I stripped off my clothes, leaving just my boxers on, then slipped under the covers of Lexie’s bed. The sheets smelled clean, like the fabric softener and soap smell that was ever-present at the Laundromat when we had a laundry run on the road. The wine was just enough to relax me and allow my mind to go blank. Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about Lexie, and what was really going on with her.
Sure I had made a stupid comment and had set her off, but there was no questioning that she had waffled between calm and agitation since we had arrived. All I could think was that there was so much more going on with her than she had told me. Whatever secrets Lexie was keeping were weighing heavy on her. And if anyone knew how secrets could mess with your mind, it was me. For her sake I hoped she let me in, before she imploded.
26. LEXIE
Every mile closer to the cottage had my stomach twisting a little more. Quite a few times I had wanted to turn around and go back to the hospital. It would have been so easy to get in the car with Aiden and Trinity and forget all about Ransom. It hadn’t helped matters much when Trinity had ripped a strip off me about driving back with him. She was already against him, even before she knew that he was a fugitive from the law, something she was bound to find out as soon as she flipped on the television.
“He’s got some rage issues,” Trinity had piped in.
Aiden had nodded agreement which spoke volumes. Aiden had a cool-headed approach to everything, always wanting to get the details before making a judgment. His one nod meant that he wasn’t a fan of Ransom’s either.
“He caused the accident you know,” Trinity said.
Aiden winced as if in pain. “Trin I didn’t say he caused the accident, only that he startled me and…”
“Caused the accident,” Trinity finished. “That kind of thing happens when you get smashed in the head with a cell phone.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. I half expected her to stomp her foot, because I had never seen her that furious before.
“He flipped out over some phone call, and started smashing his fists against Aiden’s seat and… the only reason Aiden wasn’t charged was because the woman who hit us was bombed…” Trinity’s face suddenly crumpled.
She raced to Aiden, sitting in a metal-framed chair at the bedside of the small hospital room. She grazed her fingers across the thick bandage that covered the gash on his forehead. A nasty purplish-black bruise stained most of his forehead around the bandage. Aiden looked quite a bit worse for wear. I hated seeing him like that. Trinity brushed her lips tenderly against his, as if she had forgotten that I was even in the room.
“It’s okay baby, I’m okay,” Aiden crooned, drawing her in close. He brought his eyes to mine, there was pleading in his gaze.
“We’re just trying to look out for you Lexie, I mean you don’t really know him, only that he’s Gabriel Sanders brother. I don’t like to say this, but he’s got quite a temper on him. It’s like he’s pissed off at the world.”
“He’s not like that with me,” I said, failing to mention how I had witnessed Ransom’s temper a few times already. “He’s just passionate about things,” I said with a hopeful smile.
“He’s bad news, and I don’t understand why he has such a hold over you, you hardly know him Lexie.”
Trinity sprang from Aiden’s arms and stalked toward me. Her hair was uncombed and her face gaunt with exhaustion. The grey fleece sweatshirt and matching grey leggings she was wearing, only added to her spent appearance. I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I was putting them through this, but I didn’t know how I could go back and undo what I had promised, or if I even wanted to do that. Ransom was an in, a way to see Gabriel Sanders. The opportunity to possibly meet him had been like a gift that had dropped into my lap, I wasn’t about to give that gift back, no matter how much Trinity and Aiden wanted me to.
“I love you guys, you know that, but I need to do this,” I said in a low voice.
“Do what, exactly?” Trinity asked. “I know you have something planned, what is it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know yet.”
“Well if you don’t know, who does Lexie?” Trinity said.
She moved toward me then threw her arms around me, holding me tight in her embrace.
“I love you Lex, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” she whispered. She pulled back to stare at me. There were tears swimming in her eyes. “I want you, no, I need you to be safe.”
I tried to smile, but I didn’t quite make it happen.
“I’m safe, really, please just trust me,” I said. I disentangled from her grip and began backing out the door.
“I promise I’ll call or text you every day.” I was out of the hospital room and halfway down the corridor before I heard Trinity yell after me.
“You know if anything happens to you I’ll kill you,” she said.
“I know,” I said with a half-hearted grin. I left the hospital without another look back.
I knew when I’d gotten back into the car that Ransom had probably detected that things hadn’t gone exactly smooth with Trinity and Aiden, but he hadn’t asked me about it, something I was silently thankful for.
The drive to the cottage had been exactly what I had needed. I felt like I was finally starting to catch up on the things that were supposed to happen when you first met a person. I wasn’t an expert on the matter, but sex first, getting to know a person after, just wasn’t how it went. Ransom, for the most part, had been open in our conversation and had only detoured me twice when the subject of his father, and life before Gabriel was a celebrity had come up.
It wasn’t hard to see how much he loved his brother. Seeing that, made me wonder that if I’d had a sibling to lean on, if it might have made things easier after Mom had died. I couldn’t deny that hearing about Gabriel, and all the people he had helped with his “gift” had buoyed my hope that maybe someday he would help me too. I kept that tidbit to myself however. I was one hundred percent sure that Ransom probably wouldn’t have been on board anymore if he had known that my intentions weren’t as innocent as I would have had him believe.
For the most part, I had shoved away the mixed feelings I’d had about going back to the cottage. After Mom had died I had vowed never to darken the door there again. The place was too filled with memories for me to handle. I had even told my father that he should sell the place, but being the savvy business man he was, he had said that it was better to wait until the real estate market rebounded. Now I was glad in a way that he hadn’t listened to me. It meant that I could keep Ransom close at hand until I could figure out a way to get to Gabriel. I ignored my doubts about using Ransom. Resting all my hopes and dreams on Gabriel Sanders’s shoulders was more important than anything else, even hurting Ransom.
Of course being back at the cottage had been so much worse than I had expected. Every piece of furniture, wall hanging and dish in the place, had been handpicked by Mom. The space even smelled like her, though I expected that was more my imagination than fact. Every step I took, reminded me that she was gone and I would never have a chance to fall into her protective arms again. The walls seemed to whisper a reminder that I would never again be able to tell her how much I loved her.
Now, lying in the bed that Mom and Dad had once shared, I was pissed beyond belief. I wondered why I had ever agreed to hideout with Ransom because looks aside he was kind of a prick. The jail bait comment had rubbed me the wrong way, because it had said that he thought I was a kid, one that he would never have hooked up with if he had known what he was doing.
The elation I had felt after our conversation in the car about sex, and how he had said it had been awesome with me, quickly faded. The subsequent PMS remark had set me on fire, yet instead of reading him the riot like I should have, I had broken down crying. It of course only added more weight to the whole acting a little too emotional gibe.
“Fucking jerk,” I growled, tossing a magenta throw cushion across the room. He’d had no right
saying stuff like that. He didn’t know me, or that being here again was painful beyond belief. Walking through the cottage felt like someone had taken a jagged knife to my heart and scraped over it a few times until it was bleeding and raw. I understood that he had no idea how I felt, but I had expected him to be marginally more sensitive. I’d had a glimpse of something at the hotel room, something that said he was a sensitive and caring guy. I wanted more of it, in fact if I was being honest, I needed more of the tenderness he had shown me, like the way he had cradled me in his arms when I had fallen apart.
The more I thought about the PMS comment the more irked I got. Who the hell said that kind of thing? Sure Mom had said things like that to me before, even Trin and every time they had, it felt like they were minimizing my feelings. Though I wasn’t sure if Ransom even understood what he had said, or even why I had flipped out. I was starting to wonder myself why I had freaked. If I looked back at the interaction with a more rational eye, I might have realized that he had been trying to lighten the mood. The more I thought about it, the more I understood that I wasn’t really mad at Ransom, I was irritated at myself. The cottage had stirred up a barrage of emotions, most of which I was still trying to understand. Ransom just happened to be in the line of fire.
I slid out of bed, moving silently across the emerald area rug that covered most of the space at the side of the bed. I was already at the door when doubt clouded my mind. I wasn’t sure if I should just go to sleep and apologize to Ransom in the morning, or apologize right then. Mom’s adage had always been to never go to bed mad, always settle a fight before you slept. Life could change in a heartbeat and you might never get a chance to fix what was broken. Nobody knew as well as I did the truth in those words, or how you just never knew what the last words you had spoken were going to be to someone you loved.
When I opened the door into the hallway, I noticed that the door to my room was still open. I glanced down the hallway but didn’t hear any sounds, so moved across the hall. The plug-in night light in the shape of a crescent moon, gave me enough light that I could see that Ransom was already in bed. He was wrapped up like a mummy with just a few tufts of his dark hair poking above the bedspread. With courage I hadn’t known I’d had, I cruised into the room until I was standing over him. His breathing was steady and seemed to indicate that he was already asleep. The logical part of me said to leave him alone, that I could talk to him in the morning, but the other bit of me that was paranoid with cause, refused that option.
“Ransom,” I said in a quiet voice.
He didn’t stir. I called his name again. There was still no response. I shook him lightly. He was unmovable. If I hadn’t heard him breathing I might have wondered if he was dead.
“Ransom,” I said, much louder this time. I shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth. Suddenly he was sitting straight up in bed, his eyes wild in alarm.
“What? What? What’s happening?” he yelled, reaching his hands out for me. Before I knew it he had grabbed me against him, and was hugging me tight.
“It’s all right I’ll protect you Gab,” he murmured into my hair. Too stunned to even breathe, I remained stiff in his grasp until I found my voice again.
“Ransom, it’s me, Lexie,” I said against his bare chest.
I felt his hold relax until he released me all together. I stood up again, more than thankful for the dim lighting that hid the hot flush of embarrassment, and made my cheeks burn.
“Christ Lexie, you scared me,” Ransom said, locking his dark eyes on me. Something sparked in his expression when he’d had a good look at me. It was then that I realized that I was wearing just a t-shirt and panties. I had been too bent on making amends to have thought to get dressed. My blush deepened. Though every bit of me wanted to race back and get my clothes, doing it would have shown that I was embarrassed about being half-dressed. I actually was mortified, but Ransom didn’t need to know that.
He stretched his arms over his head, his pectoral muscles rippled with the move. The bedspread puddled low on his hips, leaving him delightfully exposed. The nightlight cast shadows across his bare torso, accentuating his trim physique even more. I knew that I was goggling him, but I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from his form, that would have rivaled some of the hottest guys in Hollywood.
“Are you okay?” Ransom asked, seemingly oblivious to the way my eyes were crazy-glued to his chest and washboard abs. I shook my head, trying to remove the image of him naked on the bed after our night together. My pelvis tugged in a way that said my body was remembering what it had felt like to be with Ransom, even if my brain was screaming to smarten the hell up. I shivered then felt my nipples harden as they loved to do at the most inopportune moments. I quickly crossed my arms over my chest. My grin was probably dumb, but it was all I could manage. Suddenly it felt impossible to form a coherent sentence to explain why I had invaded his privacy, almost shaken him out of the bed, and was now standing half-naked in his room.
“I…I wanted to say I was sorry you know…” I finally mumbled.
Ransom nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry too. I know it’s not really an excuse but when you work with only men everyday, you sometimes forget how to talk to a woman.”
His grin was boyish and made something inside me melt, but also revved up what could only be described as my newly discovered sex drive. The whole once you’ve tasted sugar you couldn’t help but want more verse, sang like a sexy song through my mind.
“Well you really hit the right button because if there’s anything that I hate its when someone asks me if I’m…” I threw up my hands. I wasn’t willing to even repeat the phrase PMSing; I despised it that much.
“That bad huh?” he asked.
I nodded. Ransom broke into boisterous laughter. It didn’t take long before I joined him. When our giggles died away we just stared at each other, as if we didn’t know what else to say.
“Well now that that’s settled, goodnight,” I said, awkwardly. I had no idea what else to say. Ransom seemed surprised by my abruptness and narrowed his eyes in puzzlement.
“That’s it?” he asked. “You woke me up and now you’re just going to leave me here wide awake?”
His smile was warm and made me remember that with that grin alone, Ransom could get any girl he wanted; it was certainly having that effect on me.
“Well we could play Monopoly,” I said. Even as I suggested it, the word nerd flashed in neon in my mind.
Contrary to what I had expected Ransom didn’t laugh at me. He shrugged then gave me a wry grin.
“I have to warn you, I’m quite a tycoon when it comes to building up property,” he said.
“Sounds good, I’m going to get the games and put some clothes on,” I said. I wasn’t sure why I had told him that I was going to get dressed, since it wasn’t really essential for him to know.
“You look just fine to me,” he said, skimming his gaze down the length of my body.
I quivered in response then tore out of the room as if the devil himself was after me. As I pulled on my jeans then snapped my bra, I realized without a doubt that I really had no idea who Ransom was. But more than anything else in my life, right then, despite how we had met, and how we had ended up at the cottage together, I was going to enjoy finding out what made Ransom Sanders tick.
27. LEXIE
After a rousing game of Monopoly, we moved on to Scrabble then finally Boggle. I would never have expected that playing a child’s board game would iron out all the anxiety and uncertainty between us, but it had actually made things easier.
I had only met Ransom a few days before, but with all the time we had spent together, I felt like I understood him more than people I had known my whole life. Playing games with Ransom added a completely different dimension to our budding partnership, or whatever you wanted to call it. I liked seeing the boyish excitement in his eyes when I landed on one of his properties and had to pay him way too much rent.
He hadn’t lied when he’d said he was
a tycoon because that’s exactly what he was like. Cool, calculated and on purpose. Even when I had realized that it was well past three in the morning, I wasn’t willing to go to bed and stop being with Ransom. After I had yawned for what seemed like the hundredth time, I had to concede that sleep was in my future.
The next day I didn’t wake up until after 10:00 a.m. I brushed my teeth and tugged on a pair of black yoga pants, this time remembering to put on a bra before I pranced around the house in front of Ransom. I was surprised to see that he was already up, sitting at the kitchen table. He looked showered and was dressed in the clothes that he had picked up at the department store, a black long-sleeved crew neck sweater and jeans. He hadn’t noticed that I was there and was busy texting on his new disposable phone, while sipping what looked like coffee.
Detecting that I was there, his head came up and he beamed at me. It was surprising how the abbreviated sleep hadn’t seemed to have affected him much. I, of course knew that I looked like something that the dog had dragged in.
“Great news, Dave is out on bail and Gab’s off life support,” he said before I spoke.
“That is good,” I said, reciprocating his smile.
He seemed to catch himself and glanced down at his coffee cup. “I hope you don’t mind, I kind of dug through the cupboards and found a jar of instant coffee and…”
“That’s absolutely fine. I want you to make yourself at home here Ransom,” I said with a flip of my hand. He got to his feet, shoving his phone back into his pocket.
“I’ll make you some too, if you want,” he said.
He peered at me expectantly.
“Sure, that would be great,” I said.
Ransom (Holding Ransom # 1) Page 28