Bound By Temptation (5 page)

As though he sensed her eyes on him, Lucas pivoted and glanced up, his gaze tangling with hers. She shivered, even though a flush scorched her cheeks. He turned his head, said something to his friend, and both men walked around her car and up the hill toward her.

Their grim faces brought another shiver, followed by a wave of chills.

“How you holding up, sweetheart?” Lucas asked after climbing the porch steps. His gaze lingered on her bandaged knees and hands, before lifting to her face.

“Fine.”

From the concerned expression that creased his forehead, her quivering reassurance didn’t fool him anymore than it had Cuddles.

Officer Addario shot her one brief look before he focused on the animal nestled against her side. Thick, black eyebrows rose. “Nice dog.”

Emma bristled, temporarily shaken loose from that frozen numbness encasing her, but before she had a chance to blast him for the sarcasm, Lucas sent his buddy a quelling look.

“You feel up to giving Rio a statement,” Lucas asked, taking a seat on the swing beside her.

His hip pressed against her, his bare arm as well. She should slide to the left, open up some space between them. But the heat his big body generated warmed her, thawed the crippling chill.

“About this guy who tried to grab you, did you get a good look at him?” Addario asked, his flat gray eyes studying her face intently, as though she were under interrogation.

“He didn’t try
,
he
did
grab me,” Emma whispered, her voice cracking. A spine popping shudder worked its way through her body.

Lucas shifted, slid his arm around her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. “Easy, babe. You’re safe now. They’re not going to get near you again. Ever. You have my word on that.”

She latched onto his promise, let it sink into her and dissolve the cage of vulnerability and fear.

Addario studied her for a moment and then probed with all the finesse of a bulldozer. “Rocky says you were looking right at the perp in the cargo door. You must have gotten a good look at him.”

Dead muddy eyes…

She glanced at Lucas. “Rocky?”

“Nickname.” He shrugged. “On account of the boxing.”

She forced a smile. “I guessed.”

“Great. Now that we’re all up to date on Luc’s nickname, maybe we can focus on what your attacker looked like,” Addario said.

Lucas’s arm tightened round Emma’s shoulder. He shot his friend an irritated look. “Go ahead and give him a description, sweetheart. Before he turns into an ass.”

“
Before?
” Emma echoed.

Lucas chuckled and gave her shoulders another companionable squeeze. “He might not have the best manners, but Rio’s got the tenacity of a badger. There’s nobody I’d rather have investigating this case. He’ll find those bastards.”

The look Lucas directed at Addario stated clearly, albeit wordlessly, that his buddy better not make a liar out of him.

“A description would help,” Addario said dryly, ignoring Lucas’s silent demand.

Emma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He was white, with graying brown hair and brown eyes.”

“How tall? Best estimate.” Addario pulled a notepad and pencil from his breast pocket.

“Maybe 5’10 to 6 feet and built like a brick. Not fat, but thick. Heavy shoulders and neck.”

“What was he wearing?”

Emma thought back. “Black pants and a black t-shirt.”

“Any logos on his clothing? Any tattoos?” Addario asked, looking up.

“No.”

He went back to scribbling on his pad. “Would you be willing to work with a sketch artist?”

“Sure.” She paused and swallowed hard. “Lucas shot him.”

She’d missed seeing the actual shooting, since she’d been so busy staring at the pavement. But the muffled
thunk thunk,
as the bullets found their mark, had been eerily identifiable. And when she’d looked up, just before the van took off, her attacker had been sprawled limply across the van’s floor. Motionless.

The two men exchanged a quick look. And then Rio focused in on her face again.

“Rocky alerted me to that,” he said blandly. “We’ll distribute the sketch to hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices—anywhere a gunshot wound might be treated.”

Yeah, right…

“You might try funeral homes and morgues too. I suspect you’re more likely to find him there,” she said dryly.

She might be a bit shaky, but that hadn’t affected her intelligence. She’d known he was dead the moment she’d gotten a look at his crumpled body.

Another look was exchanged between the two men, but this one was tinged with surprise.

The arm across her shoulders tightened. “I’m sorry, Em. I wish like hell you hadn’t seen that.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Emma blurted out. “I’d much rather he was dead, than me.”

Which might not sound particularly empathetic, but she’d known the instant she’d looked into those cold, empty eyes that he’d have no qualms about torturing and killing her. She wasn’t going to feel one instant of regret for the loss of such a life.

Although he didn’t respond, she could sense Lucas’s surprise. Did he find her reaction callous?

“The sketch will come in handy. If we can identify him, we can track down his associates. Odds are if someone knows our dead guy, they’ll know his accomplices too,” Lucas said, lightly brushing her shoulder with his fingertips.

An electrical chill shot through her at the contact. A tide of goosebumps marched down her arms and spine. Now that the shock was wearing off, her libido was stirring and loudly signaling its interest in rekindling the affair with Lucas.

Time to take a step back and repair her walls. This building intimacy between them was going to play hell with her determination to keep her distance. Without trying to be subtle, she shuffled several inches to the left, scooting Cuddles along with her.

Lucas went perfectly still, and then he pulled his arm from her shoulder. The bereft feeling that swept through her at the loss of contact reinforced her decision to withdraw.

“Why don’t you go through everything that happened,” Officer Addario said smoothly, as though he hadn’t noticed the byplay between her and Lucas, even though the sharp look in his eyes told her he had.

Stoically, Emma recited what had happened.

“Did he say anything while trying to drag you inside the van?” Addario asked, with a quick glance at the silent man beside her.

“No. Nothing.”

Which, now that she thought about it, had made the attack even more terrifying. He’d been so silent and determined. He’d kept hauling her in, even with Lucas shooting at the van.

She cast a quick glance at the silent man beside her. She needed to thank him for his intervention, but judging by the flat expression on his face and the tension radiating from his lean frame, now wasn’t the time.

“We’ll have you go through the admissions database at the station, see if you recognize any of the photos. With luck our perp will be in there and we can forgo the sketch,” Addario said.

Lucas stirred beside her. “I’ll bring her down after I get her settled at my place.”

His place?

Emma turned to face him, her mouth opening in protest, but he jumped in before she could get a word out.

“There were three men in that Van, Emma. Only one of them is out of play. That leaves two still after you. These guys aren’t playing around. They tried to grab you in broad daylight, in front of a witness. You need protection,” Lucas said, his expression shifting from flat to hard.

She frowned, closing her mouth. He was right. She needed to be smart about this. Pride was all good and well, until it got you killed. She would have died today if Lucas hadn’t showed up. She wasn’t about to turn down his offer and open herself to a second attack.

Apparently he thought she was still resistant, because a harsh, humorless laugh broke from him.

“Relax. I’ll forgo my usual fee of sexual favors. Hell, I’ll even vamoose, if that’s what you want. Tag can play bodyguard. But babe, you’re coming with me, even if I have to kidnap you myself.”

“
H
ow you holding up
?” Lucas asked, shooting a quick glance at Emma.

She was sitting stiffly in the passenger seat of his Jeep, her eyes staring straight ahead. The bandaged hands, absently stroking the dog curled up in her lap, shook periodically. With the exception of the directions she’d been feeding him, she hadn’t said much since they’d left her house and the crime scene circling her Accord.

“Okay, I guess.” Emma said in a vague voice, before nodding toward the sprawling motel on the left side of the street. “This is it. Room 35. It’s at the very back.”

Lucas shot the building a quick, unimpressed look before turning his attention to the oncoming traffic. He waited for a line of cars to pass before turning into the motel’s parking lot. On closer inspection, the place didn’t challenge his initial impression of rundown apathy. It needed a good paint job and someone with a green thumb. Or at least a pair of gloves and strong set of shoulders to pull all the weeds choking out the original landscaping.

He eased the Jeep down the rough parking lot, skirting some of the bigger pot holes. The vehicles parked in front of the tiny cabins were about as beat up and neglected as the motel itself. After pulling into the parking spot in front of the door she indicated, he turned off the Jeep’s engine and just sat there staring at the metal 3 and upside down 5 on the door.

Emma had stayed the night here? In this dump?

“It may not look like much, but it’s clean and the bed’s comfortable.” Defensiveness tightened Emma’s voice.

Before Lucas had a chance to respond, the door to the unit next to Emma’s opened and some asshole in a white tank top displaying heavily inked shoulders and arms stepped into the sunlight. The guy’s long, greasy hair didn’t even flicker in the light breeze. A woman with the thin body, rotten teeth and scabby face of a drug addict pushed past the guy from behind and fled down the sidewalk in front of the units.

Jesus Christ
.

Drug deals had probably gone down all night long, right next to her unit. A chill sank into him, numbing him to the bone. Her Honda was a newer model, well maintained, a dead giveaway that she had money. Anyone could have broken into her room while she was sleeping to scavenge for cash or items to sell.

“I’ll get your stuff,” Lucas said, his voice grim. “Stay in the car and lock the doors.”

To his surprise, Emma didn’t argue. But then her gaze was locked on the tattooed man, and from the shock widening her eyes, she’d figured out what kind of service her neighbor provided. Lucas picked up the old fashioned metal key attached to a plastic blue tag resting on the console between them and thrust open the driver’s door.

“The suitcase is still packed, but I left some shampoo and conditioner in the shower,” she said in a tentative voice.

He grunted an acknowledgement and eyed the bastard standing in the doorway. Was the guy going to pose a problem? The man locked gazes with him for just an instant before turning and disappearing back into his unit. The door closed softly behind him. Apparently not.

“Lock the doors,” he reminded her.

His tension eased as the Jeep’s locks engaged the moment he closed the driver’s door. The room he let himself into looked pretty much as he’d expected—neglected and cheap. However, she hadn’t lied when she’d claimed the place was clean.

The bathroom was still slightly humid and smelled of roses…or gardenias…or some flowery shit. The scent brought an instant flashback, along with an erection.

Firm thighs clasping his hips as she rode him—lifting and falling, lifting and falling…hot palms burning into his sweaty chest…immersed in the sweet, flowery scent of her…each fragrant breath drawing her deeper into his…

Jesus Christ!

With a groan, he shook himself, stumbled up to the tub and grabbed the two plastic bottles. There was a stick of deodorant along with a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste sitting on the counter beside the sink. He took those too. After shoving all five items in one of the suitcase’s zippered front pockets, he picked the suitcase up and headed for the door.

All told, it couldn’t have taken more than a minute. But he’d lost friends in that span of time, and Emma was out in the car alone. He’d considered taking her inside with him. But if those bastards after her had switched from vehicles to guns, she’d be safer locked in the car behind the bullet proof glass he’d installed than out in the open with him.

The Jeep was where he’d left it, Emma’s murky face visible behind the tinted, treated glass. He hit the button to unlock the Jeep’s doors and stowed her luggage in the back seat.

For the first time her dog didn’t greet his arrival with a growl. He was making progress on that front—too bad he couldn’t say the same on the Emma front.

“Thank you,” Emma said, in that tentative voice of earlier.

He buckled his seatbelt and started the Jeep’s engine. “No problem.”

“If you hadn’t been there…if you hadn’t shot at them…I’d be dead. You saved my life. Thank you.”

So she wasn’t talking about the suitcase. He studied her solemn face. “You’re welcome.”

He didn’t try to sugar coat his response. It was crystal clear she knew how close she’d come to checking out—permanently.

“I need to learn how to shoot a gun,” she suddenly blurted.

His hand froze for a moment on the gear shift, and then he shoved the stick into reverse. “I can teach you.” He shot a quick look at her white, fluffy palms. “When your hands are up to it, we’ll hit the gun range.”

“They won’t let me have a permit for ten days, and that’s after I take their safety test.” She scowled, irritation creeping into her voice.

His lips quirked, humor rising. She’d made it sound like the firearm safety laws had been generated specifically to fuck with her.

“You can learn on one of mine. Borrow it until your permit comes through and you can buy a weapon of your own.”

“Okay.” Her voice softened. “Thank you.” She shot him a sidelong glance. “Will you get into trouble for killing him?”

“Nah, I have a concealed carry permit and the situation called for deadly force,” Lucas said, although Rio had warned him to expect a full investigation, assuming the body ever showed up.

“Good. That’s good.” She lapsed back into silence.

“We can head to the station first, get that over with—or I can take you to my place first, give you some time to decompress. Ladies’ choice,” Lucas said, hoping to keep her talking.

“We should go to your place first.” Her voice was vague again. “The insulin needs to be refrigerated. I was going to put it in my fridge at home, but…”

Insulin?
There’d been insulin in one of the bags he’d taken from her car? He’d assumed it had all been dog stuff.

“You’re diabetic?” he asked in surprise. He thought back to those three days they’d spent together, but couldn’t remember her leaving his side long enough to administer a shot.

“Not me, Cuddles. She needs insulin twice a day.”

She’d rescued a diabetic dog with no teeth? He considered the thin, ugly mutt nestled in her lap, and suddenly Cuddles’s presence made sense.

“You get her from the pound?” he asked casually.

“Yes.” Emma scratched the dog under its whiskered chin and scowled. “They were about to put her to sleep. Can you believe that? She’s the sweetest little thing, but nobody wanted her because she wasn’t pretty enough and required a little extra care.” Another scratch under the drooling chin. “Well, it’s their loss. She’s perfect.”

His chest warmed. She’d gone to the pound to pick up a guard dog, a dog to protect her. But instead, she’d adopted a small, toothless, diabetic mutt—because it was going to be euthanized. How many people would have put Cuddles’s welfare above their own?

Emma had a good heart.

“You should call her Lucky, because she hit the motherlode with you,” Lucas said.

The smile she turned on him was radiant. A pre-hookup beam. When Emma smiled it lit every inch of her face and crept into her eyes. Christ, he missed those smiles of hers.

“I’m sorry for not calling you back.” Unbidden, the words just burst from him.

Her smile fractured and fled. “An apology’s not necessary.”

Smooth, Luc, really smooth.

“Yeah, yeah it is.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Because you were right earlier—” He stopped talking to scowl. “I knew if I broke things off in person, we’d end up back in bed, so I took the easy—the cowardly—option and avoided you.” He released one rigid hand from the steering wheel and raked his fingers through his hair. “You’re damn near impossible to resist Em, but you didn’t have a clue where you were headed and it wasn’t fair to lead you on.”

A frown pleated her forehead. She turned slightly and scanned his face.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for that. For the way I handled it. The last thing I wanted was to hurt you.”

His phone rang. Lucas looked down at the console beside his seat. Rio’s name and number flashed across the screen of his cell. Grateful for the interruption, he picked it up and accepted the call. “Yeah?”

“We found the van,” Rio said instantly. “Lots of blood in the cargo area, but no body. We’re dusting it now.”

Lucas grunted in satisfaction. The guy who’d grabbed Emma hadn’t been wearing gloves. Maybe they’d get lucky and get a hit on the prints. “Stolen?”

“Looks like it. Belongs to a local agricultural company. It’s kept in their compound, which is fenced. Someone cut the padlock last night, opened the gate, and drove off with it.”

“Tell me they had the lot wired and you got pictures.”

A dry chuckle sounded. “We got some crystal clear shots of black boots, black jeans and a hoodie.”

“Damn.” Lucas sighed.

A pause throbbed between them and then Rio started talking again. “When you and your gal coming down to the station? We need your statement too,” Rio reminded him, his tone all business.

Lucas forced himself not to look over at Emma. Thank Christ she couldn’t hear Rio’s end of the conversation. She wouldn’t appreciate being referred to as
your gal
. “I’m taking her home now, so maybe two hours?”

“I’ll arrange for the sketch artist to be there.” The line went dead.

Lucas dropped the phone back on the console. “They found the van.”

“I gathered that from your side of the conversation,” she said absently. “You’re sure Tag and Aiden won’t mind me crashing with you guys for a while?”

“Aiden moved out. And Tag’s fine with it.”

“I don’t want to put anyone out,” she said, fidgeting slightly.

“You’re not. There’s plenty of room.” He sent her a reassuring smile. We’ve got an extra bedroom since Aiden bailed on us.”

Although on second thought, he’d give Emma his room and take the couch in the living room. Keep an eye on the front door. He’d bedded down in worse places.

“Well…as long as you’re sure Tag won’t mind.”

“I’m sure,” Lucas said.

Not that it mattered if Tag
did
object. The safest place for Emma at the moment was in his home. If those bastards found her, and managed to take him out, she’d still have Tag protecting her.

No fucking way was anyone getting by the two of them.

* * *

O
ther than the
red Subaru wagon parked in what had been her spot, the condominium complex looked the same—not that Emma had expected much to change in two months. The development was shaped like a huge horseshoe, with balconies and patios overlooking the community pool on the inside. Surrounding the development on the outside was a parking lot edged by a greenbelt studded with dogwood, maple, and spruce trees.

The condos were stacked, three units per building—three bedroom units on the bottom, with a two bedroom and a one bedroom unit perched on top. She’d lived next door and up a flight of stairs from Lucas and his roommates.

From her balcony she’d had a perfect view of their patio and their perennial barbeques when the men were in residence. She’d had an even better view of their sporadic dips in the pool or soaks in the community hot tub. Not that she’d been a peeping Tammy or anything. But good lord, she had eyes and a feminine predilection for rippling muscles, and bare, broad shoulders—although Lucas’s finely honed body had been her favorite eye candy. Nor had she been the only female to suddenly develop a renewed appreciation for their balcony or patio when the men were in town.

Honestly, that riveting masculine view was about the only thing she missed about this place.

Lucas parked his Jeep in the spot closest to his condo and turned off the engine. “Ever hear from Mona?”

“A couple times, when she first moved, but nothing since.” Emma glanced up at the unit she used to live in.

She’d lost both her roommate and landlord when Mona had taken a job in Austin and put her condo on the market. She’d thought about putting an offer in on the condo, but ultimately decided that if she was going to take on a house payment, the debt needed to include the land too—not just the building.

And talking about roommates…apprehension stirred. Her attention shifted to Lucas’s unit. He’d said that Aiden had moved out, but that still left Brett Taggart in the house.