Muscle for Hire (20 page)

Belinda however, had fled the scene by the time Aslin stormed into the hospital’s main entry foyer. Liev met him just inside the door, the Australian dwarfing those around him, his expression set in a lopsided grin. “She took off about ten minutes ago,” Liev said, shoving his hands into his back pockets. “Didn’t try to come any farther than here. Asked the nurse on the front desk if Chris Huntley was here and okay. The nurse told her she had no clue who Chris Huntley was.” Liev chuckled. “I’m not sure the old duck was kidding either.”

Aslin forced the tension in his body to abate. He bit back a sigh. The red-headed fan was a persistent one, that was for certain. After the way he’d crash-tackled her to the ground earlier that day, as well as the way she’d been dragged away by the film’s security team, he was surprised she’d come this close to Chris again.

The woman was like a shadow. Always…

Aslin’s blood began to roar in his ears. His nerve-endings started sparking.

Around. The woman was always around. It didn’t matter how many times she’d been chased or thrown off the film site, she always seemed to find a way back on. Perhaps it was time he had a face-to-face with Belinda the crazed fan again?

“Rhodes?”

He turned to the Australian standing beside him, on edge again.

“Are you heading upstairs? To Huntley and his sister?”

Aslin nodded.

“Mind if I call it a night then? I promised my niece I’d take her and her boyfriend to the Justin Bieber concert. I’d hate for her to get crushed in the mosh pit.”

“Not at all. Although I’m glad it’s you and not me.”

Liev laughed. “Teenagers have no clue about music these days. Give me Pearl Jam any day.”

Aslin shook his head with a grin. “I’m pretty sure Eddie Vedder lost a leer jet to Nick in a Vegas poker game five years ago.”

Liev snorted. “You celebrity bodyguards. I think I’ll settle with the political variety. Less insanity.”

“And you’re not enjoying this job? Tailing Chris Huntley?”

The Australian laughed again. “This, my Pommie friend, is a dream job. One I thank you for. But it’s my niece you’ll have to answer to if I don’t bugger off now, so…” He tapped his fingers to an imaginary hat and walked across the foyer and out the doors.

Aslin stood motionless and watched him go, his pulse a sudden trip hammer in his throat.

Motionless? Why aren’t you heading up to Rowan?

His pulse throbbed harder. Because he was scared, sod it. The last time he’d seen Rowan, he’d confessed to being in love with her. He had no clue how she was going to react to that bombshell. Nor, for that matter, how she was going to react to his insistence she was the target of an attempted murder.

A chilling ribbon of tension shot up his spine at the thought, followed by a wave of molten fury. He’d find the person responsible and make them regret ever—

His cell phone rang.

The sound of Freddy Mercury singing wailed through the quiet hospital foyer and more than one head turned Aslin’s way. He clenched his jaw, yanked his phone free of his pocket and pressed it to his ear. “Rhodes.”

“Aslin.” Chris’s broad American accent shot through the connection. “Where are you, dude? She’s checking herself out.”

Aslin’s eyebrows shot up. “She’s what?”

“Rowie is checking herself out. Told everyone here she’s fine and dandy, that she doesn’t do hospitals and she’ll promise to come back if she—”

Aslin didn’t wait to hear the rest. He killed the call, shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran for the stairs.

Damn it, why the hell did he have to go and fall in love with a bloody stubborn pain-in-the-arse woman?

Chapter Thirteen

Rowan didn’t need to turn away from the counter to know Aslin stood behind her. She could feel him there—his inescapable stare drilling into the back of her head, the heat radiating from his towering body into hers.

His anger licked against her senses, tangible and potent.

Heart beating fast, she continued to sign her name in the required locations, forcing her focus on the point where pen nib touched paper. She refused to hurry even though a small part of her wanted to throw the pen over her shoulder and run as fast as her bruised—and still-wobbly—legs would go.

Damn it. She’d wanted to be gone by the time he returned.

“You’re in trouble now, sis.”

She shot Chris a quick sideward glance. “So are you, tattletale.”

Her brother laughed, and then did what she was too chicken to do—turn around and look at the Brit behind her. “She’s all yours, Rhodes.”

Rowan’s heart beat faster. She kept her stare on the pen, watching the black ink form the final loop of the last H in her surname on the discharge form.

“Care to tell me what you think you’re doing, Hemsworth?”

His deep voice flowed over her like rumbling thunder. Even with the dull pain still at home in her ribs, her body reacted to its sound. Her pussy contracted, her nipples grew tight.

“Checking out,” she answered, doing her best to sound nonplussed. She raised her head from the form and smiled at the nurse scowling at her from the other side of the counter. “There you go.”

Chris’s off-key voice sang softly about being able to check out any time but never leave, his hands tapping on the counter beside Rowan’s paperwork.

“And where exactly are you going now you’ve checked out?” Aslin asked, an edge to his voice.

Rowan’s sex constricted again. She was far too aware of the man, of his potent virility and strength. Her brain kept trying to replay his confession of love over and over. Neither helped her now.

Now she just wanted to get out of the hospital and go…

She bit back a curse. Aslin was right. Where
was
she going now?

Still refusing to look at the man behind her, she cast her brother a hopeful look.

“Hell, no.” Chris shook his head and took a step back. “I only brought you a new set of clothes ’cause I thought you didn’t want to spend all day in a hospital gown. I didn’t think you were planning on taking off. As far as I’m concerned, you should be back in the gown and the bed.”

“Which is exactly the doctor’s opinion,” the nurse piped up, retrieving the pen from Rowan’s fingers with a pointed expression.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re being stupid.”

Aslin’s calm declaration stoked her anger. She pivoted on her newly booted heel, crossed her arms over her tank-top-covered breasts and glared up at him. “I don’t need to be here. The doctor has given me a list of what to look out for. I know not to take aspirin for the next forty-eight hours and—” she cocked an eyebrow, “—I’ve had worse blows before. Professional martial artist, remember? Being knocked on my ass isn’t anything new.”

Aslin drew his head closer to hers. “Being knocked on your arse by an explosion is.”

“Keep up the attitude, soldier boy, and I’ll put you on your
arse
to show you just how fine I am.”

Something dangerous flared in Aslin’s eyes. “Right,” he murmured. “That’s it.”

He straightened, shoved a hand in his hip pocket, withdrew it and turned to Chris. “Here you go.” He tossed something to her brother, the distinct sound of metal clinking telling Rowan it was a set of keys. “Where’s Jeff and the SUV?”

Chris snatched the keys from the air, surprise pulling at his eyebrows. “Jeff is in the cafeteria, no doubt trying to hit on someone. The SUV is on parking level four.”

As Rowan gaped at them both, Aslin nodded. “The Ducati is yours for the rest of the day. Get Jeff to the car in five minutes.” He turned to face her. “You want out of here. Fine. I’ll take you out of here. Back to my hotel room. At least there I can keep an eye on you.”

“What?” she burst out.

“Oh, good idea, Rhodes.” Chris grinned.

“Very good,” the nurse agreed.

Rowan’s pulse pounded. “
Not
a good idea.”

“Why?” Dark emotion flared in Aslin’s eyes, but what that emotion was Rowan couldn’t tell. “Are you scared of me?”

Scared? Oh God, scared couldn’t be further from the truth. And yet that’s exactly how her body was reacting. Her heart raced, her palms were sweaty, the hair on her nape was on end and her mouth was dry. If it wasn’t for the fact her damn pussy was contracting and constricting and fluttering like mad she’d say scared was
exactly
how she felt.

But all those very feminine, very sexual things
were
happening to her. At the thought of being in Aslin’s hotel room. Alone. With him. With the man who’d told her he loved her.

The man she was more than half in love with in return.

Half? Huh. You’re freaking head over heels, fully, totally and utterly in love with him. Admit it.

She clenched her jaw and tilted her chin. “No. I’m not scared.”

And to prove it, she stormed toward the exit, hitching the shorts Chris had snagged from the wardrobe department higher up on her butt to hide the fact her head was still wobbly and her balance was still…unbalanced.

Behind her, Chris laughed, and then she heard him say, “Get your ass into gear, Jeff. You’re taking Aslin and Rowie wherever they need to go. You can hit on the natives later.”

She stopped at the closed elevator door and stabbed the down button.

“Well?” she snapped, turning to glare at Aslin at the counter.

But he wasn’t at the counter. He was right behind her. So close she could feel his heat on her body. So silent she hadn’t heard him move.

Damn him.

And damn her nipples for puckering so hard at his proximity. And his…his…fuck, damn his everything.

His gaze melded with hers and the corner of his lips curled. “Ready for me to take care of you, Ms. Black Belt?”

She narrowed her eyes, tilted her chin and ignored the way her sex throbbed with increasing want. “Ready for me to—”

The elevator binged and opened before whatever pathetic comeback was going to fall from her lips could. She started, her cheeks filling with heat at the very sudden and very raw look of desire that crossed Aslin’s face a second before he cupped his hand around her elbow and guided her inside the empty elevator.

“I’m looking forward to this,” he said

He pressed the button for parking level four without looking at her. Nor did he say a word or cast her a look for the duration of the descent. By the time the doors opened with another soft chime, Rowan’s heart was slamming so fast and hard in her chest she wondered if—given the fact she’d survived an explosion only that day—she should call a doctor? By the time she stepped out into the parking level, she was almost gasping.

“Over here, Mr. Rhodes.”

The familiar voice jerked her attention to her left, and she found Jeff Coulten, the most affable member of Chris’s formal entourage, standing beside a blue Audi SUV, his hand on the rear passenger door’s handle.

“Let’s go. Or do you need me to carry you?”

Rowan snarled at Aslin’s question, shucked her elbow from his grip and stormed over to the SUV.

It would have been all so impressive if she could have made the journey without stumbling mid-distance.

Aslin slipped his arm around her waist before she could fall too far to the side. It was all Rowan could do to keep walking forward. Her head ached, her ears still sung and her body was telling her under no uncertain circumstances had she been beat up. But at the firm contact of Aslin’s hand on her hip, all worry about remaining on her feet vanished.

For the first time in her life since her parents’ murder, she allowed herself to lean on someone.

“It’s going to be okay, love.”

Aslin’s low murmur drew her gaze up to his face and she swallowed at the undeniable tenderness in his eyes.

“Is it?” she whispered.

“I won’t let it be any other way.”

And then they were at the Audi. Jeff asked how she was in his usual amiable way, Aslin helped her into the backseat and her body told her she needed to rest.

But she didn’t want to rest. All she wanted to do was wrap her aching, bruised body around Aslin and make love to him until she couldn’t move at all.

“You okay?”

She lifted her gaze, finding Aslin sitting beside her in the back. His eyebrows were knitted, worry on his face. A distant part of her mind told her he was wearing his emotions much more openly then when she’d first met him. The British super soldier slash muscle for hire she’d encountered on that first day, a lifetime ago, wouldn’t have let anyone see what he was feeling.

He paused clipping his seatbelt, studying her face. “You do realize you’re being a stubborn pain the arse, right? Not staying here?”

She let him see her smile. “I do.”

His answering smile was crooked. “As long as you know.”

Thirty minutes later, they were pulling to a stop outside the Sydney Hilton, Jeff filling in the silence the whole way there as only Jeff could—with a constant chuckled narrative about the world around him.

Rowan was glad for it. There were words in her head that wanted to come out, words like I and love and you. Every time she looked at Aslin sitting beside her, his focus fixed on the road ahead, his sublimely muscled body held tense and alert, she wanted to press her cheek to his chest. She wanted to smooth her arms around his torso, let herself surrender to the strength and protection he wanted to give her, and tell him she loved him too.