by Cynthia Eden
A lump rose in her throat. She choked it down.
“Every inch of the cabin should be dusted for prints. Dex will have people who can get us an immediate turn around—on any evidence, on any potential poisons, on anything found there.”
“Was she hurt?” Eric asked, worry edging in his voice.
“She wasn’t,” Harper responded. “Though, I, um, do think I was drugged back at my place. The last thing I remember was being in my bathroom, three hulking figures coming at me, and then—nothing. Not until I woke up in the cabin.”
“We’re going to the closest hospital,” Roman declared. “Get agents to meet us there. I’m finding out what those bastards gave to her.”
She reached out and touched his hand as he gripped the wheel. “Eric is the boss,” she reminded him. Had he forgotten that in the heat of the moment? “You don’t give him orders—”
“I do right now,” Roman responded without missing a beat. “When it comes to your safety, I’m in charge.”
That was news to her. “Since when?”
“Since you were kidnapped because of me.”
“What?” Her heart slammed into her chest.
“You were taken,” he rasped, “because of me. That means that until I find out who kidnapped you, I am going to be in charge of your safety. I will be sticking to you like glue.”
She didn’t have a quick comeback for that bombshell. Not quick or slow. She didn’t have any comeback at all.
Eric was talking. Saying something that was probably important. But she just kept hearing a mental replay of…
You were taken because of me.
“We’ll meet you there. Right. Thanks.”
She tuned back in to catch the tail end of the conversation. Eric hung up, and she sat in silence. The heat blasted from the vents.
“You’re certain they didn’t hurt you?” Roman’s voice was halting.
“I don’t feel hurt anywhere.”
“We’ll get a doctor to check you out to make sure that everything is all right. I won’t leave your side. You don’t have to—”
“You won’t leave my side because you think my abduction was your fault?”
Snowflakes drifted against the windshield. “I don’t think.” His voice was grim. “I know. I was at your house, and the piece of shit who took you called me. Said that if I didn’t do exactly what he said, he’d hurt you.”
Deep breath. Take lots of deep breaths. “And what did he say for you to do?”
“That’s just the thing. Nothing. He hung up. Didn’t call back. I wasn’t going to stand there with my thumb up my ass and wait for you to be sent to me in pieces.”
Oh, dear Lord. “Did you say pieces? Because that was an option? Me getting cut into pieces was on the table?”
“I called in every favor I had. I found you. I didn’t wait for your abductors to make a deal. Step one was finding you and getting you to safety.”
She licked her lips. “What’s step two?”
The tension in the vehicle seemed to ratchet up even more. “Finding the SOBs and making them pay.”
***
“I want to go home.” Harper’s toes curled beneath the hospital sheet as she stretched the material. It was sure tucked in tightly at the bottom.
She’d been poked. Prodded. Examined. And finally given the all clear by the doctor. Harper wasn’t sure how many hours had passed while she was checked and kept waiting at the hospital, but she wanted to leave.
Now, please.
She’d been fed. That was a win. At first, they’d given her green jello. She’d never realized how amazing jello could be. She’d moved up to broth after keeping down the jiggly green stuff. The warm broth had been incredibly tasty. Or maybe she’d just been incredibly hungry.
Paste would have tasted great to her.
She wasn’t even sure why the doctor had been so careful with her food intake. She’d told the hospital staff—multiple times—that she would be happy starting with a whole chicken. No one had listened to her. But she had eventually gotten two chicken legs. Win.
She’d been patient. She’d answered question after question for the ever-watchful Roman. He never left her side, and whenever they were alone, he’d ply her with his questions.
But her being nice time was over. “I want to go home,” she said again.
Roman shook his head. “Not happening.” He reclined in the chair near her bed. He’d angled the chair so that he had a clear view of the hospital room door. What did he expect? For the bad guys to suddenly burst in and try to grab her again?
She almost snorted. Like that would happen.
The door flew open. “I’m here for Harper.”
Her lips parted. It was—it was the guy from Roman’s house. The one with the eyes that had made her so nervous. The frenemy. “I’m supposed to run,” Harper announced.
Roman’s hand flew out, and his fingers curled around her wrist. A lick of heat—the sexy, passionate kind of heat—rushed through her at his touch. Such bad timing for that heat to occur.
Roman’s eyes were on the intruder, but he told Harper, “You’re not going anywhere.”
The man needed to learn how to make up his mind. “I distinctly recall you telling me that if I ever saw this guy again, I was supposed to run.”
The mystery fellow laughed. Not some lightly amused sound, but a full-fledged thunder of laughter.
Her head tilted. She rather liked his laugh. “Who are you?” If Roman wouldn’t tell her, maybe this guy would.
He grinned. “Dexter Ryan, at your service.” He’d already shut the door and now he advanced toward the bed. “My friends and my enemies both call me Dex. So, you know, choose which one you’ll be, then just call me Dex.” He had a chart in his hands. A medical chart. Hers?
He flipped through the contents. “She’s totally fine. No signs of assault. My team discovered a cloth behind the cabin that smelled faintly of chloroform, so that’s probably what they used to knock her out. I spoke to her doc about that, and he said the quantity used on her wasn’t enough to cause any severe issues so—”
“Someone used chloroform on me?” Harper cut in. “Like in the old movies when a white cloth is shoved over someone’s face?”
Dex stopped reading through her file. “Something like that, yes. The good news is that you’ve been carefully examined and will have no lasting side effects.”
Her gaze jumped to Roman. “He’s not telling me everything.”
Roman didn’t reply.
A knot grew in her stomach. “Why does he have my file? Just who is he?”
“I’m someone you want on your side,” Dex retorted. “I’m the man who helped lead Roman to you. I suppose that means I am the man you owe for your life.”
What?
“No worries,” Dex continued smoothly. “I’ll find a way for you to repay that debt in due time.”
“Harper owes you nothing.” Roman’s voice had goose bumps sliding down her arms. “You want repayment? Add it to my tab. I’ve already told you, she’s not coming into your world.”
Her gaze darted between the two men. Yes, this must be exactly how Alice felt when she woke up in the rabbit hole. In the rabbit hole? Or had it been down the rabbit hole? Whatever. Unlike Alice, Harper had woken in a cabin, after being chloroformed. And now everything seemed all topsy-turvy. “I want to go home.” She had said that before. Multiple times. She felt like a broken record that no one was hearing.
“Your home isn’t safe.” Roman kept staring—glaring—at Dex. “But I’ll take you back to my place. You’ll be safe with me.”
She wasn’t so sure about that.
“Will she?” Dex’s question was all silky. “And here some people think that being in your company is the most dangerous place to be.”
Red flag. Lots of red flags. As if her whole abduction had not been a red flag.
The door swung open behind Dex. Relief flooded through Harper when she glimpsed Eric. “Finally. Someone I
can trust.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Roman stiffen. Crap. She slanted him a fast look. His expression had completely locked down, and she had the crazy urge to make some kind of excuse. To say she hadn’t meant her words. She’d just been grateful to spy a friendly face.
Roman had saved her. Come rushing to the rescue and all that. He’d had her back, exactly like a true partner would. He deserved better from her. Her hand turned so that she was holding him. She gave him a little squeeze.
“Harper.” Relief filled Eric’s voice. He hurried toward her. Leaned over the bed and gave her a fierce hug. “So glad you’re safe.”
She let go of Roman and clung to Eric for a moment. “You and me both. I was—”
Eric had been pushed away from her. By Roman. A Roman who was on his feet and glowering.
“I don’t think Piper would like for you to be holding so tightly to Harper that way. You know Piper, your wife.”
“Uh, yes. I know my wife.” Eric squinted at him. “She’d be hugging Harper just as tightly if she happened to be here. Harper is like family to us both.”
“Family.” Disgust thickened that one word. “Right.”
Eric winced. “Look, man, I didn’t mean—”
Harper clapped her hands together.
All eyes flew to her.
“Hi, there.” She used her dimples. “I want to know what’s happening.”
Dex scratched his chin. “Thought you did know. You need a recap? You were abducted. Taken from your home in the middle of the night. When Roman here brought chocolates to your place the next day—”
Her head swung toward him. “Chocolates? You brought me chocolates?”
Did a faint red stain his cheeks?
“Yeah, when Romeo…” Dex coughed. “I mean, when Roman brought you chocolates, he got a call from your abductor. So Roman broke down your front door and searched the place for you. The cops were, ah, brought in, and we all did a super-hero-type team-up…” His hand motioned toward the other men in the room. “We managed to track down your general location. The teams split up to search the cabins in the area, and Roman found you first. Now you’ve been checked out, and Roman is about to take you into what I imagine will be his very protective custody.” He nodded. “Does that help clear things up for you?”
“No. It doesn’t. I knew most of that before you started talking.” She had not known about the chocolates. Though she shouldn’t be focusing on them at the moment. They weren’t as important as her abduction. “I want to know who took me.”
“Don’t we all,” Eric groused.
“I’m not going into some kind of protective custody.” Harper was definite on that one. She would not be hidden away. She swung her legs to the side of the bed. Shoved to her feet. “I’m joining the hunt for the assholes who kidnapped me.” She determinedly stepped forward, intending to stride right out of the door.
She had no idea where her pajamas had gone, but Harper was sure that she’d find some helpful nurse or orderly or doctor in the hospital corridor who could point her in the direction of some scrubs. She’d get dressed and get out.
Eric side-stepped, clearing her path.
Roman didn’t move, so she sidled around him.
And Dex just tilted his head and studied her before his gaze drifted over her shoulder. Dex whistled. “Hate to tell you, Harper, but I think you’ve giving Roman one hell of a view from the back.”
She felt the draft. Realized he was right.
Dex added, “Probably Roman and Eric—”
“Dex, Eric…” Roman’s voice was a low, lethal snarl. “Get the fuck out. I need to talk with Harper, alone. Now.”
She whirled to face Roman—and made sure that she grabbed the back of her hospital gown and clamped it together with one hand. No way was she giving any additional shows. “I have told you this,” she hissed to Roman. “You need to stop ordering your boss around. Long lost relative or not, he will fire your ass.”
Roman quirked a brow. “You’re worried about me. That’s a good sign. It means you don’t completely hate me right now.”
“Why would I hate you?” She was legitimately confused.
He swallowed. “Because I brought this trouble to you. Because you could have been killed, and it would have been my fault.”
She stared into his eyes. Saw the pain. The shadows. Harper shook her head. “You didn’t kidnap me.”
Eric strode for the door. “No, but he did work non-stop to find you. Never seen someone so focused.”
“I’d use the word obsessed.” Dex’s feet shuffled away. “The man was obsessed.”
The door closed behind them.
Harper’s toes curled against the floor.
“I’m sorry.” Roman sounded strained. “Please know that I never intended for anything like this to happen. If I’d thought it would, if I’d thought that someone would try and get to me by targeting you—hell, I never would have started this crazy game.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “Game?”
Roman raked a hand over his face. “Wrong word. It’s not a game. It was a stupid, desperate dream. One that has to stop.” His hand fell. A muscle flexed along his jaw. “I’ll disappear. That’s what I do. But I will not leave until I’m certain you’re safe. That means I will find the people who took you. And I will hurt them, very badly.”
She rocked forward. “I’m sure you meant to say…We will find them, and we will turn them over to the proper authorities. You just used the wrong words again. Simple mistake.”
For a moment, his expression softened. His lips tilted up. “Sweet Harper.” His hand rose. The back of his knuckles slid over her cheek. “I said exactly what I meant.”
Her hand flew up to curl around his wrist. “You’re trying to scare me. Stop it.”
“The last thing I want to do is scare you. But I’m done pretending around you. The lies didn’t get me the new life I wanted. So you’re going to get the real man I’ve always been.” He leaned toward her. “Don’t worry. He can get the job done. When it comes to destruction and revenge, I am a top-notch bastard.”
Her gaze searched his. “I think you are trying to scare me,” she accused. “But it won’t work. I’m truly not the type of person who sits on the sidelines when things get dangerous. If that was me, then I wouldn’t be working for Wilde. I wouldn’t be your partner.”
His eyes were on her mouth.
She wet her lips and watched his expression harden even more.
“Thought you didn’t want to be my partner.” Again, his head slid a little closer to hers. “You were the one who ran to Eric and begged him for a replacement.”
She wanted his mouth. When they’d kissed back at that crazy cabin, her adrenaline had been about to burst out of control. Their kiss had felt electric. Consuming. Would it feel that way again? Or would she be calmer now? No more life and death emotional punch making her emotions seem extra powerful…
Making his kiss feel extra powerful.
Her body leaned into his. “First, I didn’t run to Eric. I walked. Slowly and professionally.”
“Did you?” A growl.
“And I didn’t beg.” She shook her head. “I just stated that we weren’t working. But he said we had to stay together for six weeks, remember? And our six weeks aren’t up.”
“No, no, the time isn’t up but—”
“But screw it,” she whispered. “I have to know if your kiss will feel the same.”
“What?” His brows shot up.
And this time, she kissed him.
Chapter Six
She felt so good against him. Soft and warm. She smelled so sweet. And her mouth. He freaking loved her mouth. He loved all the things that she could do with her tongue.
Harper had let go of his wrist, and both of his hands curled around her hips as Roman yanked her even closer against him. The paper-thin gown—hell, it was paper—provided no shield for her. Her pebbled nipples thrust against his chest, and he wanted to feel
them against his hands. In his mouth.
He wanted to tear away that gown and feast on her. He was starving, and Harper was exactly what he’d always wanted. What he’d been searching for his entire life and hadn’t known. Not until she’d been taken and—
Her hands pushed against his chest. Her head pulled away from his. “Oh, no.”
No? Roman stiffened. “What did I do wrong?” And how could he make it right? How could he convince Harper to stay with him?
Shit. Roman immediately shut down his wayward thoughts. Locked down his emotions. He didn’t need her to stay. Well, okay, he did, but only long enough for him to catch the fools who’d taken her. When those bastards had been punished, Harper needed to get away from him. As far and as fast as she could go.
“No, it wasn’t supposed to feel that way.” She was out of his arms. In a blink, she’d put a good foot of space between them. Her fingers rose and pressed to her lips. “Wrong.”
She didn’t like his kiss? Well, fuck. He’d been turned on like mad from her kiss. Gone molten from her mouth. He’d believed that Harper had been just as aroused as he was.
“I thought the adrenaline would have died down by now.” Her hand fell. “I thought I wouldn’t respond as intently.”
He squinted at her. “Run that by me again.”
Her chin immediately notched up. “I’m not supposed to want you this much! I’ve had an insane twenty-four hours—thirty-six hours—however long it’s been!” Her voice rose. “I’m not supposed to kiss you and immediately want to rip off all of your clothes!”
The door opened. Dex popped his head inside. Of course, it would be Dex intruding at the worst time.
“Just a friendly warning,” Dex announced cheerily. “Noise travels easily in this place.”
Harper’s cheeks flushed. “Out,” she gritted.
“Yes, ma’am.” The door clicked shut.
“Uh, Harper…” Roman swallowed. “That guy—you should probably be aware of just how dangerous he is. Dex isn’t the kind of man you want as an enemy.” He considered the situation. “Or as a friend.”