Page 42 of Ride Hard
“These people…” he began, his tongue loosening. “They could be anyone andanywhere.”
“Mafia?”
“Something likethat.”
“It sounds more sophisticated than a bunch of thugs. Those guys at the gas station looked like bikers. And PubeFace…”
“Appearances can be deceiving. Next time, we won’t be solucky.”
I rolled my eyes. Looked like I’d been living in a bubble of false hope if I thought giving Chaser the slip had been a goodidea.
“Whatnow?”
“The safest place for you is with Fortitude. I still stand by what I said to youtoday.”
“The lesser of twoevils.”
“Yes. It’s a matter ofsurvival.”
Thinking about his hands on my waist and buried in my hair, I squirmed and leaned back against the headboard. The fire in his eyes had been something else. I mean, I’d seen murder and mayhem in them but lust like that?Shit.
“Are we going to talk about whathappened?”
“No.” He bit back so hard a little part of me withered anddied.
I should’ve backed down and forgotten about the attraction I felt toward him, but I couldn’t. My bits had juiced up the first moment I’d seen him, but it wasn’t until now that I’d sat up and taken notice. A complicated man lay underneath all that rugged handsomeness, and I wanted to crack him open and make himmine.
Too bad exploring Chaser’s broken past was akin to taking a chisel to a nuclearwarhead.
“So what now?” I askedinstead.
“I’ve already toldyou—”
“No sex, I’ve got it,” I snapped, glaring at him. “I mean, what happens after we get out of this? Do I just sit around locked in some room at Fortitude? Do I just go back to the life I ran awayfrom?”
“What you do then is up to you and yourfather.”
Great.
Standing, I gave him the dirtiest look I could and rounded the end of the bed. Shucking off my jacket, I curled my fingers into the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it up over my head. Walking past Chaser in my bra, I kicked off my boots and undid the button on myjeans.
“Whatever,” I said, baiting his cock. “I’m having ashower.”
“Sloane.”
I turned, giving him an eyeful of black lace. His gaze dropped, and he shifted uncomfortably.Snap, Goddammit.Takeme.
“I…” He closed his mouth, and his jawtensed.
“Say it,” I murmured. “Just fucking say it,Chaser.”
“I care about you. That’swhy…”
“I don’t believe you. The way you kissed me today…Shit.” I shook my head, shoving down the urge to slam my fist into the wall. “I’m not asking formarriage.”
“You’re asking me to run away with you,” he shot back. “You’re asking me to walk away from Fortitude. What you want me to do will put a target on my back. Ican’t…”
“You’re not stuck, Chaser. You can leave, you know. You can choose to take the risk if you wanted it badly enough, but I can see you don’t. You’re too cowardly to walk away from something that’s destroyingyou.”
