High Seduction

by Vivian Arend

  “Yes, sir.”

  With things under control, Tim headed in a new direction, his fingers linked with Erin’s. He wasn’t letting her go any time soon, but he was curious.

  “Where are you going?” James asked.

  “For a snack.” Tim squeezed her fingers lightly.

  Erin raised a brow. “Come again?”

  “The bag they wanted. We should make sure James gets it, right?”

  “You knew where it was all along?”

  “No.” Tim slipped into the staff kitchen, glancing around. “Not until Ken told me the bag held some water bottles and plastic bags filled with gel. Could have been first-aid supplies, but more likely if it was a grey-striped bag about the size of your clothes bag—”

  Another burst of laughter broke free. “Our lunch sack? They wanted that?”

  Marcus and James followed on their heels. “These are the guys you rescued off the mountain?” Marcus asked.

  “And they came back for something we accidentally took, yes.” Tim pulled open drawers. “A backpack. They must have shoved whatever they were transporting that was important enough to kill for into the bag while Erin was refueling the chopper at the cabin airstrip.”

  A far more somber Erin joined him in his search. “And then when we took off in the middle of the night, we took the bag with us.”

  “Bad planning on their part,” James noted. “Is that it?”

  Tim turned as Erin pulled the bag out of the side cupboard. “That’s it. Open it up.”

  She laid it on the table and unzipped every compartment.

  Nothing.

  A frown creased her forehead as she looked across the table at him. “We dropped off the bag. Someone went through and emptied it, putting everything back where it belonged, including the bag, which means they should have found whatever was in here . . .”

  “It makes no sense,” James pulled the bag closer, running his fingers through all the pockets, pressing on the seams. “It doesn’t seem likely that they’d have sewn anything right onto the bag.”

  “They didn’t have time for that,” Erin agreed.

  “Or written something?” Tim asked. “But what would be that valuable . . . ?”

  He was looking into Erin’s eyes when the idea struck. She must have thought of something as well, as her eyes widening. “We guessed the flight originated from somewhere in the Northwest Territories?”

  She was going the same direction he was. “Red said he was hired to transport a bag, nothing else.”

  They both looked at the fridge. “You think?” Tim asked.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Erin opened the door and peeked inside. “Jackpot.”

  She pulled out two oversized water bottles.

  Tim went for a drawer, bringing out the largest pot they had in the place and placing it on the table. “Open one.”

  He stuck his hand into the pot, palm up, and waited as Erin poured the water over his fingers, the steady glug, glug of the bottle emptying the only sound.

  Something hit his palm, and he swore softly.

  “What’s that?” Marcus asked.

  Erin tipped the final water out, splashing a little on the table as she put the empty bottle aside and leaned over to examine Tim’s hand. “The one thing easily carried out of the north worth killing someone over.”

  Tim lifted his hand to display a glistening pile of rough-cut diamonds.

  CHAPTER 30

  They still had their fingers twined together when James gave the go-ahead to leave the RCMP station.

  Marcus exited the building with them, shaking his head. “You two just about done with the excitement?” he asked.

  “You want to give us more vacation time, we’re game,” Erin teased.

  Their boss gave Tim a slap on the back. “I gave you a vacation, and you got involved with diamond smugglers. How about you just stay put for a while. Might be safer.”

  “Deal.”

  Erin tucked up against Tim’s side as they got into his truck, the position as natural as breathing. He kissed her temple, but other than that he didn’t say anything. Her brain had reached the point of overload, so silence suited her nicely while she relaxed and let him figure out where they needed to go.

  It didn’t matter. If he took her home, she’d pack a bag. If he took her straight to his place, she’d steal a shirt from his closet and wear that until she found something else.

  The one thing she didn’t expect was for him to drive them back to Lifeline HQ.

  “Tim?”

  He put the truck into park and stared ahead, his expression serious enough she didn’t want to interrupt. Outside the building more of the ground cover had been trampled by the RCMP, but a fresh layer of snow was slowly covering the tracks that wandered in all directions.

  A fresh, clean start.

  It was pitch-black out, the falling snow visible in the lights shining like spotlights. Fluffy flakes landed on her lashes as Tim tugged her from the truck and headed back up the steps, his hand wrapped carefully around her fingers as he guided her forward.

  “Don’t set off the alarm,” she teased.

  “Poor overworked RCMP.”

  “Poor Marcus.”

  They grinned at each other, slipping into the main area. “You brought us back so we could start cleaning up the mess in the staff room,” she guessed.

  “Bullshit on that. I plan to shovel it all into a pile and tell Tripp it’s a training exercise in searching for small objects.”

  She poked him in the side. “He’ll never fall for that.”

  “What about Anders? Or maybe Alisha?”

  Erin snickered, then fell silent as he led her into the back room where so recently they’d stood under totally different circumstances.

  Tim faced her, examining her from top to bottom with a careful thoroughness that she’d come to expect. She let herself indulge in the same satisfying scrutiny. There were cuts on his knuckles that he’d gotten at some point since the second appearance of their kidnappers. A faint darkening on his cheek as a bruise surfaced.

  She stroked the spot gently. “Ken hit you.”

  “He didn’t like the suggestions I made regarding what I’d do to his guts if he laid a hand on you again.”

  “Oh, Tim.”

  He covered her fingers with his own. “I was perfectly polite, and not a bit over the top. But the truth was . . . in the end, you saved me.”

  “We did what we had to do,” Erin insisted.

  Tim eased away from her, his hand dropping to his side as he paused beside the storage shelves. “I don’t know any other way to tell you this than straight out, and straight up. I love you, kitten. Claws and all.”

  Erin held her breath. The intense passion in his blue eyes was enough to burn her where she stood.

  “Hell, I love your claws most of all.” Tim took her hand and kissed her knuckles before flipping her brain offline as he sank to one knee.

  “Tim?” The word whispered out through a throat gone tight with emotion at the love shining up at her.

  “Whatever it takes to convince you, I’ll do it. Whatever promises I need to make, I’ll make them.” He took a deep breath, his hands growing unsteady. “I sat here in the dark, Erin, and considered a life without you, and I didn’t want to have to face that reality. And then you showed up, with all the fire you have inside you. The passion for life and the power you bring to whatever you do, and I knew in here I couldn’t live without you another minute.”

  He put a fist to his chest, knocking solidly.

  “You don’t have to live without me,” Erin promised. “We belong together. Whatever that together looks like, we’ll figure out the same way we figured everything else out.”

  “With pepper spray?”

  The joke came at the perfect moment to stop her from bursting into unwanted tears. “Do you plan these things in advance, or is perfect comedic timing a God-given gift?”

  Tim lifted a hand and tilted
it from side to side. “A bit of both. Now take off your clothes.”

  The change of topic didn’t surprise her one bit, which also made her laugh. She pulled her top over her head, folding it carefully and placing it on the shelf beside him. Taunting him as she brushed past him on each trip, stroking his shoulders and arms with naked skin.

  He didn’t move, except to reach behind him and pull something from the shelf.

  Erin turned, stark naked, to see what he’d found.

  Tim pulled the packaging from a brand-new rope, his eyes wild with fire as he rose and closed in on her. “I have something for you.”

  She placed a hand on his hip, slipping her fingers over his groin. “I bet you do.”

  It was his turn to smile. “No agendas. Nothing but Erin and Tim, and what makes us happy. In work, or in play, we do what we need to. Agreed?”

  This she could wholeheartedly agree to. Finally, and without reservation. “Yes.”

  He pulled her against him, the rough texture of his clothing sending an instant thrill through her system. A head rush like no other, edgy and dangerous as they played right there where they could have lost each other forever. Tim lifted her chin with a single finger so their lips met, and the fire she’d seen in his eyes consumed her all over again.

  Possessive, and being possessed. There was nothing more that she could have asked for.

  They were both breathless when he let her lips free, her fingers fisted into the fabric of his T-shirt tight enough to threaten the seams. Tim panted for a moment before finding his control.

  Deep, dark. The command came out exactly how she wanted to hear it.

  “Tell me you love me,” Tim ordered, his lips shifting against the tender skin of her neck, as if he couldn’t bear to move any farther away. “Tell me you want me all the time, and in all the ways I can take you. I need to know you’re mine.”

  Her response came easily. “I love you.”

  She scraped her nails down his chest, pushing the boundaries. Pushing him because she could, and because she knew that once he took control?

  Hmmmm.

  Erin looked him straight in the eye, letting everything she felt inside show on her face. So many years lost, so many doubts that had haunted her, and they’d all fallen aside as the truth shouted louder than anything. She could be strong and submissive.

  She could be herself.

  “I love you, and I’m yours.” She caught the rope he still held in his fingers and tugged it lightly. “Now tie me up and fuck me, you bastard.”

  His slow chuckle rolled over her, making her skin more sensitive in anticipation. He caught her wrists and trapped them behind her back. “I thought you’d never ask.”