“Stay in the car, my ass,” muttered Melody as she finished picking some clean clothes out of her bag. She was already only tenuously getting along with him, and if he thought ordering her around was going to work, he had another think coming.
She remembered exactly how intimidating he could be when he wanted to be and frowned. Well, maybe ordering her around and then leaving her.
She didn’t mind making him wait for her, but she didn’t want to dawdle out of spite. So as soon as she had her clothes in hand, she stepped out of the car. Even though the place was supposed to be closed according to the hours on the sign, the front door still opened easily when she pulled the handle. The crowd was sparse. Two barstools were taken; a cute girl was behind the bar, wearing a crop top that stopped only a few inches below her breasts. She was behind the bar, so Melody didn’t know what else she was wearing but assumed it was along the same lines as the top.
All three of the occupants had turned to stare at her. At least the rumpled clothes probably helped her to blend in, but from the questioning stares, the camouflage wasn’t all that great. “I was hoping to use a bathroom....” She saw the restroom sign in the back corner. “There it is.”
“Bathrooms for customers only,” said the bartender. She was tiny, but her voice held a bite.
“Of course.” Melody fished out a twenty and crossed to the bar, setting it on the laminate surface. “I’ll just be a minute.”
The bartender still seemed suspicious of Melody but didn’t say no as she went to the back room. The bathroom was... a bar bathroom. It wasn’t as though it were covered in various bodily fluids or anything, but it wasn’t in pristine condition either. There was no men’s room and women’s room. Just one simple stall with a toilet and sink. Everything necessary. Melody quickly changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a loose black tank top. Just as she was folding up her clothes, she heard a crash from outside. It sounded like pots and pans had been thrown across the room.
That probably meant it was time to go. She opened the door to see the two guys at the bar both staring toward the kitchen. There were a few shouts from back there and Melody tried to slip out before anyone noticed her.
“Hey!” shouted someone.
She glanced over her shoulder. A guy limped out of the kitchen and pointed at her.
“I’m just leaving.” She took another step back.
“Are you with him?” The man wore an apron and had a bloody nose. The bright-red droplets on the white apron stood out and were the only thing she could look at.
Melody looked each way. “I’m not here with anyone.”
He started to advance on her. “No. He shows up in here and you’re using the bathroom. Stupid move.”
If one more person called her stupid.... “Listen, I don’t know you but—”
It was too late. The guy reached out for her arm. His fingers were just biting down with bruising force when her instincts kicked in, literally, as her foot shot out right to his groin. Then, as he winced, his grip loosened and she was able to grab his wrist and twisted it back in one jerking move. This time the guy screamed in pain as he collapsed onto his knees.
A loud whistle sounded from behind her as Adam walked into view. “Should’ve just handed the bastard to you.”
Melody’s eyes darted to the man, who stared up at her with a mixture of pain and humiliation on his face, and the other patrons, who looked at her as if she’d just burst into flames or something. She backed away slowly and then picked up her pace as she made her way to the door. “I’m ready to leave now,” she said right as Adam pushed the door open for her and followed her into the bright sunlight.
Whatever pride he had in her ability to defend herself quickly fled as he reached the car first and set a hand on the door before she could open it. “I thought I told you to stay in the car.”
“I thought I told you I wanted to change clothes.” She turned to face him and once again he was much too close. She’d think that now that he saw that she wasn’t as defenseless as she looked that he’d keep his distance, but apparently her tricks hadn’t impressed him that much.
With good reason. She could handle a few feels from the random guy, but Adam wasn’t random. He might live in the swamp, but the way he’d moved in the basement, the way he moved now, was an indication of the training he’d received.
“Next time you need to change clothes, wait until I give you the go ahead.”
“Next time you assault someone, clue me in ahead of time. I had to live with my husband bossing me around for years—I’m not going to take it from you unless you give me a damn good reason.”
He tilted his head in that annoying Adam way. “You were married?”
She rolled her eyes. “Neither one of us is drunk enough for this conversation. Are you going to keep trying to intimidate me with your body until that Neanderthal decides to come back and take another swing at us or are we going to hit the road?”
He glanced down at the thin space separating them. “Usually my intimidation works better than this.”
“I think every time you try it, it loses impact.”
He bent down until the scruff of his goatee brushed her neck, sending goose bumps down her arm. “Then maybe I should try harder.”
He pushed away and started for the driver’s side while Melody took a few breaths. No, maybe he still did have an intimidation factor. She finally pulled herself together and they both got in at the same time.
Just as they were backing out, the door opened and the guy she’d kicked ran out with a shotgun pointed right at them. “Umm....” She glanced over to Adam but he was completely relaxed as he went in reverse and started to turn the car.
“Ahh, Jimmy,” he said as he hit the gas.
Melody twisted to look out the back window right as Jimmy took the shot. As she caught her breath, she realized nothing happened. “The gun isn’t loaded....”
“Of course it isn’t loaded,” said Adam as the bar fell out of sight. “Carlo would never be stupid enough to keep a loaded weapon around drunks while he isn’t around.”
“You didn’t know that!”
“I was pretty sure.”
She glared at him as she sat back and pulled her seat belt on for good measure.
“Well, next time, don’t risk my life on ‘pretty sure.’ Be damn sure.” She settled into her seat, but the adrenaline still coursed through her. After the past few weeks she’d had, she thought that chemical would be a constant in her body, but she still felt jittery and caged in the car. “What was that all about anyway? What did that guy do?”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Adam, without glancing her way.
“It seemed like it kind of mattered,” she muttered. But he had no obligation to go telling her his inner thoughts. She tried to think of the reasons to randomly attack a guy before leaving town. It hadn’t seemed to be motivated by passion. Adam hadn’t seemed angry or upset. She hadn’t sensed anything was wrong at all when they’d stopped.
Maybe that was just who he was. The type who could go from joking over bottle of whiskey to stabbing a man in the gut. She glanced over at him out of the corner of her eyes. His arm was locked on the steering wheel, making his bicep push against the thin fabric of his t-shirt. It was strange that the very muscles that made him so sexy also made him so dangerous.
Wait... sexy? No. Adam Smith was terrifying, annoying, frustrating and, okay, mysterious. But sexy was not an adjective she was allowed to use for him. Adam Smith, she thought. “Smith can’t be your real name, right?”
He didn’t take his eyes off the road. “What does it matter?”
“It doesn’t. We’re not friends. We don’t talk about things that matter. So for the next hour until we get to the airport, it’s small talk only. Starting with your name. It’s on your arrest record. That’s how I found you.”
“Shouldn’t that tell you it’s real?”
“You’d be surprised how deep a fake alias can go.”
“T
he name is real but not the one I was born with.”
Melody leaned her head against the window as she thought about his carefully worded response. “You legally changed your name to Smith?”
“You got it.”
“Why?”
He finally glanced over in her direction. “I could tell you but that sure as hell wouldn’t be small talk.”
Melody quickly averted her gaze and stared at the trees flying by the window. She let her eyes drift closed and thought back to when she’d first met Adam. The blank, angry blue eyes that had shown her no mercy. The painful grip of his fingers biting into her arm. The sound of the door closing as he locked her away in that dark closet for hours on end.
And when she opened her eyes once more, she was all too aware of why small talk should be limited.
Melody leaned against the wall as she studied the people coming off the plane. She always enjoyed seeing how people dressed while flying. Some would still be in pajamas while others would wear their best clothes, like it was the golden days of air travel.
She was currently somewhere toward the more casual end of that spectrum in her jeans, sneakers, and black tank top. But she’d long since stopped caring what people thought about her wardrobe, so she was fine to keep on with her people watching.
When Adam walked off the gangway, he was almost impossible to miss. For one, he was taller than everyone around him. But it was more than just the height. He carried himself in that strong, confident way. Even someone with no training at all would know this man was a threat.
His eyes connected with hers almost immediately and he made his way to her. “Did first class treat you well?”
“It was very roomy.” From the looks of his wrinkled shirt and pants, coach hadn’t been as comfortable. She’d taken a moment of pure joy as she’d handed him the ticket she’d purchased and abandoned him as he continued on to his seat. Sure, she enjoyed the little joke, but mostly the separation had been nice. After the hour drive to the airport and the wait to board the plane, she didn’t know how much more she could stand to be around Adam.
It wasn’t that he was annoying or said the wrong thing. It was the silence that got her. She wasn’t the type to stay quiet. But there was no safe topic. Everything reminded her of Isobel and why she shouldn’t be with this man to begin with. No, she was with him because of Isobel. And because of Matt Forbes. Because of the bullet she was going to put into Matt Forbes.
“Did you get any rest?” she asked him as she adjusted the strap of her duffel bag.
“I can sleep anywhere, darlin’. Let’s get going.”
She knew he was only calling her that to get on her nerves, probably a little payback for not getting him a first-class ticket, but she let it go. If she told him it bothered her, he’d probably just use it more.
Neither of them had checked luggage, so they didn’t have to go to baggage claim. She bypassed renting a car and instead took a cab to the very same hotel that she’d dragged him to last week.
“Ahh, the memories,” said Adam as he pulled her duffel bag out of the trunk of the cab.
She reached for it, but he just pulled the strap to his own bag over it and started for the lobby.
The historic hotel was large enough that they could blend in and not draw much attention. The lobby had red leather chairs for people to wait or relax in, historic chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and blue tile mosaics at the top of archways that separated the atrium section from the check-in desks on one side and the entrance to the hotel restaurant on the other.
Like the plane tickets, Melody had booked the hotel. After a short wait, they walked up to the check-in desk. “Should I be worried?” The words were low and whispered into her. She knew he was joking, but it was so unexpected and... intimate.
“No,” she said quickly before she turned her full attention to the desk clerk. She gave the fake name she’d booked under and handed over the driver’s license and credit card that accompanied the name.
Adam gave her a questioning look but didn’t say anything. The clerk went through a list of reminders and information before he slid over an envelope with keys. “You’re in room 637.”
“Thanks,” said Melody as she collected the paperwork and the keys.
Adam was still staring at her with that puzzled look on his face as they made their way to the elevator. Once they were alone and finally on their way up, he said what was on his mind. “One room?”
She groaned. Even though she knew the question was coming, she wasn’t a hundred percent certain it was the right call. “You know I don’t want to spend a second longer with you than I have to.” She didn’t look in his direction, but she could see his reflection in the shiny elevator doors and he was still looking right at her. “But this isn’t a trip for fun. This is a job with dangerous people and dangerous consequences.” She finally turned her head to meet his intense gaze. “Communication is everything. I’ll need you close by.”
The elevator doors opened and she led the way down the hall until they reached the room. Even though she wasn’t surprised, it was still strange to see the room. It looked exactly like her room previously, just with two beds instead of one. In her mind, she replayed that night when Adam had stumbled over to the bed and she’d rushed to get a towel to clean the blood. And then the way the tables had turned and he’d gently set her on the comforter....
“Doin’ okay, Angel?” he asked from behind her, shocking her out of her thoughts.
“Just traumatic flashbacks of the last time I was in a hotel room and some maniac drugged me.”
Adam snorted as he passed her with the bags. “You’re the one who went halfway across the country to track down the maniac and dragged him back to the hotel.”
Well, hell. Point Adam.
He took the bed closer to the window and set her bag on the bed closer to the bathroom.
Melody unzipped the bag and started to look for her toiletries. “So what’s the game plan? You think you can find guys who know where Forbes is?”
“Not tonight. I’ll head out tomorrow morning.”
“We’ll head out tomorrow morning,” she corrected.
“These guys are kind of particular about who they like doing business with. I don’t think they’re going to be happy with me bringing strangers around.”
“I thought our little escapade at Carlo’s taught you just how resourceful I can be.”
“And distracting,” he muttered as he pulled his shirt over his head and, after balling it up, set it in one of the drawers.
Melody immediately averted her eyes before she remembered that men being shirtless wasn’t indecent. Except seeing Adam without a shirt definitely felt naughty. He wore a long, thin chain that landed right at the top of his defined abs. It looked like a ring from what she could tell, but it served as an arrow pointing right to the light hairs that led right to the top button of his khaki-colored cargo pants.
“Keep lookin’ at me like that and I’m gonna think you only got one room for nefarious purposes.”
Melody jumped as she was caught staring. She opened her mouth to defend herself, or at least give an excuse, but there was nothing there. Instead, she took the toiletries and escaped to the bathroom. When she looked at herself in the mirror, her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. And that was the only reason for the sudden blood rush, she told herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement in the doorway. She stepped aside as Adam, still not wearing a shirt, walked in and set down a toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste on the counter.
He looked up and met her eyes in the mirror. “I’m okay with it, Angel.”
“Okay with what?” she said in a rough voice.
“You bringing me here for nefarious purposes.”
Melody took a nervous gulp and bit her bottom lip as she glanced down to the floor. She somehow found her voice again. “I assure you, I’m here for business only.” Then she worked up the nerve to meet his eyes in the mi
rror once more. “But since we have the night off, feel free to find someone else to entertain yourself with.”
The corner of his mouth hooked up before he turned to face her. “Sorry, darlin’.” He took one step and that was all it took to close the distance between them.
Honestly, the idea of running never occurred to Melody. All she could do was stand there frozen as Adam hooked a finger under her chin and ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.
“Until you’re done with me, I’m all yours.”
Before she could even formulate a response, he let her go and crossed back into the main living section of the room.
Melody let out a breath. Screw teamwork. She needed to take a break. She went back into the room and after grabbing her purse and one of the room keys, she bolted for the door.
“Where you goin’?” asked Adam from where he sat, still shirtless, on his bed.
“You said we have the night off, right? I’m getting out of here.”
“What happened to us sticking together?” He winked.
Melody sighed as she realized just what a trap she’d gotten herself in. “Tomorrow. Tonight I need air.”
She started for the door once more, but by the time her hand was on the handle, Adam was behind her. “Hold up.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to face him. “I get it, you’re hot. Now can you please stop shoving your body in my face?”
A smile curved his lips and he was quiet for a moment. Good. She’d finally got him speechless. That was, until he started to speak again.
“My hot body will get out of your way as soon as I get your phone.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t have my number and I don’t have yours.”
Well, she couldn’t fight with that logic. She pulled out her phone and handed it over.
Adam’s long fingers moved over the screen for a few seconds and then he handed it back. “There. You just called me.”
She took the phone, pulled up the number he’d dialed and opened up the option to make a new contact. Under name, she put in Blondie.
“Really?” he asked, the annoyance clear in his voice.
The Beautiful Thief (The Stolen Hearts #2) Page 7