Smart and Sexy (15 page)

B
ailey stood there in the pitch-dark closet and tried not to hyperventilate. She’d seen Shayne’s face, she’d heard “problem,” and she knew.

Stephen and his men had found her. God, oh, God, if anyone got hurt because of her…Just thinking it, her legs went weak, and she sank to the floor, hugging her knees close to her chest.

When Alan had died and she’d found out her life had never been what she’d thought, she’d been hurt and angry but determined to change things.

Then she’d had her little run-in with Alan’s thugs, and she’d expected to die. She’d expected to die many times since.

But in a last ditch effort, she’d used Noah to take her to Mammoth on the off chance she could find the money, and once again, everything had changed.

It was almost as if she’d been living in black and white, and he’d colored her world. And a secret, deep dark hope burgeoned inside her—that she’d find the money, she’d pay off Stephen and his men, and she’d go back to her life, to teaching. She loved the world her kids lived in, the sweet innocence, their precious minds that were like little sponges.

In fact, she’d always dreamed of having her own, but that dream had recently been set aside for the more pressing one—living to see her twenty-ninth birthday.

But now she had a new secret dream—Noah.

Where was he? Worry and fear knotted within her. She stood and slipped her hands into the deep pockets of her skirt and felt the comforting weight of her cell phone.

She debated for a moment, then pulled it out and turned it on. She needed to hear from Kenny, and indeed she had a waiting text message. WHERE R U?

SAFE, she typed and sent.

To her utter shock, she got an immediate response: DID U FIND IT?

Before she could respond, the closet door handle turned. Before she could even squeak, it opened. A tall, dark shadow slipped inside, pressing her back, shutting the door, which meant she was alone with—

“It’s me,” came Noah’s unbearably familiar voice.

Relief spilled out of her along with her breath when his arms encircled her.

“What happened?” she demanded, but his answer was to cover her mouth with his. She had no idea how he did it, but with his mouth open on hers, his hands all over her, it was hard to think past the sensual, earthy haze he created.

And that wasn’t the only thing hard. With a startled little hum, she pressed even closer to his amazing body, afraid she wouldn’t ever be able to get close enough.

And that thought was just deep enough, real enough, to nearly shatter her. Then he turned her, pressing her back against a wall—a shelving unit, she decided, because things fell from it to the floor. “Noah—”

He ran a hand down her spine and then back up again, beneath her sweater, his warm palm on her bare skin. “
Noah
—”

Before she could get out anything else, his mouth covered hers again, and since hers was open, his tongue slid right in and danced to hers in a slow, sinuous, sensual movement that made her knees wobble.

There were other reactions as well, and when his hand came around, up her torso to cup a breast, his thumb gliding over her hard nipple, he discovered that very thing, and a low, hungry sound escaped him. It tightened her body even more. Then he shifted angles to get even closer, deeper, which drove her wild because his kiss was hot, melting, and only a taste of what she really wanted, which was him deep inside her, sliding in and out like his tongue. This need for him shocked her because she’d never felt it before, all consuming and as necessary as air.

But Noah…Noah made her that way, and she climbed all over him trying to get closer,
inside
of him.

The pitch black only added to the sense of intimacy. She felt the heat of him burning into her, igniting every single erogenous zone she had, which was a hell of a lot more than she’d known about, all of it turning her on in spite of herself, when she really had no business getting turned on.

The men were here.

She had to talk to him, had to know what was happening, but he cupped her face, tilting it up, pressing her into the wall, pinning her between the plaster and his even harder body. “Noah—”

“I know. Christ, you make me hot.” He slid a thigh between hers, ripping a dark, needy sound from her throat. Her head thunked hard back against the wall.

His hands slid up, into her hair, massaging where she’d hit while his mouth made its way down her throat.

“Tell me,” she whispered, putting her hands on his chest to push free. “Is everyone okay?”

He slid his hands down her arms, taking her wrists, lifting them over her head so she couldn’t move, leaving her stretched out on the wall for him.

“Noah—”

His mouth was busy at her jaw, her neck…and she lost her train of thought. “Uh…”

Holding her upright with his hands, his body, the thigh he’d thrust between hers, she discovered that the darkness lent a freedom all in itself. She found herself riding his thigh, wishing their clothes would fall away, so that there was no barrier between them.

His clever, clever mouth found a way beneath her sweater. Dragging her bra cup aside with his teeth, his warm breath teased her nipple, and she thought she’d die of pleasure. Then he gently rubbed his jaw over it.

Another sound escaped her throat at that, and then he leaned in and sucked her into his mouth. Her knees buckled, but with his thigh between hers, she wasn’t going anywhere.

Nor she did she want to. It was a startling realization, and when he let her hands go to unbutton her sweater, she clutched at him. “Noah,” she gasped. “Please tell me what happened out there.”

“They’re gone.”

She knew he was in one piece, no bullet holes, but she ran her hands over him again just to feel him, to be sure. “I can’t keep doing this to you, I won’t—”

“You’re not.” He cupped her breasts, his fingers driving her straight to heaven. Unable to stop herself, she touched him too, ran her hands over his shoulders, his belly…the hard bulge behind the button fly of his jeans, loving the raw, hungry sound that escaped him when she outlined him with her fingers. Pressing her face into his neck, she just breathed him in.

“They’ll be in Cabo,” she whispered. “I’m going to tell them again, that I don’t know where the money is, and that killing me won’t change that.”

“They still won’t believe you. But the cops can—”

“No. They said no police or they’d hurt Kenny. And now you. They’ll hurt you.”

“Princess, it’s not me they wanted.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “If you knew who they were, then Shayne’s brother could—”

“Noah.” Guilt ate at her. She did know who they were. “I, um…” She swallowed hard. “I haven’t told you everything.”

He went still.

She closed her eyes, but it didn’t matter. The closet was still pitch-dark, and she was still about to really screw everything up. “I know who the men are.”

Noah shifted, and she heard a click, and then the closet was flooded with light.

Noah’s body still pressed hard against her, his eyes unfathomable. “You said you didn’t know who they are.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.” Sorrier than he could ever know. “I think…I think I should go to Cabo alone.”

“Over my dead body.” He said this so evenly it took a moment for her to process the words.

“Hey,” Shayne said through the door. “You going to stay in there all night, because we’re getting tired of trying to eavesdrop from out here. Can’t hear a damn thing.”

Noah never took his gaze off Bailey. “Go away,” he called out.

“Yeah. Can’t do that.”

It was hard to think with his body pressed against hers, with his hands…oh Lord, those hands. One was still on her breast, the other cupping her bottom, pressing her against the hard ridge in his jeans. “Noah,” she whispered.

“Right.” He pushed away, waiting while she straightened her clothes, the ones he’d just been trying to get her out of, then opened the door.

Shayne was propped against the wall, arms casually crossed, all laid-back and easygoing stance, but nothing about his eyes was laid-back and easygoing.

“Where’s the ‘we’?” Noah asked him.

Shayne lifted a shoulder. “Lied. I sent Brody on my last charter; he’s gone until morning. You can thank me later. Maddie needs you to sign something ASAP. She’s waiting at her desk.”

“Fine.” Noah turned to Bailey. “I’ll be right back.”

Shayne waited until Noah was out of range before he looked at Bailey. “So.”

“I’m so sorry about the visitors.”

“Yeah. Bad-Breath and Shit-For-Brains said you were a dangerous and crazy thief.”

Bailey lifted her chin. “I realize that you have no reason to believe anything I say, but I’m not a thief.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I don’t listen to people whose necks are wider than their brains, isn’t it. Look, I make up my own mind on people. And my mind says you’re in over your head, but you’re not a thief. In any case, Noah believes in you, and that’s good enough for us.”

Bailey stared at him, a little stunned at the blind trust. Before Noah had come along, she’d have said she didn’t believe such a thing even existed. And now…and now she only wished she could bring herself to experience it firsthand instead of simply witnessing the beauty. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Don’t thank me yet.”

Her heart, warmed only seconds before, chilled.

“Because while I’m not locking up the silver, I do think you’re dangerous.” He looked pointedly past Bailey, where beyond the reception area, Noah was bent over Maddie’s desk, pen in hand.

Bailey looked at him, too. Hell, she couldn’t stop looking at him. Long, built, gorgeous, he was nodding at something Maddie was saying. His hair had fallen over his forehead, and he carelessly shoved it back. Maddie reached up and squeezed his arm, and he tugged at a strand of her hair.

Easy affection.

Easy camaraderie.

God, to have people in her life like that. She had Kenny, she knew that no matter what Noah thought, but Kenny had been gone a long time, and nothing about that was going to change.

“Bailey.”

Bracing herself, she met Shayne’s sharp eyes.

“Be careful with him.”

Even standing as casual and at ease as he was, the worry sat heavily in every line of his face, and her immediate reaction of defensiveness softened. “Noah is in no danger from me, Shayne.”

“Isn’t he?”

If anyone was going to get hurt when this was over, Bailey was fairly certain it would be her. She was already nursing a broken heart. “No.”

He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded.

“Thank you for what you did today,” she said. “For everything. Please tell Brody, too. I can never thank any of you enough—”

“Yes, you can.” He glanced at Noah, then back at her. “You can thank us by not hurting him.”

And then he walked away.

Bailey watched him go, drawing in a deep breath, then slowly letting it out.

Noah was a wanderlust, a man who lived gleefully on the edge of danger and adventure, and had the scars to prove it, both inside and out.

She couldn’t hurt a man like that…

Could she?

Or had she already, by not trusting him? The truth was, it was herself she hadn’t trusted, not him. And she needed to tell him that.

“Hey.”

Whipping around at the hand on her shoulder, she stared into his face.

“Let’s go,” he said.

In spite of what she’d done—and not done—he was taking her to Cabo. Now. Her heart squeezed. “Noah—”

“Look, I don’t want to argue about this.”

Male code for,
I’m done with this conversation
. “Same plane?” she asked.

“Yes.” But he didn’t look at her, and in fact, led her to the front door of Sky High Air, not to the tarmac. Pulling her outside, he kept a watchful eye on everything around them as he lead her to a sports car. Night had fallen, though as was typical for Southern California, the temperature had not.

“This isn’t a plane,” she said, eyeing the BMW.

“Nope.” He unlocked the door and waited for her to get in, which she didn’t.

“Aren’t you going to ask me about the men?” she asked.

“I’m done asking. I want you to tell of your own free will.”

Blind trust. “I’d…like to do that, but I also really need to get to Cabo. Are we driving there?”

He sighed, and scrubbed a hand over his jaw, making the two-day growth there rasp in the quiet air. “You need some sleep. Hell, I need some sleep.”

“But—”

“Whatever we’re going to face down there, we can face in the morning.”

She looked into his face and saw exhaustion, and knew it was mirrored on her own as well. “I can get another pilot—”

“I said I’d fly you there, and I meant it. Just come home with me for tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll take you where you need to go, I promise.”

He was tense, braced for battle, but even she wasn’t that selfish. He’d done everything she’d asked and more, so much more. It was her turn. She nodded, and going up on tiptoe, pressed her mouth to his jaw. “Thank you,” she whispered against his skin. “Thank you for doing this.”

With a low sound, he banded his arms around her and squeezed tight, burying his face in her hair. “Cabo,” she heard him whisper, and then shudder. “Jesus, it figures.”

She lifted her head to look into his eyes. “What do you mean?”

He stared at her for a long moment, then shook his head. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

He made a quick stop at a local pizza joint for a large pizza and a six-pack of sodas, and when she looked at him, he sighed and added a salad as well.

Not used to having her mind read, or having someone even care what she thought for that matter, she found herself smiling.

He didn’t smile back, but took her hand. He drove about ten minutes into the Burbank Hills, up a winding road where at the apex of every turn she caught a breathtaking view of the city below. Finally, he pulled into a long driveway and stopped outside a house with more of the breathtaking view.

He turned off the engine, let out a breath.

“Pretty house,” she said.

“I rent it.” He looked at the place as if still half surprised to find himself living there. “I’ve never lived in a house before.”