Seize (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 2: Erotic Romance (2 page)

She started undressing.

And took a very long, very deep breath.

She’d never undressed before a man. But he wasn’t really looking, at least not obviously ogling, so she removed her shoes and socks, followed by her jeans. Her shirt was long enough that she was still covered. He took the clothes from her. When he discovered the fork, he held it in up and cocked a brow at her.

“Going to fashion this into some kind of prison weapon?”

“I thought I might stab you in the throat while you slept.”

He started laughing. Loud. Great, she was overwhelmingly nonthreatening. His full smile stretched his face, startling a tingle from her belly.

Wow, the man was a hottie; who would have guessed?

Yet tingling girl parts aside, he still wanted her to strip down in front of him. Was he a pervert?

“Hey!”

His attention was diverted from the faux knife as he angled toward her, brow raised.

“How can I be sure you aren’t going to try something with me once I’m naked?”

He placed an open palm on his chest. “I’m flattered you think so highly of me, but you don’t have to worry, because I really am a nice guy. Besides, you’re so not my type, you’re forever safe.”

His cocky smile infuriated her.

“Do you know how badly I want to hit you in the face right now?”

He wagged a finger at her. “Extremely hostile, Miss Brown.”

Of course she wasn’t his type. She wasn’t anybody’s type. She should have been a boy. She was built like a board with barely a curve, so his comment didn’t faze her. She pulled her shirt over her head, unclasped her bra, and dangled it slowly to the floor. Finally she hooked her thumbs in her panties and slid them down. She picked everything up and piled the clothes in his arms. As she waited for him to make the next move, she saw his forehead crease ever so slightly and his jaw clench tight. Hmm, so he really hated her body. She shrugged and turned toward the tub.

“Earrings too.”

She froze and turned back to him. “What?”

“Take off the earrings.”

“They’re studs.”

“The back is sharp, and I understand you have a fondness for pronged items.”

She huffed and walked toward him at the sink. He held his palm out, and she placed the earrings in the center. “Happy now?”

“Immensely.”

She moved to close the door, but his hand stopped it. “Door stays open.”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Are you a perv or what? You gonna stand there and watch me go?”

He swallowed and ran his free hand through his hair. “Er, no, I’ll just eat my dinner.”

“Good. You do that.”

She hoped he’d choke on his drive-thru fish. Serve him right, the cocky bastard.

Chapter 2

Augie moved the
furniture around, putting the table and chairs in line with the front door so he’d hear if she tried to escape. The window in the bathroom was an issue, but with the water off he’d for sure hear if she slid it open. And now he wished he hadn’t thought of that damned bathroom window because it had him thinking of her wet and sudsy in the tub. No, she didn’t have huge round tits or thick graspable hips, but she’d been confident as she stood naked before him. And her body suited her. Really well. Too well. He’d never seen a woman built like her. Or maybe he had, but he’d definitely never noticed them. There was no excess. That meant there was nothing left over for pleasure or fun, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use that body to accomplish those things as well.

What was he thinking
? He rubbed his jaw, the rough skin reminding him he needed to clean up and maybe shave. But how would he manage that with her wanting to escape him?

He tried to eat, but with every chew his head pounded. He would love to stand under a hot shower.

He heard the water swish before Mia said, “I need a towel.”

He held a towel out for her as she backed into it, her skin pink and silky, wet and smooth.
Fuck
! He needed to keep his head in the game. He shook off thoughts stirred by her before his head exploded.

“I need to take a shower.”

She eyed him curiously. “So what’s stopping you?”

“Quite frankly, you are.” He studied her a moment and then went to his pack and retrieved two pieces of rope. “I need you to sit on the toilet seat.” He collected her clothes and shoved them into his backpack, placing it on the rack above the toilet.

Then he removed her towel.

“I wasn’t done with that.”

“Yes, you were.” He grabbed the other towels and placed them all on the rack in the shower, high above his head.

“I hate you so very much.”

He smiled and pointed. “Sit on the toilet.”

“Why?”

“Please just do it. My head is pounding, and I’d like to have a shower.”

Her face softened. “Fine.”

She sat on the toilet lid, and he tied her wrists.

“So while I was passed out, they attacked you?”

“Yeah, I guess they did.”

“As far as white knights go, I’d rather hoped to get a more official-looking one.”

He tried to keep his eyes focused on her wrists, but other parts were in his peripheral vision. “Are you questioning my skills?”

Mocking him further, her nipples hardened before his eyes. He started binding her ankles.

“I’m not questioning them, I’m stating they’re not very good and this isn’t necessary. I’m not going to leave without my clothes.”

“Well, if I’m showering, you could easily retrieve your clothes from the rack. Plus I’m not entirely convinced you wouldn’t flee completely naked. You seem like a fighter.”

“What if I give you my word that I won’t?”

“Do you trust me?”

“I don’t even know you.”

“My thoughts exactly. Your word is of no value to me.” He stood and pulled his shirt over his head. Then he started the water for a shower.

“Am I supposed to sit here while you do that?” She gestured with her tied hands toward the tub.

“I won’t take long. And for the record, you can trust me. I’m in law enforcement back home. Sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish.”

“That’s very comforting.”

As he waited for the water to warm, he removed his boots and jeans. Mia watched him. Closely. Trying to hide her body from him—her parts might not be too curvy, but the ones she had worked just fine—she held her knotted hands to her chest. Unfortunately his cock was hard, so he turned his back to her before removing his shorts and cupped himself. He didn’t typically show any modesty, but he’d sensed an air of innocence in her and didn’t want to make her nervous.

He stepped into the tub and sudsed up. As he washed, he heard Mia clear her throat several times. Heard also one long sigh from the other side of the shower curtain. He stuck his head through the curtain. “You still here?”

“Hey, watch it! You’re getting me all wet.”

Back under the pulsing shower head, he made short work of rinsing. He chuckled under his breath as he thought of her sitting on the toilet seat, simmering mad, while she waited for him to untie her. He shut off the water and opened the curtain. He reached for a towel and she turned, her eyes at the level of his crotch. Luckily he wasn’t still hard. She shot up and teeter-tottered before he caught her.

“Easy does it.”

“Will you just untie me please!”

He wrapped the towel around his waist and undid the knots that held her wrists together. Then he worked on the ankle rope until she was free. He unzipped his bag and tossed her clothes at her. She grabbed them and stormed out in a huff and he got a great shot of her ass as she walked away.

When he came out of the bathroom, she was on the bed, flipping through TV channels and wearing her underwear and shirt. “When can I see my sister?”

“I have to take care of something before we can leave.”

“Then I want to call her.”

“No phones.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too risky. Too easy to trace.”

She clicked off the television and groaned. Leaning on one side, she punched a pillow three times and then squished it in her hands. She laid her head on the fluffed mound and closed her eyes.

She was asleep in no time, and Augie wondered what that felt like. It took him hours to fall asleep, if he even could. He sat in the chair next to the door and rested his head back against the hard edge.

He heard when she got up and used the bathroom. He heard her pad back to the bedroom, and then he listened harder when she stopped. Pretending to be asleep, he didn’t rise from the chair, but squinted one eye open. She was standing in the center of the room, looking around. She pulled her jeans on, followed by her socks and shoes. Grabbing her purse, she went to the bathroom and shut and locked the door.

Damn, she was going out the window. He jumped up and into his shoes. He opened the door and jogged around the perimeter to the window that lined up with their room. Not a moment too soon, he thought, as a long denim-clad leg dangled from the window. She continued out until her body straddled the sill, her back to him. Placing her hands between her legs, she managed a pretty decent dismount into his waiting arms.

She hit with a thud.

“Howdy.” He smiled down at her.

She squinted at him and squirmed.

“I’m not putting you down, so you can stop that.”

“Let me go!”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

He walked and said, “I made a promise to Eve and Clay.”

“Who’s Clay?”

“Clay is the man who loves Eve.”

Her eyes widened. “Does she love him?”

“That I wouldn’t know. She’s a woman.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I try to stay out of your heads. Crazy things go on in there.”

“
You’re
crazy.”

He shrugged. “Been called worse.”

“Will you put me down?”

“Can’t—you tried to escape. And after giving your word.”

“You said my word was of no value to you.”

He cocked his head. “Is that what I said?”

“I have an excellent memory. It’s exactly what you said.”

“Huh. Well, that seems to be pretty clear.”

She scratched at his arms, but he still didn’t let go. He carried her in silence the rest of the way and when he got to the room, he dumped her on the bed.

She stood on her knees and waved her finger in the air.

“I’ll have you know I am an upstanding, truthful, and respectful individual. You have no right to judge me or decide what kind of person I am. Had you accepted my word, I would have abided by it.”

She was really cute as she tried to convince him of her character. Too cute. He wanted to use his charms to soothe her. He imagined how her slim, feminine body would feel in his arms—silky and taut, warm and writhing. He wanted to see if she’d respond as most women did when he dialed up his game.

*

His fingers were laced together, his hands on top of his head as he leaned back in the chair, balancing against the door. He just sat and stared into nothing.

“What are you doing?” Mia demanded.

“Thinking.”

“Thinking about what?”

He smirked. And he looked great doing even that.

“The plan.”

When he didn’t divulge more, she turned his smirk back on him. He laughed. And still told her nothing else.

She gritted her teeth and politely asked, “What plan is that, Augie?”

“I’ve got a friend coming with a car, and she’s going to see you reunited with your sister.”

“I’m not getting into a car with some girl I don’t know.”

“You got into a car with me.” His fingers scratched across his bare chest. His very bare, very chiseled chest.

“You forced me.”

“A repeat can be arranged.”

“I may not look like much, but I can fight a woman. I won’t go with her.”

“She was special ops—marines—so I think you might just go with her.”

He infuriated her. She wanted to slap that smug attitude out of him. Pulling her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs. “Where is she?”

“Who?”

“Evie.”

“Your sister? She’s in Louisiana.”

“And you say she met someone.”

“Yeah, my buddy Clay.”

“Do you know why those thugs wanted to know where she is?”

“Those thugs can be traced back to her husband.”

“To Nicolas?”

He nodded and resumed his staring.

“Will you tell me what’s going on?”

His brow furrowed as he regarded her. “Eve—
Evie
—left her husband.”

“Yeah, I got that part. What does that have to do with me?”

“He wants her back. I’m not sure if he thinks you know where she is, but he does know he can use you in a negative way to pull Eve out of hiding.”

“Why is she hiding from him?”

“You don’t know?”

She shook her head. “We’re not that close. I know they’ve had problems in the past. She came back to Elora once before, but he came and took her back with him to Toronto. After that I didn’t hear from her very often.”

“He hurt her. Badly. Repeatedly. She had to leave everything behind to get away from him. She had no idea he’d come after you.”

Her hands cupped her mouth as she thought about how someone could hurt her beautiful, sweet baby sister. “He hurt her?”

“Yes.” His voice was a whispered rasp.

“How?”

“I’m afraid he abused her. Physically, emotionally, sexually.”

Mia slid down in the bed and with her head on the crisp, cool pillow, she thought of Evie. Tears leaked from her eyes as she thought of how she could have, should have, helped her. Had she only known, she would have fought with her life to save her sister.

Augie climbed on the bed and took her hands.

“Hey, she’s safe now. And in love. She’ll have a wonderful life with Clay. She’s going to be fine.”

He wiped the tears from her face with the pads of his thumbs.

“Thank you.”

“She made me memorize something to tell you.” He scratched his head with his thumb. “Uh, let’s see if I can remember …

“Take the old dog out back, let him run round with the yak—hippity dippity hoppity doppity. Wash your hands and feet, after you eat brush your hair and teeth—jippity pippity joppity poppity.

“Go to school, make good marks, come home we’ll go for some butter tarts. Yippity nippity yoppity noppity.”

She stood to her knees and dug her nails into his forearm. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

He shrugged. “You were in shock; you wouldn’t have listened.”

“I would have. It’s proof that you were sent by Evie. That was a song our mom made up.”

“I’m glad that’s settled. Does this mean you’ll trust me now?”

“Yeah, I trust you.” She looked down at her hands. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you for saving my life. I guess I
was
a little in shock, but thank you. I owe you everything. Truce?”

She held her hand out, and his warm, masculine hand molded to hers. A tingling started at her fingertips and ran up her arm, down her back, and toward the top of her head. It had her gasping. His eyes narrowed, and he jerked his palm out of hers.

“What is that song about anyway?”

She sighed. “My mom sang it to us when we were very young.” Before the family was split apart by divorce. She frowned at the memory of it all. Then she realized he watched her intently.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She sat back on the bed and he followed. They bunched the pillows behind them.

“My mom had some mental problems. She went undiagnosed for a while, but her mood swings were hard on the family. My parents split, and Evie went with my father; I stayed with my mother.”

“Did they go far?”

“No, actually they lived in the same small town.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but I did investigate your background. One report listed your mother as an inpatient in a behavioral hospital.”

Mia’s lips tightened. She didn’t want to talk about this with him. Then, looking down at her hands, she realized he was an answer to one of her prayers. She’d wished for someone to talk to, to confide in, to bounce ideas off of. Someone who wouldn’t judge. So, correction, she
did
want to talk to him about this. He had a trustworthy face, and she hoped that trust was reflected deep down to his bones.