Home > No Escape From War (Trouble for Hire #1)(6)

No Escape From War (Trouble for Hire #1)(6)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“Relax. I’ll be gone for two minutes, tops. Then when I come back, I’ll blindfold you. That way, you won’t see my buff, naked body.”

“I asked for your help! And this is how you respond—”

He brought his face down in front of hers. So close that their mouths were barely an inch apart. “I don’t always think clearly when you are near. With that in mind, I am taking two minutes.” To get my sanity and control in place. “I’ll be back. Then we’ll figure out what our next step will be.” Shit. That last part had been a screw up, and he knew she’d caught it—

“Our?” Rose repeated as her eyes lit up.

He’d always gotten lost in those incredible eyes of hers.

“Are you going to help me?” Rose pushed. She licked her lower lip.

His cock shoved against the front of his jeans. Oh, the memory of that tongue of hers. Her lips. Her mouth on him—

Get your control. “Try not to scream while I’m gone. Really don’t want to have to deal with our neighbor.” Then he yanked his gaze away from her. Marched out of the bathroom. He took the motel room key with him. And he pulled the door shut behind him.

For a moment, he just stood there, sucking in some deep breaths.

Rose.

The woman could still get beneath his skin. She could pull him in and put him under her spell with barely any effort. She was on the run, and he should have already been taking her to the cops. Instead, he was actually going to listen to her story…

Surely, though, she was wrong. Rose wasn’t the target of some crazed killer. No way.

Right?

War stalked toward his car, aware of a thickening knot of tension in his gut. He pulled out his phone and called a buddy he knew, a man he could trust. The call was answered on the second ring. “Hey, Odin.” War didn’t bother to identify himself. “I need a major favor.”

***

This was insane. Rose twisted her body, brought her foot up to push against the tiled wall, and then she heaved with all of her might against the towel rod. The thing must be freaking cemented in place because it did not budge.

Her breath panted in and out as she strained. She couldn’t believe that War had cuffed her in the bathroom. Cuffed her and then walked away. Knowing War as she did, Rose figured he had probably just left to make some phone call. Maybe to call the cops or Dylan or someone who would make this situation even worse for her.

She’d asked for the man’s help. Been desperate and sincere. In response, he’d dumped her in the bathroom. Obviously, any tender emotions that he’d had for her were long gone. Dead and buried. If he’d ever really cared at all. Maybe it had just been about the sex for him.

Her foot slipped down the wall. She brought it right back up and ground her teeth together as she heaved once more.

The sex had been fantastic. But for her, it had been so much more than just—

Creak.

Her breath huffed out as she heard the faint sound of the motel’s door opening. “Already back? I don’t think that was even two minutes.” She let her foot flop back to the floor. She took a step to the side so she could peer into the main area of the room. From that spot, she actually had a clear view all the way across the motel room and she could see that…

The door is shut.

The door leading outside was still closed, and she didn’t spy War in the room.

She inched forward, moving as far as the cuff would allow her to go. She’d very distinctly heard that creaking sound, and yes, old buildings creaked, but Rose was getting a very, very bad feeling about this situation.

It wasn’t the front door.

She stretched and managed to poke her head out of the bathroom. It was a good thing the bathroom was the size of a shoebox or she’d never have been able to do it and—

A door was opening. Not the main door to the motel room, though. The door that connected her room to the one next to it—that door was opening. It was creaking as the hinges shifted.

She couldn’t move.

Maybe it’s the would-be hero! Maybe you can convince him to help you. Maybe—

Maybe not. Because the man coming through that connecting door was wearing a black mask over his face. One of those creepy morph-type masks that she’d seen kids wear on Halloween. It hid his entire face, but she knew those masks were designed so that he could see straight through it.

You didn’t wear a mask when you were the hero who’d come to help a screaming woman. You wore a mask when you were the bad guy.

She flew back into the bathroom. Too late. She’d seen the mask angle toward her.

Oh, God. Oh, God. “War!” Rose screamed. “War!” Where in the hell was he when she needed him?

The intruder—wearing all back—lunged for the bathroom.

Rose couldn’t run. The stupid cuff held her in place, and she didn’t have a weapon on her. She couldn’t even reach for anything in the bathroom that might help her.

She was trapped.

And he was closing in.

“War!” A desperate shriek.

The guy surged toward her. Rose kicked out at him as hard as she could.

***

“I am totally over her,” War snapped into his phone. “Look, I just want to find out more about the cases. Could you do that for me? Get to tappity-tap-tapping on the computer or call in some favors for me, but get me the case files so I can—” He broke off. He’d sure thought he’d just heard…

“So you can—what?” Odin Shaw demanded. “Do not leave me in suspense. But I think I pretty much know how the sentence ends. It goes something like… ‘So I can get the woman back in my bed again by playing hero for her and—’”

“I heard it again.”

“Heard what?”

War was already surging away from his parked car. “I think she’s screaming.” He hung up the phone. Shoved it into his pocket and flew back for room one-oh-four. When he got there, he grabbed for the door.

Still locked.

His hand shoved the key toward—

Stop. His mental order. He’d been sure that he heard Rose scream, and he’d acted on instinct as he hurtled for her. But…what if this was a trick?

What if Rose was trying to get the guy next door to help her?

What if she was just jerking War around?

What if—

Fuck it. What if she really needs me? He shoved open the door. “Rose! If this is some kind of con, this shit is not funny—”

Some SOB in head-to-toe black was in the bathroom. War could see his figure as he struggled with—

Rose.

“Get the hell away from her!” War roared as he leapt across that room. He reached the bastard, and War locked his hands around the sonofabitch’s shoulders. War yanked the guy back and shoved him in the outer room, toward the bed. He had a flash of the morph mask that the man wore. It completely covered his face and head.

Rose grabbed at the towel that had been locked around her neck. She could only grab with one hand because the other was still cuffed to the towel bar.

He’d been strangling her!

“Baby?” War sank to his knees before her. He threw the towel aside with shaking fingers. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes were huge. Her face flushed. She nodded quickly even as a tear slid down her cheek.

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