And safe.
I think about what he said in the car.
The woods are active at night. No telling what’s out there lurking through the trees and the low fog.
If that is true, escaping on foot will be a problem. I will need to pick my moment to grab his keys and steal his truck.
I watch as he hangs the keys on a hook by the front door.
Our eyes meet and he knows exactly what I am thinking.
“Don’t even think about it, Princess. We’re deep in the valley. You’d never find your way out of here, even in a vehicle.”
I don’t say a thing.
But inside I’m tingling.
I look at him. “Now that you’ve got me here, what are you going to do?”
Across the room, he raises an eyebrow. “Do?”
“Yes, do. You’ve brought me here for a reason.”
“Like I said, it was for your own protection.”
“From who?”
He shakes off his jacket. My eyes shift to his white t-shirt. It strains over his broad chest, and in the corner near his round shoulder, a bright red stain seeps into the fabric.
He is bleeding.
Badly.
“You’re hurt,” I say.
“One of them got me.”
He rips his t-shirt off to expose a chest that is nothing but a wall of thick muscle and dear God, the sight of all that flesh detonates something in me.
Fires light up my body, and a new throb takes off between my thighs.
I know I should be scared and it is ridiculous that I’m not.
My eyes trail down to the impressive six-pack of rippling muscles, and farther down to the deep V disappearing beneath his black pants.
He is magnificent.
I stare at him, trying desperately not to notice his wide shoulders or the broad chest, or the way the dim light bounces off his golden skin.
Instinct takes over. I close the distance between us to inspect the wound. “Let me have a look.”
He says nothing, but I can feel his gaze on me as I check it out.
“It’s not deep,” I say. “Do you have a first aid kit?”
“You’re a nurse?” he asks skeptically.
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Hello, have you met me?”
A small smile tugs on his lips. “It’s under the kitchen sink.”
In the kitchen, I get the first aid kit, but pause as I pass the center island. There is a knife block on the countertop. A knife block with lots of big knives in it. I could arm myself with one and get out of here. I know where the Jeep keys are, I’m a good driver, even if I don’t know where I am, I’d eventually make it off of the mountainside.
But what are you going back to?
And what the hell is out there hiding in the shadows?
And who the fuck were those men back at the lodge, and what were they doing there?
Thinking better of it, I return to the living room with the first aid kit. Axel sits at the small table, shirtless, and dear mother of God, I don’t think I’m going to get used to how damn fine he looks.
You know…
… for a kidnapper.
He looks at me and I feel the heat in his eyes all the way through to my bones.
“Are you going to tell me who those men were?” I ask as I place sterilized strips of surgical tape over the cut to close the wound. He probably needs stitches, but I can’t even bait a hook, let alone stitch up a human being.
“I don’t know exactly, but today I overheard them talking—” He hisses in a breath when I accidentally press too hard against the wound.
I raise an eyebrow. “And you call me a princess.”
He raises an eyebrow back. “Touché.”
He is staring at me. And I am acutely aware of how much I like it.
I want to look at him.
But I think if I do, I’m going to do something ridiculous.
Like kiss him.
Or reach for his big hands and secure them on my body.
Because being this close to him is doing crazy things to me, and I want him to touch me.
His heat is wrapping itself around me, caressing me, seducing me. Making me want to feel all of him on me.
I am aroused. Which I know is crazy. But either I am drunk or I am having a moment of insanity, because I am not scared of him. In fact, I feel safe and … excited.
But I’m not going to show him that.
I look up and I swear I see his eyes fill with molten heat. The air between us snaps. A shiver races through me and my mouth is suddenly dry.
I clear my throat to hide my reaction and go back to fixing his arm. “Who did you overhear talking?”
“This morning when we were setting up for your wedding, I heard a couple of wait staff talking. They were discussing a kidnapping plot.”
I lift my head. Kidnapping?
A sinking feeling settles in my stomach.
“That’s crazy,” I say, dismissing it. I seal a gauze dressing to his massive biceps and refuse to look at him because I don’t want him to see the fear in my eyes.
“I know what I heard, Lauren. They mentioned your name.”
His words are sobering.
Terrifying.
I’m here because he just stole me from my bedroom on the other side of the mountain.
While three men lurked outside planning to do the exact same thing.
Not the exact same thing.
Axel isn’t going to hurt me. But those other men? I couldn’t be so sure.
The situation is pure insanity.
Finished bandaging his arm, I take a step back to lean against the sofa.
“I think you’d better redress.” My voice is foreign and strained. “And then tell me everything.”
Chapter Six
AXEL
I’m hard as fuck.
Because of her.
Because of her touch.
Because of the way she is looking at me. Because of the way she dresses my wound.
It’s the foreign sensation of human contact. The brush of her fingers against my skin. The heat of her body caressing the bare flesh of chest as she leans closer so she can see what she is doing. For a moment, it’s easy to forget why we’re here. And it makes me wish she was here for very different reasons.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this close to a woman.
Let alone been touched by one.
Trying to ignore the strange sensations crashing through me, I tell her what I overheard earlier this morning.
I had just unloaded the truck full of chairs and other furniture needed for the ceremony when I went looking for a bathroom. As I rounded a corner, I overheard two men whispering.
Now, in my experience, whispering stands out more than a normal tone. It means someone has something secretive to say, and I’m trained to notice. I pick up on hushed tones like a hunter picks up on prey.
“And it’s absolutely going down tonight?”
“Everything is in place. I have three good men on it. They’ve done this before.”
“And the location they’re taking her to is secure? No one will find her?”
“I assure you, the men hired to take care of her will make sure she can’t be found until your client wants her to be found.”
“Okay. But I need to offer my client absolute certainty. This is big money.”
“I understand. You can tell your client that just before midnight, Lauren Carmichael will disappear.”