Hot Pursuit (11 page)

Not that he didn’t want her. He did—hell,
he’d thought of little else since he’d seen her in the salon
today—but he couldn’t take her. Not now. Not like this. Then, it
had been a challenge, a sort of goal he’d focused on because it
made him feel normal.

Now? Now she was confused and vulnerable, and
taking advantage of her feelings was wrong. He wanted her to want
him because she couldn’t deny the chemistry between them, not
because Jimmy Thibodeaux had pulled a knife on her and she was
feeling vulnerable and mixed up.

He stared at her for a long minute, his body
remembering how it felt to be inside a woman, responding to her
against his wishes. She dropped the belt, her hand coming to rest
lightly on his chest. Her hand trembled as she spread her fingers,
and that single moment of vulnerability almost undid him.

Her hand was warm as she smoothed it across
his chest. He burned beneath her touch, ached to have her slip her
fingers under the material of his shirt and caress his bare skin.
All he had to do was let it happen.

But his conscience had grown a whole damn lot
in the last ten years. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I
don’t think this is a good idea.”

She looked confused. Her gaze focused on her
hand, on the smoothing motions she made. It was torture. He
continued working the strands of her hair, sliding them a few at a
time from the knot. It’d been a long time since he’d gotten laid. A
long damn time.

“You said earlier—”

“I know what I said.” Christ, this wasn’t
working. He dropped her hair and grabbed her wrist to halt the
torturous motion. “That was before.”

She stared up at him with liquid eyes. Any
second, he expected her lip to tremble.

It didn’t.

She took a deep breath and lightly pushed him
away.

“I’m sorry, then.” She turned her back to
him.

He felt like a jerk. An idiot. “It’s a common
reaction to be attracted to someone who rescues you.” Great, now he
sounded like a damn textbook. He didn’t want to push her away, but
he wanted to do the right thing. Apparently, doing the right thing
meant sounding starchy and proper.

She choked on a laugh. Her eyes were bright.
“Well hey, thanks for not taking advantage of me.” She grabbed the
comb and worked the knot methodically, succeeding where before
she’d failed. He couldn’t help but notice her hands shook.

“I want to.” God, did he ever. The irony of
the situation wasn’t lost on him. Once, she’d offered him her body
and he’d practically tripped over his tongue saying yes. Now,
however, he was trying to be noble. And aching in all the wrong
places because of it. “But I can’t. It’s not professional.”

The comb stilled as she looked up at him.
“Professional? Why’s it suddenly about being professional? You’ve
propositioned me at least twice tonight, and now you
can’t
because it would mean going against some code or something?” She
dropped the comb on the vanity, dragging her fingers through the
last of the snarl until it came free.

When she tossed her hair over her shoulder,
he thought he might drop to his knees and beg her to forget
everything he’d just said. His mouth went dry as he imagined her on
top, her beautiful hair hanging down in a curtain around him as she
leaned forward to kiss him.

Matt shook his head to clear it. He tried
hard—damn hard—to remember little Evie Baker, twelve years old,
being a pain in the ass. Or sixteen-year-old Evie, disappointed in
him because he took what she offered and gave nothing back.

But all he saw was this Evie—beautiful,
needy, ready. He wanted to possess her. He had no right, especially
since he couldn’t offer her anything beyond a few nights.

There were plenty of women in Rochambeau,
plenty who’d take him home and break the drought if sex was what he
wanted. Plenty he could have a clear conscience about.

“I didn’t say it made sense. But I’m trying
to do the right thing here.”

Her eyes flashed and vulnerable Evie fell
away. “You sure are making a lot of assumptions, Matthew Girard.
What makes you think I wanted anything besides a kiss?”

He stared at her for a long moment. And then
he burst out laughing. It was definitely the wrong thing to do
because she snatched up the comb and winged it at him. He caught it
and tossed it onto the vanity.

But he couldn’t let that pass. He couldn’t
let her get away with being disingenuous.

“You and I both know,
chère
, that if
I’d done what you wanted, we’d be naked right this minute. Don’t
act like you expected anything less when we both know it isn’t the
truth.”

“And don’t
you
pretend like it’s some
blasted code making you change your mind either.” She slapped the
clothes she’d picked up onto the bench again and crossed her arms.
“I wouldn’t be very attracted to me right now either.”

Matt was having trouble keeping up. Okay, so
he was clueless. Totally in the dark here. “You think I’m not
interested because you took too long in the shower?”

“Oh my God.” Her cheeks were slashed with
red. She waved a hand at him. “Forget it, Matt. Just go so I can
get dressed.”

It took him another minute of staring at her,
watching her blush spread, before he got it.

Aw damn, now he
had
to kiss her. And
he didn’t know if he’d survive the experience.

“JESUS, EVIE.” MATT CLOSED THE distance
between them. “I can’t believe you think I don’t want you because
you fell apart a little. I’ve seen grown men lose their lunch,
believe me. Hell, I’ve done it myself.”

Embarrassment sizzled through Evie’s body.
What the hell was wrong with her? Why had she even touched him in
the first place?

Because she’d been standing there while he
worked the knot free, and she’d been enveloped in his scent and his
presence. She’d felt so lost and alone in the shower when she’d
started thinking about how helpless she’d been against Jimmy’s
threats. If Matt hadn’t arrived, what might have happened to her?
Would Jimmy have raped her? Cut her?

But Matt had talked her out of the shower,
and then he’d stood there and calmly worked on the knot in her hair
while her heart pounded hard at his nearness. She’d had a sudden,
powerful urge to lose herself in his arms and forget all about
Jimmy Thibodeaux, David West, and her broken dreams—at least for a
little while.

So she’d put her hand on his chest. And she’d
liked the feel of all that solid muscle, so she kept touching him.
Considering what he’d said to her earlier, she hadn’t thought for
one moment he would turn her down.

But of course he had. She’d practically
gotten sick on his shoes. What man wanted a woman so soon after
he’d had to hold her hair and watch her retch? He’d been tough,
disabling Jimmy and calmly dealing with the gun and the police,
while she’d been a mess of nerves. She’d fallen apart in front of
him. Mortifying.

She looked up into eyes that were deadly
serious. There wasn’t a hint of mockery in them. “You’ve gotten
sick like that before? For no reason?”

“It’s not for no reason, Evie.” One corner of
his mouth crooked in a soft smile. “And yeah, I’ve gotten sick,
though it’s been a while. You can’t be in my line of work and not
see some serious shit. None of us are immune to it. We’re human.
Now, come here.”

He put his arms around her, cupped his palm
to the back of her head, and pulled her in close. She closed her
eyes and breathed in the clean scent of him. Willed back tears that
surprised her with their sudden sting.

She hadn’t broken down once, not when David
ran off with the payroll—and much more than she’d known about that
night—not when the bank called in her loans, not even when she sat
stone-faced in that meeting of lawyers and listened to them carve
up her dream.

She sucked in a breath that trembled as she
put her arms around Matt’s waist.

After a long moment, he spoke. “Look at
me.”

She tilted her head up, meeting heated gray
eyes. She suddenly couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

“You’re crazy if you think I don’t want to
kiss you.”

He cupped her cheeks in both hands. She
closed her eyes as his head dipped, her breath shuddering in her
chest as his mouth pressed gently against hers.

It wasn’t passionate, this kiss; it wasn’t
anything other than sweet and comforting. Yet something stirred
inside her, that little tingle of excitement, of anticipation. She
wanted more, so much more than she should. This was the man who’d
started it all, who’d taken what she’d given him and thrown it back
in her face as if it were nothing.

And here she stood, ready to lose herself in
him one more time. Because there’d always been more between them
than just one night. Because they went back a long ways, and she’d
loved him as a friend long before she’d ever fallen for him as a
man.

And though she wasn’t in love with him
anymore, they were both adults now and she knew what she was asking
for. Earlier, she’d thought she couldn’t handle it, that it would
be too much—but now she wasn’t worried. This time she would take as
much as she gave.

Evie wrapped her arms around his waist and
fitted herself closer to his body. He groaned then, his hands
slipping down over the robe, bunching the fabric at the small of
her back as if it were a lifeline and he couldn’t let go.

She opened her mouth on a moan and his tongue
slipped inside, tangling with hers while her body melted. She ached
in a way she hadn’t in a very long time. It was thrilling to feel
this way when she’d felt numb for so long. She ran her hands up the
hard muscles of his chest and over his shoulders. He was so much
stronger than he’d been at seventeen. Her blood hummed with
electricity. Fireworks sparked in her belly, her sex.

He pushed her gently away and disappointment
crashed through her. “You’re making me crazy.” His voice was
thrillingly low, sending shivers of anticipation along her spine.
“But we can’t do this—”

“I want to.” She really did. To hell with all
the reasons she’d told herself she shouldn’t do this earlier. Julie
had told her she needed to get laid, and maybe her cousin was
right. The sparks between her and Matt were combustible—and it had
been a long time since she’d felt any combustion with anyone.

She could spend the night in Matt’s bed and
walk away in the morning without a backward glance. And that was a
mighty liberating thought.

He closed his eyes on a groan. “I don’t get
hostages out of bad places and then sleep with them. It’s
unprofessional conduct and it’s unbecoming an officer in the United
States Army. Tomorrow, maybe—”

“God, Matt, just stop fighting it! This isn’t
the Army and no one paid you to help me. I’m not somebody you’ve
never set eyes on before today.” She sucked in a ragged breath.
“This is me. Evie. I used to be your best friend, remember? We’re
adults, we know what we want. You said it yourself.”

His eyes searched hers. “But do you really?
You didn’t seem so eager when we danced earlier. Or in your mama’s
salon.”

“I know. Maybe I was scared of you, scared of
everything that happened before and how it made me feel. But I’m
sure now. Because I’m not sixteen and I don’t feel anything for you
now except lust.”

One eyebrow lifted. “Lust, huh? So now I’m a
piece of meat?”

“That’s right, Matt. You’re meat. I want a
piece of you.”

His laugh was strangled. “Jesus, Evie. I’m
serious when I say I missed the hell out of you. I wish I’d
realized it years ago.”

Her heart did a little skip. “There’s no need
to sweet-talk me, soldier. I’m already naked under this robe.”

“You kill me.”

“I’d rather do something else to you.”

His grip on her arms was light. She wasn’t
going to give him a chance to back away. She broke his hold easily
enough, flowing into his arms. He didn’t protest as she took his
face between her hands and pulled his head down for a kiss.

At first, he didn’t react. She was ready to
break the kiss when he suddenly squeezed her tight.

“I give up,” he said hoarsely. “You win,
Evie. You win.”

And then he kissed her with the kind of heat
that curled her toes.

* * *

Sarah huddled against the car door, as far
from the man who stared at her as she could. She wrapped her arms
around her body and tried to make herself smaller. He finished his
latest cigarette and flicked it out the window. The air stank of
sweat and stale smoke. She had no idea how anyone could stand it.
Surely the smell was as bad in the front seat as the back, but no
one seemed affected. These people were creepy.

“Can you please just drop me off now?” Sarah
said to the woman, though she kept slanting her eyes to the man
beside her. They’d driven past the house once, but no one was home
and the woman hadn’t wanted to stop and wait. Sarah’s pleas to be
let out were ignored. They’d driven to the cross street and pulled
over, waiting for Evie’s car.

“Don’t you want to party with us?” the woman
said. “Hang out until your sister comes home?”

Sarah was really beginning to regret that
she’d told them she and Evie were related. “I’m tired. I’ll be sure
to tell Evie you’re looking for her, though.”

The woman turned in her seat and speared
Sarah with glittering eyes. “Now that, sweetie, is something I’d
rather you didn’t do.”

Sarah clasped her shaking hands between her
knees. Something definitely wasn’t right here. She should have
never gotten in the car with these people. God, please just let her
live and she’d never sneak out again. “I won’t tell her, I
promise.”

“No, you won’t.” The woman turned around
again. “Let’s go,” she said to the big guy driving.

“You wanna go in the house, see what we can
shake out?”