Bound By Temptation

by Trish McCallan

  He eased the Jeep down the rough parking lot, skirting some of the bigger pot holes. The vehicles parked in front of the tiny cabins were about as beat up and neglected as the motel itself. After pulling into the parking spot in front of the door she indicated, he turned off the Jeep’s engine and just sat there staring at the metal 3 and upside down 5 on the door.

  Emma had stayed the night here? In this dump?

  “It may not look like much, but it’s clean and the bed’s comfortable.” Defensiveness tightened Emma’s voice.

  Before Lucas had a chance to respond, the door to the unit next to Emma’s opened and some asshole in a white tank top displaying heavily inked shoulders and arms stepped into the sunlight. The guy’s long, greasy hair didn’t even flicker in the light breeze. A woman with the thin body, rotten teeth and scabby face of a drug addict pushed past the guy from behind and fled down the sidewalk in front of the units.

  Jesus Christ.

  Drug deals had probably gone down all night long, right next to her unit. A chill sank into him, numbing him to the bone. Her Honda was a newer model, well maintained, a dead giveaway that she had money. Anyone could have broken into her room while she was sleeping to scavenge for cash or items to sell.

  “I’ll get your stuff,” Lucas said, his voice grim. “Stay in the car and lock the doors.”

  To his surprise, Emma didn’t argue. But then her gaze was locked on the tattooed man, and from the shock widening her eyes, she’d figured out what kind of service her neighbor provided. Lucas picked up the old fashioned metal key attached to a plastic blue tag resting on the console between them and thrust open the driver’s door.

  “The suitcase is still packed, but I left some shampoo and conditioner in the shower,” she said in a tentative voice.

  He grunted an acknowledgement and eyed the bastard standing in the doorway. Was the guy going to pose a problem? The man locked gazes with him for just an instant before turning and disappearing back into his unit. The door closed softly behind him. Apparently not.

  “Lock the doors,” he reminded her.

  His tension eased as the Jeep’s locks engaged the moment he closed the driver’s door. The room he let himself into looked pretty much as he’d expected—neglected and cheap. However, she hadn’t lied when she’d claimed the place was clean.

  The bathroom was still slightly humid and smelled of roses…or gardenias…or some flowery shit. The scent brought an instant flashback, along with an erection.

  Firm thighs clasping his hips as she rode him—lifting and falling, lifting and falling…hot palms burning into his sweaty chest…immersed in the sweet, flowery scent of her…each fragrant breath drawing her deeper into his…

  Jesus Christ!

  With a groan, he shook himself, stumbled up to the tub and grabbed the two plastic bottles. There was a stick of deodorant along with a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste sitting on the counter beside the sink. He took those too. After shoving all five items in one of the suitcase’s zippered front pockets, he picked the suitcase up and headed for the door.

  All told, it couldn’t have taken more than a minute. But he’d lost friends in that span of time, and Emma was out in the car alone. He’d considered taking her inside with him. But if those bastards after her had switched from vehicles to guns, she’d be safer locked in the car behind the bullet proof glass he’d installed than out in the open with him.

  The Jeep was where he’d left it, Emma’s murky face visible behind the tinted, treated glass. He hit the button to unlock the Jeep’s doors and stowed her luggage in the back seat.

  For the first time her dog didn’t greet his arrival with a growl. He was making progress on that front—too bad he couldn’t say the same on the Emma front.

  “Thank you,” Emma said, in that tentative voice of earlier.

  He buckled his seatbelt and started the Jeep’s engine. “No problem.”

  “If you hadn’t been there…if you hadn’t shot at them…I’d be dead. You saved my life. Thank you.”

  So she wasn’t talking about the suitcase. He studied her solemn face. “You’re welcome.”

  He didn’t try to sugar coat his response. It was crystal clear she knew how close she’d come to checking out—permanently.

  “I need to learn how to shoot a gun,” she suddenly blurted.

  His hand froze for a moment on the gear shift, and then he shoved the stick into reverse. “I can teach you.” He shot a quick look at her white, fluffy palms. “When your hands are up to it, we’ll hit the gun range.”

  “They won’t let me have a permit for ten days, and that’s after I take their safety test.” She scowled, irritation creeping into her voice.

  His lips quirked, humor rising. She’d made it sound like the firearm safety laws had been generated specifically to fuck with her.

  “You can learn on one of mine. Borrow it until your permit comes through and you can buy a weapon of your own.”

  “Okay.” Her voice softened. “Thank you.” She shot him a sidelong glance. “Will you get into trouble for killing him?”

  “Nah, I have a concealed carry permit and the situation called for deadly force,” Lucas said, although Rio had warned him to expect a full investigation, assuming the body ever showed up.

  “Good. That’s good.” She lapsed back into silence.

  “We can head to the station first, get that over with—or I can take you to my place first, give you some time to decompress. Ladies’ choice,” Lucas said, hoping to keep her talking.

  “We should go to your place first.” Her voice was vague again. “The insulin needs to be refrigerated. I was going to put it in my fridge at home, but…”

  Insulin? There’d been insulin in one of the bags he’d taken from her car? He’d assumed it had all been dog stuff.

  “You’re diabetic?” he asked in surprise. He thought back to those three days they’d spent together, but couldn’t remember her leaving his side long enough to administer a shot.

  “Not me, Cuddles. She needs insulin twice a day.”

  She’d rescued a diabetic dog with no teeth? He considered the thin, ugly mutt nestled in her lap, and suddenly Cuddles’s presence made sense.

  “You get her from the pound?” he asked casually.

  “Yes.” Emma scratched the dog under its whiskered chin and scowled. “They were about to put her to sleep. Can you believe that? She’s the sweetest little thing, but nobody wanted her because she wasn’t pretty enough and required a little extra care.” Another scratch under the drooling chin. “Well, it’s their loss. She’s perfect.”

  His chest warmed. She’d gone to the pound to pick up a guard dog, a dog to protect her. But instead, she’d adopted a small, toothless, diabetic mutt—because it was going to be euthanized. How many people would have put Cuddles’s welfare above their own?

  Emma had a good heart.

  “You should call her Lucky, because she hit the motherlode with you,” Lucas said.

  The smile she turned on him was radiant. A pre-hookup beam. When Emma smiled it lit every inch of her face and crept into her eyes. Christ, he missed those smiles of hers.

  “I’m sorry for not calling you back.” Unbidden, the words just burst from him.

  Her smile fractured and fled. “An apology’s not necessary.”

  Smooth, Luc, really smooth.

  “Yeah, yeah it is.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Because you were right earlier—” He stopped talking to scowl. “I knew if I broke things off in person, we’d end up back in bed, so I took the easy—the cowardly—option and avoided you.” He released one rigid hand from the steering wheel and raked his fingers through his hair. “You’re damn near impossible to resist Em, but you didn’t have a clue where you were headed and it wasn’t fair to lead you on.”

  A frown pleated her forehead. She turned slightly and scanned his face.

  “Anyway, I’m sorry for that. For the way I handled it. The last thing I wanted was t
o hurt you.”

  His phone rang. Lucas looked down at the console beside his seat. Rio’s name and number flashed across the screen of his cell. Grateful for the interruption, he picked it up and accepted the call. “Yeah?”

  “We found the van,” Rio said instantly. “Lots of blood in the cargo area, but no body. We’re dusting it now.”

  Lucas grunted in satisfaction. The guy who’d grabbed Emma hadn’t been wearing gloves. Maybe they’d get lucky and get a hit on the prints. “Stolen?”

  “Looks like it. Belongs to a local agricultural company. It’s kept in their compound, which is fenced. Someone cut the padlock last night, opened the gate, and drove off with it.”

  “Tell me they had the lot wired and you got pictures.”

  A dry chuckle sounded. “We got some crystal clear shots of black boots, black jeans and a hoodie.”

  “Damn.” Lucas sighed.

  A pause throbbed between them and then Rio started talking again. “When you and your gal coming down to the station? We need your statement too,” Rio reminded him, his tone all business.

  Lucas forced himself not to look over at Emma. Thank Christ she couldn’t hear Rio’s end of the conversation. She wouldn’t appreciate being referred to as your gal. “I’m taking her home now, so maybe two hours?”

  “I’ll arrange for the sketch artist to be there.” The line went dead.

  Lucas dropped the phone back on the console. “They found the van.”

  “I gathered that from your side of the conversation,” she said absently. “You’re sure Tag and Aiden won’t mind me crashing with you guys for a while?”

  “Aiden moved out. And Tag’s fine with it.”

  “I don’t want to put anyone out,” she said, fidgeting slightly.

  “You’re not. There’s plenty of room.” He sent her a reassuring smile. We’ve got an extra bedroom since Aiden bailed on us.”

  Although on second thought, he’d give Emma his room and take the couch in the living room. Keep an eye on the front door. He’d bedded down in worse places.

  “Well…as long as you’re sure Tag won’t mind.”

  “I’m sure,” Lucas said.

  Not that it mattered if Tag did object. The safest place for Emma at the moment was in his home. If those bastards found her, and managed to take him out, she’d still have Tag protecting her.

  No fucking way was anyone getting by the two of them.

  * * *

  Other than the red Subaru wagon parked in what had been her spot, the condominium complex looked the same—not that Emma had expected much to change in two months. The development was shaped like a huge horseshoe, with balconies and patios overlooking the community pool on the inside. Surrounding the development on the outside was a parking lot edged by a greenbelt studded with dogwood, maple, and spruce trees.

  The condos were stacked, three units per building—three bedroom units on the bottom, with a two bedroom and a one bedroom unit perched on top. She’d lived next door and up a flight of stairs from Lucas and his roommates.

  From her balcony she’d had a perfect view of their patio and their perennial barbeques when the men were in residence. She’d had an even better view of their sporadic dips in the pool or soaks in the community hot tub. Not that she’d been a peeping Tammy or anything. But good lord, she had eyes and a feminine predilection for rippling muscles, and bare, broad shoulders—although Lucas’s finely honed body had been her favorite eye candy. Nor had she been the only female to suddenly develop a renewed appreciation for their balcony or patio when the men were in town.

  Honestly, that riveting masculine view was about the only thing she missed about this place.

  Lucas parked his Jeep in the spot closest to his condo and turned off the engine. “Ever hear from Mona?”

  “A couple times, when she first moved, but nothing since.” Emma glanced up at the unit she used to live in.

  She’d lost both her roommate and landlord when Mona had taken a job in Austin and put her condo on the market. She’d thought about putting an offer in on the condo, but ultimately decided that if she was going to take on a house payment, the debt needed to include the land too—not just the building.

  And talking about roommates…apprehension stirred. Her attention shifted to Lucas’s unit. He’d said that Aiden had moved out, but that still left Brett Taggart in the house.

  “Does Brett know about…you know…me and you…uh what happened that weekend?”

  Tag had been out of the area visiting family back then, but that didn’t mean a whole, heck of a lot. In her experience, men gossiped as much as women—particularly when it came to their sexual conquests.

  A flat look entered his eyes. “Did you tell him?”

  She pulled back in surprise. “Of course not.”

  “Then he doesn’t know. It’s nobody’s damn business.” He jerked the key out of the ignition with more force than necessary.

  Apparently her question had offended him. But how was she supposed to know if he’d boasted about getting her out of her panties and into his bed? No, she wouldn’t have expected such juvenile behavior from him, but then she hadn’t expected him to dump her and ignore her phone calls either.

  Turning away from him, she pushed open the passenger door, wincing at the needles of pain shooting from her shoulder down her arm. Stiffly, she swung her throbbing legs out the door and settled her feet on the pavement. Cuddles jumped down and turned to stare up at her—anxiety burning in her mismatched eyes. Leash held loosely in her bandaged hand, Emma scooted forward and tried to stand.

  Tried being the operative word, since agony stabbed through her knees the moment she tried to straighten. She collapsed back in the passenger seat, a stifled groan escaping her clenched teeth.

  A muffled thump sounded, and suddenly Lucas’s big body filled the space in front of her. Leaning down he placed a determined hand on either side of her waist and lifted her forward and up. That agonizing, stabbing pain struck again, but this time she was already on her feet and distracted by the heat his huge body shed, and the musky, slightly sweaty smell of his skin. Good lord, if the combination could be collected and bottled it could be sold as an aphrodisiac.

  “We should have swung by the emergency room. Gotten your knees and arms checked out,” he said, his earlier annoyance giving way to grim concern.

  She shook her head absently. Going to the emergency room would have added a twenty percent co-payment to her current financial crisis.

  “I’m just stiff. A handful of aspirin and a long soak in the tub will take care of that,” she said, trying remember to breathe as he dropped his left hand and slid it around her waist.

  She should protest, push him away, but the support felt heavenly, and there was a very good chance she wouldn’t be able to make it up the path under her own two legs. And then the musky, delicious smell that was uniquely Lucas flooded her lungs and crept into her brain. Magical endorphins spread from cell to cell, loosening knotted muscles and melting her willpower.

  “Let’s get you into the house.” He tightened his arm around her until he’d locked her against his side and was supporting most of her weight.

  With each step up the walkway, his heat and scent tantalized her. Slowly her aching body relaxed, and her knees became more limber. He really was a six foot-four-inch pain killer.

  Cuddles stuck close to her side, showing no interest in investigating the rich, green grass along either side of the concrete path. Before they left the lawn behind, Emma glanced up at Lucas. “She hasn’t piddled in hours. I should probably give her some time to pee before taking her inside.”

  Lucas grunted, shifting directions. He guided her onto the grass to their right. “You seem more stable.” He eased his arm from around her waist, waited a second, as though giving her time to adjust and then dropped his arm completely. “I’m going to grab your suitcase and the insulin. Don’t move. She’s got plenty of leash, let her do the wandering.”

  Strang
ely bereft and vulnerable, as the hot band of support around her waist vanished, she turned her head, watching him lope back down the path. Her brow knitted as she caught sight of his car. No wonder he’d been concerned about her luggage. It was sitting to the left of the ajar passenger door—right out there in the open. That must have been the thud she’d heard just before he’d lifted her out of the seat.

  Warmth flooded her from heel to head when he shut the open passenger door and hit the button on the car key to lock it. Lucas was a couple points past paranoid when it came to security, he even carried a concealed gun. She’d always figured his caution had to do with his job with Naval Intelligence. For him to leave his car door wide open like that…he must have been more worried about her than he’d let on. She forced herself to turn away. Time to stop mooning over the man and concentrate on her own responsibilities. She had no idea whether Cuddles had done her business yet or not.

  Luckily the large wet patch on the grass beside the dog was a very good indication that she had indeed taken care of business while Emma had been distracted. And now it was time to take control of her own mobility. Much more time spent pinned against Lucas’s side, infected by his scent and warmth and the delicious play of his muscles against her body, was bound to decimate her sense of self-preservation. She couldn’t afford that kind of intimacy.

  By the time Lucas reached her, she’d managed to hobble most of the way to his condo. Although he didn’t say a word, the flat, disapproving look he leveled on her was a clear indication he wasn’t impressed with her fortitude. Still, he must have known she’d refuse any further ministrations from him, because he didn’t try to slip his arm around her waist again. Split between disappointment and relief, she continued on—shuffling one foot in front of the other—swinging her leg from the hip, rather than bending at the knee. As long as she didn’t make any demands on her knees and avoided lifting her legs, she’d get by just fine.