“Well.” Ted’s voice startled her. “Guess I’ll head out. Take care of yourself, beautiful.”
Ted leaned over to kiss her cheek, like he had every day, but at the last second, he tilted her chin up and kissed her lips. She froze, staring into his sparkling blue eyes as he lingered over her mouth. A rumble of what sounded suspiciously like displeasure came from Greg as Teddy’s lips curved against hers. When Ted straightened, no sign of amusement remained.
“Problem, Marsing?”
“What do you think?”
Tension thickened and Ally divided her gaze between the two men on either side of her hospital bed. Should she be worried about one lunging across her and slugging the other?
Ted rocked back on his heels, stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “You’ve laid no claim. Far as I can see, the turf’s wide open.”
“So you decided to make a play.”
“Why not? It’s a gorgeous day and I’m with a beautiful woman. Besides, I’m lonely.”
Not an ounce of humor brightened Ted’s dark expression. Greg’s face was inscrutable, his hands tightly fisted at his sides. She ran her gaze over him. His whole body vibrated with aggressive energy. Perked up considerably, she glanced back at Ted.
“Nothing to say?” Ted shook his head. “Pathetic, man. Just pathetic. You’ve got an incredible woman you should be holding onto with both hands, but you’re too blind and pig-headed to see it.”
“The only reason you aren’t picking yourself up off the floor right now is out of respect for how long we’ve been friends.” Greg’s voice was low and dangerous. “But you’re treading on thin ice, man.”
Ted planted his fists on the side of the bed and leaned in, inches from Greg. “You really think I haven’t noticed your little issue? The thing with your parents…I feel for you, man, I really do. But it’s time to move on. Live life and quit hiding.” Ted straightened. “Trust me, you’ll be a better man for it.”
Ally released the breath she’d been holding, afraid to look at Greg. She’d had the exact same thoughts.
“If you’re finished doing your armchair shrink bit, I’d like a word alone with Ally.”
Ted’s shoulders sagged. He nodded and winked at her, but his usual sparkle was MIA.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Greg turned. “How are you really, Ally?”
The gentle tone of voice took her by surprise, as if the last few minutes of thick tension hadn’t occurred. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She longed to tug him down into bed with her. Guess she was feeling better. He trailed a fingertip down her cheek and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. Her fingers curled into the bedding.
“I’ve missed you, sweetheart.”
Ally’s eyes widened. Quite an admission from Playboy of the Year.
“Have you missed me?”
Had she missed him? Anger flared in her belly. He’d known where she was for the last three days. If he missed her so much…it didn’t matter. Greg didn’t do relationships. They weren’t his thing. What difference did her missing him make?
Ally’s gaze dropped to his mouth. All the deliciously naughty things he’d done to her flashed through her mind.
Greg leaned down and teased her lips apart, kissing her until her thoughts fizzed and popped, dissipating into the air. She lifted her arms to wrap around his neck and flinched, gasping as pain ripped through her.
Frowning, concern darkening his eyes, he pulled away. “Do you need more pain meds?”
“I’ll be okay. Just give me a sec.” Ally took a breath and willed the pain to subside.
The concern didn’t leave his expression. He ran a hand through his hair and settled into a chair. “The guy from the lake confessed. Looks like he’s our man.”
She perked up. “Really? Good of him. Very selfless.”
“Yeah.” Greg chuckled.
“Did he say why he wanted me dead, by any chance?”
“No.”
Her heart sank. A reason for all the torment she’d endured would have been nice.
“He lawyered-up and quit talking. When do they spring you from this joint?”
“When the doctor was here, he mentioned tomorrow. I’m going stir crazy.”
“Any plans for getting home?”
“A woman from work offered, but I turned her down. I made other arrangements.” Just an hour ago. She kept hoping Greg would show up and play errant knight in shining or even slightly tarnished armor. Now he was here…well, a girl had her pride.
“You sure? I’d be happy to be your escort.”
Despite her anger and hurt, hope made a surprising recovery.
“It’s the least I can do after…” He waved an expansive hand. “Everything.”
After…she got shot? After sleeping with her and dumping her? After abandoning her in the hospital for three days? Warm and fuzzy flat-lined. Alongside their absence came a sharp realization.
She needed to do this. A bullet from a would-be killer had done serious damage just below her shoulder, shredding muscles and nicking her lung. What had come before with Greg didn’t bear thinking about. Getting home from the hospital seemed like an excellent start to reclaiming her life.
“You’re sweet,”—Not— “but I called a car service to drive me home. I’m splurging.”
“You shouldn’t call me sweet. I’ll develop a complex and there won’t be any living with me.” He grinned. “On second thought, go ahead. I live alone.”
She forced a laugh but gasped as pain washed the room in shades of gray and she bit her lip. The equipment she was hooked to started beeping. “Guess I’m not as recovered as I’d like.”
The nurse bustled into the room, tutting and rearranging Ally’s pillows and checking her bandage. She pushed a syringe full of clear fluid into her IV, shot Greg a dirty look and left.
“Damn. She’s a real bulldog. You okay?”
“Nurse Betty is very nice. She doesn’t like me getting so many visitors.”
“Was that a hint?”
“I am a bit tired.” Ally straightened her blankets one-handed and avoided his gaze.
Greg stood and leaned down, invading her personal space. “I’ll go, but I’ll be back to discuss your ride home.”
Her heart cracked, but she put on a smile. “I’ll be fine, Greg.”
Impassive, he nodded and left.
Ally sagged into the bed, staring at the muted show playing on the television. A soap opera of some kind. Fascinating. Not. She gingerly shifted onto her side and watched clouds drift by outside, waiting for the painkiller to kick in. If only they had one for heartbreak.
Chapter Seventeen
The helicopter tilted to the side in a wide arc around the bay. Ally’s lunch shifted dangerously in her stomach. Swallowing, she focused on the scenery spread out below like a beautiful buffet, courtesy of Mother Nature. She’d gone from bland hospital walls to wild adventure in just a matter of days. Amazing how getting shot could change a girl’s perspective.
“Gorgeous,” she breathed. And breathtaking. She laughed.
The pilot grinned and headed inland. Coastal landscape gave way to rugged mountains.
A wild river slashed through a canyon below. Along the edge, a herd of elk leapt up and disappeared into the tree line.
The pilot spoke through the earphones. “The noise of the chopper startled them.”
Brawny and good-looking, in his mid to late thirties, there’d been no mistaking the gleam in his blue eyes when he greeted her at the small landing pad. Or the way his gaze lingered with notable appreciation on the fit of her new clothes over her curves.
A few weeks ago she might have followed up on the invitation in those eyes. Then again, a few weeks ago she never would have been on a fun weekend get-away. Especially alone. She was thankful to be alive, she reminded herself yet again as tears blurred the striking vista below. Her last conversation with Greg ran through her mind with startling clarity.
“I missed you
at the hospital. Guess you made it home okay?”
Greg’s achingly familiar voice wrapped around her throat like barbed wire. Resolute, she clung to her poise. “Yes, thank you.”
“I wanted to let you know we’ve gotten the word out about Big, Bad and Ugly being in custody and there won’t be any more commissioned jobs.” He’d stolen her nicknaming habit? “We’re still working out all the angles, since he clammed up after confessing to ordering the hit. I hope to have an answer on why he went after you soon. The important thing is, you’re safe now.” He paused. “So, uh…how are you doing?”
“Good, thanks.” She forced a smile into her voice. “I take it this means I can get on with my life?”
“Yeah. I don’t see why not.”
“Great.”
Silence hummed on the line, and Ally bit her lip to resist filling it.
“Okay, well, I’d better run. Talk to you later, Sugar Lips.”
The pilot glanced at her as the helicopter touched down. Ally saw instead Greg’s blue-green gaze. Remembered the feel of his blond strands in her hands as she stared at the pilot’s ruffled brown curls when he helped her onto terra firma.
Ally smiled against the heartache and waved good-bye. Probably wrong to enjoy the regret on his handsome face as she grabbed her small suitcase from the storage area and climbed into a cab to the airport.
She went through the motions of checking in and boarding the homeward-bound flight, but her mind was elsewhere. Even the pat-down at security didn’t faze her. Preoccupation with redesigning her life and wondering if Greg would carve out a space for himself had its benefits.
The drone of the idling airplane filled her ears as Ally dug through her handbag. “Drat. I know I put my earbuds in here.”
“Lose something?”
She jerked upright and gaped. “Greg? What are you doing here?”
“I thought a quick trip would be fun. Too bad I missed out on the chopper ride.”
“The chopper…” She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about that?”
Greg shrugged, sat down and opened a magazine.
Two could play his game. Ally sat back and crossed her arms. If he thought he was getting off so easy, he was mistaken. “So, you just happen to know about my weekend trip and you just happen to be on the same flight home?”
“Yep. Small world.”
Irritated beyond belief with his recalcitrant attitude, she glared. “I could get a restraining order, you know.”
He snorted. “Good luck with that.”
Ally gritted her teeth and bored a hole in the side of his head.
Finally, he met her gaze and sighed. “Fine. I was worried about you, okay? The past few weeks were pretty stressful for someone who…”
Ally raised her brows, daring him to complete his sentence.
He cleared his throat. “Who isn’t used to it. I wanted to make sure you weren’t going off the deep end. Sky diving without a parachute or some other crazy stunt, but I couldn’t get off until late last night. I missed you at the helicopter pad earlier. Then you boogied out of there so fast, I figured I’d just meet up with you here.”
Great. He’d bought a round-trip ticket to babysit her, just in case she needed a reservation for her very own padded cell.
“How adorable.” Toxically sweet, she smiled, glancing to her left. A big guy sat there, looking uncomfortable in the ever-shrinking airplane seat.
“Hi,” she said.
The dark-haired man glanced up and Ally experimented with what she hoped was a flirtatious smile. To her gratification, his eyes widened and he shifted to face her more fully.
“Hi. You coming or going?”
“Going. How about you?”
On Ally’s other side, Greg noisily flipped magazine pages. She ignored him.
“I’m headed to my parents’ for a few days. It’s their fortieth anniversary tomorrow, and my sister is throwing a big party.” His gaze skimmed over her body. It did nothing for her, unlike when Greg gave her an appreciative once-over.
“Really?” She upped the wattage of her smile.
Greg slapped his magazine down.
“That’s great. You don’t hear about too many couples staying together very long anymore.” Ally shifted so her back was to the annoying passenger to her right. “Do you live here in Seattle, then?”
“Yeah. I play for the Seahawks. Name’s Mark Gresham.” A hundred-watt smile with perfect white teeth about blinded her.
“That’s nice. I don’t watch much baseball.”
Greg snorted.
The power of Mark’s smile died down to a more manageable glow.
“My name’s Ally.”
“Pleased to meet you, Ally.” Mark held out his big hand, but instead of shaking, he brought her hand to his lips while holding her gaze. No doubt the practiced move paved serious in-roads with women.
She could have sworn Greg growled.
Mark’s dark-brown eyes twinkled. “The Seahawks are a football team, honey. Just so you know.”
“Oh.” Don’t I feel like a moron?
Behind her, Greg snorted again, so she upped the wattage of her smile. “Football is a very demanding sport. You must be in incredible shape.”
Mark grinned. A very cute grin. “Yeah, it can be pretty rough. I can’t complain, though. The pay is great and the activity keeps me in shape.”
“I can tell.” Heat climbed into her cheeks at her boldness. Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day. She plowed ahead. “I’m impressed your parents have been together for so long. So many people are like small, frightened children about commitment these days.”
Ally literally felt the weight of Greg’s glare on the back of her head.
“Uhm … yeah. Thanks. They’ve set a great example for my sister and I.”
She forced herself to relax and grin. “That’s great.”
“What do you do back home?”
“I work for an insurance company at the moment, but I’ve been thinking about changing careers.”
“Oh, yeah? Bold move.”
Ally basked in the appreciation heating his eyes for all of two seconds before something smacked her shoulder and she jerked around. Greg smiled with more teeth than was necessarily polite.
“Sorry, miss.”
Smiling with sugary sweetness, Ally cooed, “Not at all. I’m sure controlling muscle spasms is difficult at your age.”
Mark’s cologne and handsome face invaded her peripheral vision as he leaned around her. “Try to be a little more careful, buddy.”
Greg went from poker-face innocence to dangerous cop in a blink.
Ally stiffened and parted her lips to intervene, but the stewardess began preflight instructions. Both men subsided into their respective seats. Ally buckled her seat belt, fiddled with the emergency-exit pamphlet, fluffed her hair, straightened her blouse and avoided Greg’s hot glare.
An hour of studiously avoiding looking directly at Greg while maintaining a stream of flirtatious conversation with Mark frayed her composure to the breaking point. A few minutes of solitary in the miniscule airplane bathroom sounded like heaven.
Ally climbed over Greg’s long, muscular legs to reach the aisle, forcing her into direct contact with the hunky body she knew intimately. Halfway over, turbulence knocked her off her feet and onto his lap.
His hands latched onto her waist, her butt inches from the heat of his crotch.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Sorry.”
Heaven help her, his mouth was an enticing two inches away. She licked her lips and his gaze dropped to watch. A moan caught partway up her throat. Pathetic. A little direct contact, a few heated looks and her panties were damp.
She scrambled off his lap. Five steps down the aisle, feminine instinct made her glance back.
Greg’s gaze was glued to her butt.
Shutting the bathroom door, Ally collapsed against it. Not two seconds later, someone knocked. Hadn’t they seen her walk in? “I’ll just be a sec.
”
“Ally, let me in.”
Greg? What did he want? She opened the door an inch. He crowded his way into the room with her. They stood chest-to-chest in the tiny space as he locked the door. She noted the familiar gleam in his eyes and took a step back, but her heel hit the sink cabinet and the tiny counter bit into her butt.
“Greg, what are you doing? What if someone saw you?”
“No one did.”
“This isn’t….”
His mouth over hers shut her up and chased away every thought in her head. With a low moan, she twined her arms around his neck and sank into the kiss like a starving woman with a buffet of homemade, just-out-of-the-oven cookies. Big hands cupped her bottom and brought her flush with his arousal. The contact tipped her over the edge of sanity.
Hands shaking with desire, Ally yanked his T-shirt over his head then moaned again at the feel of his taut skin under her hands. Greg did one better, tugging her shirt over her head and her pants and panties down to her ankles then pulling her bra cups down until her breasts spilled over the edges.
While their tongues mimicked what she so desperately wanted their bodies to be doing, he cupped her bare bottom in his hands. The friction of his chest hair against her nipples started a dull roar in her ears. He planted his foot between hers and lifted her free of her pants, setting her on the bathroom counter. Ally fumbled with the button on his jeans. She wanted him inside her now.
Greg pushed her hands aside, shoved his pants down, took hold of himself with one hand, used the other to grab her butt and thrust home. Fully seated inside her, he threaded his fingers into her hair and kissed her. Two hard thrusts and she came, moaning into his mouth. The threads of his restraint seemed to snap. He lifted her off the counter and pounded into her.
The feel of him around her, moving inside her, their combined scent, his passion, all wove a tight web. Emotion swelled and her body tightened around him again. Tearing her mouth free, she buried her face against his neck. Another orgasm, more powerful than the first, swept through her and she bit his shoulder.
Beneath her hands, Greg tensed. One more hard thrust and he gave a low guttural moan. Arms and legs wrapped tight, she held him as he found his own release.
Sweet Deception Page 19