War shoved Todd back. “He attacked her. He could have killed her. Think about that the next time you give up a woman’s room number for twenty dollars.”
“But I only told you!”
“Yeah, but for all you knew, I could have been the murdering asshole.” He wasn’t going to get anything from Todd. The man was scared to death, and War didn’t think he was lying.
But I’ll still dig into his life.
He shoved a card at the guy. “You think of something else, you remember seeing someone else, you call this number, got it?”
A white card with a number embossed in black.
Todd nodded quickly. The card vanished in his sweaty grip.
War spun back to Rose. “Come on. We should get the hell out of here.”
Her brows climbed. She looked back at Todd, then toward War. “Fine.” She headed outside with him without another word. She immediately turned her body toward the Jeep.
“No, sweetheart. We’re taking my ride.” His hands closed around her shoulders, and he angled her toward his car, a beast of a classic Impala from ’67 that he’d spent countless hours lovingly restoring after he’d done his last mission as a SEAL.
“What? Why?”
“Because the jackass who was in your room probably knows what you were driving. We have to assume that.” He wasn’t about to take any chances. “Maybe he was at the restaurant earlier. Maybe he saw you there and followed you. However he figured it out, the Jeep stays, and you come with me.”
He thought she’d argue. He was ready for arguments. But Rose just grimly nodded, and that worried the hell out of him. She’s still afraid.
“I hid my bag under the passenger seat. Just let me get it, all right?”
He got it for her. Then he unlocked the passenger side of his ride and wrenched open the Impala’s door even as he mentally gave an apology to his baby for being so rough with her handles. “Get in the car,” he told Rose.
She slid inside. Looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.” He shut the door, using much more care. He stored Rose’s small bag in the trunk. Moments later, he was in the driver’s seat and cranking the engine. It purred like the perfect machine it was.
Her fingers touched his hand. “You saved my life. If you hadn’t come in when you did, he would have killed me.”
That was not the visual War wanted in his head. Rage was still twisting inside of him, getting thicker and hotter. “If I hadn’t left you cuffed in the bathroom, you would have at least had a fighting chance.” His head turned so he could stare at her. “I’m sorry.”
Her lips pressed together. “Are we…friends again?”
“We were never friends.” Things had always been too hot and too complicated between them. “Friends don’t want to constantly fuck each other.” He reversed the car.
“Oh.”
She didn’t deny the constant desire. Good to know it had been mutual.
“If we’re not friends, then what are we?” Rose asked him.
His lips parted. I’m the man who will stand between you and any damn threat out there. And you—you are—
“War? What are we?”
“Hell if I know.” He slanted her a fast glance. “Buckle your seatbelt.”
Her fingers slid away. Fumbling, she buckled the seatbelt.
“You’re going to tell me everything. You’re going to explain to me exactly what has happened and why the hell we aren’t going to the cops after that jackass just tried to kill you.”
“You might not like my explanations.”
“I already figured that out.” The Impala shot onto the street. Slid through the darkness. “But you’re still going to tell me everything.”
“Okay…” A pause. “I get the forty-eight hours, though, don’t I? You promised, and I will pay you whatever you want.”
He didn’t remember promising. But… “You get forty-eight hours.” And in terms of payment… “Whatever I want?”
“Don’t be dirty, War. I’m not sleeping with you for payment.”
“Sex between us would never be about payment. Sweet—” He caught himself before he called her sweetheart. “Rose, you know that, for us, sex is always about pleasure.”
“Just drive the damn car.” Disgruntled.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter Three
“Why on earth are we here?” Rose wondered if she sounded as nervous as she felt. She certainly felt very, very nervous. When War had promised to help her hunt, she had thought they would actually…hunt. As in, hit the streets running as they tried to track down the man who’d attacked her. Instead, War had brought her to his place. A place that held far too many memories for her.
“We’re here because I want to check you out.”
“I don’t need checking out. I’m fine.”
He grunted.
Then he reached for her hand.
She jerked it back. “What are you doing?”
His home—an old beach house that he’d bought with plans to renovate—seemed to rock gently on its heavy wooden stilts. They were on the home’s screened-in porch, a porch that gave them a killer view of the Gulf of Mexico as the waves pounded onto the shore. It was after midnight, and the full moon glowed down on the beach.
They’d made love on that beach. Beneath the moon. As the waves crashed against the shore.
They’d made love on the hammock that hung on the porch. Swaying back and forth as pleasure pounded through them both.
They’d made love on the floor of his den. In his massive king bed. In the shower that he’d renovated. They’d—
“I want to take a look at your wrist. And, jeez, what are you thinking about right now? Your body has gone all tense on me.”
“I’m thinking,” she huffed out, “that this is a colossal waste of time. I don’t need you to check me out. We need to be out hunting. Pounding the pavement. That’s what you promised to do.”
“I’m not hunting until I get the full story. To get that story, you need a safe haven. This is it.” He motioned vaguely around them. “Not like people will expect you to be bunking at your ex’s place. You should be good here, since coming back to me is the last thing most people would figure you’d do.”
He wasn’t wrong. But she didn’t like being surrounded by all the memories there. Everywhere she looked, Rose saw them.
“You think I don’t know you’re dead on your feet? You did a great job with the makeup. You’re gorgeous, as always, but I can see the shadows beneath your eyes. You need to crash. You can do that here. Talk to me. Tell me everything. Then sleep. When you wake up, we’ll find your attacker.”
Suspicion immediately had her spine straightening. “You mean when I wake up, I’ll find you gone as you hunt him on your own and leave me behind.”
He didn’t deny the charge.
“No.” Rose stepped toe-to-toe with him. Her head tipped back as she stared up at him, or tried to stare at him. The porch was dark, and he was in shadows which meant seeing his expression was hard. “You are not leaving me behind.”