by J. S. Scott
I waited for my breathing to slow and then finished showering, feeling a million times more relaxed than I’d been. Toweling off, I wandered back into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of sweats to sleep in, figuring it’d keep Anna from freaking out, which was exactly what she’d do if she woke up to find me curled up next to her naked.
Sidling up against her body, I slipped under the covers, and though my thoughts were still churning, they didn’t stand a chance against my exhaustion, sleep taking me within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.
By the time I awoke, Anna was already trying to squirm her way free of her bindings—not that she had any hope. Over the course of the night, I’d tucked her in at my side, draping my arm around her as I held her close.
“Morning, Cupcake.” Unable to resist, I leaned in and kissed her cheek, ignoring the glare she shot me.
She tried to pull away from me, but there was little room between my body and the wall the bed was pushed up against. “Get the hell off me. And I fucking swear, you better not be naked under the covers.”
“You wish.” I couldn’t resist teasing her. I found pushing her buttons far too entertaining, and was hoping that a bit of banter and humor might help ease the tension between us. “How about we get you to the bathroom, and then I can cook us breakfast?”
“If you untie me, I’ll cook.” Anna gave me a sly smile that had me going hard with morning wood. “I can guarantee you it’ll taste a whole lot better than whatever you can manage to put together.”
“It’s hard to fuck up eggs, toast, and bacon, babe. And if you think I’m giving you access to knives and shit, you can guess again.” I shifted out from under the covers and, kneeling on the bed by her side, undid the bindings that kept her tied to the headboard, though her wrists remained bound. “Bathroom—and don’t make me repeat my threats.”
Anna didn’t take long, and she actually behaved herself this time around, which was a vast improvement over her attempted escape yesterday. I plopped her down in a seat at the kitchen table, keeping an eye on her as I dug out some of the groceries I’d managed to pick up before hitting the diner.
“Don’t suppose a girl can get a cup of coffee around here?” She watched me as I moved around the kitchen and got a pot of coffee going, grateful that I’d kept some of my own supplies here from my visits over the summer.
“There’s milk and cream for now. But once that’s gone, I hope you can deal with black, powdered milk, or evaporated.” My crazy uncle was stocked for the apocalypse, so at the very least there would be dried and canned goods available to keep us going, not to mention whatever Uncle Jack had dried or stuck in the freezer. “Hopefully this mess will get cleared up before long. And then we can both get back to our lives.”
“Except for the little fact that you’ve kidnapped me.” Anna cocked her head to the side and shot me a murderous glare that made me want to catch her mouth in a bruising kiss.
“How about if we change this from a kidnapping to a lucrative business deal for you? You stay here with me until this blows over, and then I let you go—with a million deposited into your bank account for any hassle and inconvenience I may have caused you.” Especially since there was a good chance I’d still end up in jail for kidnapping her if she pressed charges, even if my investigators and lawyers proved that I didn’t murder that girl. In trying to escape a setup, I’d actually perpetrated a crime that I was guilty of committing. “Honestly, I’m sorry you’ve gotten dragged into my mess.”
“If I agree to make this a business deal, does that mean you’ll untie me?” Her muscles tensed as her breathing kicked up a notch, making me think it was nothing but a way to getting loose so she could pull another runner.
Jesus! Didn’t she know by now there was nowhere to go?
I had no doubt she’d say just about anything to get me to lower my guard. Except that I was pretty good at reading people. Managed to build a fortune on it since it came in handy when closing business deals. And though I might eventually be able to trust her to stay put, we certainly weren’t there yet. “So you can make a run for it again? I don’t think so, Cupcake. But if you need to think about my offer for a bit, that’s fine, since it appears we have some free time on our hands.”
“You really are a fucking bastard. You know that, right?” At least she seemed less scared of me now. Though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing had yet to be determined.
“If I wasn’t already fully aware of that fact, I’m glad to know I have you to remind me of it. Not that I care. Being a bastard is how I survived prison. So if you think I’m going to apologize for it, guess again.” Heating the pan on the stove, I got the bacon frying, then poured us each a cup of coffee now that it had brewed.
“Prison, huh? For what? Murder?” She was cocky until I shot her a cold hard glare. The color drained from her face and her hands started to tremble as she squeezed her eyes shut.
I plunked the cup of coffee down in front her, adding sugar and milk, and not giving a damn if it was how she liked it. Without another word, and ignoring the tears that streamed down her cheeks, I cooked up the eggs, toasted a few slices of bread, then finished crisping up the bacon before serving it up. “Eat.”
“I don’t think I can. I feel sick.” She wouldn’t even look at me.
“Suit yourself. But it’ll only be there for as long as it takes for me to clean my plate. Then it’s fair game if you haven’t started eating, and I make no promises I’ll be in the mood to cook again anytime soon. So I suggest you eat since this is a hot meal, and damn tasty, because once the groceries are gone, we’re moving on to canned and frozen goods.” I’d made do with a hell of a lot worse growing up, and it’s not like the food in prison was going to win any James Beard awards, so it wouldn’t faze me one bit. But Anna? I had a feeling her tolerance level for bad food would be low.
“I hate you.” But she pulled the plate towards her and grabbed a piece of bacon, slowly munching on it before moving on to the eggs, managing to eat despite her wrists still being bound.
“You’ll feel better once you have some food in you. Coffee, too.” Starving, I devoured most of meal, then guzzled my first cup of coffee before getting a second cup.
She gave me a sweet and innocent smile, extending her hands towards me. “You know it’d be a hell of a lot easier to eat if you untied me.”
It was the first time I’d laughed in days—and it felt damn good. “Keep trying, babe.”
CHAPTER 6
Anna
He’s not going to kill me. His behavior wouldn’t make sense.
If a kidnapper was planning on killing his hostage, he wouldn’t try to cut a business deal with her, right? Apparently, a million bucks was the going rate for a woman to keep silent about being kidnapped.
I scarfed down the rest of my meal, occasionally stealing glances at the man who was my jailer, still not able to understand why he hadn’t just offed me. If he had been in prison, and had killed before, murdering me shouldn’t be a problem. Not that I wasn’t glad to be alive, but I just couldn’t figure him out, and I’d be damned if I could remember any of the details in the news stories I’d seen, not really paying attention as they played out in the diner. The only thing I’d noticed was his name, his photo, and that damn tattoo.
He was an asshole for sure, but I was starting to wonder if there wasn’t more to his story than I’d first thought.
One thing I knew for certain: I had to gain his trust. It was my only hope unless I got another chance of escape, though it’d need to be a much better opportunity than what I’d had the night before. Truth was, I wasn’t stupid. In my right, unterrified mind, I knew damn well I had zero chance of making it down from this mountain alive. The cold, along with what had to be a brutal wind-chill, would get to me fairly quickly.
“So what was with the freak out last night?” Kane asked as he finished his meal and pus
hed his plate away.
“I can’t stand to be confined.” Being tied up had nearly made me crazy.
He took a slug of his coffee, his hazel eyes taking me in. “Obviously, Cupcake. Want to tell me why?”
No. I really didn’t want to tell him anything. But I hoped that maybe if I shared, he might do the same. “I was trapped in an avalanche once. It took the search and rescue a while to find me. I couldn’t move. I was buried alive. Now I can’t stand to be confined and unable to move. It freaks me out. I don’t even like to be in the mountains, which is why I live in the foothills.”
“How did you manage not to suffocate?”
“I had an air pocket, but I almost died.” I hated remembering the darkest day of my life.
“Lucky?”
I finished my food and pushed the plate back and started on the last of my coffee. “I didn’t think so. I lost both of my parents in the incident.”
“Skiing?”
I put my empty mug down on the table. “No. We were on snowmobiles gathering data. Mom and Dad had just headed back home to get their safety equipment. They’d left it behind, but I had mine, so I was going to do some analysis while they went to the house to get their beacons.”
“So nobody could find them in time to save them?”
“No, they couldn’t.” It still killed me that the one time my parents had forgotten their safety stuff was the day the avalanche occurred. Not that avalanches were uncommon, but my dad was meticulous about making sure he had safety gear.
“What kind of data were you collecting?” He raised a brow, obviously curious.
“Avalanche data. My parents were both scientists, avalanche experts, and so was I back then. I’d just graduated from college. I wanted to do avalanche research just like they did.” I had a college degree that was now useless, all because I couldn’t bear to go back to the mountains that had stolen my parents from me.
“It has to suck to lose both of your parents on the same day,” he rumbled.
“It was the worst day of my life,” I admitted, my voice cracking with emotion.
“So you don’t work with avalanches anymore?”
I fidgeted, looking down into my empty coffee mug. “No. I can’t. I bought the restaurant with the money I inherited from my parents. I like cooking.”
“You’re good at it,” Kane observed, staring at me intensely.
I wanted to squirm as he watched me, but I forced myself to stop looking so nervous, and met his gaze.
God, he’s attractive. I found it rather repulsive that I found a criminal hot and sexy, but I did. I felt a flutter in my belly as his hazel eyes impaled me, and my core clenched involuntarily.
“Why did you murder a woman you were sleeping with?” I couldn’t help myself, even if the question made him angry. I had to know.
He was silent for a moment and I could see his eyes flare with anger. “I didn’t. I was framed,” he growled.
Okay…I hadn’t meant to piss him off. Well, maybe I did like antagonizing him, but that was as dangerous as poking an angry bear. I’d stay off the question of why he’d kill her. “Who was she?”
He got up and started taking the dishes away, putting them in the sink as he filled it with water and dish soap. I picked up my plate awkwardly with my bound hands, rose, then brought it to the counter and dropped it into the rapidly rising water.
“I didn’t even know her last name,” Kane confessed in a graveled voice. “I just woke up and she was dead beside me. I may have fucked her, but I didn’t kill her.”
“May have? You don’t know if you had sex with her or not?” How could he not know?
“My memories of that night are vague. I was drinking, but nowhere near enough to have blocked out the evening before. And when I woke up, my head was swimming and I was unsteady. They had to have drugged me…and then set me up with the woman’s murder.”
“A setup, huh?” He’d sounded so irritated that I almost wanted to believe him. I propped a hip on the cupboard and watched him make quick work of the dishes. Since my hands were still bound, there was very little I could do. “I’d help, but I can’t do a whole lot. My hands are literally tied.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I’ve never done dishes,” he replied gruffly.
“You’re a rich guy. I’m willing to bet you didn’t have to clean up after yourself.”
“I wasn’t always rich.”
I tried to remember what I knew about Kane, but it wasn’t much. However, I did remember reading that he was a self-made man. Honestly, it didn’t make sense that he’d risk everything he had for a woman he didn’t even remember. It wasn’t like it was a heat-of-the-moment homicide. He hadn’t been an angry boyfriend or lover. It was weird that he didn’t even know her. “Why would you want to kill a woman you didn’t even know?” I mumbled to myself.
“I told you…I didn’t,” he retorted, sounding annoyed as hell.
“If you didn’t, who did? Who’d want to set you up?”
He grabbed my upper arm and started tugging me back to the bedroom as he answered in a dangerous tone, “I don’t know yet. But I’ll figure out who did.”
I started to struggle as he pushed me ahead of him into the bedroom. “I don’t want to be tied up again. Please.” My voice sounded panicked, but I couldn’t help it.
“So I should just leave you untied so you can bolt again?” he answered drily. “I didn’t get to where I am in business by being stupid, Cupcake.”
“What if I consider your deal? What if I accepted it?” I was desperate now.
“I still wouldn’t trust you,” he answered honestly.
“I need a shower,” I pleaded, needing to buy me some time, especially if he was going to be tying me back up to that bed. “I probably stink.”
He leaned forward and deliberately put his lips and nose against my neck and inhaled deeply before releasing his breath, sending a shiver down my spine as he answered, “Not from where I’m standing. You smell pretty damn fuckable.”
“Well, I feel dirty—especially after a long shift at the diner.” And an even longer ride to this hellhole.
“You realize I’d have to strip you?” he said huskily against the sensitive skin of my neck.
“You don’t have to do that. Just untie me.” The thought of him removing my clothes was a little frightening for many reasons, one of which because I was oddly attracted to him. “Then stand and wait for me at the door.”
He leaned against the doorframe to the bedroom and folded his arms in front of him. “There’s a window in the bathroom, one big enough for you to escape.”
The thought had actually never occurred to me. “I’m not even wearing shoes. Look, I know running was stupid last night. I didn’t have a hope in hell of surviving out in the wilderness in the brutal cold. There’s nothing around for miles. But your offer of a million dollars to cooperate and not press charges…you’ve given me a reasonable way out of this mess, and if you really mean it, then I’ll do it. I’ll take you up on your offer.” I had to get him to trust me. If I didn’t, I’d never get out of the ropes I was bound with, and I’d end up tied to the bed again.
“And I’m supposed to believe you won’t try to run?” His stare was unnerving.
“Yes.” I held his gaze, needing him to believe me.
“Not happening, Cupcake. But I’ve decided that I’ll let you take your shower.” He started pushing me toward the bathroom.
The bathroom was tight when both of us were in it, and it put me in very close proximity with his big, muscular form. He brushed by me and turned on the shower.
“Forget it,” I said hastily, realizing what he had in mind. “I don’t need to shower.”
“Afraid of me getting you naked?” he said in a teasing voice.
“Yes.”
He crowded me against the s
ink and speared his hands through my messy hair. “You should be. I stroked myself off in this shower this morning thinking about you on your knees and naked, sucking my cock.”
He used his strong hands to tip my head up. I was stunned by the fiery need blazing in his gorgeous eyes, my voice wavering as I tried to be brave. “You did?”
“I’ve wanted to fuck you from the minute I saw you, Anna. And that ache hasn’t gone away.”
His mouth crashed down on mine before I could say another word. It turned me on that he was actually fantasizing about me. And Lord help me, his hungry kiss made me forget everything except the feel of his lips on mine.
He demanded.
He consumed.
He drove me out of my mind with need.
Tilting my head exactly the way he wanted it, he started a sensual assault on my mouth that had me moaning and thinking about giving him anything he wanted.
Maybe if we have sex, he’ll trust me.
It was a good thought, but one I knew was actually a rationalization. Like him, I’d wanted this since the moment I saw him. There was something about Kane that drew me to him, made me want to fly into his heat until I was burned alive.
“Anna,” he said in a hoarse voice as soon as he’d released my mouth.
“If this is what you want, then do it Kane,” I moaned, continuing to pretend that I was consenting to be with him so I could gain his trust.
The bathroom was starting to steam up, and I wasn’t entirely certain it was all because of the hot water coming from the shower. My body was clamoring for more of him, more of Kane.
I leaned my head to one side to give that wicked mouth of his better access to my sensitive skin as he nipped and licked his way down the side of my neck.
I shouldn’t be doing this, no matter how badly I need him to trust me.
My brain and my body were warring, and my treacherous body was winning. I’d never wanted a man as badly as I wanted Kane. My brain was appalled, but my body was celebrating.