“What the hell are you doing?” she shouted, wiggling her shoulders to try and loosen the tape. He spun her back around to face him. She eyed the offensive binding dangling from his finger and kicked him in the shin. Hard. “Untie me!”
He jumped out of the way before she got another kick in. Moving to the side, he put an arm around her waist and opened the car door. “Get in.” He pushed her head down and goosed her into climbing into the passenger seat.
“Hey! Keep your hands to yourself. And I asked what the hell you’re doing.” After a few humpfs, she settled into the seat, her hands nicely trapped behind her back.
With difficulty, he shook away how her backside had looked as she’d climbed into the car. He situated himself behind the steering wheel and shut the door. “Where’s the key?”
She gave him the silent treatment along with a wish-you-were-dead stare.
“Tell me where the goddamn key is, Tess. Otherwise I’ll duct tape your mouth too.”
“Side of the door,” she mumbled.
The engine hummed. He leaned over and buckled her seatbelt before doing his own. Anger poured off her in tsunami-sized waves that sucked the air out of the small interior. He rolled down the window. “How fast can this baby go?”
Tess shot him the now I’m really going to kill you look.
“I’ll just see for myself.” He shifted into gear and took off. “Hang on.”
Chapter Eight
Hugh drove Tess’s Beemer through the streets of Los Angeles, speeding through yellow lights and only reluctantly stopping for red. He slammed on the breaks when a white Ferrari crossed into his lane to avoid a limousine stopped illegally in front of a club. God, he hated Sunset Boulevard on weekend nights.
Tess didn’t flinch at the sudden movement. In fact, she’d remained eerily still and quiet since he’d hijacked her car. Every attempt to engage her in conversation had met with cold, hard silence. Her head was turned to the side, relaxed against the headrest of the passenger seat, but he could hear the blood rushing through her veins. She wasn’t calm. Not by a long shot.
Since her attention stayed on the passing scenery, he snuck glances at her legs. They were tan, lean, muscular. Smooth and silky. He pictured them wrapped around his waist before forcing his eyes back to the road. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, he did multiplication problems in his head. He had to get the fuck over the desire she stirred in him and get her talking about eliminating him. That ought to cure his idiotic attraction to her.
“How about we’re honest with each other?” He tossed a sideways glance and smile her way.
“You’re an asshole,” she said without moving a muscle.
“Okay. That’s a start. You’re”—he hung on to the “rrrr”—“a bitch.”
She whipped her head in his direction and shot daggers at him, then just as quickly turned away so she looked out the passenger window again.
“I thought we were being honest,” he added.
Silence.
“You know, a bitch isn’t all bad. Especially coming from a wolfen.”
Silence.
“You started it, Tess. So why don’t you finish it? Come on. I know there are things going on in that head of yours. Let’s hear it. Give it to me straight.”
Silence.
The road grew more congested so he made a turn down a less crowded street. They were only a couple of miles away from his hideout now. Up the canyon and they’d be there. He didn’t plan on telling anyone where he was, at least for tonight. The place was well equipped with food and necessities for occasions like this, so even if they needed to stay a few days, it wouldn’t be a problem.
He turned on the radio.
She turned off the radio. By lifting her leg and slamming the bottom of her shoe into the knob.
Yeah, that did nice things for his viewing pleasure. She wiggled, trying to get the dress to cover a little more skin. Didn’t work.
“Want to try again?” He needed confirmation she was an eliminator, and if so, who hired her and how it related to Trey’s disappearance. “I’ll start. You’re the most confusing woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” There were a few other adjectives he could use—compelling, beautiful, impressive—but he needed to keep those to himself.
Her head rotated against the backrest in slow motion until her blue eyes rolled at him. “I’d be happy to be a part of this conversation if you’d be so kind as to take the duct tape off my wrists. It hurts like hell.”
“You know what hell feels like?” he joked.
She sighed disapprovingly. “I think I’m in it right now.”
He laughed. “So belligerent.”
“You’ve fucking kidnapped me. I think I’m entitled.”
“This isn’t a kidnapping.” Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. “More like I persuaded you without risk of bodily harm. Your hands are a deadly weapon.”
“Trust me. It’s not just my hands.” She shifted in her seat, sat up taller.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do, sweetheart. You ready to talk?”
“I think I am. I need to make a correction. You’re an asshole I’m going to kill.” She tilted her head and gave a tight, closed-mouth smile like she was quite happy with herself and positive she’d succeed with her mission.
Hugh couldn’t have been happier. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“I beg your pardon?” Irritation sounded in her voice. Lines creased her forehead, her eyebrows furrowed.
But something about her told him no matter how much she feigned anger, even hate toward him, she didn’t mean it. Her eyes gave way to conflict. Behind the unwavering steel blue was a sparkle every time she looked at him. Not with a passing glance, but when she really looked at him. She searched beyond his exterior, tried to find his soul and see what she could figure out. He thought if she studied him long enough, he’d give up every deep, dark detail of his life.
“Let’s talk about how you’re going to kill me.” His words came out with genuine interest. “And then you can fill me in on the why and who hired you.”
She regarded him with those stunning eyes for a few seconds before conceding, “What tipped you off?”
“Wow. No denial. You continue to surprise me.” He watched her gulp, sensed her unease and unhappiness with herself, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to surrender to a woman.
“I’ve surprised myself tonight.” Her gaze moved to the dashboard, her body sagged. The tension in her body dwindled at the same time any hint of anger in his disappeared.
“Dane told me there was a hit. He said P.I.E. was handling it.” He turned left, leaving most of the cars, lights and buildings behind. Houses, some set far back, others on the edge of the road, lined the well-traveled residential street winding up the hillside.
“He told you tonight?”
“Yeah. When we were trying to figure out what the hell was going on, he threw that nice piece of information at me. I don’t suppose you’d elaborate?”
She worried her bottom lip. “How did he find out?”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is hearing you say the words.” He needed to be one hundred percent sure.
“What else did Dane say?”
“He said blue really isn’t your color and you should think about wearing more green. I told him I liked the blue.”
“Shut up. This isn’t a joke.” Annoyance spiked in her voice.
“Are you an eliminator?” He’d been trying to keep one eye on the road and one on her, but since starting up the canyon, he needed to spend less time on her. It wasn’t working. He pulled over to the side of road.
He let the car idle and turned toward her. A streetlight overhead cast enough glow for him to see every slight line in her face, count all six freckles dotting her nose.
Uncomfortable didn’t begin to describe how she looked. He tried to ignore the vibes coming off her, but in the small confines of the car, he was acutely aware of her scent, her brea
thing pattern, the number of times she blinked. Her cheeks were flushed with anger, her legs bounced up and down with nervous energy.
His sentient side wanted complete access, but he allowed himself only another peek. A glimpse into her emotions to satisfy his curiosity. She stared at him with the kind of intensity reserved for friends. And when he found her confused, but not the least bit afraid, his chest ached with relief. Fear would have been his undoing.
“Yes, I’m an eliminator,” she finally said. Her eyes darted out the windshield before settling back on his. “And I honestly didn’t know who you were until you told me your name. Imagine my surprise.”
“You were really on a blind date?”
“Yes.” She paused to take a deep breath. Her shoulders relaxed and she lifted a leg to tuck it in the crux of the other. “It’s one I’ll always remember.”
This could play out two ways. She’d either find some way to painfully eliminate him because he’d been cocky enough to call her on her occupation. Or she’d forget the whole thing and send someone to take her place now that she’d been compromised.
“Who hired you to kill me?” He stared at her, taken with the conflict in her eyes, the deliberate beats of her heart.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Can’t or won’t?” The rough edge of his voice wasn’t intentional.
“I’m not—”
“Look. It’s just you and me here. No one else. You know I’m not a bad guy so—”
She choked. “I do not know you’re not a bad guy. I’ve just met you. And buddy, the way I’m feeling right now is leaning heavily toward bad guy. If you want to earn some brownie points, I suggest you get this annoying tape off me.”
He leaned forward and unbuckled her seatbelt to make her a little more comfortable. “Can’t do that.”
“You don’t trust me?” Hurt passed over her face. Was she upset he didn’t? Come on. What did she expect?
“Give me a reason to, and I’ll think about it.” The truth was he did trust her. He’d never admit that out loud, but her actions tonight spoke volumes. And despite the whole elimination thing, he didn’t fear for his life. Not deep down in his gut. That labeled him either the biggest fool on the planet or the biggest romantic. Fuck.
“I’d say saving your life is a good reason.”
Something shimmered in her eyes that he was convinced she wasn’t aware of. Otherwise she would have shifted her attention elsewhere. It was a hint of gladness, the look of relief that people wear when they’re happy about someone’s tempting fate and beating it.
“Yeah. About that. Wouldn’t it have been easier for you to let me die?” He reached out and moved a strand of hair from her face. It was becoming a habit, his wanting to touch her. “You could have gotten the job done without lifting a finger.”
She watched him pull his hand back as if she wanted him to touch her again. Things were not so cut and dry between them. The lines were blurring. The circumstances under which they’d met confused their situation. He’d liked her right off the bat. Really liked her. And he was positive she’d liked him in return. Hell, he’d felt pheromones she wouldn’t want a stranger knowing about coming off her in waves when they’d arm-wrestled.
“Yes. It would have been easy for me to let you die. But I didn’t want you to die.” She looked down at his mouth. “I told you, I need your help.”
“To find someone.”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft, tired, full of surrender.
“That’s on the up and up?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward and pulled her shoulder blades to stretch. When she settled against the car seat, she let her head fall back so her chin jutted out.
He put the car back in gear and hit the road. In a couple of minutes, they’d be at their destination. “The help you need is wolfen-related.”
His statement sounded so unbelievable to his own ears he almost laughed out loud. Discussing anything wolfen-related with a human, and an eliminator to boot, was in the realm of never going to happen. Yet, here he sat, opening the door. God help him, he hoped it didn’t slam in his face.
“It’s wolfen-related, yes. But I understand if you don’t want to help.” Her voice was tinged with understanding, acceptance. What she didn’t realize was he’d already set in motion his helping her.
“I’m going to ask you one more time. Who wants to kill me?”
“I honestly don’t know.” She let out an exhaustive breath. “I’m not given that information.”
“What are you given?” He needed to know exactly what she had on him and if other people would be affected. Gavin, for example. He didn’t know Hugh was a wolfen, and Hugh wanted to keep it that way.
“A dossier. But I haven’t even taken a look at it yet. I planned to start on it tomorrow. So Mr. Hugh Langston, I don’t know all that much about you.”
“You do work for P.I.E.?”
“Did I sign up for twenty questions?” She shifted and crossed her ankles. “I don’t remember doing that.”
He looked down at her legs again. They should be bare all the time. On a beach. In a cabin in the woods. Hell. Taking her with him had been a stupid-ass thing to do. He needed to return to the stoic, uninvolved, search and rescue guy. The guy most people saw on a daily basis, not the whipped one he’d been in her company. That guy he hardly knew.
“You don’t get to think. Answer the goddamn question.”
Silence reigned. Again.
Agitation thrummed through him. “I suggest you start talking, sweetheart, or it’s going to be a long night.”
Her lips formed a tight, thin line.
He turned into the driveway and slowed to take the quarter mile stretch to his house. “You help me. I’ll help you.”
“No questions asked.” She spoke right on the heels of his offer.
“For now.” He needed answers from her at some point. Yet, regardless of her current disposition, he had faith in her. Faith that she’d come around and do the right thing by him.
“Fine.”
Tess hadn’t been trained for this. Hadn’t been instructed on what the hell to do if a mark figured out who she was. Her track record grew shittier by the minute. Good onya, Tess. Score another goal for the other team. Never in her career had someone found out who she really was. Yes, the vamp in the airplane last week had discovered she was after his head, but he hadn’t known more. It had taken Hugh all of four hours. And she wasn’t officially on the job.
The adrenaline pumping through her blood wasn’t the sort she enjoyed. She was furious with herself. Disgusted. If she could open the car door and fling herself out of the moving vehicle in hopes of being injured, she might.
That was a lie.
Some good adrenaline did pump through her veins. The kind that flows through your system when the man sitting next to you is sexier than anything, smarter than you and a whole heck of a lot meaner. Well, maybe not a lot meaner, but not nice. That only made her want to double her efforts. To be nice or mean, she wasn’t sure. And she hated not being sure.
Hated even more that she wasn’t afraid of him. Because she should be terrified of the feelings rolling through her body like he had some sort of possessive hold over her. From the top of her head to the bottom of her broken shoes, she felt flutters. Tickles like her body was the road map for an ant picnic. That had never happened to her before. She’d also never saved someone’s life before.
That had felt pretty damn good.
The fact that she got to do it by kissing made it even better.
The car—her car—came to a stop outside what looked like a bungalow. Darkness enveloped the small house, making it difficult to get a clear picture. They were up in the Hollywood Hills somewhere, away from the traffic and hubbub of the city. The nearest neighbor, by her calculations, resided a good distance away.
Hugh put the car in park and turned her way. He looked annoyingly handsome with just a hint of moonlight across his face. Probably part of some wolf p
rivilege. He’d masked his mood though, his features vacant of any hint to his intentions.
“Here’s the deal,” she said. “You can’t breathe a word of who I really am to anyone. Not Dane. Not anyone. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll help you find Trey if you’ll help me find the wolfen I’m after. I haven’t got much. Just a name: Dobson.” She tried to get comfortable but it was impossible with her arms behind her back. “Ring a bell?”
“Not off the top of my head.” He eyed her suspiciously. “Why so talkative all of a sudden?”
She couldn’t tell him it was because she wanted to escape, and the only way to do that was to get on his good side long enough for him to let his defenses down and take the tape off her wrists. “I’m tired. Hungry. And need to use the bathroom.” An honest-to-goodness smile spread across her lips. The one she’d perfected in front of the mirror over the years. “Plus, I really do think you’re my best bet to find Dobson.”
He made no move to rip the tape from her wrists or help her out of the car. Damn him. “Why do you need to find him?”
Here’s where things get dicey. A huge part of her wanted to tell him everything. Every little thing she’d kept bottled up inside for five years. Get off her chest the sadness, the anger, the failure she felt. What a relief it would be to share this burden with someone. Lay it all the line.
But she couldn’t. She had to remind herself this was a short-term deal. Once they helped each other, she’d have to eliminate him. She didn’t plan on making that job any tougher than it already was.
And she certainly couldn’t tell him she planned to kill Dobson once they found him.
“P.I.E. wants him in connection with a murder.” Making the hunt less personal seemed like the best way to go.
He raised one eyebrow as if he didn’t believe her. “You said it was personal.”
Damn. She had, hadn’t she? “It is. The man murdered was a friend of mine.”
She’d thought more about Jason tonight than she had in months. Time had succeeded in pushing him further and further from her daily thoughts, but it only took half a second to bring him back. And despite her heart’s mending, a piece of it had died with him. His death had hurt in more ways than she cared to analyze, and she’d do whatever necessary to never feel that contamination again.
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