Transference (8 page)

"I want to see you, Allison." His fingers went back on the move as his lips connected with the sensitive skin just below her ear. "Just one time I want to see how I affect you. Don't shut me out this time."

But Allison was already incapable of listening to a word he said when the first wave of feeling shot from her abdomen and spread throughout her body, leaving her senseless. She didn't notice the smile on his face as he gazed down on her. She didn't feel the tender caress of his mouth over hers just before he thrust into her, filling her in a way that left her feeling complete.

His thrusts were already quickening and his groans of pleasure were growing more urgent when Allison was able to keep a thought in her head again. But it didn't stay that way for long and she tightened her arms around his neck to stop herself from drowning under the weight of what she was feeling. It didn't work and she was crying out his name as the first low tones of her name rumbled out of his throat.

Allison kept her arms tight around him for a long time after he grew still inside her. "Brad..."

"Don't say it, Allison." He raised himself up onto his elbows and met her eyes. "You
can't
say it."

She knew that; she didn't care. "I don't want to go to Costa Rica."

Brad searched her face and then kissed her with more depth of feeling than she'd known he possessed. Against her lips he whispered, "I don't want to take you to Costa Rica."

But when he finally withdrew from her and rolled onto his back beside her, he didn't meet her eyes, instead staring straight up at the ceiling. Suddenly there was an ocean between them. Her heart imploded inside her chest. "I have to go to Costa Rica."

"Yeah."

CHAPTER 11

THE ORIGINAL TENSION between them was back en force. Allison was quieter than he ever remembered her being since he'd first started watching her. She was quite obviously upset about yesterday, but there was nothing he could do about that. The life he had to lead now would never be good enough for her. It was simply better this way.

But if things were better this way, why did Brad feel hollow inside?

It didn't matter. The plan had always been to take Allison to Costa Rica – to Adam – so their parting had been inevitable. He kept telling himself that throughout the day as though it made a difference. As long as he remembered he had a plan to follow, he could easily put up his guard and stop himself from doing the one thing he wanted, from taking the one thing he wanted for himself that was actually within his reach.

He clung to the belief that what he was doing was right as the day wore on, until dusk finally overtook the orange-hued sun. Crossing the Mexican border was a simple undertaking. Chartering a plane to Costa Rica was even easier – especially since all of the details were worked out in advance; Eli Barrows had already paid the necessary bribes.

Allison remained silent through all of it. Every moment.

That was just as well. Trying to keep up some kind of companionable banter with her while he was actively trying to dissuade himself from proposing that they forget the plan would be impossible. Just like the entire situation.

Adam Barrows would be angry if Brad didn't deliver Allison to him as promised, but he'd get over it in time. Eli was another story entirely. It was unlikely that Adam or Allison knew the true extent of his criminal past, but with the kind of money the brothers now had at their disposal - and the lack of money Brad had at his - he could hire someone to chase them around the globe until they succeeded in killing Brad and taking Allison against her will. Or he'd have her killed too.

Eli had never been a particularly forgiving man once crossed. Brad could only guess that the woman who broke his little brother's heart wouldn't get any special treatment.

After their arrival at the makeshift airstrip, Brad led the way on the lengthy hike to the meeting point. Though Allison lagged behind, she was only a few paces back each time he turned to check on her. He desperately wanted to get there before they were forced to stop for the night. The look of pain in her eyes every time he turned to her was all he needed to see to know...well, to know something he didn't need to know; something he never wanted to face.

What the hell was wrong with him? This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Allison Waverly was a job, an assignment. That was it. He didn't care about her. He couldn't.

Just like he couldn't grow to care about her as more than an asset during the time he'd spent befriending her.

At a clearing not far from the designated meeting point, Brad stopped and pulled out his phone under the guise of checking for the signal he'd been without since boarding the plane. In reality, he just wanted to give her time to rest. If the last three weeks had taught him nothing else, it was that Allison was as stubborn as she was passionate. No power on this earth would let her pride ask for a breather.

"I heard about a car explosion in Texas." Eli emerged from the largest of the gathering shadows. "I assumed that was your doing."

Brad smirked at him. "It was us or them. I picked us."

"Probably a good call, Markenson." He looked around. "You didn't get Allison mixed up in too much of that, did you?"

"He did his job, Eli," Allison replied, walking around Brad into his field of vision. "Markenson doesn't know how not to do his job." She gave Eli a small smile. "Hello, by the way."

Eli gave her an awkward nod, almost like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to hug her or not. "I'm sorry you got caught up in all this, Allison, but I'm glad you're here now. You risked everything to help me...that means something." His face was stoic, but his voice was sincere. "We may be safe here, but I don't consider any of this over. I don't know how yet, but we will fix things."

Brad had several ideas on that front. "You could start by having Stafford killed."

Eli shifted his oversized frame uncomfortably and then finally chuckled. "Yeah. Looks like you've already made some headway on that."

"Not enough."

"Clearly." Eli turned his attention back to Allison. "But killing her doesn't clear Allison or my brother. I need to find a way to make this right for them."

"You're beginning to sound like Adam," Allison said.

Brad hated the easy smile that crept across her face at the mere mention of his name. While he had no illusions about what he was supposed to be doing here, he didn't need it shoved in his face. Just get the money and get out.
 

Why couldn't it be that simple?

"Is it a bad thing to sound like me?" Adam also emerged from the shadows. "Hello, Allison."

Of all the things he didn't want to see, their happy reunion was it.

* * *

This wasn't the way she'd envisioned her reunion with Adam. Brad's eyes were on her; she could tell it was his hot gaze burning into the back of her skull by the race of her pulse. Her heart was in tatters. What was she really supposed to do? On the one hand she had the man to whom she had offered her heart, waiting for her with love evident on his face.

And on the other she had the man who'd stolen her heart, ripping it to pieces when he'd gone through with the plan to take her to the first man.

Why did she have to love them both? Her life would be so much easier if she could just hate one of them; Adam for abandoning her when the police caught up with them that day, Brad for...well, for being Brad.

Of course, it ultimately didn't matter what she wanted because the choice wasn't Allison's to make. Brad's sudden cold behavior to her after they'd made love had said it all. Then again, maybe it had only been lovemaking in her mind. It might have been just another fuck for him.

That realization hit her hard, harder than she'd ever admit to anyone.

But Adam's arms were there to comfort her before the hollow claw in her stomach knocked her knees from under her. His arms were strong around her waist as he pulled her against his lean physique in a beautiful embrace. Allison's arms went around his neck out of instinct and teased the closely cropped brown hair she found there while she rested her cheek on his shoulder. She could feel his heart skipping along in his chest.

Skipping for her.

His voice was low. "I've missed you so much more than you can ever know. If I could have figured out a way to trade my freedom for yours, I would have done it and never looked back."
 

"That would have just ended with both of us in jail."

Adam's hands slid up her back until they left her altogether in favor of cupping her face in his hands. "I'm serious." Apprehension clouded his steely green gaze. "I should have said this a lot sooner...and in person, not on the phone when I had to pretend to be your lawyer's assistant to get through."

"Adam..."

"I love you, Allison." His eyes were staring into her very soul now. "I should have told you that a long time ago. I'm sorry I didn't. I'm sorry for a lot of things. Loving you isn't one of them."

Allison's heart swelled and burst, filling the hollow of aching cold in her stomach with the sweet ambrosia of pure love. In that moment, she wasn't just another junkie looking for her next fix; she wasn't a woman who'd betrayed the man she loved in the worst possible way with the worst possible person; she was simply the woman she saw reflected in his eyes.

The woman she saw there was a woman she was desperate to be.

Her response to his impassioned words burned on the tip of her tongue. As the words were ready to tumble over her lips, Brad cleared his throat, throwing her back into confusion.

"I hate to interrupt this enchanted moment, but if you could maybe pay me and give me a lift back to the airstrip then the lovebirds can get back to it."

Allison felt the flush slide across her skin. Those few moments with Adam had been enough to make her forget Brad was even still standing there, witnessing the entire exchange. She'd never meant for him to be around for this. Then again, she'd never meant to care what Brad thought about any of it.

Luckily, Eli broke the silence with a tense laugh. "You actually think we wander around out here with that kind of cash? It's in a safe place back at the house."

"Then let's get going. I'd like to get a move on so I can catch a plane out of here. Costa Rica might be safe for you, but I haven't bribed my way to citizenship."

Eli shook his head. "No can do, Markenson. There are no flights getting out of here tonight, regardless of price. Nothing until the morning." He smacked Brad on the shoulder. "Looks like you're stuck with us for the night since there aren't exactly hotels in these parts."

Adam's posture tensed noticeably. "We didn't plan for that, bro. With EJ and Jane already here, we've only got the one extra room for Allison. Where are we supposed to put him?"

"He can stay in my room."

All three men turned to gape at her, each with a different reaction. Eli's face featured amusement over what he already knew she meant to say. Adam's face was full of confusion. And Brad...his face was a guarded mask of stone, emotion stirring only in the depths of his iced blue gaze, sending lasers of heat across her face where he looked at her.
 

"Uh, ah, I just meant that Markenson can have my room for the night and I..." She turned her full attention to Adam, a desperate attempt to block out the intensity of the man studying her intently. "Adam...I thought..." Take a deep breath and get it out. "I thought I might be staying in your room. With you."

Adam's breath snagged in his chest, her words having rendered him motionless. When he could again move, his hand reached out to stroke her cheek. "I'd like that, if you're really sure about it, that is."

Brad clapped his hands together. "Great. So we all know where we're sleeping. Can we please get on the road? I don't like how open it is here."

Eli shrugged and without another word Brad trudged off after him in what must be the direction to the car. Allison's eyes followed them for only an instant before she felt Adam's fingers under her chin, turning her back to face him. Concern was etched into his features.

"Allison...I'm not sure how to ask this."

Instinct took over again and she braced against being told he knew about her and Brad. "Just say it."

He nodded. "I know there's some...
history
between you and Markenson. I want you to know that I never would have sent him to get you if there had been any other way. We'd already sent Jane to get EJ from the foster home he was stuck in and...he was just the only person nearby who had the skills to get you out of there and the moral flexibility to so easily switch sides."

"It's okay."

"Things seem tense between you. He didn't...hurt you, did he?"

That was a loaded question if ever she'd heard one.

Allison shook her head. "Markenson did his job, Adam. That was it. He got me here in one piece, unharmed. He never did anything wrong." That wasn't completely a lie. Everything that'd happened between them had been her doing, her fault.

And Adam would never find out about it.

He nodded and slid an arm around her waist. "That's good. I was concerned about trapping you in a car with a man you hate for three weeks." His other hand moved to her neck, cupping the back of her head, fingers tangling into her hair. "I'm never going to let anyone hurt you again. I promise."

Adam's arms stiffened, drawing her nearer until their lips met. She wound her arms around his neck and gave herself over to the kiss, to Adam. It was everything she'd been waiting for since they'd been separated by her sheer dumb luck of running into a cop at the cash register.

But one thing held her back from letting the full weight of the moment wash over her. Adam wanted to protect her. Would he be able to protect her from herself?

CHAPTER 12

DINNER WAS UNPLEASANT on a number of levels. Eli's son was there and he was not pleased to see the man who'd framed his father for murder and sent him into the foster system. Of course, being a kid, he just stormed off to his room to pout. The blonde woman, Jane, on the other hand, had gone for his throat the moment EJ was safely out of earshot.