Shadow Hawk

9

Somewhere south of Bullet City, Wyoming

WAS IT GOOD OR BAD THAT THEY found a gas station almost immediately? Abby couldn’t decide as Hawk pulled the truck off the highway and into the parking lot. From her perch in the passenger seat, she searched for an attendant, a customer, anyone she could flag down for help.

But there was not a single soul.

The handcuffs clanked as Hawk shifted, and her hand brushed his, making her breath hitch. She was so used to avoiding a man’s touch, she found herself startled by the fact that though she was still furious, she was not afraid of their close proximity.

Why was Hawk different from other men?

Didn’t matter. Slipping her free hand into her pants pocket, she closed her fingers around her cell phone. Hawk was looking at the pump, his head turned from her. Now or never, she decided…

Thumbing open the phone, Abby tried to figure out who to call, then froze as her finger inadvertently pushed a key.

At the unmistakable electronic beep, Hawk’s head whipped back to hers. “What was that?”

She shrugged.

“Goddamnit.” Pressing her back against the door, he set his hand low on her ribs.

“Hey!”

But his hand merely slid further down, brushing her hip, inching into her pocket without qualm, his fingers closing over hers. “What are you doing?”

Momentarily stunned at how intimate it felt to have his fingers in her pocket, so close to her, with his big body holding her prone against the seat, it took her a moment to answer. “Nothing.”

“Doesn’t feel like nothing.”

Nope. It felt like…like he had his hand down her pants. “I’m just keeping my hand warm.” It was amazing how fast the lie rolled off her tongue.

It would have been better if she hadn’t sounded so damn breathless.

In answer, he slid his thumb over her lower lip. “Did you text someone?”

She licked her lips, the tip of her tongue accidentally touching his thumb. In response, he inhaled unevenly, and as if connected to him, her stomach quivered.

“Abby? Did you?”

“Uh…” For some odd reason, she’d lost track of the conversation.

“Did you tell anyone where we are?”

Needing him to get off her, she rocked up, managing only to bump her hips to his. He was surrounding her, holding her down, and it left her feeling confused, muddled. Instead of fighting him, as she’d figured she would, her body was doing a sort of slow-burning awareness thing, complete with hard nipples and quivering thighs. What the hell?

Hawk didn’t appear outwardly affected by their closeness at all. Instead, he kept track of the issue at hand with apparent ease.

Why couldn’t she keep track of the issue at hand?

“Did you?” he demanded, then pulled out the phone himself. When he swore, she assumed he’d located her blank text message in the sent file.

Shutting the phone, he lifted his head. Their mouths were a fraction of an inch apart, and somehow fascinated by this, she stared at his lips.

“You lied,” he said very softly.

“No.”

Honestly, she had no idea why she kept lying. He had the proof in his hand. “I-”

“Stop.” As if to insure she did just that, he covered her mouth with his.

This time, this second kiss, Abby didn’t have to brace herself. She knew what to expect, an inexplicable onslaught of hunger and desire, so compelling that a low sigh fell from her.

At the sound, he went utterly still, then slid his free hand into her hair, tightening his grip, changing the angle of the kiss to better suit him as he ran his tongue along her lower lip.

Oh, God. Two things occurred simultaneously. One, her heart skittered into near cardiac arrest, and two…a horrifyingly needy moan escaped her.

Hawk pulled back. Though his lids were heavy over his eyes so that she couldn’t get a read from them, she sensed his confusion matched hers. “I must be insane,” he whispered. “Totally and completely insane.”

Yeah, no argument there.

“Tell me again you’re not in on this whole thing,” he whispered, still holding her face. “Because if you are, you should just kill me now.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Please answer.”

Slowly she shook her head.

“Is that no, you’re not going to answer, or no-”

“No, I’m not in on this whole thing.”

He stared at her for a beat, then let out a breath as he levered himself up off her. “Okay. Okay, that’s going to have to be good enough, isn’t it? Come on, we’re getting out.”

She turned to the windshield and was shocked to find it fogged up, dripping condensation. Had they done that? Steamed up the glass with just a simple kiss? Except there’d been nothing simple about it at all… “We’ll freeze to death.”

“Can’t freeze to death in hell, and I’m definitely in hell.” Sitting back, he shoved his free hand through his short hair, making it stand on end. His eyes were shadowed, his lean jaw scruffy, his clothes tattered and blood-strewn. The cut on his forehead had stopped bleeding, but she guessed from his uneven breathing that he still hurt pretty good.

She should be glad. Instead, all Abby felt was a sense of uneasiness, and-truthfully?-a secret wish that he’d go back to holding her. Because for some reason, in his arms she’d felt safer than she had in a very long time.

HAWK EYED THE GAS STATION. It was quiet and badly lit. Both things worked in their favor, or so he hoped.

But it’d only been an hour since the first explosion. Gaines’s men couldn’t be far behind them. “They’ll have figured out you’re missing by now. And we know they’re looking for me.”

Nothing from the woman cuffed to him.

“We’ll have to hurry.”

She raised an eyebrow, and wordlessly offered up her wrist to be uncuffed.

He had no right to continue to hold her to him, he had nothing but a gut instinct that said he’d saved her life. The best thing now was to get her to Tibbs. Tibbs would keep her safe.

But the thought of walking away from her killed him, though he had no idea why.

Okay, he knew why. He knew exactly why. It was her eyes, mirrors to his own soul. It was the way she brought something out in him, the best part.

And having her smoking body so close to his didn’t hurt… Clearly, kissing her had destroyed too many brain cells. “You’re going to run screaming the moment I uncuff you.”

More of her loaded nothing.

“Look, I took you with me for your own good-”

She let out a snort that managed to perfectly convey exactly how full of shit she thought he was.

“Jesus.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m a lot of things, Abby, I’ll give you that. Stubborn. Tough. Maybe even as asshole-”

She nodded in agreement, which worked wonders for his ego, it really did.

“But whatever you think of me,” he insisted. “I’m not a liar.”

She slanted him a baleful stare.

“Okay, name it,” he challenged her. “Name a lie I’ve told.”

Clearly unable to, she turned her head away.

“Okay, fine. Great. Don’t talk to me. Just promise me that you won’t scream for help.” He unzipped a small pocket on his outer thigh, pulling out a key. “Promise me, and I’ll uncuff you.”

At that, she leveled him with a furious look. “So now you want me to lie?”

“Fine.” He tucked the key away again. “We’ll do this the hard way. Why the fuck not? We’ve done everything else that way all damn night.”

She went back to her stony silence, and he was back to talking to himself. “I’m going to slide out. You’re going to sit in the driver’s seat and give me as much slack as you can while I pump gas.”

She didn’t answer, big surprise. He reached for the door, then let out a breath at the renewed pain in his chest.

Abby looked at him, her gaze darkening with what he sincerely hoped was a tiny bit of sympathy. Some of her hair had slipped free of its bond, falling in silken curves around her face, framing those eyes he could look at all day.

“The effects shouldn’t last much longer,” she said.

He wasn’t sure why, but something turned over inside of him, and it was all he could do not to haul her close and kiss her again, just hold onto her until this nightmare was over. Except she was sending out serious back-off signals, so he got out of the driver’s seat to get the gas. She willingly shifted over, giving him enough arm room to maneuver the nozzle into the gas tank.

And that’s when he remembered. He had no money.

His gaze locked with hers, and he could see she’d thought of the same thing, since her eyes were mocking him. Christ, he was tired of fighting with her. “You don’t by any chance have a wallet on you?”

She simply arched an eyebrow.

Terrific. He hadn’t died of smoke inhalation, his wounds, or the fact that his heart had been ripped out by everyone believing he’d gone rogue. Nope, he was going to die because he’d been stupid enough to take her with him, to protect her no less, when she’d as soon rip off his nuts. “Do you or do you not have any money?”

“I don’t carry money when I’m being kidnapped.”

Hawk understood her anger, he really did. But he was hurting, too, and cold, and just about beyond frustrated. “He’s coming for you, too, Abby.”

She turned her head to lock her gaze on his. As she did, the scent of her hair drifted over him like a sweet balm. He had no time to be feeling anything since he was currently up hell’s creek without a paddle. And yet he felt plenty, mostly an inexplicable need to kiss her again. “I need your cell phone.”

“No. Don’t-” She choked as his fingers slid across her abdomen, trying to get to her pocket. “Don’t touch me.”

“Relax.” His hand brushed the warm skin of her belly just above her low waistband. “I only want the-”

Her elbow clocked him in the nose, and he saw stars. “Jesus!” He fell back against the opened door. “Jesus Christ, woman!”

Breathing like a lunatic, she glared at him, eyes hot and furious beneath the hair that had fallen in her face. “I told you not to touch.”

“Okay, yeah, getting that loud and clear. The phone, Abby.”

Her jaw tightened. “It’s almost out of battery.”

The battery didn’t matter, and they both knew it. She threw her cellphone at him, and thank you, God, the little keychain he’d seen with her mini credit card was attached to it.

“I can’t believe you expect your victim to pay for your gas.”

“No, what I expect is to wake up from this nightmare any second, but I’m not going to get that lucky.” He swiped the card at the pump and nearly fell to his knees in gratitude when the gas began pumping into the truck.

Her cell phone vibrated in his hand. Incoming text message. His gaze locked with hers, then he looked at the caller ID. “Do you know this number?”

She looked and blinked.

“Abby?”

“It’s an established line between Gaines and me. He got it after…it was just for us to communicate back and forth.”

He flipped open the phone to read: Where are you?

“Interesting that he isn’t concerned with making you think he’s dead. Interesting, and very telling.”

“Right.” She closed her eyes. “Because if I’m on his short list for the evening, it doesn’t matter if I know he’s alive. Because I won’t be for much longer.” She slid him a glance that sliced at his heart as she waited for him to nod.

Hawk slapped the phone closed against his thigh and sighed.

She didn’t say anything more, and after a moment he realized she wasn’t being obstinate-her default mood of the night-but rather trying hard to control whatever emotion she was keeping to herself. Bending closer, he risked life and limb to see into her face. “Talk to me.”

She just shook her head.

“Abby-”

“Please,” she whispered, clearly trying with all her might to keep it together. “Don’t. Just let me think.”

Okay. He could do that. For a little while, anyway. But then she shifted in the seat at the same time he pulled back, and her shoulder brushed his chest. The accidental touch seemed to freeze her.

It sure as hell froze him, and he watched as very slowly her head came up. God, her eyes, they completely slayed him. He just wanted to look at her all night. Look at her and inhale her and touch her… The yearning was nothing new. He’d been inhaling deeply to catch her scent for six long months now. Hawk breathed her in and tried not to lose it, but, God, she got him, right in the gut.

In the heart.

She had a strand of silky hair over one eye, and very, very slowly he reached out to stroke it away, wanting to do much more but unable to figure out how to further touch her without her gutting him. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured. “Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly how, but we’ll get there, I promise.”

Her gaze searched his, soft now, uncertain, leaving him just as uncertain what to make of the shadowed expression in her eyes. Was she still mad? Hurt? Was she feeling any of what he was feeling, which was that he wanted to kiss her again, for real this time, without anything coming between them?

Abby turned away.

And there was his answer. No, she was not feeling any of what he was. Still waiting on the gas, he pulled out the phone again and dialed Logan’s cell. No answer. Damn…Glancing up, he found her watching him.

“Last I heard,” she said quietly. “He was in the air, headed back to Cheyenne County.”

He only hoped that wasn’t as serious as it sounded. “Okay, so we go with what we’ve got. The rifle. I just have to match it to the ATF serial number list to place it as one of the stolen weapons. So we need to get into regional offices.”

“Or to my laptop at home.”

“Yeah, much easier. Let’s go.”

“There’s that ‘let’s’ again.”

“We have to do this, Abby. Placing the rifle is evidence of the inside job.”

“Still not enough.”

“Well, we’ll think of more then. We have to do this, you know we do.”

“No, we don’t. We don’t have to do anything.” But Hawk realized the heat in her voice was gone.

Best news all night, from where he stood, because whether she knew it or not, he was winning her over. “If I’m wrong, I’ll-”

“What? Turn yourself in?”

“Yeah.”

She stared at him. “Let’s call Tibbs now.”

“Not without the serial number. Not when he already has evidence against me.”

“Hawk…”

“Look, if I’m wrong, you can call him. I promise.”

She tugged on the cuffs. “Your promise is no good to me when I’m with you against my will.”

Okay, good point. But he wasn’t letting her go until they were back on the road, because he wasn’t going to risk her getting out of the truck this close to Gaines. “I’m sorry.”

“If that were true, I wouldn’t be here.”

“No, I’m sorry about whatever happened to you.”

Abby went so still he doubted she was even breathing. Slowly she lifted her gaze to meet his, and then he wasn’t breathing, because there, revealed for him to see, was such pain he nearly staggered backward.

In the loaded silence came the startlingly loud click of the gas pump, signaling that the tank was full, and she blinked and turned away.

Moment over.

By the time Hawk got back into the truck, with her hurriedly scooting over so that he wouldn’t have to touch her, she’d regained her control.

And reestablished her silence.

He started the engine, but she cleared her throat and rattled the handcuffs.

Right. Hoping he wasn’t being an idiot, he pulled out onto the highway before he tossed the key into her lap. She wouldn’t do anything stupid at sixty-five miles per hour, he figured.

Hoped.

Abby grabbed the key. Bending her head, she set herself to the task of unlocking the cuffs, her hair falling over his forearm, her breasts inadvertently brushing his bicep. She’d probably have a heart attack if she realized but he had another reaction altogether.

Freed, she rubbed her wrist and stared out the window. Reaching over, he brought her hand close until he could see her skin in the dim light of the console display. She was bruised, abraded and raw.

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry,” she told him.

He closed his lips on the words and pressed his lips to her skin.

She didn’t snatch her hand free, which he considered an excellent sign. Instead, her breath caught as if maybe she liked his touch after all, as if maybe she was finally going to surrender her aggression and fear, and soften toward him. At least in his dreams.

“Why would he show himself to you?”

His eyes met hers. So she hadn’t decided that he was completely full of shit. He’d take that. “I think it was sheer cockiness, to tell you the truth. Sort of like, look what I pulled off.”

“But to play both sides…It’s so crazy dangerous.”

“He’s dying tonight, remember,” he reminded her. “In essence, retiring.”

“After getting rid of his loose ends.”

“Yes.”

“Like you.”

“Yes.”

She nodded, clearly holding it together by a string, and he wanted to touch her so badly, just to let her know she wasn’t alone.

“I keep going back,” she said. “To when I was working on the Kiddie Bombers in Seattle.”

He slanted her a glance. “Something clicking?”

“There were several times when things went down like tonight, when Gaines showed up at raids no one expected him to be at. To watch the takedowns, he always said.” She shook her head. “Once I questioned him on that.”

“And he was thrilled.”

“He brushed me off.” Abby shook her head. “And I let him. I discounted all of it until now. But I’m thinking that on the off chance I was getting too close…” She closed her eyes. “I’m a loose end, too.”

“Yes, but you’re an alive one,” he reminded her. “Let’s keep it that way. First, your computer.”

“And then what? We draw him out in order to prove he’s alive?”

It was the first real sign he’d had that she might believe him. “I like the way you think, and yeah. He needs to be drawn out.”

Which Hawk would do alone, because no way in hell did he plan on letting Gaines anywhere near her. In fact, he needed to find a safe place for her until this was over. And yet…and yet there was a small part of him that couldn’t deny what it felt like having her with him.

Because with her here, he wasn’t alone. As disastrously bad as the night had gone, as bad as it could still get, he wasn’t alone.