A drawer slid shut. His boots thudded down the hallway and stopped in front of the bathroom door. Maybe she should have kept quiet.
“What?”
She swallowed. “Your shirts. I’m assuming you still have them and all your other clothing neatly rolled—tightly, I might add—just so in your drawers.”
“There is nothing wrong with a well-organized dresser.”
“Or closet,” she murmured.
Pause.
“What’s wrong with my dresser?”
“You ever get a wild hair and think…’maybe I’ll buy a purple T-shirt and just cram it in the drawer’?”
She could practically see him frowning. “Who the hell buys purple T-shirts?”
Not him. She grinned.
He opened the door.
“Hey!” she yelled.
“For horses and cows.”
“Not llamas?” She sank down into the water as he leaned against the doorframe.
His green eyes raked over her, and one side of his mouth kicked up.
“You’re not being a gentleman.”
He grunted.
Glad she’d put some body wash into the water flow so that bubbles covered her, she squared her shoulders and leaned back, laying her arms along the edges of the tub. “You want something?”
Again those eyes slid from the hair piled on top of her head to the bubbles to her arms to her toes sticking out the other end of the tub.
He shook his head. “Turquoise?”
She wiggled her toes. “Yep. Wish I had some glitter to put on them. The turquoise is so…”
“Turquoise?” he asked and crossed his arms.
She rolled her eyes. “I was going to say flat. Boring. Glitter makes things happy.”
“Or something.”
He pushed off the doorway and strolled in before settling on the stool in the corner of the bathroom.
“Do you mind?”
“You didn’t lock the door. Some might see that as an invitation.”
“Some might see the door as a deterrent,” she said.
“Some have no drive.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it. Wasn’t going there. She wanted more, that was true, but at what cost? “What do you want?”
“That’s loaded.”
She just looked at him.
“Talked to Harlen today. And D. You left a few things out.”
She shrugged. Silence settled between them.
“They’re looking for the guy,” he told her.
“There were two of them.”
“Find one, they’ll probably find the other.”
“Maybe,” she said, breathing deep and smelling her pink floral-and-fruity body wash.
“Either way, you’re safe here.”
She knew he’d keep her as safe as he could. Looking him in the eye, she said, “Look, you weren’t planning on me being here. I get that. So thanks for letting me stay here for a few days. Seriously.” She trailed her fingers through the water some more. “And as soon as D. and Harlen figure something out, I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Don’t recall you staying here was a problem, Rainy.”
She snorted. “Right.”
He sighed, leaned back, and closed his eyes. “I missed this.”
“Missed what?”
“You in the tub, me sitting here talking to you.”
She frowned. Really?
“Missed you. Missed us.” He opened his eyes. “You finish school? Get the loans paid off?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Parents died, and after that, I just sort of lost interest in law. Still paying off the stupid loans.”
“Still working at D.’s?”
She nodded. “Yep. Good money.”
He cleared his throat. “So.”
“So.”
“So how’d you’d end up with the wiseguy?”
She smiled and made more patterns in the water and bubbles. “He seemed like a nice guy. I don’t date much, contrary to what I know you believe, which is neither here nor there. I just go to work, work out, see some friends, take a few other classes, and try to figure out what the hell I want to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m taking a business class or two, but it’s boring as hell. I know I need a practical degree I can use, but honestly, none of them interest me. So who knows. And until I figure it out, I’ll keep working at D.’s to pay the bills.”
He nodded.
“And if anyone wants to judge me for what I do, or what I’m not doing, as my brothers do, screw ‘em. It’s my life to decide and mess up if I so want.”
“Sorry about your parents, Rainy.”
She shrugged.
“When did that happen?”
“I don’t know, a few weeks after our big fight and you lit out of Seattle like it was on fire.”
“Needed out. Too crowded in Seattle. Too loud. I was tired of being on edge. Needed small and quiet and a place.”
She looked around the bathroom. “Well, seems like you found it.”
“I did. Like it too.”
“It’s nice, and thanks about Mom and Dad.” She frowned. “They’d be disappointed in me, I know. I think Mom knew what I was doing, because I kept telling her not to worry about school or the loans. She said once, if Dad asked, to say that Mom sent me money. I told her I wasn’t doing anything illegal. Not sure she believed me.”
“She loved you. The rest doesn’t matter.”
She leveled a look at him. “Really?”
“Really.”
“You seemed to have a problem with my gainful employment.”
He blew out a breath and raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll admit the idea of other guys watching you undress doesn’t exactly make me happy. But that’s not why I was pissed.”
“Right.”
“You lied.”
“I did not. I never, ever actually said, ‘I don’t strip.’”
“You never said you did. Omission can be just as destructive as an outright lie, Rainy, and don’t sit there and argue with me that it’s not.”
“Why would I do that? You always think you’re right anyway.”
“No, I don’t.”
She took a deep breath, let it out, and closed her eyes, settling again against the back of the tub. The water was still steaming, thank goodness. “Can you shut the door? I had it nice and toasty in here, and you’ve let all the warm air out.”
She didn’t open her eyes but heard the snick of the door, heard the creak of the stool as he must have shifted.
“I didn’t come in here to rile you.”
“I know, you just can’t help yourself.”
Something clicked on, and warm air started to fill the bathroom. “I’d forgotten how you like to roast in the tub.”
She sighed, wishing he’d go away. She’d been enjoying and relaxing in the bath.
“Suppose I should leave you to it, then.”
“That’d be nice. I was trying to relax before you came.”
A dark chuckle danced through the heated room. “Darlin’, you want to relax, you know where to find me.”
She kept her eyes closed even as his boots came closer. A hand gently brushed the hair from her face. His lips were warm on her forehead. The rough scruff on his jawline grazed her cheek as he leaned closer and whispered, “And you’ve forgotten a few things if you think I come before you relax.”
He leaned closer; she felt it. Then felt his hand against the side of her face, tracing, cupping. His fingers slid into the hair at her nape, scrunch, released, scrunched again.
Her breath shuddered out.
His lips caressed the tip of her ear, and she shivered. “Yeah, I mighta missed this,” he muttered.
She might have as well.
Those sinful lips kissed from her ear, along her jawline. She leaned her head back farther and felt his chuckle against her neck. Then his warm tongue tasted her skin, and goose b
umps prickled her skin.
“Mmmm…” he said.
“Mmmmm is right.”
“She agrees with me. Wonders never cease.”
“Upon occasion.”
“Rare ones.”
“You talk too much,” she whispered and opened her eyes just as his mouth hovered over hers for a second, then two.
His eyes crinkled slightly at the edges as he lowered his head, his lips meeting hers for a fraction of a moment.
The fingers along her nape tightened as he turned her head more toward him. She felt the hot glide of his tongue as he teased her lips, coaxing.
Rai opened her mouth and kissed him back.
God, she had missed this.
Missed the way his mouth moved on hers, teased, beckoned, and teased some more. Missed the way he tasted like coffee no matter the time of day.
Missed the way his scruff felt under her fingers.
She raised her arms just as he pulled his mouth from hers, then gave her another quick peck. She opened her eyes to stare into his.
A smiled pulled one corner of his mouth up and danced in his eyes. “You missed me.” He straightened and met her gaze before he raised a brow and walked out of the bathroom. He stuck his head around the door. “Yeah, you missed me. Good. Don’t take too long, or you’ll find yourself with company in that tub.”
What? She cleared her throat. “I’ll take as long as I want.” Ass.
“You usually do.”
“You don’t like to roast, if memory serves.”
“Some things are worth burning for.”
She couldn’t hold the laugh in. “You are not invited into my tub.”
“It’s my tub and big enough for two. I made sure of that when I ordered the thing. So you’d better hurry the hell up, or invite or not, I’ll crawl in there with you.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “It’s too full.”
“You mentioned that before.”
She wished she had a rag rather than a loofah. She wanted to throw something at him. “Pain in the ass.”
“Hurry up.”
***
He slapped the side of the doorframe and pulled the door closed.
Damned woman. She tied him in knots, and if she didn’t hurry the hell up, he wasn’t joking.
What had he been thinking going in there in the first place? Seriously. He wasn’t thinking. Hadn’t been.
Or he had, just with his dick and not with his brain.
And the kiss?
Trouble.
She was trouble and always had been, but he hadn’t lied when he’d said he’d missed that. How many nights had he sat on a stool or the commode or just on the floor and talked to her about her day, his day, things that were important, and nothing at all while she’d bathed.
He’d kept waiting for her to lift a leg and shave it. For some reason, that always got to him. He had no idea why, but the way she shaved her legs had always been sexy as hell. Or watching the bubbles slide off her arms.
He looked back at the door.
To hell with it. Walking away was the smarter thing to do. He strode down the hallway to the kitchen and grabbed some ice water. Maybe that would cool him off. And if not, he could always go hose off behind the barn. That would definitely chill him the hell out. He was going to kill Harlen. And Derrick. He chugged the water and finished it off.
A slight noise. He listened, eased back toward the bathroom. Humming. She was humming, and next…
Yep, there she was singing. Woman had always been humming and singing, like some bird or butterfly or creature he honestly couldn’t understand but wanted to touch.
He’d never learn.
But she’s here now.
He walked quietly back to the kitchen.
His words came back. Yeah, he’d love to go crawl in that tub with her, splash water all over the floor. Get her riled in the tub, watch the way her eyes darkened and glazed when she orgasmed. No other woman had driven inside him, twisted his guts, made him want to stay in bed all day long like Rainy could. Something about being with her had ruined him for other women. None of them had ever been her. Not that he hadn’t had fun, hadn’t fucked a few, screwed more, made love to one or two, but none had been Rainy.
Rainy, who still hated her name of Rainbow, who, though the same, was definitely different.
The drive she’d always had about her, was gone, he realized looking out over the mountains. Replaced by some wandering creature, as if she were trying to figure something out.
So he’d be patient, or as patient as he could be, and wait for her to invite him for more. Hopefully that wouldn’t be too damned long, or he just might do something stupid.
“All yours,” she said loudly down the hall.
“I wish.”
She could be…
He stared out at the mountains. Maybe he’d find a way to make it happen. Not just for a night, or a day or a week, not even a month.
She was here. Somehow, he’d find a way to make her stay.
“Oh, and Leo,” she hollered again down the hall.
Leo?
“Lee?”
Lee. “My name, Rainbow Bright, is Bear! Not Lee, and sure as hell not Leo. Now what?”
“Whatever. You need to practice your kissing. That was a bit off even for you. Lee.”
Damned woman. “Just remember, darlin’,” he hollered back. “You asked for it.”
Her laughter floated down the hallway.
Chapter Nine
Niall knew how to find her. He’d put a tracking app on her phone months ago and on her laptop. It wouldn’t be hard to find her…if she turned them on. Problem was, both still said she was in Seattle. He knew that wasn’t the case. He’d checked with those thugs she sometimes hung out with at that stupid bar she worked. Danced. Whatever.
She claimed she didn’t dance anymore unless she was just filling in, and frankly, he didn’t care either way. Not really in so much as what she did, but he did care with how it reflected on him. He was moving up in the world. Important people were watching him, counting on him. And he wasn’t about to let some two-bit, law school dropout derail his plans with the guys he was working with.
You didn’t just get off this train once you were on it. You rode it until you were told to get off to complete some assignment, or you were thrown off with a bullet to the brain if you were lucky. If not, then you’d get several broken bones before they tossed your ass aside with a kill shot.
These guys didn’t miss.
He’d made his bones, made his bed, and now he had to clean up a mess. He clicked the lighter and waited. Bar was closing, and the girls were going home.
There was one he knew from before hooking up with Rai. Both women worked here, though Daisy wasn’t as intelligent as Rai, didn’t have any longterm goals either. Daisy was, well, like most who worked here, in it for the money. Blonde, stacked like a high school cheerleader, Daisy often sat on the laps of sugar daddies. Though, come to think of it, he’d never seen her with one. Not that it mattered either way to him.
Daisy’s purpose tonight was something altogether different.
He tossed the butt aside and waited.
Finally.
Daisy came out, dressed in sweats and bouncing—because she always bounced when she walked—with her hair slicked back into some knot thing. He sat still and quiet, his car off, while she walked to hers.
Little silver eco car. Great fuel mileage, crap car.
The bouncer waited until she’d started her car, waited while she drove out, and then he shut the door.
Niall cranked the engine on his and followed Little Miss Daisy through the burg of Seattle and to her apartment near the water.
He hoped she wasn’t in the apartment with the glass doors, and more security, or he’d have to figure out how to find her once in there.
But no, she parked in the next lot, and it was an older building. Nice. The apartments were two-story units with outer stairs going up each duplex. Loo
ked like the ‘80s to him. Each number was clearly visible from the parking lot. Either way, easier was easier.
She climbed out of her car, grabbed a bag, beeped the locks, and hurried through the night to the nearest staircase. Up she went to apartment…14 D.
Easy enough.
He climbed out of his car, popped his knuckles, and took the stairs two at a time.
He’d find out where the bitch was. If there was anyone Rai would contact, it was Daisy. Oh, he knew that D. and his cronies knew where Rai was, but they weren’t likely to tell him, and Boris told him to stay away from them. Away from her. If she became a problem later, they’d take care of her.
He didn’t want her to be a problem later.
He wanted this settled now.
He knew the mechanic’s wife probably knew where Rai was, but she was squarely under the biker’s umbrella, and he didn’t want to mess with anyone’s old lady, or wife, or what the hell ever she was called.
There was going on the offensive and being stupid.
He knocked on the door.
“Yeah? Who is it?”
“Daisy? I need to talk to you. I’m seriously worried about Rai. I think she’s in trouble.”
There was a pause. The door opened, but caught on the chain. Did women honest to God think that would help them?
He kicked the door hard. The chain popped, and she cried out. She tried to push against the door, but he moved faster.
The apartment smelled like cinnamon. The lights were still low, since she hadn’t been home long. He grabbed her by the face and turned, slamming her against the door.
“Hi, Daisy. I need your help.” He tightened his hold until she closed her eyes and whimpered. “Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, and I’m hoping you’ll go for easy. Frankly, I’m pressed for time and don’t want to fuck around all night.”
She tried to scratch his hand away.
He tsked and punched her in the stomach. When she bent over, he dragged her over to a chair in the living area.
“You know, with what you girls bring in, I’d have thought you’d have a better place than this. What’s the point of making money if all you do is live in a crappy apartment?” He shoved her into the chair, ignoring her coughing wretches. Sitting on the coffee table, he waited until she sat back. “Where is she?”
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