by Leger, Lori
Drake’s heart beat like a jack hammer in his chest as she continued. Terror gripped his insides at the thought of leaving her home. Something told him she felt the same way, but knowing Annie as he did, she’d die before admitting it. She held her breath, waiting for his answer.
He sent Nash ‘the look’—the unspoken man-language look—a throwback from ancient cave dwellers that. translated loosely, said “get the hell out” for one reason or another.
Nash cleared his throat and rose from the bed. “Think I’ll go fix us some of that popcorn I saw in the pantry. Do we want kettle corn or regular with extra butter?” When neither of them answered, he cleared his throat again. “Kettle corn it is.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Drake waited through several moments of uncomfortable silence before trusting himself to speak to the woman who sat with her head bowed and her eyes tightly shut. “Annie, look at me,” he commanded. When she made no move to do so, he reached out, gently lifting her chin. He smiled, seeing that her eyes remained stubbornly closed. “Open your eyes please.”
She did finally—blinking several times to clear the tears from them.
Drake ran his thumb along her lower lip as he spoke to her in a voice husky with emotion. “If you make me leave, I’ll camp out on the street, right in front of this place. I’ll never get a moment of rest, because I won’t be satisfied unless I know you’re safe. I’ll patrol around the house several times a night, and I may even trip the alarm a time or two just to make sure you’re okay.”
He placed his hands on either side of her face, leaned in to place a feather-soft kiss upon her forehead before pulling her into his embrace. He released a long sigh as he rested his chin on her crown and made one final plea. “Please don’t send me away.”
Annie wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and released a shaky sigh.
“Does that mean I can stay?”
She answered in a small voice. “Yes, please.”
As nice as it was, it didn’t last nearly long enough. Annie pulled away, mumbling under her breath as she headed for the bathroom. She was barely out of sight when Drake hurried into the kitchen where Nash had the recording equipment set up on the end of the cabinet.
He picked up the headphones. “Okay, how do I make this thing play back?”
“It’s already at the correct location. Just put ‘em on and hit the red button.”
Drake clamped and unclamped his jaw time and again while listening to the sadistic bastard’s threats. He pulled the headphones off at the end of the recording and turned to Nash. “That son of a bitch cannot get his hands on her,” he growled.
Nash shifted a big bowl of popcorn in his arms and replied in a low drawl. “I concur. That sadistic prick is enjoying this entirely too much. I don’t like it. I don’t like him scaring my client like that.”
“Especially if he can do it right under our noses.” Drake swore under his breath, stopping when he heard Annie’s bathroom door opening. He turned as she entered the kitchen. “You ready to start the movie?”
She stopped to stare at her bodyguard’s haul. “Hey Nash, I don’t think that’s enough popcorn.”
Nash chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I got carried away.”
Her brow furrowed. “No, I really don’t think that’s enough popcorn.”
His tone turned sedate. “Seriously? I popped three bags.”
Annie clucked her tongue as she pulled out another extra butter pack of popcorn. “You have completely underestimated my ability to put away some kernels.” She placed the pack in the microwave and pushed the button.
Arms crossed, she leaned against the lower cabinet and stared at the recorder. “So, what did you boys think about this last call?”
Drake didn’t hesitate before answering. “I think I should have killed the bastard when I had the chance.”
“You don’t really mean that, do you?” Her eyes widened with surprise.
Drake knew full well what he’d meant. He knew, without a shred of doubt, if he’d had the slightest inkling of what this guy was capable of that New Year’s Eve night, he could easily have taken his life.
He also knew that, as an attorney, an upstanding American, and a Christian, that knowledge should scare the hell out of him.
It didn’t.
The thought of J.B. putting his hands on Annie, or any other woman, and doing any of the things he mentioned in the call sickened him. The fact that this animal had the chance because of Drake’s inaction on New Year’s Eve … well, that was an even harder pill to swallow.
He made a show of checking his watch. “The movie will be starting up in five minutes.”
“Popcorn will be another minute.” Annie pulled a gallon of milk from the fridge.
Nash made a face. “You drink milk with popcorn?”
“Yup.” Annie poured herself a huge glass. “There’s something about the taste of them together. I swear I could eat it in a bowl of milk, just like cereal.”
Drake’s shoulders shook with laughter. “You’re unique, Annie Girl. There’s no denying that.”
Annie poured her bag of popcorn into a separate bowl and grabbed her glass of milk. “Don’t knock it till you try it, boys.” She turned her back on them and headed for the bedroom.
“That’s kinda weird, isn’t it?” Nash whispered to Drake as he passed him a beer from the fridge.
Drake shrugged at the man. “Who’s to say, buddy? You’re talking to a guy who likes grape soda with chocolate cake.” He laughed again as Nash shook off a frisson of pure disgust.
Within ten minutes of the opening credits, Annie was moaning at the leading man’s bare chested appearance in front of the camera. “God, just look at that washboard stomach. His pecs are perfect, and those highly developed oblique muscles. Mmm-mm-mm. Now that’s what I call love handles …”
Nash gave a disgusted snort. “He ain’t so great. I have a nice pair of those, too, and I don’t mind sayin’ so.”
“I do too, and we got ours without having our own personal trainer.” Drake rose from the bed to strike a pose for her.
In seconds, Nash joined him and Annie had the sublime pleasure of watching her two buff-as-hell house mates alternate poses to showcase their own muscled physiques. She sat back on her pillow, wondering what she’d done so right today to deserve this display. She finally shook herself out of her reverie. “You two are just jealous, and there’s no reason for it. I can appreciate how gorgeous she is.” She indicated the leading lady gracing the large screen. “There’s no way I could compete with her looks.”
“Now see, that’s a matter of opinion,” Drake admitted. “I happen to think you compete very nicely.”
Liam grinned. “Besides, we’ve seen what you look like first thing in the morning, all fresh faced, with no makeup. Your beauty is natural. We have no idea what those women look like without a makeup artist working on them for hours at a time.”
Annie shrugged and settled back on the pillows they’d piled up.
The two men, obviously determined to make her forget her problems for the night, worked together to keep her in stitches throughout the feature. She managed to keep them amused as well. The fact that she knew a crankshaft, from a camshaft, from a piston, as well as her recognition of the makes and models of various muscle cars used in the movie, had them scratching their heads.
Drake asked her about it once the movie ended. “Okay, Annie, how the hell is it you know so much about cars?”
“I had older brothers whom I adored,” she explained. “Chad was already off at college when I was about six or so, but Kenneth and Red were always working on some car. When I started bugging them with too many questions, they told me the only way I could stick around was if I made myself useful by handing tools to them. After years of watching and listening, I turned into a decent shade tree mechanic on the older models. Nobody can work on the newer ones without a diagnostic computer program.”
Nash snorted, “And it costs an
arm and a leg to fix anything.”
“Yep,” Drake agreed. “They completely took all the fun out of it.”
Annie rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, please. You have never gotten grease under those fingernails. I bet you got your first car the day you turned fifteen and got your license. It was probably a Porsche or a BMW, or something straight off the showroom floor.” The look he sent her made her want to sigh out loud, like he was certain he was about to say something that would absolutely rock her world.
“I probably could have, if that’s what I wanted. But I asked for a ‘66 Mustang. Dad used to have one and I was hoping to get something we could work on together.”
She studied him for a moment. “Did it work? Did the two of you work on it together?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer, and hoping it was yes. He shook his head, and the look he gave her made her want to cry.
“Nah, but I learned a hell of a lot about cars that summer. I loved that damn car,” he said, wistfully.
“What color was it?” Annie asked.
“It was a black GT 350 with gold LeMans striping.”
“Oh …” Annie breathed. “You had a Hertz. I never would have taken you for a ‘muscle car’ guy.”
His mouth formed a crooked grin, giving him that boyishly sexy-as-hell look. “I never would have taken you for a girl who knew a muscle car from a VW Beetle, so I guess we’re even.”
Annie fought the strongest urge to reach out and run her fingers over his lips. Damn, but the man looked good enough to eat tonight, with his rumpled hair and shadow of a beard. Her gaze wandered down to his T-shirt; just right tight, and white, stretched over his sculpted chest like he was poured into it. He probably could give Vin Diesel a run for his money.
She let her gaze trail down to his legs, covered in jeans that fit snugly at the waist and thighs, down his calves to his socked feet, crossed casually at the ankles. Her perusal migrated back to his muscular thighs, and a little further up where her gaze froze on the bulge in his jeans.
Annie jerked her head forward. Heat, started at the base of her skull and flooded her face with an immediate flush of embarrassment.
Drake cleared his throat quietly while pulling a pillow over himself.
Annie excused herself for the privacy of her own bathroom. She splashed cold water on her flushed cheeks, patted her face dry. Her guilty reflection stared back at her from the mirror. “For God’s sake, Annie. Pull. Yourself. Together.”
She suddenly froze, overwhelmed with the certainty that she was falling for Drake LeBlanc. Fast and hard.
No. She had to stop this foolishness. This couldn’t happen. She had to get this man out of her house before it was too late. She knew this. So why did the thought of him leaving send her into full-blown, anxiety ridden, panic mode?
If only there was some way to speed up this process of catching J.B. Montgomery. She wanted him behind bars so her life would go back to normal. She wanted things back the way they were. With her, comfortable in her own home … safe, relaxed, with no Nash, and definitely no Drake.
A tightness in her chest told her that time was running out. If she gave in to the temptation of caring about Drake, she knew from experience it would cost her more than she was able to give.
The gears in her mind clicked and spun at a rapid rate, grabbing at a scene from the movie they’d just watched. In minutes, she’d formed a solid plan that just might work.
Nash cleared his throat as he collected dirty dishes from the room. “I’m going to hit the sack now, if it’s okay by you.”
Drake nodded. “Fine by me, but you may want to clear that with Annie. As scared and antsy as she’s been, she might want you to sleep in her room tonight.” Nash’s chuckle caught him by surprise.
“No denying she’s antsy, and she might even be scared. It’s not so much of old J.B. as the fact she’s fighting a losing battle. Good job, LeBlanc.” Nash sent him a wink before walking back to the kitchen.
Drake waited for Annie’s return, stopping to consider Nash’s comment. Was it possible? Was she starting to have the same feelings for him as he did for her?
He stood tall when Annie exited her room, determined to speak to her about it, bit back his disappointment when she bypassed his room for the kitchen. The hushed tone of Annie’s conversation to her bodyguard caused his curiosity to peak. He entered the kitchen quietly, just in time to hear the tail end of her last comment.
“—but he knows not to come around when I’m constantly surrounded, and he knows not to stay on the phone too long. I think setting him up would work.”
Setting him up? What the hell was she talking about? “Like how?” His question obviously surprised her, judging by the way she jumped at the sound of his voice.
“I’m not sure, but I think we need to lure him out somehow.”
Drake pinned her with an angry glare. “Lure him? And what would we use as bait, Annie?” He saw the angry, but determined lift of her chin and braced himself to hear the words he didn’t want to hear.
“I’ll be the bait.”
Drake got nose to nose with her and growled his reply. “Like hell you will.”
She raised a hand. “Hear me out, Dra—”
“No. You will not put yourself at risk, Annie. I won’t have it.” She nearly gave in, nearly took a step back from his justified anger. But nearly didn’t hold much clout in Annie’s world.
He recognized the instant she got her nerve back. She wasn’t about to back down from this. She stood her ground, her nostrils flaring angrily as she seemed to bow-up before his eyes. He likened Annie getting pissed to a bantam weight fighter pumping himself up for a prize match.
“You won’t have it?”
Her tone was a hell of a lot more serene than he’d expected. More than likely, it meant he was about to witness a level of determination in the little lady he’d yet to experience.
“Who the hell are you to have any say in how I decide to handle this?”
Drake clamped his jaw shut before taking hold of her arms. “I’m the man who—” He stopped short, searching out Nash, who stood there wearing a shit-eating grin, and looking like he had a front row seat at afore-mentioned prize match. Drake hit the doorway, pulling Annie behind him. “I want to talk to you, now!”
She tried to pull away from him. “Let go of me, dammit!”
He didn’t let go, but pulled her into his room, slammed the door behind him.
She turned on him, her eyes sparking with fury. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re not my father, and I don’t take orders from you.”
Drake pulled her close “I’m sure as hell not your father. And no, you don’t have to take orders from me. I will tell you who I am, though. I’m the man who loves you more than my own life.” He barely recognized his own voice, hoarse with a disturbing combination of passion, terror, and determination. “I’m the man who could easily kill anyone who threatens to physically hurt you. And I will not stand for you putting yourself in danger.”
He took several deep breaths to calm himself before he continued. “You can fight me on this all you want, but I’m telling you again, you’d do better to accept this now, because I’m not changing my mind, and I’m sure as hell not going anywhere.”
Her reaction startled him. Her eyes widened with surprise just before her lids drooped. Judging by the way she’d previously ogled him, he knew she was sexually attracted to him. Based on her quickened pulse, and the slight pant in her breathing, it was kicking in.
Drake leaned in slowly, brushed her lips with a soft kiss, amazed at his own self-control. God knew he was already so damn close to the edge. He pulled back enough to stare into startled blue eyes—swore he could see the faces of their children in those eyes. He passed his hand through her auburn curls and caught her beautiful face between his two hands.
“Whether you’re willing to admit this or not, I’m your future, Annie.” He kissed her, molding his mouth to fit the satiny contours of her lip
s.
They fit, melded so perfectly that he hated to end it. He did, eventually, giving her several soft nibbles on her lower lip before finally pulling away. His breath caught at the sight of her, eyes closed, long lashes resting on the fairness of her peachy cream cheeks. Her lashes fluttered once, then again as her lids opened drowsily to peer up at him.
Just when he thought he’d won the battle, she seemed to awaken to the war within herself. She focused and pulled away, wiping her mouth with trembling fingers.
She stepped back, distancing herself. “I don’t know who my future is, Drake. But, it’s not you. It can’t be you.”
“I am. I’ve never wanted this before, not with any woman. From the moment I saw you, I felt the pull. Something linking the two of us. Something that made me stay and wait for your return.
I wasn’t the type of man who needed to wait on a woman, Annie. But I sensed you were worth waiting for. And you were. You are. So. Worth. The wait.”
He leaned in, kissed her softly, despite wanting nothing more than to lose control with her in his arms. This situation was different. She was different. He had to make her see.
Once more, she pushed away from him. “Stop. I can’t do this, Drake.” She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. Pleading without words—wanting him to understand something he couldn’t possibly understand. To accept something he couldn’t possibly accept. “I swear to you, I have good reason.”
Drake held on to her, determined to hear it all this time. “What reason? Tell me so I can reassure you there’s no reason to fear loving me.”
She shook her head frantically, still trying to pull away, looking as though she would turn inside out if she could to keep her secret hidden away within herself.
He gave her a gentle shake, until she met his gaze. “Trust me, Annie. That’s all I’m asking for tonight. Only your trust.”
“It’s too much to ask of me, Drake. I did that once before and it nearly—” She gulped, gasped for air. “I-I came so close to-to losing everything.” She pulled away from him.
He shook his head, refusing to move from his spot in front of the door. “I’m not letting you out of here until you tell me what happened. Whatever that boy did to you is not enough to keep yourself closed off from the man standing before you now.”