by Lisa Childs
She stroked her fingers along his swollen jaw. “It’s not your fault.”
“I am responsible.”
“Why?” she asked. “Because you’ve taken criminals off the street? That’s a good thing. You’re doing good things, Nick.” She had never doubted that he would. He had always been her hero.
His hand moved lower, over the swell of her belly. “This will be a good thing,” he said. “Our son...”
Tears stung her eyes. “Of course.”
“I should have protected you that night.”
They’d gotten carried away with passion. Protection had been the last thing on both their minds.
“I will protect you from now on,” he promised.
She shook her head.
“I will—”
That wasn’t what she was protesting. “You don’t need to marry me to protect me.”
He needed to marry her only if he loved her. And she doubted that he did.
But he wanted her. She felt it in the tenseness of his body, in the erection straining against his fly to press against her hip. She wanted him, too. Making love with him would finally warm her up, would stop her shivering. Even now her blood was beginning to heat and pump faster in her veins.
He touched her, his hands moving over her bare thighs to her hips. He slid his fingers beneath her panties and teased her. He stroked his thumb over her most sensitive spot until she squirmed and moaned.
So she teased him back. She stroked her fingers over the ridge of his erection until finally he undid his pants and pushed them down his legs. He pulled off his shirt, too, and hers. Within seconds nothing separated them. They were skin to skin.
He kissed her everywhere but her lips. He kissed her shoulder and her elbow. And the curve of her hip. Then he moved his mouth lower and made love to her with his lips and his tongue.
Her hands in his hair, she clasped him against her as she arched her hips and came. But it wasn’t enough. He touched the tightened tips of her nipples, and the pressure wound inside her again. Only he could give her the release she needed, when he buried himself inside her. But he didn’t lift her legs. He didn’t push inside her.
Instead he flopped onto his back, his chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily, fighting for control. She wanted him out of control. So she leaned over and teased him as he had teased her. She licked her tongue down the pulsing length of him.
He groaned her name and tangled his fingers in her hair. She slid her lips around him and took him deep in her mouth. But it wasn’t enough.
He bucked beneath her. But he didn’t come like she had. So she eased back. Then she straddled him. Rising up, she guided him inside her. She was still wet and ready for him. He edged slowly inside until he filled her. But she wasn’t able to take all of him.
She moved up and down, clutching at him with her inner muscles as he gripped her hips in his hands. He helped her move, helped her find the rhythm that drove them both to madness. He bucked beneath her as she rode him. Then he slid one hand between them and stroked her with a fingertip.
Her body tensed, then shuddered as an orgasm overwhelmed her. She screamed his name and collapsed on his chest. He gripped her hips and shoved up, driving deep, as he shouted his release.
He didn’t pull out, just pressed her against him and pulled the blankets over them. And he held her as if he never intended to let her go.
But Annalise knew better now than to get her hopes up. She understood that when she awakened, he would probably be gone again. There was no way he would ever marry her because there was no way he would ever stop running away from her.
She wasn’t the one he needed to outrun, though. He needed to outrun whoever was after them. Or getting married would be the least of their concerns.
* * *
The River City Psychiatric Facility for the Criminally Insane was every bit as scary as Candace Baker-Kozminski had imagined it would be. But she had convinced her husband, Garek, that she was the one who needed to pay this visit.
But even as tough as she was, she was unnerved. Patients yelled. They flailed. They beat themselves with their fists until men in white suits restrained them.
But far scarier than any of that behavior was the eerie stare of the woman sitting across from her. Tori Chekov studied her as she might study a cat she was about to torture cruelly. A small smile played around her mouth, and a gleam of insanity twinkled in her dark eyes.
“I have dreamed of seeing you again,” Tori admitted.
Candace had, too: nightmares. Nightmares of this woman killing Garek. But she always awakened in the comfort of his embrace, his strong arms locked around her.
“Really?” she asked, as if she cared.
“I have imagined all the things I would do to you,” Tori said, and her dark eyes hardened with hatred.
Candace forced a laugh. “Nice to see that expensive psychiatrist your dad hired has done you so much good.”
Tori’s smile widened. “Oh, you’d be surprised what she’s done for me.”
A chill chased over Candace’s skin. This woman might be locked up, but she was still dangerous. And maybe she was using her psychiatrist to cause problems on the outside. Problems with Nick?
“You’ve done a lot for me, as well,” Tori said.
“I have?” She sure as hell hoped not.
“Those self-defense moves you taught me when you were my bodyguard.”
Candace felt a twinge of regret and embarrassment. Tori had used those moves against her. “Yes?”
“They’ve protected me in here—” she pitched her voice to a creepy whisper “—with all these crazies.”
“I think you should be in prison,” Candace honestly remarked. “It was your father and Special Agent Nicholas Rus’s idea to commit you here.”
For life. That was the only reason, as one of her victim’s, that Candace had agreed to the sentence Nick had hammered out in exchange for Viktor Chekov’s confession. He had owned up to all his crimes. So if he was going after Nick, he probably would have admitted it.
Would Tori?
“My father is a weak old man,” Tori replied with disgust and hatred.
“And Agent Rus?”
Tori’s lips curved, and that crazy glint sparkled in her dark eyes. “He is one beautiful man. I dream about him, too.”
Candace didn’t have to wait long before Tori added, “I dream of all the things I would do to him—” she uttered a wistful sigh of resignation “—if I wasn’t in here.”
Fortunately she was in there. But Candace wasn’t certain that meant she and Nick were actually safe. If Tori really wanted to get to them, Candace suspected that she could. And she would.
Chapter 14
Nick understood where Milek had found the inspiration for his family portrait as he gazed around the condo living room at everyone gathered for the Payne Protection Agency meeting. Nikki wasn’t there, but since he was, that wasn’t unusual. And Logan usually excluded her from the bodyguard business meetings, anyway.
It wasn’t a family meeting because the spouses weren’t there, at least not the ones who weren’t bodyguards. The children weren’t there, either—just his baby, his son—inside Annalise’s belly.
She had insisted on being included in the powwow. And since she was stuck in the condo, too, it would have been hard to exclude her, even though she had no real reason to be there. The attempts on their lives had nothing to do with her.
But Logan, who was always thorough, interrogated her, anyway. “No disgruntled clients?” the former River City PD detective asked.
She shook her head.
“No jealous ex-boyfriends?”
She laughed—as she had when Nick had asked. She glanced at him before shaking her head.
Logan look
ed at him, too, as if considering that he was a jealous ex. When it came to Annalise, Nick was jealous and possessive. But he wasn’t an ex, not yet.
He would marry her so his son’s parents would be married when he was born. But Nick doubted Annalise would want to stay married to him. She deserved more. She deserved someone who could love her as she loved—freely and affectionately.
“This is stupid,” Gage said. Since returning from his last bodyguard assignment, he had been sticking close to Annalise. And of course he had insisted on being included in the Payne Protection meeting. “You’re wasting your time questioning my sister.”
“He’s right,” Nick said.
Instead of looking grateful for the confirmation, Gage glared at him. He had not forgiven him for crossing the line with Annalise. Ignoring his remark, Gage continued, “She has no enemies—unlike Nick.”
“They’ve only been going after Annalise to get to me,” Nick agreed. Gage had no doubts about that, just as he didn’t. The others had been more hesitant because they didn’t know Annalise. They didn’t understand how she was like Penny and could have no enemies.
“You have too many enemies,” Garek said.
“We’re narrowing it down,” Nick reminded him. Garek had ruled out Chekov. And while Candace wasn’t certain his daughter had nothing to do with it, Nick was.
The break-ins at his places and at Annalise’s had started before he’d taken down the Chekovs. Until he had, they’d had no reason to want vengeance on him. They hadn’t even been aware they had been in his sights.
He trusted few people. Only Garek Kozminski had been aware of that plan, and Nick had brought him in only because he’d needed his help. He needed all of their help now—for Annalise.
“We’re narrowing it down to people you’ve pissed off more than six months ago,” Gage said. “That’s still a hell of a lot of people.”
Nick couldn’t agree more. He had compiled a list. And even to him, it was overwhelming. He had passed out copies to the others, and they riffled through the pages.
“Seriously?” Garek Kozminski asked. “You’ve pissed off more people than I have.”
“And that’s saying something,” his brother Milek added.
“Are these all professional enemies?” Parker asked.
When someone had been trying to take him out, everyone had thought it was personal. That he had pissed off a lover’s husband or something.
Nick had never been the playboy his half brother had been rumored to be. He nodded. “Of course.”
“Why?” Logan asked. “You could have a jealous ex-lover, too.”
Like Annalise had, he laughed at the far-fetched notion. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It makes sense,” Candace said. “A jealous woman is more likely to go after a man’s girlfriend than a professional enemy would.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” Annalise said quickly, defensively.
She wasn’t his girlfriend. What was she? Lover. Mother of his unborn child? Fiancée? He hadn’t put a ring on her finger. Not yet.
But he had no doubt Penny was planning their wedding. The professional wedding planner had probably started planning it the moment she’d heard about Annalise showing up in River City. Pregnant with his child.
Hell, Penny had probably known before he had.
Would he know if Annalise hadn’t been in danger? Would she have told him? That was why he’d trusted few people—because few people had proved worthy of his trust. Gage.
And as a reward, he had betrayed that trust when he’d crossed the line with Gage’s sister. Why should he expect trust when he’d done nothing to earn it himself?
“We need a list of ex-girlfriends,” Logan prodded him as he waved those pages around. “So this is complete.”
“You don’t think the list is long enough as it is?” Garek asked with a weary-sounding sigh. “There are already too many to check them all out.”
“You need Nikki’s help,” Parker said.
“She doesn’t work for me anymore,” Logan reminded them.
And from their faces Nick could tell, they all doubted she would help. They didn’t know how much she’d already assisted him. Not that the crime lab had found any prints in Annalise’s stolen car. As Nikki had surmised, it had been wiped clean.
Cooper said, “I’ll put her on the case.”
Nick had already emailed her a copy of the list. He suspected she was working on it—checking alibis, known associates, everything Nikki checked.
But even as good as Nikki was, he doubted they would be able to whittle down that list to the right suspect anytime soon. He could only hope that they stopped the person before it was too late, before he lost Annalise.
* * *
Annalise was lost. And it wasn’t because they all spoke at once that she couldn’t understand what they were saying. It was their reasoning she couldn’t follow. They were brilliant bodyguards. Every one of them had been something else before creating or joining the Payne Protection Agency.
They’d been police officers or detectives, soldiers or FBI agents. Or thieves.
And all of these brilliant people believed someone was using her for revenge against Nick. Even Nick thought so.
But it made no sense to her. Why?
Nick would have to have feelings for her—beyond responsibility—for her situation to really affect him. And he didn’t have feelings for her. He didn’t love her.
He hadn’t even made love to her again since that dawn they’d escaped the shoot-out at the hospital. As she’d suspected, she had awakened later that day alone. And he hadn’t shared her bed since.
For the past couple of nights, he’d planted himself on the couch, as if anyone could bypass Milek Kozminski’s security system. Nick was just running, as far away as he could while still being close enough to protect her.
And since that dawn, he hadn’t mentioned marrying her again. He obviously had no intention of following through on a wedding despite her brother’s proverbial shotgun threat.
So how would hurting her cause Nick any pain?
She was the one suffering. She was the one living with a man she loved but knew she could never really have. She was the one who’d put her career on hold while she lived in relative captivity. With a twinge of regret, she glanced at her brother.
He’d been through far worse than what she was going through. So she had no right to feel sorry for herself. No reason to sulk. Because she couldn’t stand inaction, she moved to the kitchen. She would cook or bake, depending on the ingredients available. She would do anything but pine for Nicholas Rus. She’d spent too much of her life doing that.
* * *
Gage had spent most of his missing six months in pain. And it hadn’t all had to do with his captivity. It had had to do with the kind of pain he saw on his sister’s face.
Heartache.
It was worse by far than anything anyone could physically suffer. It left a gaping hole where a heart should be. And there was no filling that hole with anything but love.
So when that love wasn’t returned, the hole just remained open and gaping and sore like an untreated wound.
He’d seen that pain on her face in a vulnerable moment. But she was doing her best to hide it now. She bustled around the room, offering food to everyone present. The house was warm from the heat of the oven and her personality. It was fragrant from the smells of the feast she had thrown together.
“She’s so much like Mom,” he heard Parker Payne murmur.
Logan nodded in agreement. “Nick’s right. This is about him. Not her.”
Gage had been telling them that, but they’d had to see for themselves the magic that was Annalise.
Nick had seen it. He’d tried turning a blind eye to it for years. He’d tried to ignore h
er. But she had been persistent. And if she had a flaw, Annalise’s only one would be her stubbornness. She’d wanted Nick for so long.
Gage shouldn’t have been surprised that she’d finally worn him down. But he was disappointed. Nick had always been his hero—the man he had hoped to become someday. Strong. Smart. Honorable.
This time, he’d crossed a line with Annalise that he would never be able to uncross. Marrying her wouldn’t make him honorable. It would probably only put her in more danger.
All the Paynes looked alike, but he knew it was Nick who settled onto the couch next to him. “I was wrong,” he said.
“No, you weren’t,” Nick said. “It’s all my fault. You should have hit me harder.”
Gage grunted. “Yeah, I should have.”
“So you’re not talking about hitting me?” Nick touched his jaw as if it still hurt.
But Gage knew he wasn’t as strong as he’d once been. Before he’d gone missing, he would have broken Nick’s jaw had he hit him like he had. But before he’d gone missing, he had never wanted to hit Nick.
“You know what I’m talking about,” Gage murmured.
Because he was Nick, he always knew everything. That was why he had come to Nick when he’d gotten back to the States. Because he hadn’t wanted to talk. He’d just wanted someone to know—without his having to say a word. But now he wanted to make sure Nick understood, so he said, “You can’t marry her. It would put her in more danger. Then whoever’s after you will know she’s important to you.”
Nick grunted his agreement. “You’re right.” He understood. He knew what he had to do—or actually not do.
He couldn’t make Annalise his bride. Marrying her wouldn’t just put her in more danger physically, though.
She would also be in more danger emotionally—because while she would have Nick’s name, Gage doubted she would ever have his heart.
He suspected Nick had had that gaping hole in his chest for a long time.
Maybe he’d never even had a heart to lose.