by Leigh, Lora
“Keep going, Banks.”
She still couldn’t. “I don’t want to!”
“Go, goddammit!” Cody exploded, framing her face between his hands. “My life is over if anything happens to you.” He kissed her hard and long, pushing his tongue into her mouth in a long, hot wet thrust that sent her senses spinning. “I love you. Now go.”
I love you.
Now go.
Megan didn’t know why she obeyed, why she headed out off the clearing, dazed with those parting words, taking those words into her heart, even as she heard Ivan curse Cody in the background for what he’d done. Fifty steps later, down the rocky path, eighty heartbeats later, and about a hundred haggard breaths later, it struck her: Maybe … Cody would never have said he loved her if he thought he’d have another chance to.
She’d certainly never expected him to say the words except at gunpoint.
Oh God. What had she done?
And where in the hell was Zach Rivers?
* * *
When Megan disappeared in the distance, Cody’s heartbeat roared in his ears, like a wave crashing against the open mouth of a never-ending cavern.
He was stalling for time, time for her to get the hell away from his crazy brother. He met those blue eyes just like his with a taunting smile, wanting to get Ivan’s gaze back on him rather than on Megan’s rear, the crazed man’s full attention on him.
“She’ll call nine-one-one, you know.” Cody smiled thinly, enough to goad him, but the victory in his brother’s gaze took him aback.
“I’m counting on it.” He smiled triumphantly. “By the time they get here, you’ll be dead. And I’ll be you.”
* * *
Megan found a bar of signal after running around the forest like a lunatic. “Zach!” she cried into her cell phone when a male voice picked up. “Zach, where are you?”
There were men’s voices in the background as he answered. “We’re on our way. Are you okay?”
“Yes, but I’m afraid Cody won’t be. We’re at the—”
“Tonto National Forest, got that. Just whatever you do, get out of harm’s way or Nordstrom’ll kill me,” he commanded.
“Not if he’s dead!” Meg screamed, and hung up.
Putting the phone on silent, she started running back to the clearing.
Her heart felt like exploding with each step. And then, she heard it. Gunshots.
“Oh, no.” Megan kicked up her speed, her throat closing in. “Oh, no no no.”
She reached the clearing, and instantly Megan saw him, dead, on the ground. A pool of blood surrounded him. Him. Cody. It was him; she saw the tie he wore today, his most horrible tie, an orange color she wanted to throw away for the first time ever. Oh my God.
She began to shake her head, refusing to believe what lay right before her eyes, already feeling her heart begin to crack. Then she spotted him. Ivan laid back, clutching his chest, bloodied and panting. Megan’s eyes began to spill tears. She reached for one of the guns on the ground and raised it. “You son of a bitch!” she screamed, and shot.
“Mega—” His eyes widened when the bullet hit him, somewhere close to his heart, and he slumped back against the tree trunk. She squeezed her eyes and was about to shoot again when he barked, “Son of a bitch!”
She opened her eyes, lowered the gun. The voice. It was unmistakable, its effect on her, its timbre. “Cody?”
“Fucking hell!” He was scrambling to tear a fabric of his shirt to cover his wound, which was seeping red all along his right arm.
“Cody?” she screeched, dropping the gun to the ground. “Ohmigod, what have I done!” She took a tentative step forward, then halted, doubting herself, what she was seeing. That blue tie …
She glanced at Cody, dead, sightless, on the ground.
“Come here and kiss it better, damn it, stop looking at that asshole unless he’s better-looking than me.”
“Why is he wearing your clothes!” she protested angrily, then went to help him rip his shirt open. She was relieved to note the bullet had hit his arm and not his chest, but was still so shocked at what she’d done she considered using the gun on herself.
Cody grabbed her with one hand and kissed her like a starved man, sloppy tongue and panting breaths and everything, which, lucky for her, meant he probably was not near death. “He wanted a new life—to kill me, and make it seem like he’d died, while he became me. Just the thought of him laying a hand on you enrages me…”
She scowled. “Nobody’s laying a hand on me, and if we don’t get you to a hospital soon, neither will you.”
“I’m fine, baby. Just a scratch,” he assured.
With wide, unblinking eyes, she stared dazedly at his wound as they knotted his shirt around it. “I almost killed you,” she whispered.
The soft reproach in her voice made him raise his eyes. He covered her little hands with his, squeezing reassuringly. “You should have, Meg, I’m no good for you.”
“You are good, you’re the best, you’re my everything.”
“Then you’re a fool, Meg.” He grabbed her cheeks and kissed her again. “Thank God you’re a big, silly fool.” He deepened the kiss, and dragged her with effort to his lap. “You’re mine, do you hear me? Forgive me for not explaining that to you sooner. No one touches you. No one kisses you. No one drives you nuts but me. Got that?”
“I didn’t get the last part…” she said sheepishly.
“You’re not getting me to say I love you again.”
“And if I threaten to shoot you again?”
“I’ll deny it.” He hugged her to him, kissing her neck while she kissed his. “But you’re mine, never doubt that, and if you run, I’ll catch you, on my word.”
“Hmm.” She smiled and snuggled against him slowly, afraid to hurt him. “Then I better stay put.”
“Police! Hands over your heads!” a set of voices yelled in the background, but Meg remained right where she was, and before all hell could break loose, Cody grumbled at them over her shoulder.
“I’m a little busy here, partner, as you can see.”
Meg turned to see Zach approaching, scowling menacingly at the corpse, then even more menacingly at Cody. “So how am I supposed to know it’s you, man?” he asked, annoyed.
“Because, moron, Megan’s with me.”
Anthologies from St. Martin’s Paperbacks
THE BODYGUARD
CHERRY ADAIR
GENA SHOWALTER
LORIE O’CLARE
MEN OF DANGER
LORA LEIGH
RED GARNIER
ALEXIS GRANT
LORIE O’CLARE
RESCUE ME
CHERRY ADAIR
LORA LEIGH
CINDY GERARD
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
LEGALLY HOT
“Sheila’s Passion” copyright © 2012 by Lora Leigh.
“Deadly Dance” copyright © 2012 by Cheyenne McCray.
“Caught” copyright © 2012 by Red Garnier.
All rights reserved.
For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
ISBN: 978-0-312-38913-0
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / January 2012
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
eISBN 978-1-4299-8587-1
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