What was it Ryan had told her once, in the hospital?
She was going to help him, whether he wanted her to or not.
* * *
RYAN WIPED A trickle of blood from his brow and circled his opponent, looking for an opening. Both of them were bloody and bruised and had been trying to get the best of each other for the better part of the last ten minutes.
He didn’t know if the other man had a gun or not. They’d both practically run into each other on the path through the woods. Neither of them had the opportunity to go for their guns.
“Who are you?” Ryan asked as he threw a punch that knocked the other man back a few feet. “Who do you work for?”
The man wiped the smear of blood from his mouth and scowled at Ryan. “I’m the man who’s going to kill you.” He charged forward, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s waist, knocking him down.
Ryan struggled to get his hands beneath the other man’s jaw, trying to force him back.
“Get off him!”
Ryan froze at the sound of Jessica’s voice. She was standing a few feet away, holding her knife in the air.
The man above Ryan grinned and jumped off him. Ryan shouted a warning at Jessica, but it was too late. The other man had knocked the knife from her hands and grabbed her around the waist.
Ryan drew himself into a crouch, but he stilled when he came face-to-face with the business end of the gun that he’d suspected the stranger had all along. The stranger held Jessica clasped against him, his thick forearm pressed against her neck, forcing her head up at an awkward angle. His gun pointed straight at Ryan.
“Back up. Now,” the man said, his eyes narrowing.
Ryan took a step back. He didn’t look at Jessica’s face. He knew the fear in her eyes would distract him. He needed to focus, to watch for a weakness, an opening, so he could figure a way out of this mess.
“Keep backing up,” the man ordered. He pressed his forearm tighter against Jessica’s throat.
“Ease up,” Ryan said. He held his hands in a conciliatory gesture and quickly stepped back, putting several more feet of space between them.
The man relaxed his hold just enough to let Jessica draw a deep, gasping breath into her lungs.
Ryan risked a quick glance at her face.
She wasn’t terrified.
She was furious.
She was also digging her hand into her jacket pocket. What was she doing?
“What do you want?” Ryan yelled, trying to distract the gunman. At the same time he wished he could shake Jessica and make her drop whatever crazy plan she was hatching.
The stranger aimed his gun straight at Ryan’s heart, but his arm jerked up in the air, accompanied by his scream as the shot went wild over Ryan’s head and the gun fell from his hand.
For a moment, Ryan didn’t move. Jessica must have hidden his large hunting knife in her jacket. She’d somehow managed to grab it and stabbed the man’s gun arm. The blade had passed all the way through his forearm and was grotesquely sticking out through the top.
The man’s screams turned into violent curses. He backhanded Jessica with his other arm, knocking her to the ground.
Ryan roared and drew his gun, but the other man ducked behind a tree, hugging his injured arm across his chest as he ran into the forest. Ryan dropped to his knees beside Jessica. A quick glance at her told him she was all right. He fired off a few more shots into the trees and lunged to his feet to go after the stranger.
“Ryan, if you leave me again, I’ll follow you again.”
Jessica’s threat had him skidding to a stop.
She jumped up and ran to him. “You’re a stubborn, pigheaded man. Haven’t you learned yet to quit leaving me behind? Let him go. You’re too angry. If you go charging after him now, he’ll hear you coming. And what about the shots you fired? Surely anyone else who might be after us heard them. Shouldn’t we get out of here before they find us?”
Ryan swallowed hard and tamped down his rage. Jessica was right. Charging into the woods like some bull crashing through the undergrowth would just get him killed, and then Jessica would be left to fend for herself.
Although, judging from the damage she’d just done, maybe she wasn’t as defenseless as he’d thought. Still, the thought of everything that could have gone wrong when she drew her knife had him feeling sick inside.
He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a small shake. “What were you thinking? You could have been killed. If he’d moved his arm...if the blade had glanced off—” He shut his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. When he opened his eyes again, he was still barely in control.
“Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again.” He clasped her to him and covered her mouth with his, desperate to feel her against him and assure himself she was okay. When he began hardening, he reluctantly broke the kiss.
“I will never forget the sight of that man holding a gun with his arm across your throat.”
“Don’t worry,” she gasped, reeling from the kiss. “Neither will I. I’m so sorry that I interfered. I thought you needed my help, and all I did was make it worse.”
He pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. “If, God forbid, you’re ever being held like that by someone, don’t try to stab them. Pick up your legs and drop right out of his arms. He won’t expect it, and it will leave the way clear for me to shoot him. You got that? No more stunts like you pulled with that knife.” He grasped her arms and held her out in front of him. “We need to go back for the pack. My GPS—”
“Is right over there. I stashed the pack behind a tree.”
He smiled at her. “You’re an amazing woman, do you know that, Jessica Delaney?”
“What? I’m not Jessica Benedict anymore?” she teased.
“No,” he agreed. “You’re not.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand. “Let’s get out of here before anyone catches up, and before that man you knifed decides to come back for round two.”
A few minutes later, Ryan and Jessica burst out of the forest onto a narrow, paved road. Jessica heard the roar of an engine a split second before a dark SUV barreled out of the trees on the other side of the road. It screeched to a halt in front of them, rocking on its springs.
Ryan trained his gun on the forest where they’d just emerged, shoving Jessica behind him toward the truck. “Get in.”
The back door opened and a man leaned out. He grabbed Jessica by the waist and hauled her inside. Then he leaned across her and pulled the door closed.
“You must be Jessica. I’m Stuart Lanier. Pleased to meet you.” He winked and reached for her seat belt.
She stared at him in confusion. “Have we met before? You look so familiar.”
He hesitated before snapping the seat belt on her. “If that’s a pickup line, don’t bother. I’m yours already, beautiful.” He winked again, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. His face was tight with strain. He hopped back into the front driver’s seat, sliding his wiry frame in behind the steering wheel.
Ryan jerked the front passenger door open and jumped in. “Go, go, go!”
* * *
JESSICA WOKE TO the sound of muted voices. It was still dark outside as the SUV bumped over a pothole in the little two-lane road they were currently traveling on. Ryan was watching the trees roll past their window, keeping guard as he and Stuart spoke to each other in low voices.
Jessica yawned, and Ryan leaned around the side of the seat to look at her.
“We’re almost there,” he said.
“Almost where?” Jessica asked, stretching and looking out her window. It was still too dark to see much outside and she didn’t see any other cars on the road.
“A cheap motel.” His mouth quirked up in a sexy half grin. “It’s not the Hyatt, but it’s not Motel 6 either,” he said, echoing her earlier words.
“Are you making fun of me?” she demanded.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Jessica leaned forward and cocked her head, trying t
o get a better look at Stuart. “Have you ever been to New York?”
His brows raised and he gave her a grin. “Are you hitting on me again?”
“Again?” Ryan asked, glancing back and forth between them.
“She thinks she knows me from somewhere,” Stuart answered.
“If we’ve met, it will come to me,” Jessica said. “I never forget a face.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve ever hired Security Services International? My bodyguard and private investigation firm?”
Jessica shook her head. “Sorry. Never heard of it.”
“I’ll have to give you a business card later. Maybe we met in Afghanistan,” he teased. “Although if you were on our A-team I’m pretty sure I would have noticed.”
“What’s an A-team?”
Ryan frowned at Stuart and turned to Jessica. “Army Special Forces. The team consists of twelve rangers. Stuart served on my team. He was my engineering sergeant.”
“An engineering sergeant?” Jessica asked.
“I blow things up.” Stuart gave Jessica a cocky grin, then cleared his throat at Ryan’s hard stare.
“So, what’s our plan?” Jessica asked. “How do I help?”
“You help by doing nothing,” Ryan said. “Stuart’s going to stay with you at the motel and keep you safe. I’m going to go shake some trees and see what falls out.”
“No.”
“No?” Ryan echoed, his tone mirroring his disbelief that someone would actually refuse one of his orders. The man really needed to work on his bossiness.
“It’s my fault you’re in this mess. I’m going to help.”
“No. You’re not. The last time you tried to help, you almost got yourself killed.”
“I also saved your life.”
Ryan leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. “If you hadn’t gone storming into the middle of the fight, I wouldn’t have needed your help.”
Jessica crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes back at him. “Your father might have taught you to be just a little too independent. It’s annoying. You need to learn to accept help from other people.” She glanced pointedly at Stuart. “Or is it just women you don’t want help from?”
“There’s nothing wrong with protecting women, and keeping them out of danger,” Ryan insisted.
She rolled her eyes.
“Besides, Stuart and I have known each other for decades. We work well as a team, and I know he has my back.”
Jessica’s eyes widened. “And I don’t, I suppose? You still don’t trust me. That’s why you never want me to help you, isn’t it?”
His eyes dipped away and his jaw tightened. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” She crossed her arms and fought the urge to kick the back of his seat.
“Uh, Ryan, maybe you should cut her some slack. She’s been through a lot.” Stuart aimed an apologetic smile at Jessica in the rearview mirror.
Ryan glared at him.
Stuart grinned.
“Just get us to the motel,” Ryan said. “And slow down. We don’t need to catch the attention of the local cops.”
Stuart eased up on the gas and merged onto the interstate ramp.
“Don’t waste time with a motel,” Jessica said. “Let’s go to a computer store. I need a laptop.”
“Why?” Ryan asked.
“I wasn’t just an accountant for Richard DeGaullo. I hacked into a few computer systems along the way. That’s how I contacted the FBI in the first place. I hacked into the Justice Department’s computer system to leave them messages. I couldn’t use email. DeGaullo’s security team reviewed all of our emails every day.”
Ryan’s mouth tightened into a hard line, and Jessica belatedly realized she’d never told him that part of her past. The sudden wariness in his eyes had Jessica feeling uneasy.
“That still doesn’t answer the question of why you need a computer now,” Ryan said.
“I can hack into the Justice Department’s computer system, and from there try to hack inside WitSec. I can find out who has accessed my files, who might have known where I’d been relocated. Maybe one of the names will ring a bell and we’ll know who’s behind everything.”
Ryan gave her a hard look before turning around and staring down the highway. Jessica’s stomach dropped. Had her admission about her computer hacking undone all the strides forward she and Ryan had made over the past few days? He was her only true ally right now, the only one she could trust. What would it take for him to trust her in return?
“You really think you can figure out who accessed your WitSec files?” Stuart asked, looking doubtful.
“I know I can.”
His brows rose. “You’re that good with a computer?”
“I’m that good.”
“Huh. Maybe you should work for me. I could use a good computer hacker.”
“That’s illegal,” Ryan replied, not looking at either of them.
Stuart shrugged. “Bad choice of words. I could use someone who’s good with a computer.” He winked and grinned at Jessica.
She ignored him and watched Ryan. He didn’t crack a smile, didn’t even look at her.
“Cool,” Stuart said. “Problem solved, right, Ryan? I’ll leave you two at the motel, get a laptop, and have a car dropped off for you.” He glanced at the time on the dashboard. “Drive time, a few hours of sleep, waiting for the stores to open, getting another driver to drop off the other car...I should make it back by eleven tomorrow morning, noon at the latest.”
Ryan seemed to consider that for a moment. His hand fisted on the seat beside him. He didn’t look at Jessica when he finally spoke. “Do it.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ryan was quiet as he held open the motel room door for Jessica. He hadn’t said much since her comment about hacking into the database. Although he’d grudgingly agreed to have Stuart get the laptop, he still hadn’t said whether he’d go along with Jessica’s plan.
The motel room, although small, was clean and looked like it had been renovated within the past few years. A flicker of disappointment flared through Jessica when she noted there were two beds. Now that they didn’t need to share their body heat to keep from freezing to death, it made sense they should each have their own bed. But she’d grown used to having Ryan snuggled up behind her at night. The thought of sleeping without him had her feeling lonely already, even though he was standing next to her.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“No, I think I’ll grab a shower.”
He followed her to the bathroom. Their eyes met in the mirror and she raised a brow in question. He set the backpack down on the floor, reminding Jessica that Stuart had brought them new clothes and toiletries. “Thank you,” she said.
He turned and left without a word.
She had too much on her mind to enjoy the shower like she had back in the cabin. Was she safe here? Did anyone follow them from the mountains? And the thought that shouldn’t have mattered as much as the others, but somehow did—was her relationship with Ryan over?
He’d made it quite clear before they’d first made love that they couldn’t have a future together. But she’d give anything to see him look at her with desire again, to feel him hold her close to his heart. She could lie to herself, if only for a little while, and pretend he really cared about her.
Since she didn’t have a nightgown, and she didn’t want to waste the few clean clothes that she had, she wrapped a towel around her body and stepped out of the bathroom, intending to slide under the covers of the nearest bed.
Ryan was sitting on the bed closest to the door reading a newspaper Stuart had gotten them from the motel lobby. His gaze shot to hers and he slowly lowered the paper. The cold indifference in his eyes was quickly replaced by a smoldering heat as his gaze flickered down her body. In spite of the thick towel, she felt totally exposed, and nervous.
She pulled up the covers and slid between the cool sheets, discarding the towel on the floor. Burrowing
beneath the comforter, she grew increasingly uneasy beneath Ryan’s unwavering stare. “There’s plenty of hot water left,” she said to break the uncomfortable silence.
He tossed the paper on the table beside his bed and crossed to the bathroom, firmly closing the door behind him.
* * *
RYAN LET THE warm water cascade over his back as he thought back to another shower, the night of the fire. Then, as now, pictures of Jessica flitted through his mind, warming him far more than the water.
Back then he’d hated that he’d responded to her, because he’d despised her. Now, he couldn’t stand that he wanted her because he cared far too much for her. No woman had ever twisted him inside the way she did. After hearing about the struggles she’d been through, he’d half convinced himself that maybe she wasn’t all that different from him, after all. She wasn’t the bad person he’d assumed she was. She’d gotten mixed up in the mob by accident, not by choice. And she’d done the right thing, even though it had taken her a while to gather the courage.
But then he’d seen the excitement in her eyes when she’d talked about breaking into the Justice Department’s database. And she’d convinced him to agree to that plan. What did that say about him? His reverence for justice, for law and order, had been ingrained in him since birth. If someone like him could be talked into crossing that line, what did that mean? Jessica was blurring the lines between right and wrong, making him question everything he’d ever stood for.
He didn’t like that one bit, and he was seriously reconsidering whether or not to let her hack into the government’s database.
Ryan slammed the flat of his palm against the tile and turned off the water. The shower had done nothing for his raging desires. In spite of everything, he still wanted Jessica more than he’d ever wanted any other woman.
She was in the next room, a thin wall separating the two of them. And yet, right now, the distance between them seemed more insurmountable than when they’d first met.
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