Hidden Prey (Lawmen)

by Cheyenne McCray

When they reached the house, Tori parked next to a large black truck then killed the engine. Even though he was injured, Landon still managed to climb out of the car with a smooth masculine ease. She liked to watch him in action, his movements so decisive and purposeful.

  A windmill behind Landon’s ranch house creaked as the wheel turned from the strength of the wind, and the pump moved up and down. Tori looked up at the tall structure and watched it for a moment. She hadn’t grown up on a ranch like Landon had, but she’d seen windmills such as this one before. They made her think of times long since past, days in the Old West when they’d been widely used to pump water for personal use and for livestock.

  She walked by his side as they headed up a pathway that led to a porch. Desert landscaping was to either side of the pathway. When they had walked up the steps to the porch and reached the big front door, he unlocked it before turning the knob and stepping aside so she could walk past him.

  His home had an open floor plan with only a breakfast bar separating the kitchen from the living and dining rooms. The vaulted open-beam ceiling gave the house a large and airy feel to it.

  The place looked like a bachelor’s pad with mostly bare walls and not much in the way of décor, but she liked the simplicity of it all. The coffee-colored leather couches were overstuffed and bound to be comfortable, and there was also a recliner and a big wooden rocker. A hat rack was beside the door with two cowboy hats and an assortment of ball caps. A long black duster and a leather bomber jacket both hung from coat hooks on the wall near the hat rack.

  A messy pile of magazines lay on one end table, two stacks of books on the other. Most of the paperbacks were westerns, but she also saw a hardcover biography of President John F. Kennedy as well as a hardcover on World War II.

  On the coffee table was a tablet next to a travel mug. It must be his personal device since he’d used another one for work. She wondered if Landon read news and books on the tablet, too, or stuck with print. A lot of people still hadn’t embraced the digital age, but she had already seen Landon at work and that he was just fine with both electronic and print media.

  He tossed his keys into a hand-woven basket on a table near the front door and she added the car keys to the basket as well.

  When he abruptly turned to face her, she almost ran into him. With his good hand, he took her by her upper arm, catching her off guard. Her heart thrummed as she looked up into his eyes. They were so green, so beautiful, that she couldn’t look away.

  He slid his hand over her shoulder and up, and then cupped her face in his palm. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you all day.” His words were a sexy rumble that sent a shiver of excitement through her. He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers, back and forth in a slow, easy motion.

  She breathed out her sigh of pleasure against his lips. He brought her closer to him, his arm around her waist. His kiss was slow and sensual and she never wanted it to end.

  When he drew away, he rubbed his thumb over her cheek and looked into her eyes. “I’ve been looking forward to that.”

  She gave a wry smile. “Running for your life can sure put a damper on things.”

  He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I could use a beer.” He nodded toward the kitchen. “How about you? I have red or white wine, too.”

  Mind still reeling from the kiss, she followed him to the kitchen. “It’s a little early for me, but after last night I do believe a glass of red would be wonderful.”

  The kitchen was filled with sunshine from a skylight that shone off the stainless steel appliances and the dishes in the dish drainer. The place wasn’t spotless—it was what she called man-clean—but it wasn’t bad.

  “I have frozen dinners in the freezer.” Landon looked apologetic. “I’ve never been one for cooking.”

  “Well, I am.” She glanced around the kitchen, taking in what he had. “Cooking is one of my favorite things to do. I often do it just to relax.” Her gaze returned to him. “Why don’t I fix an early dinner?”

  He leaned one hip against a counter. “I have to say it would be nice to have a decent home-cooked meal. Other than Sunday dinner at my mom’s, I live on frozen dinners.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  “But first a drink.” He reached into a cabinet with his good arm and brought out a wine bottle and glanced at her. “For a red, I have Merlot.”

  “Perfect.” She smiled. “I can help.”

  He reached into a cabinet and brought out a wine glass. “How are you at using a corkscrew?”

  “If I don’t ruin the cork I’ll be doing well.” She took the bottle from him along with the corkscrew and went to work.

  She successfully removed the cork, a minor triumph since she was usually about fifty-fifty at getting a cork out with a simple corkscrew and not getting small pieces of cork in the wine. He took the bottle from her and poured wine into the glass. He grabbed a bottle of beer out of the fridge and managed to open it on his own and set the beer on the breakfast bar. He carried the glass of red wine to her before picking up his own bottle.

  Tori raised her glass. “To survival.”

  Landon clinked his bottle against her glass. “Survival.”

  After a sip of wine, Tori set the glass down. “Let’s see what you have as far as food goes.” She pointed to a door. “The pantry?”

  He gave a nod. “All yours.”

  Tori went to the pantry and searched it. She looked over her shoulder. “This is about as well-stocked as a safe house.”

  He leaned against a counter again. “In other words I need to go shopping.”

  “We just had spaghetti the other day, and it looks like another pasta dinner from what I see in here.” Tori gathered a package of ziti from the pantry, along with cheese from the fridge, pork sausage from the freezer, and a few other odds and ends. She set it all out on the counter and got to work.

  Every time Landon was around Tori, he wanted to run his hands over her soft curves, slide his fingers into her hair, and get lost forever in the depths of her dark eyes. He wanted to kiss her senseless and he wanted to be inside of her again.

  He hadn’t felt this way about any woman since Stacy. He’d expected to feel guilty for being attracted to another woman, but with Tori he didn’t feel as if he was betraying Stacy’s memory. It was almost as if Stacy was telling him it was time to move on.

  Was Tori the right woman to move on with? She was a witness and it was his job to protect her, to get her safely to and through her testimony, and that was it.

  Well, he’d gone way past that when he’d spent the night with her. Way past.

  Landon insisted on helping by making garlic toast with inch-thick slices from a loaf of Texas toast that he’d had on the countertop, plus butter and garlic salt. He managed pretty well for a guy with one useful arm.

  When he finished getting the garlic bread ready, he took a stack of newspapers off of a stool at the breakfast bar and set the papers aside. He sat on the stool and studied Tori as she fixed dinner. She always moved gracefully and he remembered what she looked like when she played her clarinet. He frowned. Damn, her clarinet had been lost in the explosion.

  A thought occurred to him. “Do you play guitar?”

  She looked at him. “A little. It’s an instrument that I’ve wanted to improve on for a long time. I just haven’t fit it into my schedule.”

  “I can show you a few things on mine even though I can’t play with this bum shoulder.” He leaned back in his seat. “I’m not exceptional by any means, but I know my way around a guitar well enough to play a tune or two.”

  “I’d love that.” She gave a small smile that was sad, too. “Now that the clarinet my parents gave me is gone, I’d love another distraction.”

  “Good.” He wanted her to really smile, but he wasn’t sure if it was possible after all she’d been through. “I’ll get it out after dinner.”

  It wasn’t long before dinner was ready. For a macaroni dish, the ziti was terrific and he ate three h
elpings. She’d also steamed a package of broccoli that she’d taken out of the freezer and served it as well as the toasted garlic bread.

  Tori was quiet during most of dinner and he had no doubt her mind was churning through everything that had happened.

  “I want to know how my parents are.” She looked up from her plate and met his gaze. “I want to make sure they’re all right. Can’t we call?”

  “We can’t take the chance.” He leaned forward, his forearms on the breakfast bar as he looked at her. “I turned off my phone so I can’t be tracked and we took care of yours at Beth’s house. I don’t want anyone to figure out too soon that we made it out of there alive.” His mind weighed every option he could think of. “And right now, I don’t know who the hell to trust.”

  “I’m scared, Landon.” She looked down and away. “How long can I keep running before they find me?”

  He touched the side of her face and gently made her look at him again. “I’m not going to let them hurt you. Trust me.”

  “I do trust you,” she whispered. “You’re the only person I trust.”

  Would she still feel the same way when he told her that he was the one who had killed her brother during the drug raid? Was now the right time?

  No time would be a good time to talk about it. But it had to be done.

  He opened his mouth to tell her about her brother, but she spoke before he could. “Where’s your guitar?”

  “In my bedroom.” Maybe it was better to wait when she wasn’t already upset about what had become a terrifying ordeal for her. “I’ll throw the dishes in the dishwasher, and then grab my acoustic.”

  “I’ll help.”

  When they finished, he retrieved his guitar and they both sat on the couch. When he handed it to her, she immediately held it correctly and strummed a few chords.

  “Needs a little tuning.” She looked thoughtful as she tuned the guitar. She had an excellent ear, which was no surprise.

  They spent the next hour or so with Tori playing the guitar. She played tunes that she had already learned on the guitar and he taught her a country song. She looked surprised but pleased as he sang along.

  “You have a wonderful voice.” She smiled when the song ended. “Do you sing often?”

  He shook his head. “Not even in the shower.”

  She laughed. It was a light, carefree sound and for a moment it was as if she’d forgotten what was tearing up her life, and the danger she was in.

  It only lasted a moment and then the haunted look was back in her eyes. She turned her attention to the guitar. “Teach me another one.”

  She picked up everything so quickly that it amazed him. She only had to be told once and she had the tune memorized.

  “I haven’t listened to a lot of country music.” She picked through a melody that he had just taught her. “One thing I’ve always admired about the music is that the artists are such amazing storytellers.”

  “I grew up with country music.” His mind traveled back to his school years. “Mom plays the piano and Dad handles a guitar pretty well, and they both have great voices. I’ve always thought my mom sings like an angel.” He couldn’t help a smile as he thought of those days. “They taught my sisters and me from the time we were big enough to sing and then to play guitar or piano.”

  “You clearly have vocal talent.” She picked through another melody. “I’d like to hear you play sometime.”

  He looked at his injured arm then back to Tori. “Give me a few days and I’ll be back in fine shape.”

  “Dr. Fallon said it’s going to take longer than that to recover.” Tori set the guitar flat on her lap, exhaustion in her eyes. “But she also said you’d be hard to keep down.”

  “She knows me pretty well.” He glanced at a digital display on the DVD player, noting the time. “It’s getting late. You’ve had a hell of a day and not much rest last night.”

  Tori set the guitar on the floor and leaned it against an end table. “Sleep sounds so good.”

  He rose at the same time she got to her feet and he stepped toward her. He touched her face with his fingers and he realized then that he wanted her more than he’d wanted anyone in his life.

  Her dark eyes grew heavy-lidded as he brought her close, and he sensed the force of her desire.

  “What about your head?” She lightly touched his forehead with her fingertips. “Dr. Fallon said you might have a concussion.”

  “I feel perfectly fine.” He rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “More than fine.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Tori shivered beneath Landon’s touch as arousal darkened his green eyes. Her exhaustion fled and she felt renewed energy. She craved his touch with a power that awakened the fire inside her that had burned so hot last night.

  When he lowered his head, she met him halfway and his mouth covered hers. His palm was warm against her cheek and the heat traveled through her body. He sucked her tongue, drawing it into his mouth and a thrill traveled straight between her thighs, causing her to grow wetter than she already was.

  Her breasts ached and her taut nipples pushed against her T-shirt. His touch and the certainty that he desired her as much as she wanted him made her even hotter for him. She wanted to feel his length and thickness inside her as he filled her once again. It had been amazing having him in her last night and she wanted to feel that sense of completion again, the exquisite feeling of fullness.

  He slid his fingers into her hair and cupped the back of her head, holding her to him. She loved the feel of the dominant, possessive move. She leaned closer and felt his arm between them. In her haze of lust and need, she had forgotten something important.

  She drew away and his fingers slid through her hair. Her breathing was hard as she looked up at him. “Your arm. You’re injured.”

  A slow and sensual smile curved the corner of his mouth. “The rest of me isn’t.”

  Her belly fluttered and she slid her palms up his broad chest, feeling the rise and fall, and she linked her arms around his neck, ever careful of his wound. “If you think you can handle me.”

  His gaze was smoky through his heavy-lidded eyes. “Honey, I can handle anything you dish out.”

  “We’ll see about that.” Butterflies darting around in her belly, she stepped back and captured his hand in hers. “I plan on riding you hard, cowboy.”

  “You’re killing me.” He squeezed her hand in his and led her down the hall, his strides long, as if he couldn’t wait to be inside her.

  Her heart thumped and a shivery sense of excitement prickled her skin. He flipped on a bedside light as he brought her into a bedroom. The soft glow of the lamp illuminated the room that had a king-sized bed in the center with an old-fashioned travel trunk at its foot. A bureau, a large rocking chair, and two nightstands were in the room.

  She barely noticed the things in his room. It was Landon who captivated her attention and in a moment he was all she could think about, all that she cared about.

  “I want to see your body.” He skimmed his knuckles along the side of her neck, his expression filled with passion that nearly swept her away. “Show me all of you.”

  She wasn’t sure she could breathe, much less take her clothing off. He parted from her, letting his hand slide down her arm before they were separated. She stepped back a few feet and thought about how she wanted to drive him crazy, and all of the things she wanted to do to him and have done to her.

  When she grasped the bottom of her T-shirt, she pulled it up in a sensual movement meant to tease and tantalize him. By his taut expression, she knew it was working. She wiggled as she tugged the shirt over her head before throwing it aside.

  His hungry gaze and the bulge beneath his jeans gave her a feeling of power that she’d never experienced before. She watched the heat flare in his eyes as she reached behind her, unfastened her bra, and dropped it to the floor.

  He took a step forward, but she held up one hand, her palm facing him. “Stay right there.” She heard the hu
skiness in her own voice, the incredible need building and building within her.

  His jaw tightened and he looked as if he had to restrain himself. “Keep teasing me, honey, and all bets are off.”

  “No touching. Not yet.” She shook her finger at him. “I’ll let you know when you’re allowed to.”

  His eyes narrowed as if he was about to come undone. He kicked off one of his shoes, then the other as he watched her.

  Her gaze held his as she kicked off the cheap new athletic shoes, and moved her fingers to the button of her jeans. She unbuttoned them and drew the zipper down in a slow, tantalizing motion.

  “You are driving me out of my mind.” His voice was husky and the veins in his arm stood out as he clenched his fist.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet.” She shimmied out of her jeans, easing them down to her bare feet. As much as she wanted him, she wasn’t going to hurry this erotic dance. It was too exciting, too breathtaking, knowing that he wanted her so badly he could barely hold himself back.

  He groaned as she hooked her thumbs in the sides of her panties and slid them over her hips and thighs, inch by aching inch. When they reached her feet, she stepped out of the panties and the jeans.

  He took another step forward, but again she raised her hand. “I’ll tell you when.”

  His gaze followed her hands as she skimmed them over her belly, continuing up to cup her breasts. As she felt the weight of them in her hands, she thought she heard a hitch in his breath as she pinched her nipples and rolled them between her thumbs and forefingers. Her sensitive nipples begged for his mouth, but she wasn’t finished erotically torturing him yet.

  He took in her every movement as she slid one hand down to her mound. She slipped her finger into her wetness and stroked her clit. It was so sensitized that her own touch caused her to moan.

  The way he was watching her, like an animal straining against its leash, made her ache even more between her thighs and she had to assuage the need. She circled her clit before sliding her fingers lower and dipping them into her wet core.

  “I’m warning you, woman.” His throat worked as he spoke. “I’m about to take you over my knee and spank you for teasing me the way you are.”