Jill Shalvis - Smart And Sexy

“Still dizzy, Hot Thing?” he asked.

What if his gun went off by accident?

The other thug took out his gun, too, and played with the collar of her dress. An involuntary squeak of terror left her lips.

They liked that.

She crossed her arms over her chest and tried not to make eye contact with either of them.

“She’s scared,” one of them whispered, and trailed the tip of his gun over her breast, lingering at her nipple.

“Yeah. Think she’s scared enough to do whatever we say?” The other slipped the tip of his gun along Bailey’s waist.

The steel was icy even through her garment.

“Hey. Boss is still busy. Let’s take her into one of the downstairs bedrooms. She’s still pretty loopy-”

The other goon grinned. “Yeah.”

Stephen was still gone. She didn’t know where, but she was completely on her own. They were going to rape her, and then kill her. They’d each gripped an arm when she heard an odd thunk from below, and with it came the softest sound, almost…a sigh. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of-a beat-up leather jacket?

Noah?

Her head spun, making her realize she was still dealing with the effects of the drugs they’d given her. Then she saw another movement, in the doorway to the kitchen, and she’d have sworn on her life it was Kenny.

Noah and Kenny together…But if she was hallucinating, then maybe she could dream up some superhuman strength to go with it. Drugs did that to people; she saw it on Cops all the time, stupid people fighting the police officers without a care.

She’d fight.

Thug Number One, the guy just above her on the stairs, was looking at his cell phone. Big mistake for him because she’d just morphed into the Bionic Woman. Whirling to the other, she jammed her knee right into his crotch. She’d seen this done in the movies, and truthfully, had never really believed a woman could drop a guy to the floor, but that was exactly what happened.

He dropped like a stone, tumbling down the stairs, hitting each one with a thud and an “oomph.” The duffle bag went with him, breaking open at the halfway point. Money flew through the air like confetti, floating slowly to the ground as the man landed, then slid into the foyer-just as the shadow that she’d seen, the one with her brother’s face, pointed a gun at the guy’s chest and said, “Don’t move.”

Bailey turned to the other thug, and once again saw that flash of beat-up old leather jacket, now at the top of the stairs, above them.

Huh?

Her hallucination-in-leather executed an impressive roundhouse kick to the goon’s chest, who went sailing. He hit the stair railing, which cracked and shattered. With a scream, he continued his sail through the air, landing on the hardwood floor ten feet below with a groan.

Kenny…my God, it really was Kenny…stood down there between the two thugs with a rather shockingly serious looking gun. “Got ’em,” he called up just as Bailey felt two strong, warm, almost unbearably familiar arms encircle her.

“And I’ve got you,” Noah said fiercely, hugging her close. He sank to the stairs with her in his arms. “I’ve got you.”

“There’s still Stephen-”

“Got him, too. He’s unconscious in the foyer.”

She cupped his face to make sure he was real. “I thought I dreamed you.” She said this without letting go of him, because she was never going to let go of him again. “I thought…”

“Me, too.” His voice was thick, hoarse with emotion, and he squeezed her tight. “You’re not hurt?”

“No. You-”

“They never touched me. God, Bailey, when they took you-”

“When we were on the dance floor, just before they came,” she said. “You heard me, right? You heard me say-”

“Say it again.”

“I love you.” She fisted her hands in his shirt, feeling his heart pounding sure and steady beneath his ribs. “I love you, Noah Fisher.”

Two uniformed officers ran inside, guns drawn. From the kitchen came two more. “Drop your weapons!” they yelled to everyone.

More uniforms poured into the house. While chaos ruled, Bailey tipped her head up. Unbelievably, money was still dancing through the air, coming down like green rain. “So it’s over?” she whispered to Noah.

“No.” He buried his face in her hair, as if he could inhale her. “It’s just beginning.”

It was Friday afternoon, the last day of school before summer vacation kicked in. Bailey was back in the place she knew she was meant to be-at the head of a classroom.

She had no more fears from her past. Alan’s resorts had been sold and were being completed by a different resort company. The men he’d invested with were in jail. If Alan hadn’t been killed, he’d be there as well.

Kenny was gone, on another case. She still marveled that he was FBI…

Her life was good, and she knew she owed that to her smart, sexy adventurer…Noah Fisher. They couldn’t be more different; he the world traveler, never settling down, never wanting to. And she wanting nothing more than to do just that, to make a real home.

They’d been together plenty in the past few weeks since that long weekend where he’d saved her life. They’d laughed, talked, danced, made love. They’d spent enough time together for her to know what they had was rare, and real, and exactly what had been missing in her life.

And yet she couldn’t tie him down; she would never want to tie him down…“Everyone take out their crayons.” She stood at the front of her second grade class and smiled at the bent heads, as each of the kids hustled to do her bidding, pawing through their desks for their crayons.

Her life was back, just as she’d wanted. “We’re going to color your folders to fill them with your schoolwork,” she said. “That way you can look at it over the summer.” They all got busy, and she filled her heart with joy just watching them. She paused as the door to her classroom opened.

When Noah stepped in, her heart squeezed tight.

Tall, tanned, and smiling-God, she loved his smile-he waved at the class, then walked to Bailey and handed her a cluster of wildflowers.

The class whooped and hollered.

Noah grinned.

And she felt her own tug at her mouth. “Excuse us, Mr. Fisher, but school is still in session.”

“Yes, but I wanted to say good-bye to the kids before I left.”

Her heart, which had stopped at the sight of him, kicked hard. “You going somewhere?”

“Yes,” he said with a smile she recognized. It held excitement and daring.

He was going on a trip. Though the thought made her ache, she smiled, because she knew how much he needed to wander, explore.

Be.

The bell rang, and he stood by her side as she hugged the kids good-bye, smiling and laughing and joking with each kid in turn, and when they were all gone, her heart felt heavy and uncomfortably full as she turned to him. It was always bittersweet to say good-bye to the kids, but she had a feeling it was going to be nothing compared to this good-bye. “So.”

“So.” He smiled.

She tried to return it but failed. “You going on a new adventure, then?”

He stepped closer. “As a matter of fact, I am. My biggest one yet.”

“I see,” she said, though in truth she didn’t. She’d hoped, she’d dreamed, that she would be enough for him. “What’s your plan?”

He stroked a strand of hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “I’ve left most of it unplanned actually, wide open for the unexpected, because I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of the unexpected going on in this one.”

His eyes were bright and shining. He couldn’t wait to go. “Is it dangerous?” she managed in an even voice.

“Physically? No.” He drew a deep breath. “But to my heart and soul? Possibly lethal. I’m buying the house I’ve been leasing. I want to make it my home.”

“Really? But you’ve never wanted-”

“Things change. People change.” He took her hand, then pulled something out of his pocket and set it in her palm.

She stared at the diamond ring sparkling against her skin. Her heart threatened to pop out of her chest as it sank in, as it all sank in.

“I love you, Bailey Sinclair,” he said. “I don’t know what’s ahead of us, but I know it’s going to be an amazing adventure. Say you’re up for it.”

She laughed through a few tears, slipped the ring on her finger, and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, I’m up for it.” She pressed close, then closer still, very happy to feel that Noah was up for it, too…