out of my sleeve. I pulled it loose, tossing it in the back seat.
Then a sound outside of the car filtered through my senses.
I reached for the knife in my boot, yanking it free and shoving at my door. The door creaked and groaned, resisting in its smashed-up state, but I finally succeeded in opening it enough to squeeze out.
A man appeared outside of the car only a few feet away. He lifted his gun, pointing it at my head.
I lunged at him, burying my knife in his throat just as he pulled the trigger.
The gun went off, the bullet sailing high, missing me, disappearing up into the dark sky.
He gurgled and tripped back, and I fell forward, landing on top of him as he hit the ground.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins. I’d lost my gun when they’d rammed into us, but I had more guns in the trunk. I just had to get to them before more thugs attacked.
I quickly yanked the knife free from the man’s neck and crept around the side of the car toward the trunk, my senses alert.
Suddenly, two more thugs approached through the darkness.
Shit. There was no time to try to wiggle the smashed trunk latch free. I would have to use my knife and my own body to fight them off.
I may have been discharged after my right hand and part of my forearm had been blown off, but I’d learned to adjust. I was a dreg, after all. I’d been taught to adapt to the most difficult of situations. I was right hand dominate, but after the IED blast, my left hand had taken over. I could fight much better with my left hand than most men could fight with both hands.
Bring it on, assholes.
I crouched behind the car, waiting. My knife raised and ready to strike.
The first thug came around the side of the car. I jerked the knife up into his gut, twisting it and burying it deep, then yanking it back out. He groaned and stumbled forward, dropping his gun. I snatched up his weapon and swung it toward the second thug, who let loose with his rifle, firing several rounds at me.
I dived and rolled out of the way, then swung around and fired back, hitting him in the head. He dropped instantly, his gun clattering to the pavement beside him.
I stayed still, listening, waiting for more thugs.
Silence. That was the last of them.
“Ryan?” Liz’s frightened voice floated over to me.
I rolled into a sitting position as several aches hit me at once. My lower right side. My left shin. My left forearm. And my head most of all. I glanced down at myself, noting I was splattered with blood. My blood? Or one of the thug’s?
Then Liz was scrambling out of the car and dropping to the ground. Her skirt bunched high around her shapely thighs, giving me a glimpse of long, sexy legs before she rose, pulling the skirt back down. Damn, girl had nice legs. I wanted to get between those gorgeous thighs so badly it was all I would be able to think about until I finally got there.
She lifted her head, spying me sitting near the back of the smashed-up car. She let out a soft gasp and rushed toward me, kneeling beside me, her eyes wild.
“Ryan? Are you okay? Talk to me.”
“Yeah, I think so.” My voice came out hoarse. “I’m a bit banged up. How about you?”
“I’m fine. I was wearing my seatbelt. And I wasn’t half out of the car.” She said it in an accusatory manner, as if it was my own fault I’d been injured because I’d had to undo my seatbelt in order to stand up, turn, and fire at our pursuers.
I choked out a laugh. “Smart girl.” Then I lowered the thug’s gun, setting it on the pavement. “Thanks for saving me, Liz.”
Her eyes widened briefly. “I ripped your prosthetic off. I’m sorry. Did it hurt?”
Her big gray eyes were wide and filled with concern as she gazed at me from behind those eyeglasses.
Warmth spre
ad in my chest.
She was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.
“No. But I have other hurts. Other aches.” Like the one swelling in my pants, expanding into a hard, throbbing ache of need. For her.
I wrapped my arm around her neck and pulled her in, pressing my lips to hers. Electricity sparked between us, heading straight to my groin. Zap!
She gasped, rearing back. “Ryan!”
Just that one brief kiss, that one tiny brush of lips against lips made heat spiral through me, my body tingling and alive with need. I snaked my arm around her waist before she could escape, yanking her closer until she fell into my lap, the skirt bunching high up on her thighs.
I groaned at the sight of those creamy thighs spread wide, her hot core resting against the front of my jeans. I lifted my hips invitingly, rubbing against her.
“Can you feel how much I want you, Liz?” I breathed in her ear.
She shuddered, letting out a soft gasp, her eyes drifting closed. Her lips parted and she leaned closer…
I turned my head toward hers in anticipation, ready to claim that sexy mouth. Ready to taste and devour, and make her moan and writhe against me in need.
She jerked her eyes open, her cheeks flaming, and shoved against my chest. “Ryan! You’re hurt. You’re not thinking clearly.”
I let out a soft growl of frustration. Reluctantly, I let her go, leaning back against the car with a sigh. Though I ached with a fierce need to get as close to her as possible, to bury myself in her soft, wet heat, this was neither the time nor the place.
I heaved out a sigh and closed my eyes. Surprisingly, her very presence filled with me a calmness I’d never experienced before. Liz was good for me. I wanted more of her. I wanted all of her.
She tapped my cheek and I opened my eyes. She gazed at me with concern. “You’re bleeding. And you obviously hit your head. Where’s this medical bag you said you had?”
“It was in the back of the car. But it may have flown out the window in the crash.”
“You stay here,” she ordered. “I’ll go find it.”
I didn’t argue. I’d dealt with the threat, so she would be fine. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the car as exhaustion hit me.
I stirred sometime later, a shrill ringggg jerking me awake. Then a soft voice—Liz?—speaking from somewhere close by.
“Stay put, Glenda. Don’t go anywhere. I’m with Ryan now. There was an accident. He’s been hurt. No! Don’t you dare come here! You’re safer there. I’m taking care of him, I promise. I’ll call you later. It might be a few days before we can come to you. Get some rest, Glenda. I promise Ryan is fine and I will talk to you tomorrow. Yes. Yes. Goodnight.”
Then I felt Liz’s heat and breathed in her intoxicating scent as she leaned over me. “Ryan? Wake up.” She gently shook my shoulder. I blinked up at her, groaning softly as pain spiraled through me. “There you are!” She sounded relieved. “Glenda just called. She got a room at the Marriott in Oklahoma City for the night. I told her to stay put and that we’d call her later.”
I blinked again as Liz’s face came into focus. “What happened?”
“You passed out,” she announced quietly. “You had me worried there for a moment. I found the medical bag.” She lifted Nate’s black bag, showing it to me. “But it’s cold out here and we will freeze to death if we don’t get out of here soon.”
I nodded. The thugs had hit us with a pit move that had spun the car around and caused Liz to lose control. Since they’d come after us after we’d wrecked, their vehicle had likely survived the collision with little or no damage.
“Did you check out the other vehicle? Find out if it’s drivable.” My Lamborghini was a mangled heap behind me. A total loss. Again, it occurred to me that if Liz hadn’t pulled me back into the car when she had, I would most likely be dead right now. The thought was sobering.
She lifted her head, glancing away from me. “There’s a black SUV parked over there. It looks like the side might be dented, but the front looks undamaged.”
“Go check it out,” I urged her. “If it runs, drive it over here. We’ll find a place to stay for the night, then you can tend to my wounds.”
She looked into my eyes for a long moment. “Okay. Stay here.” She moved away.
I closed my eyes again and relaxed. I hurt in several places, but I didn’t think I’d lost a lot of blood. I didn’t feel lightheaded as I normally would from blood loss. I sensed it was more scrapes and cuts and bruises, and possible head trauma. I was damn lucky I hadn’t flown out of the car.
Moments later, the sound of an engine idling beside me forced me to open my eyes again.
“Come on, I’ll help you in.” Liz urged me to my feet. I stumbled forward, allowing her to help me into the passenger’s seat. “I’ll go get the rest of our things out of your car.”
She disappeared for several minutes while my eyelids drifted closed again. She grunted, cursed, then the sound of metal clanging reached my ears. What the hell was she doing?
Then she was back with a couple of grunts and the slam of the back door.
Another slam and I opened my eyes again to see her sliding behind the wheel. “I got all your stuff out of the car. The hood of the trunk was smashed up in a weird curl, so I jammed your empty gun clip at the latch until it broke free. Then I pried the lid off and grabbed all your weapons out of the trunk. You had quite an arsenal in there.” She let out a nervous laugh. “An hour ago, that would have scared me. But not now. I’m glad you have them. If you show me how to shoot later, I’ll be prepared to help the next time the bad guys show up.”
Was I dreaming? Did Liz just say she’d brought all the weapons out of my car and stuck them in the back of the SUV? Did she just ask me to teach her how to shoot a gun later?
Oh fuck. I wanted this girl. She was hot. Her beauty went far beyond appearances, clear into her soul. I wanted to wrap myself in her warmth, her softness, her sweetness. Even in my injured state, my body longed to join with hers, to revel in her goodness, her genuineness. She could heal me, soothe me, complete me, and suddenly, I ached for that with a ferocity that startled me.
I wanted this girl. For more than one night.
Unfortunately, she didn’t want me back. I wasn’t even sure if she liked me.
Yet, she’d saved my life. That was rare.
In that moment, I realized the player was no more. He’d disappeared sometime after he’d locked eyes with a stuffy, upright hotel clerk he’d known was different from any woman he’d ever met. He’d disappeared sometime after—or was it before?—that handshake and that bet with Luke.
Her resistance was a turn-on I didn’t expect. I had my work cut out for me, but I didn’t mind. The idea of chasing Liz excited me. The thought of pursuing her until she finally surrendered filled me with anticipation.
How did I make her like me? How did I convince her to give me a chance?
I would chase her, pursue her, to the ends of the earth.
Because I wanted Liz.
But I didn’t want her for just one night.
The knowledge hit me with a surety that left me rattled.
I wanted Liz to be my forever girl.
Because that’s what she was—a “forever” kind of girl.
But how did I convince her I could be a one-woman man?
How did I prove to Liz that she was the only one I wanted?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Liz
When the 49 turned into the 115, I took the road south into the tiny town of Cache, but there were no hotels in Cache, so I took the road east into Lawton, which was the closest town with hotels. This put us right back around, only twenty minutes away from Medicine Park, the town where Glenda’s inn was. But it was either that, or I kept driving west for another couple of hours into Texas until we found a town large enough to have hotels. Circling back around like this would probably throw the thugs off, anyway, if any of them had survived back there. They might not think t
o look for us in the nearby town of Lawton. Or so I hoped.
Ryan dozed on and off during the hour drive, and I feared he had a concussion. His phone rang several times from his bag in the back, but I wasn’t able to get to it while driving, so I just let it ring.
I glanced in the rearview mirror repeatedly on the drive, my heart racing, expecting someone to come after us, but no one followed, the road dark and silent behind us.
It seemed, at least for now, that we were safe.
I booked us a room at the nearest motel, asking for one in the back where we’d be less likely to be seen. Then I drove around back and parked. Ryan stirred, his gaze a swirl of confusion as he blinked up at me. “Come on,” I urged gently. “I got us a room. Let’s get you inside so I can check your wounds.”
He came more awake then, his gaze sharpening. “Where are we?”
“We’re in Lawton. It was the closest place.”
His eyes widened. “You drove back around to Lawton?” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Shit, Liz. There could be thugs here.”
“Don’t you ‘shit, Liz’ me. I saved your life, remember? Now come on.”
He grumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t make out, then slid out of the vehicle. He wasn’t as shaky on his feet as he had been before, and he was able to walk across the parking lot and over to our room by himself. Still, I held onto his arm just in case he needed me.
Once I got him into the room, I went back for his duffle bag, garment bag, my purse, his prosthetic, and the black medical bag. The weapons I left in the car. Then I locked the stolen vehicle and hurried back inside.
Ryan was in the bathroom when I returned, washing the blood off his face, gently dabbing a washcloth around the bullet wound on his cheek.
He must be feeling better.
“Did you bring my prosthetic?”
“Yes.” I set the bags down and came forward, holding his prosthetic arm out. It looked to be high-tech and expensive. “Did you want it right now?”
“No. Just set it on the bed for now. I’ll put it on after I shower.”
I moved back into the room and set his prosthetic on the bed. Then I hesitated in the bathroom doorway, watching him. “Are you going to be okay showering by yourself? Are you feeling dizzy at all?”
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