The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 3)

by Mallory Crowe

  He bit out a curse and kicked up his speed. Why would she run? He could outrun her any day of the week, if not because of his diligent workout routine, because his legs were a hell of a lot longer than hers.

  The other advantage he had was that he ran on this terrain almost every day. Willa wasn’t used to the grooves and bumps, and after only a few yards, her ankle twisted beneath her. She fell on her hands and knees, giving James plenty of time to catch up to her.

  As soon as she fell, she didn’t try to get up. At first he thought she had hurt herself, but he couldn’t see any body language saying “pain.” There was a tension in her shoulders and back that was more like... anger.

  “Come on. Let’s get back.” He stood over her.

  She was quiet and didn’t look at him or make any motion to move.

  “If you want me to carry you, I can. And trust me, neither of us is going to want that.”

  “What does it matter?” she asked finally.

  “I told you. You’re going to give me dirt on your father.”

  “Yeah, I got that part. But I came to you to keep me alive and you can’t stand me. So how am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to believe that you’re going to do a damn thing for me? The second you get what you want, I’m on my own anyway. So just let me go now. I’d rather take my chances with the vultures than with you.”

  James clenched his jaw. He didn’t know what bothered him more: the fact that she still wasn’t doing what he wanted her to do or the fact that she was completely right. So he didn’t try to defend himself. Instead, he crouched down next to her and met her dark eyes. “Willa, I don’t have any comfort to give you. But one way or another, you’re coming back with me. Over my shoulder or at my side. Your decision.”

  “What did I do?” she asked, still not moving. “Why can’t you stand me?”

  James sighed. “Fine. I’ll carry you.” He reached for her, but she finally jumped back and turned back toward the house.

  “Neanderthal,” she muttered under her breath as she started to walk.

  James hung back and allowed her to head a few feet in front of him. She obviously didn’t want to be around him, so he was going to give her that few feet of space.

  But he still kept close.

  “Would you stop lurking, please?”

  He caught up with her and walked alongside her. “I thought you didn’t want to be around me.”

  “Yes, because having you three feet behind me is so much better.”

  He knew nothing he could say would really help the situation, but he forced himself to try to make things marginally better. “I’m sorry I’m not the best company,” he bit out.

  “If only there was something you could do to become more accommodating....” She squinched her face. “Actually, no. I like this asshole version of you. I like knowing that there is no hidden nice guy lurking underneath the surface. Makes things easier.”

  James didn’t say anything. He already did the best apology he was capable of and he was still convinced he was right. He wasn’t there to be her friend; he was there to babysit her until they could make their move against Jadon.

  They were halfway back to the house before the silence must’ve gotten to her. “Why aren’t you sleeping? Aren’t you tired? Or are you just a robot who doesn’t sleep?”

  The exhaustion was tugging at him intensely, but he was trained to work through it. Though he would need to catch a few hours if he wanted to be useful in the next few days. “I am tired,” he said. “You should be sleeping too.”

  She scoffed. “I wish.”

  “Is the bed a problem?” He didn’t have any thousand-thread count sheets or anything, but they got the job done. Maybe she needed the luxuries to sleep?

  “Never mind.” She sighed.

  Normally he’d be more than happy to let that slide, but if she wasn’t sleeping, he’d have to worry about her running off again. “Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?” There. Now he was being the nice host she wanted.

  “Unless you know a way to stop nightmares, I think I’m SOL.”

  Nightmares? He wanted to ask what the nightmares were about, but he thought better of it. They weren’t at the point where they were sharing any personal details, which was where he wanted things to stay. Besides, he knew more than most that no matter how rich someone was, it didn’t keep their life from being nightmare-worthy. Sure, his past would’ve been a hell of a lot easier with an influx of cash, but he hadn’t had those problems in a long, long time.

  “How much are you getting for this?”

  “What?” It was as if she knew what he was thinking about.

  “You said you were getting paid for this. So how much does my protection cost?”

  “I’m technically getting nothing.”

  She stopped and looked over at him. “Why am I a freebie? You don’t like me.”

  He sighed. He didn’t want to reward her for fishing for compliments, but he didn’t want her to keep thinking that. “I don’t hate you.”

  She raised a skeptical brow. “Okay. You don’t hate me, but you don’t like me. Which is fine, because I don’t like you either. We can agree to mutual dislike. But that still doesn’t explain why you’re helping me.”

  “I’m with you right now because I made a mistake.”

  “And I’m your penance?”

  “Because of me, Melody’s mother died.”

  Willa’s mouth dropped open and she averted her gaze. She obviously didn’t know what to say and he kept going before she started to nervously try to fill the silence. “I was working a job for Melody’s mother. A simple recovery mission. I was too late and while I was distracted, Isobel Murray was shot and killed.” The Murray women—Jennifer, Melody, and Toni—had never blamed him for what had happened, but it had been as if he were right back in Afghanistan. Not only had he been there as the three sisters had to stoically take in the news of their mother’s murder, but he was the one who offered to go back into the building and remove the body.

  It was only a few days later, during the small, covert funeral, that he had promised to himself that he would make sure that the man responsible for this, Jonathan Sterling, would pay.

  Sterling had gone into hiding after learning that the Murray women and Scott Hart had it out for him, but he couldn’t stay in hiding forever. And Jadon Belli, Willa’s father, happened to be one of the only people in the world who could locate Sterling.

  “I—” Willa bit her lip, not finishing whatever she was about to say. Then she shook her head and started to walk quickly back to the house. This time when he let her have a few feet in front of him, she didn’t protest. She seemed to have had enough talking for one night and he was more than happy with that.

  Because in a few days, she would be out of his hair forever and he could go back to his life before there were any women to mess it up.

  Willa was going to go insane. It wasn’t going to be her father who killed her, or even a late night of too much drinking. It was going to be pure and utter boredom.

  Give her cable. Give her a book. Any book. Even one of those boring tearjerkers she’d avoided her entire life. But there was absolutely nothing to do here.

  She couldn’t even go for a walk without James Weston stalking alongside her to make sure she didn’t go running off. She’d be more upset about it if she didn’t know that she’d given him plenty of reason to think that she was a flight risk.

  She wished she could take back her late-night excursion, but it was what it was. She was a runner. It was what her best friend back home, Stephanie, loved to point out every time she’d broken up with a boyfriend or turned down a ring.

  And not just with men. Anytime anything got too serious in her life, be it an apartment or major at school, she’d take off. Maybe what was bothering her even more than the boredom was her inability to run. There was no way out of this little safe house until James Weston decided to let her go.

  “James...” she said ou
t loud. No, that just didn’t seem right. It was too normal. Too subdued for the caveman. “Weston,” she tried. That fit him more, but she’d never been one to call someone by their last name. Maybe he would be the exception? He was probably the exception to a lot of things.

  She padded to the kitchen but didn’t see a single drop of liquor in the cabinets. Damn it. She had to settle for a bottle of water as she went back to the mostly empty living room. She did a little circle and imagined what she would do with all this space. With the hardwood floors and tall ceiling, it would make a really great dance studio.

  She tapped her foot as she remembered back to the dance lessons she’d taken. One more thing she’d run from. Because dancing was fun, but making a career out of it was hard. And she ran from hard things.

  Suddenly she got an idea and rushed to her room. Her cell phone was in her bag and powered down. Willa had watched enough television to know that cell phones could be tracked, but she could turn off anything traceable, like internet and service.

  And that would still give her access to all her music. A few minutes later, she was back in the living room and turned on her rock playlist. Well, pop rock. Something with a good beat. Something cheery that she couldn’t resist moving to.

  She took a deep swig of water and then started to sway her hips to the music. She wasn’t doing any type of coordinated dance and had to imagine she looked like a tool, but it felt good to move and the thought of just tearing up some stranger’s living room with her crappy dance moves had her giggling to herself. God, it had been too long since she’d smiled.

  She closed her eyes as she took in the music. She remembered the last time this song had come on at a club. AJ and Stephanie had both been there with her. AJ hit on anyone in a mini skirt while Willa and Stephanie had chosen to ignore the opposite sex and just danced with each other. Back before she’d met Jules. Back before any of this.

  Her hands were in the air and she swayed her hips as the bridge of the song got slower. As she did a little turn, her eyes opened and she realized she wasn’t alone. Her dance came to an abrupt end as she saw James Weston watching her.

  She half expected him to burst out laughing at the sight, but he didn’t. He was absolutely still and stared at her.

  “I’m sorry. I was just really bored and I thought that if I could move a bit, it would work some of the tension out and the living room is so much like a dance studio. Which you probably never realized, but the hardwood floors and no furniture kind of make it a great space for moving around in and it was nice to kind of get away from my thoughts for a bit and I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything but I just....” She realized he still wasn’t moving. And he didn’t seem annoyed. He looked.... Oh good Lord, he was turned on. The signs were so subtle, but there was this heat in his eyes as his gaze went up her body, from her feet right up until he met her eyes. She shifted her weight awkwardly. She had been confused that he hadn’t shown any signs of attraction to her before, but she’d since become used to that.

  Now that the heat was there, she was... flabbergasted. James Weston didn’t like her. James Weston was a robot.

  “I....”

  He turned and walked away before she could start on another rambling explanation. The rock song was still playing. Willa ran over to the phone and stumbled through the screens as she hit the wrong thing and rushed to turn the damn thing off. She wanted to just turn back the clock a few minutes before the entire awkward exchange ever happened.

  But if she couldn’t run, she could avoid. Avoid and ignore. Yep. The next time she saw James Weston, she was just going to play oblivious and act as if nothing had changed.

  Because nothing had changed. She was still his annoying charge and he was still her quiet, frustrating host and protector.

  But before she could go to her room to truly get a handle on the situation, he was back in the living room. “Did you still want to get some basics?”

  She blinked at his casual tone. Even though she had been determined to sweep the awkwardness under the rug, she was still surprised at how easily he did it. Right back to being a robot.

  Which is a good thing, she told herself. Just confusing.

  “Yes. When are we leaving?”

  “As soon as you’re ready.”

  He walked away and Willa frowned. Maybe he wasn’t as okay with this as he acted. Because she was willing to bet anything that he hadn’t been planning on a supply run a few minutes ago.

  Huh. So maybe James Weston was a runner too.

  Willa had come to terms with the fact that walking away on foot hadn’t been a good idea. But after the fifty-minute drive into town—and by town, she meant an outcropping of a truck stop, small-town diner, and one looming big box store—she fully comprehended how idiotic the little excursion had been.

  “I don’t get it,” she said as James Weston pulled the truck into the parking lot of the big box store.

  “Don’t get what?”

  “Why you live out here. There’s nothing to do. Nothing to see. Nowhere to shop....” For real, where was the nearest mall?

  “Some people like the scenery in the desert.”

  “Yeah, it’s great. But that’s all there is. Pretty scenery and nothing. What the hell do you do?”

  “Maybe I like the peace.”

  “If you need that much peace in your downtime, that means your job is way too stressful.” Considering what he did for a living, maybe that was it. He told her what happened on his last job. Someone had died. Maybe the only way to get away from that kind of guilt was to escape into the middle of nowhere. Not that it was helping her at the moment.

  “So, how small of a town is this?” she asked once the car was in park.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like, if you go out shopping with some strange girl, are people going to ask questions? I can say I’m your cousin, visiting from out of town maybe?” Even though Chicago was about as far as you could get from a small town, the gossip mill was everywhere. And Willa had a feeling that an attractive guy like James Weston, caveman or not, probably had an army of matchmaking women who had a pool going on how long it would take him to settle down.

  At least if they gave the pretense that they were related, they’d be left alone.

  “You can’t be my cousin. Just let people think we’re together.”

  He got out of the car before Willa could ask any more questions. She thought James Weston would be more resistant than that about the idea of them as a couple. But he was already halfway into the store, leaving her to catch up. Apparently he didn’t want to discuss the matter any further.

  When she caught up to him, she leaned in closer. “You know that if you want to keep me safe, you should probably walk slow enough for me to keep up.”

  He let out a little scoff, the closest he’d gotten to laughing in the entire time they’d been together. “I figure that if you’re running for your life, you’ll manage to keep up.”

  “Your concern for my life, as always, is touching.” Willa liked this whole pretending nothing strange happened thing. In fact, she thought that the situation from earlier actually made James Weston slightly more accommodating. Did he feel guilty for the awkwardness? Or was he going to be nicer anyway because they were out in public and he was pretending to be her boyfriend?

  Once they were inside, she immediately started for the clothes.

  “Only things you need,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes. “I think I’ll manage to contain my shopping addiction.” Then she realized he was starting toward the back of the store. “You’re not coming with me?”

  “I need to pick up a few things. I won’t be gone long.”

  She nodded even as part of her wanted to ask him to stay around. Logically she knew it was crazy to think that her father had managed to track her down. She’d been so careful about her phone use and hadn’t used a credit card or accessed her bank account or any of her internet accounts since she’d left. A f
eat that had her going through major withdrawal, but it was worth it.

  So there was no reason to think that she needed her caveman babysitter. But still, this was her first time in public since she’d come begging Melody Murray for help, and she couldn’t help but feel as if she were constantly in danger. Maybe after a few weeks or months that paranoia would go away, but it was impossible to shake when she still saw Jules’s murder every time she closed her eyes. She forced out a nod and figured it was half convincing, because James Weston left her.

  She balled her hands into fists and released them. Shopping. She was good at this. She liked this. She should enjoy herself and not let her fear get the best of her. She found the rack of clearance clothes and started to go through it. She wasn’t looking for anything to party in. She wanted relaxing, lounging clothes that she could run in if necessary. She pulled out a tank top and her eyes widened when she saw the price tag. Three bucks. How was it possible to spend so little on clothes? She kept it in her hands as she continued to go through the rack.

  She thought the bargain store would have nothing that interested her, but a lot of the styles copied the trends at the boutiques she normally went to. The fabrics weren’t the normal soft feel she was used to, but for price and convenience, it couldn’t be beat.

  “Hun, would you like me to grab you a cart?”

  She looked over her shoulder at the man who had spoken and thought she was going to see an employee. Instead, it was a man in a flannel shirt, worn blue jeans, a cowboy hat, and boots to complete the look. And the tall, fit man beneath the clothes looked the part of a cowboy a hundred percent. Oh Lord, if this were any other time in her life, she’d be all over this. But now was not the time. “Thanks for offering, but I’m good.”