Maximum Risk (14 page)

“I eliminate the threat against you.”

“How?”

“Leave that up to me.”

“But to do that you’re going to need all the details of my kidnapping, right?”

He nodded.

She looked out over the lake, gaining strength in its serenity. “Tonight, after the wake. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

****

Quinn placed the letters
wax
on the old
Scrabble
board his sister had left in the closet years ago. As a teen, Bailey had loved to play games and always conned her brothers into playing with her. Mostly so she could beat them. He was surprised it was even still there. After wiping the dust off it, he and Avery sat down to a game, since neither of them was hungry or wanted to think about the funeral tomorrow.

“Triple word score,” he said, leaning back in his chair with a smug smile. That put him ahead by twenty points.

Avery wrote down his score and picked up her letters. On his
x
she played
es
then built down from the
s
with an
ex
to spell
waxes
and
sex
for a double word score.

“That puts me five points ahead of you.” She wrote down her score and looked up with a smug smile of her own. The first time he’d seen her smile. It erased the stress lines around her eyes and made her glow.

His eyes dropped to the word she placed. It echoed through his head like a drumbeat. Only then did he notice the other words they had played.
Skin, flesh, legs, long, naked.
Christ, this was a bad idea.

“Oh.”

He glanced up to see Avery staring at the board too. Their eyes met.

“Maybe we should play another game,” she murmured, looking away.

“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed just as his cell phone blipped. Perfect timing.

He rose to his feet with one last glance at the board. How the hell did a game of
Scrabble
turn sexual?

Good God, the hole he was digging just got deeper and deeper.

“I have to take this.” Punching a button on his phone, he walked into the kitchen to take Kell’s call about funeral arrangements.

Away from a tempting game of
Scrabble
.

****

Avery tossed aside the sports magazine she’d been absently thumbing through and let out a frustrated sigh. She had resorted to reading it after Quinn took Kell’s phone call. After that tantalizing game of
Scrabble
.

Who knew
Scrabble
could be sensual?

Her belly tightened when she remembered the hunger in Quinn’s eyes. He’d masked it quickly, but not before it seared into her brain and made her want to kiss him.

It had started out as an innocent way to pass the time. A way to keep their minds off the funeral tomorrow and the wake that night. So she didn’t have to think about the vein she would open after the wake when she bore her secrets to Quinn about her captivity. They had both needed the distraction.

Until it backfired.

Now, she would never play
Scrabble
again without remembering this game.

She turned at the sound of Quinn’s light footsteps on the stairs. Her mouth went dry when she saw the slate-colored shirt and black slacks hugging his muscular frame. His dark hair was damp from his shower and he had shaved.

He hit the landing while buttoning a cuff. His gaze met hers and she saw stark pain masked in the green depths. Tension rode his muscles, sharpened his gaze.

“I don’t like leaving you here.”

She sent him a look. “I’ll lock the doors and I won’t venture outside. You have my word.”

He shook his head and pulled out his cell phone. “My brothers and I will go to the wake in shifts.”

Avery leaped off the couch and rushed to his side. She placed a hand on his arm to stop him from placing a call. “That’s crazy. Go to the wake with your family. I’ll be fine. No one knows I’m here. I’m perfectly safe, you said so yourself.”

If only he knew the places she traveled in her career. They were far more dangerous than a rugged log cabin tucked away in the deep woods of Michigan.

His cell phone rang. Indecision tightened the lines of his face. “Damn it, Avery. Lock the doors behind me. Don’t leave the house or the alarm will go off.” With that he answered his phone, gave her one last warning look, and headed for the door.

She crossed to the window and watched him climb into his truck and back out of the driveway. Suddenly lonely, she wrapped her arms around her waist and turned around to face the empty room. Being alone shouldn’t bother her. Maybe it was being cooped up for two days. Or lack of sleep. Why did she suddenly want to be with Quinn?

Chastising herself, she walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of hours-old coffee. Not for the caffeine, but for something to hold. As she sipped it she wondered how she would occupy herself the next couple hours. Quinn’s computer called to her, but she wouldn’t endanger the lives of her coworkers or their families by contacting them.

Determined not to sit idle, she went into the kitchen and dug through Quinn’s cupboard for the ingredients to make No Bake Cookies. They were the one dessert her mother had taught her to make that she could actually cook. And almost everyone had the fixings in their pantry.

Snapping on the small television that sat on the counter, she found a saucepan and a wooden spoon. As she watched an old sitcom she measured the ingredients and stirred over a low flame until they melted.

Minutes later, she lay out the cookies on a sheet of wax paper. With the water running in the dirty pan in the sink, she began cleaning up her mess.

A noise from outside made her jump. She clamped a hand over her heart, feeling it pound beneath her palm. Quinn had been gone all of thirty minutes and already she jumped at every little sound.

Chiding herself, she turned off the water. Her heart continued to race as she listened for more sounds that shouldn’t scare her. It annoyed her that they did. She wasn’t the jumpy type. At least not until a band of terrorists kidnapped her.

No. Not going there.

Avery looked around the empty kitchen. She paced to the table. Then back to the sink. Ridiculous. She wasn’t in Azbakastan anymore. This was Quinn’s house, not a tin house in the mountains.

She was safe.

Then why did she want Quinn to be there with her? And why did her heart pound like a drum?

Spooked, she finished cleaning up and returned to the living room to curl up on the sofa. She pulled the patchwork quilt off the back to wrap around her, despite the warmth inside the cabin. She picked up the remote control off the coffee table and switched on the TV. Settling for CNN, she leaned back and stared blankly at the screen.

Turning her gaze to the floor-to-ceiling windows, she watched a hanging basket overflowing with red and white flowers swing gently in the breeze. Just beyond the deck stood a forest of tall trees of different shapes and sizes. Beautiful. They calmed her nerves. Reminded her she had nothing to fear here.

Something streaked across the tree line. Avery jumped. Her heart skipped a beat. Slowly, she rose and walked over to the windows to peer out. Probably a deer or dog. No reason to get nervous.

Unless there were bears in Michigan.

But, the figure had been tall. Like a human. All of Quinn’s brothers were at the funeral wake and he had no neighbors close by. She must be mistaken.

She pulled the quilt tighter around her shoulders.

The phone rang. She yelped and swung around, her back thumping into the wall. Berating herself, she shook it off and hurried to the phone in the kitchen. “Hello?”

Silence.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

Someone was breathing on the other end.

A chill skittered down her spine. “Hello? Can you hear me?” A bad connection? In these woods she wouldn’t be surprised.

The line went dead. Avery disconnected and put the phone down. Her instincts told her the call wasn't a wrong number or a bad connection. First, a figure in the woods and then a hang up.

She grabbed a butcher knife out of the wooden block, walked the house to make sure the doors and windows were locked, then resumed her seat on the sofa.

Something scraped against the side of the house. Her head snapped around, eyes wide as the cabin morphed into the tiny bedroom cell in Azbakastan. Men outside her door. Coming in to hurt her.

“No,” she whispered as they came closer. She lifted the knife, prepared to fight.

Knife?

They never gave her a weapon.

Shaking her head, she looked around the room. Quinn’s cabin. Her shoulders slumped but she didn’t drop the knife.

Please, Quinn, come home soon.

****

Quinn pushed through the door of the funeral home in Cedar Falls and immediately his stomach dropped to his feet. The smell of death surrounded him, although it was veiled by the scent of vanilla and lavender. It didn’t soothe his nerves any as he stepped into the show room and forced his eyes to the casket in front of the room.

Cold sweat washed over him and he froze in place, unable to take another step. Vaguely, he was aware of his parents approaching, of Dani crying on Evan’s shoulder in the front row, his brothers hanging in the distance, the crowd of people paying respects. He couldn’t look away from the casket. His feet refused to carry him into the room where he was expected to accept condolences, listen to memoirs.

Instead, images of Ryan bleeding to death flashed through his head. His ears filled with staccato gunfire and Kell’s panicked voice shouting at him to save their brother. A hand touched his arm and he flinched.

“Quinn? Are you all right?”

Snapping back to the present he blinked and looked down at his mother, who had a hand wrapped around his forearm, concern in her eyes. “I’m fine, Mom.”

“Did you come alone?”

“Avery isn’t here.”

His mother nodded and patted his arm. “It’s probably for the best. Come in, the Warners would like to talk to you.”

Quinn went through the motions, answered appropriately, more by rote than anything. His brain numbed and the ache in his chest grew with every condolence he accepted.

When he had all he could take, he excused himself from the woman who had gone to school with them, and slipped out the front door. A warm breeze hit him full on and he breathed in the fresh air. Better than the damned lavender and vanilla.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed home, needing a distraction from the knife in his gut.

Avery picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”

“It’s Quinn.”

She expelled a deep breath. “Oh, thank God.”

He stiffened. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Are you checking up on me?”

Something in her tone set his senses on alert. “What’s wrong?”

“Is the wake over?”

“Avery,” he growled.

A sigh. “It’s stupid.”

He doubted that. “Tell me anyway.”

“I thought I saw someone outside. Then the phone rang and no one was there. It’s ludicrous—”

“I’m on my way.” He disconnected and strode toward his truck parked nearby. He dialed Kell when he got on the road to tell to him to run interference.

Damn it, he never should have agreed to let her stay home alone. Quinn pushed the truck harder and faster. Another fuck-up.

****

“Quinn, no—”

Too late. He’d already hung up. Avery tossed the phone on the coffee table and sat back with a huff. She hadn’t meant to say anything. Certainly not to pull Quinn away from his family. They already hated her. This would only make matters worse. The words slipped out before she could stop them. Now he was on his way home because she got spooked by things she normally never would have let get to her.

There had to be an easy explanation for what she’d seen and the call. She was in the woods, for God’s sake. Had to be an animal. Which shouldn’t scare her. Well, bears did a little. As long as they steered clear of her she would do the same.

The sound of Quinn’s truck skidding to a stop in front of the house drew her attention. Seconds later he burst through the front door, the lines of his face drawn tight. His eyes scanned the room and landed on her. Avery sat up straighter and readjusted the quilt around her shoulders.

“Are you all right?” He closed the door and strode into the room.

“I’m fine. You shouldn’t have come home.”

He kept on going, checking each room. She watched him go upstairs and come back down minutes later. This time with a gun clutched at his side.

“Where did you see them?”

“Through the living room windows. Near the tree line. It was nothing. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Yes, you should have. Stay here.” He moved to the back door and unlocked it before slipping outside.

Avery hurried to the windows to watch him walk the perimeter of the house. He made quite the picture in his slacks and dress shirt holding a gun. The way he moved like a predator stalking its prey made her belly tighten. Unable to look away, she watched him crouch down at the tree line and lightly run his hand over the ground.

His gaze swung to the cabin and zeroed in on her. His lips flattened in displeasure before he rose swiftly to his feet and disappeared into the trees. Fear skittered down her spine, but she chased it away. Quinn could handle himself. She’d witnessed that firsthand in Azbakastan. There was nothing out there anyway. She never should have said anything to him on the phone. God, why couldn’t she have kept her mouth shut? He should be at the funeral home with his family, not scouring the woods for something that wasn’t there.

After what seemed an eternity, Quinn reappeared and strode toward the house. Avery met him at the door.

“You didn’t find anything, did you? I’m sure what I saw was a deer or something.”

He tucked the gun in his waistband at the small of his back. “You didn’t see a deer.”

“Are you sure?” She followed him into the kitchen.

His expression hardened when he looked at her. “There were footprints near the tree line. Right where you said they’d be.”