Maya Banks - Sweet Temptation

“Get out of the way, Angelina. I don’t want to accidentally shoot you when I shoot him.”

Terror blew through her chest, robbing her of breath. He was utterly serious. There was no emotion, no reaction in his eyes. He would calmly kill Micah without a second thought. Unless she could stop him.

She rose to her feet, careful to keep her body in between Chad and Micah. Her knees shook, her palms were sweaty, and if she so much as breathed wrong, she was going to puke.

“Please don’t kill him, Chad,” she said in her softest voice. “I’ll go with you. I’ll be whatever you want me to be. We can be together. I won’t fight you. But don’t kill him.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stared at her, but the gun never moved. “I’m supposed to trust you? After you betrayed me by sleeping with him? You’ve been holed up here acting as his sex toy for weeks now.”

“I didn’t know it was you. You should have realized what a crush I had on you. Why do you think I went to you for help? But you ignored me. You treated me like a kid sister. Like David’s sister. What was I supposed to think?”

“Why do you care what happens to him then?”

Angelina glanced down at Micah and prayed he was still alive, that she could buy him enough time.

“He was David’s best friend. And if you kill him, you’ll go to prison for murder. How can we be together then? You’ll leave me just like Micah left me, like David and Hannah left me. I’m tired of being left behind, Chad. If you care for me like you say you do, then you won’t leave me either.”

His eyes flickered and he slowly lowered the gun. She held her breath as tension knotted her belly. Then he gestured toward the door.

“Let’s go.”

“I need my stuff. My clothes. It’s all upstairs.”

Suspicion glittered in his eyes again, and his lip curled upward in a snarl.

“Forget it. I’ll provide you what you need. For now we’re getting out of here.”

Swallowing back the stark terror that swelled in her throat, she took a step forward and made herself not look back at Micah. It would enrage Chad, and she needed him calm if she ever hoped to escape him.

He took her arm roughly with his free hand and kept the gun pointed at her side as they walked out of The House.

Sunlight accosted her vision and she winced, blinking away the brightness. She stumbled when he yanked her forward. How could this be such an utterly gorgeous day when her entire world had gone to hell in a matter of seconds?

“Get in,” he ordered.

She stood inside the open car door and everything inside her balked at getting into this vehicle.

Like the cop he was, he put his hand on her head and shoved her down into the car just like she was some criminal he was arresting.

The magnitude of her situation slammed into her brain with the force of a hurricane. She was being kidnapped by a lunatic cop. Crazy or not, he was a good cop. He’d be hard to find. He knew how cops thought.

She clamped her lips shut to quell the desperate moan that threatened to escape.

Think, Angelina. Keep your cool.

Chad slid in beside her, and to her relief his gun was at least holstered. To her dismay he clapped one cuff around her wrist and proceeded to secure the other cuff to his.

“Just in case you get any stupid ideas,” he said as he yanked her arm forward so he could start the engine.

“Where are we going?” she asked with fake calm.

He drove onto the highway, ignoring her question. There was sick determination on his face, and she knew no one was going to find them. If she was going to get out of this alive, she was going to have to do it herself.

Real calm descended over her. Her mind quit screaming. Her gut, which was knotted in worry over Micah, loosened, and she began to think. Really think.

Images from when David had taught her self-defense at the gym came to mind. He stood over her, making her repeat her moves until she was sore and exhausted.

You can beat anyone if you use your head. Intelligence always beats brawn. No matter how small you are or how big the guy, you can find a way to win, Angelina. You just have to outwit him.

Chad drove on, obeying all the speed limits. He was careful not to bring attention to them. He made all the correct stops. In fact he looked decidedly casual, one arm on the steering wheel in a nonchalant manner. He firmly believed he was invincible. He’d won. He’d gotten the girl.

Or so he thinks.

Somehow, someway, she was would escape. She only prayed she would get an early opportunity, before she had to endure whatever he had in mind for her.

Micah stirred and was immediately assaulted by a rush of pain so intense that he gagged, which only made the pain in his head all the more vicious.

He tried to force himself up, but his arms and legs wouldn’t cooperate. Beside him, his cell phone lay on the floor, and he stared curiously at it as it wavered in out and out of his vision, so blurred he had to blink to try to bring it back into focus.

And then it came back, sharp, like a lightning bolt. Knowledge exploded through his head and he panted against the pain.

Angelina. Chad. Oh God.

He was an idiot. He’d trusted the wrong person and now Angelina would pay the price.

He closed his eyes and swallowed, forcing himself to focus, to shake off the nausea and the pain. He wiped at his head, and his fingers came away red and sticky with his blood.

With shaking hands he grabbed at his cell phone, swearing when the buttons wouldn’t work right. He punched the speed dial for Connor because he knew he couldn’t navigate through his address book for another number.

“Hey, man,” Connor said, and Micah winced as the too loud voice seemed to crack his skull all over again.

“Chad Devereaux,” Micah rasped. “He has Angelina. Came here. It was him all along.”

“Whoa, back up. First, are you all right? You sound hurt. What the hell happened?”

“Get here,” Micah gritted out. “Need you to call it in. Get everyone looking. Find what you can on him.”

“On it,” Connor said and the line went dead.

Micah dropped the phone and tilted his head back, closing his eyes as an agony of a different kind flooded him.

Bits and pieces of the exchange between Angelina and Chad came back to him. He’d drifted in and out of consciousness, but he’d heard her agree to go with Chad if Chad wouldn’t shoot him.

Fear and rage slashed viciously through his chest. Fear for her. Rage at Chad.

She’d given herself to a man who’d tormented her for a year—to save Micah.

I love you, Micah. You may not want it. You may not need it. But you’ll always have it. It doesn’t come with any strings or expectations. It’s given freely.

Her words hit him like a ton of bricks. She loved him and she’d just sacrificed everything for him.

He’d been so afraid to love again, to open himself up to the kind of pain that came with losing someone. He’d loved Hannah deeply, the kind of love he thought he’d only feel once in his life. And he’d lost her. He hadn’t wanted to love Angelina. Hadn’t wanted to form an emotional attachment to her. He’d lost her anyway.

Shut the fuck up. You haven’t lost her yet. You’ll get her back.

He sagged against the couch and then tried to elbow his way up by putting his arms on the cushions and levering. It took longer than he’d have liked, and he felt like a goddamn wimp, but he finally managed to get himself off the floor.

I’m coming, Angel girl. Don’t give up. I’m coming for you.

Angelina looked up wearily when Chad pulled onto yet another bumpy backwoods road. They’d been driving forever. She’d tried to keep up, to notice road signs, landmarks, but all she knew was that they’d driven north of Houston, and he’d taken her on a veritable maze of unmarked, shabby roads. On purpose she was sure. He wasn’t a man who left anything to chance.

The road narrowed and the surrounding woods grew thicker, until they were following what looked to be an old ATV trail. At the end, they came upon an old frame house that looked like the woods had tried to swallow it up.

Gnarly bushes grew up the sides. Two trees stretched their massive branches over the roof, dipping low as if they’d punch a hole right through it.

The house looked intimidating. It looked isolated. Like it hadn’t been lived in for years.

“How did you find this place?” she asked helplessly.

“Spent a lot of time looking for just the right spot after you left Miami. I knew you’d wind up in Houston sooner or later. You were so transparent. Like a bitch in heat after Hudson. I just had to wait for you to appear.”

She closed her eyes. All that work for nothing. Her predictability and her love for Micah had been her ultimate downfall.

“What are you going to do to me?” she asked calmly. As calmly as she could when she was afraid she’d die. He’d picked the perfect spot. Who would ever find them here? Who would hear her screams? Or a gunshot?

He ignored her question and opened his door. None too gently, he hauled her across the seat, forcing her out his side. Still attached to him by the cuffs, she had no choice but to scramble out or have her arm ripped off. She winced when her bare feet hit the ground and immediately picked up at least three stickers.

He grabbed her arm and propelled her forward, onto the sagging porch and then inside. There was no electricity, probably no running water. The house had been abandoned for years.