There was no thinking now, only feeling and a desperate scramble for purchase. But there was none to be had. Just a straight down tumble into the abyss of lust and desire. Holy fucking Christ, the man could give lessons.
Suddenly, he pulled back, his body still covering mine. “Fuck me.”
Instead of shooting back a biting retort about how no one would be fucking anyone else, all I did was sway into him and inhale deeply. His scent wrapped around me, giving me that same cocooning sense of peace.
It took several moments before my brain cleared and I shook my head.
Jesus, Mary, and all the shepherds, what this guy was doing to me I couldn’t afford to let happen.
I took one unstable step backward, and Jasper was right there, leading with his lips as if he meant to kiss me again. And if I was being really fucking honest, I totally wanted to let him.
But you know better.
Yes, I did know better. I took one more wobbly step backward.
I shook my head, and lifting my chin, I met his gaze. “Thank you for the distraction. But it's time I got going.” And then with a quick glance around to make sure none of the goons were even searching in this direction, I sidestepped Saint’s underarm, and went out the exit.
Straight into a shadowy hulk.
CHAPTER 5
KAYA
The scream caught in my throat as the handsome man with the silvery gaze and the dark lock of hair falling on his brow righted me. “All right, miss?”
Like a fool, all I was able to do was nod, and the moment he released me, I ran. I had a car waiting two blocks down, but I didn’t trust it any longer. Mere steps from my exit and the hulk who had turned to watch me, I paused only long enough to rip my shoes off my feet, lift my dress, and off I went. I ran straight home like the devil was chasing me.
I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. Everything I had worked for my whole life was over. The last five years. The comfort I had found was shattered into a million pieces.
And it was all his fault.
Connor Lohman.
Well, and Jasper Saint’s too. Actually, come to think of it. This was all Jasper Saint’s fault, damn it. If he hadn't interfered, maybe I would have already found her or be on my way to finding her with something useful Connor would have coughed up. But now I didn't know any more than I did the moment I saw Connor’s photo on the cover of that magazine. Stupid, good-looking Jasper Saint.
So you noticed he was good-looking, huh?
I did more than notice, thank you very much, conscience. A simple kiss at the end. Yes, it had been a means to an end, but it was so much more than simple. I hadn't accounted for the searing electricity of those tantalizing lips. That zapping shock, jolting my body and liquefying my insides.
And I could still feel the subtle press of his fingertips on my spine. It wasn't that he pressed hard; it was more about the intimacy of the way he had touched me. Like I was something delicate. Something precious to be held.
Stop getting carried away, Kaya! This is not a romantic encounter to be daydreaming over. Because of him, because of them both, you are now exposed. You cannot stay here.
My stomach knotted. I hadn't had to do a runner in five long years. Five years of waking up with a routine. Five years of normalcy, of not looking over my shoulder. Now in one night, trying to live a full life like everyone else was gone.
Rising panic threatened to overtake me. I had worked hard for this life. The fear, the warring feelings of what to do and where to go next, and especially the anger, all those emotions were like an almost forgotten memory I just couldn’t shake. First my mother was taken from me, and now I was back in a race to protect myself.
Connor’s men had been searching for me. Connor wasn’t even sure he recognized me when we spoke. Where had I gone wrong?
Your first mistake was going to that event. You know the rules.
Growing up, my mother had a set of rules for our survival. Among them, lay low. Don't draw any attention to yourself. Which included not standing out in a crowd too much but standing out a little so people remembered that you were there. She always insisted that I participate a little bit but never excel too much. A concept that was very confusing as a child.
She always encouraged me to make at least one friend, so if anyone was asked, they’d say, ‘Yes of course she had a friend. She talked to so-and-so often.’ But that friendship was never meant to be true friendship. It was a surface connection where I mostly let the other person talk about themselves.
Yes, it was lonely. But this was about survival. And as I stared at the flat that I had made my home, the walls that I had painted and negotiated with the landlord about, the paintings I had put on the walls, I let myself shed a silent tear.
You can cry when you're safe again. Get a move on.
I knew what to do. My mother taught me well. However, before I scrubbed this place of my existence, there was something I just had to see for myself.
I ran to my laptop, dragged it over to the couch, and pulled up a program I hadn't used in about a year. My mother had relied on her contacts when I was a kid. People she knew who would let us know when people were after us. Now I had the internet and a single programming class that came in super handy in a time like this. I was no super-spy hacker girl, but a simple script could do what I needed. I did a search for my name, Kaya Reynolds. The search on my name, my real, given name, had one hit with a time stamp of about an hour ago.
Fuck me.
I was in the process of slamming my laptop shut when I paused and did one more search. Jasper Saint, let’s find out a little more about you, stud. I knew I was out of time, but I quickly scanned the pages and pages of information that populated about Jasper and his family. Billionaires, philanthropists. Jasper had gone into Her Majesty's service and left with accolades and lots of medals. He took over the family's tech firm two years ago. Bullshit, bullshit, more bullshit… This thing read like a press release.
One piece of information that I did yield was where his offices were. Sadly, there was nothing saying whether he was married or had any children.
What you're saying is, the man is single.
No, brain! That was not what I was saying. What I was saying was nobody would notice if he went missing, either. Because I knew one thing from tonight; Jasper Saint was mixed up with all the commotion somehow. I didn't know how or why. All I knew was that he had deliberately stopped me getting to Connor. I needed answers out of him and soon.
Protocol for situations like this was to run and run fast. Mom had always insisted that once a year we would scrub our place and then head off to Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, didn't matter the destination. One time we even went as far as Australia. The motus operandi was leave on the old papers and come back on a new ID. Move to a new village and live there for a bit with a nice, quiet, boring, average life. Not too average but average enough so we weren't noticed. What I should do was pick a spot on the map I'd never been to. Maybe Mauritius was nice this time of year.
When she vanished, my mother hadn't touched our go funds. Money she left in the walls of our old house. I hadn't touched a dime of it. When I was put into care, I asked my social worker for one thing: my own bank account. I had a small part-time job, so I had an excuse for a bank account, and I asked her to take me to the bank where I walked right in and opened a safe deposit box. I’d left the bulk of the money in there. I’d have to collect that tomorrow.