Absolution (4 page)

He turned his attention back to the box,
opening the lid. There, his secret rested. A princess cut,
two-carat brilliant diamond shining on the size five white gold
band, which would fit her to perfection. He’d checked and
double-checked before sizing the band. Nothing would ruin the night
when he would propose. Or so he’d thought.

But then he’d gotten drunk and ended up in
bed with a stripper.

The squeaking hinges on the bathroom door
warned him she approached, and he tucked the ring back in its
hiding spot. He didn’t have time to secure the board without
arising suspicion, so he swore under his breath and lunged to his
feet. He turned around just in time to find Eva, wrapped in a robe
and nothing else, standing in the doorway.

His cock hardened, and his mouth lost all of
its moisture.

Jesus, he loved her. And the way she looked
in a satin robe.

***

Eva entered her room and froze a few paces
inside. Joseph stood in front of his old closet, looking
shamefaced. When she noticed his eyes darken with lust, her gaze
lowered on its own accord to his crotch. Her mouth turned as dry as
cotton balls at the sight of his penis straining against the fly of
his jeans. With an inward groan, she flicked her gaze back to a
safer area and found him studying her, but then noticed his gaze
dart to the side of her face. He always did that if he had
something to hide.

She tilted her head. Did she detect a hint of
guilt on his face?

She swallowed and chose to ignore the horny
part for her own sanity. This, and self-preservation. Because, damn
it all to hell, she ached for him, too. More than she’d care to
admit, thank you very much.

Hell, his cocky attitude made her want him
even more. If he could be so confident of what she wanted out of
bed, she knew he damn well knew what she wanted in it. All too
well. Like when he stroked behind her knees and kissed her neck at
the same time.

Wrong thought, Eva. Move on to something
safer
.

“Why are you in here? And in my closet?” She
glanced over his shoulder, and saw nothing out of order. Of course
not. The closet was empty, after all. She’d never wanted to use the
damned thing after he’d left. She’d packed his clothes in boxes and
closed the door. She saw no reason to open the door after that,
even if she could have used the extra space. It smelled too much
like him.

He glanced behind himself and then shut the
door before leaning against it. “Oh, I need a shower, too, and I
decided to check for any missed clothes of mine. But, it’s empty.”
He pointed over his shoulder. As if the place he spoke of were in
question.

She sighed. “I threw them out the window.
Remember?”

“Not really. All of them?”

His eyes grew comically wide, and she
couldn’t help but grin. She had known he would be upset at the
thought of his clothes gone forever. It was why she’d done it. She
hadn’t been fond of him at the time. And still wasn’t.

She cringed at the mental oversight that had
slipped through. She already thought of her anger in past tense. It
wasn’t a promising sign. Each second spent in his company chipped
free a mental brick from the wall she’d erected out of tears. “What
else should I have done?” Her voice rang a bit sharp, but she did
not bother to soften her tone. “Keep them as a shrine to you or
pass them on to my next lover?”

“What lover? Who is he?” He frowned at her
and flexed his jaw.

She smiled and leaned against the wall.
“What’s it matter? I’m not your concern anymore.”

“Bullshit you aren’t. How many have there
been? One? Two?”

“None of your business!” She shook her head
at his audacity. “What about you? I’m sure you’ve been far from
celibate yourself.”

“It’s different. I don’t want to kill people
who have touched me. You, however, I find myself very protective
of.”

“Pft. That’s a double standard if I’ve ever
heard one.”

He sighed and rubbed his eyebrow. “Fine. You
want to know my number? Zero.”

She burst into laughter. “Yeah. Real funny.
And I’m Mother Teresa.” He didn’t grin in response, and she
sobered. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, you’re the guy who wanted
sex at least twice a day. Sometimes more. This is
you
.”

“Yeah. It was me. With you.”

He refused to meet her questioning stare, and
she sensed he’d been embarrassed by his spur-of-the-moment
confession. She, damn it, was heart-warmed. And flattered. And
optimistic. All of which were bad in a
the-world-is-ending-and-you’re-going-to-die kind of way.

“And the stripper. Let’s not forget her,” she
said in a rush. She wondered if she was reminding him, or
herself.

“How could I? She split us up. And I’ve never
been more pissed off about anything in my entire life.”

His gaze crashed with hers, and she tried to
look away, but something in his voice called to her, spoke to her
of his vulnerability. Of his love. And, damn it, she believed
him.

“You’ll never know how angry I get when I
think about that night,” he said. “I’m sorry you got hurt. I am.
But you have no fucking clue what is really going on.”

Excuse me? She had every single clue nailed
down to perfection, thank you very much.
Asshole
.

“I know you feel b—”

Joseph tackled her to the floor, knocking the
air from her lungs, just as a gunshot rang out. She hit the wood
hard with Joseph’s weight pressing into her. Another bullet whizzed
overhead, and she screamed.

Joseph rolled off, sitting up and drawing his
gun in one smooth motion. Aiming, he fired and jumped up to chase
after the man who’d stood in the bedroom doorway moments before.
Eva lunged to her feet and followed but found Joseph, swearing and
kicking the doorjamb. How in the world had they both missed the
intrusion? Had they been so caught up in each other they’d missed
the sound of the lock being jimmied? She had no idea how much noise
picking a lock would make—but shouldn’t they have heard
something?

It seemed unfathomable.

Joseph gave Eva a once-over, and he replaced
his gun in its holster. Then he rushed to her and gathered her into
his arms. For the first time since he’d returned, she didn’t fight
him or object. She couldn’t believe what just occurred. Someone had
fired a shot at her. She had to be the dullest person around.
Teacher by day, single woman by night. Her most exciting evenings
consisted of a girl’s night out—where she got home by ten. Why
would anyone want her dead?

Oh, right, because of Dad. Shit
.

She rested her cheek against Joseph’s
speeding heart. Thank God he was okay. “Don’t ever put yourself in
front of a bullet meant for me again. Are you insane? You could
have been hurt.”

His chest shook with laughter. “Of course I
could have been hurt. It’s kind of the point of protecting you.
Speaking of which….” He pulled his phone from his pocket and
punched in numbers faster than she could watch.

“Who are you calling?” she asked and then
frowned, realizing who it must be. “Don’t call my dad. He’ll only
worry, and it’s bad for his heart.”

Ignoring her, Joseph released her to pace a
distance away, presumably seeking privacy. “Sir?”

Oh, hell no
. She followed him so close
that when he stopped, she bumped into him. He shot her an
aggravated look, and she arched a brow, putting a hand on her hip.
She wasn’t going anywhere.

“Sir, we’ve been attacked. Someone broke into
her apartment and took a couple of shots at us. I’m removing my
charge to a remote location. I’d like two additional men to
accompany us for eyes outside.” A slight pause. “Yes, sir. Right
away.” He hung up the phone and ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m an assignment? I thought you were here
to help, not because you had to be.” She walked away from him, more
upset by this revelation than she cared to admit.

Stupid, stupid, stupid
. She almost
reached her bedroom, but he grabbed her elbow, maneuvering her so
her back hit the wall, and placed his hands on either side of her
head. He crushed his lips to hers and rubbed his torso against her
erect nipples. With a moan, she curled her arms around his waist
and trailed her fingers to his ass. She’d always loved his ass.

His erection nudged her belly, and she
wrapped her leg around his thigh. His hands parted her robe to
caress her breasts. Cupping them, he toyed with her nipples,
rolling them between his fingers.

The phone rang, causing her to jerk from his
arms. She stumbled until her back hit the opposite wall, and she
leaned against it for support. With her heart pounding in her ears,
she fought to catch her breath. Joseph never took his gaze off her
while she adjusted her robe to cover her bare chest.

“This isn’t over,” he warned.

“Yes, it is.” She took a shaky breath and
shook her head. “A momentary weakness. It won’t happen again.” Even
as she spoke, she knew she’d lied. God, she wanted him. Here. Now.
Wherever. What a traitorous bitch her body had turned out to
be.

“The hell it won’t.” He put the phone to his
ear and snapped, “Yes?”

“Don’t yell at my dad,” she whispered.

That gained her a scowl in return. She
shrugged and stomped into her bedroom. They would need to leave,
and she couldn’t wander the streets wearing a bathrobe. His muffled
voice filtered through the closed bedroom door while she threw some
clothes on. She didn’t need him walking in on her naked. She had a
hard enough time resisting him. No sooner had she pulled her shirt
over her head than a knock sounded on the door.

“Come in.”

Joseph swaggered in, his gaze hovering on her
low-cut neckline. She’d chosen the garment because it showed off
her cleavage quite deliciously. Or, so she’d been told by her
friends. It couldn’t hurt to look good in front of an ex-boyfriend,
right? Heck, every woman likes to show off how hot she looks to an
ex, and she wasn’t any different, right?

If I say it enough times, I might believe
it, too
.

“Pack a few changes of clothing. We won’t be
coming back. We’ll have to stop somewhere to grab clothes for me.
I’d planned on getting them later tonight from my place, but now we
need to move to a more secure location. Fast.”

She blushed and smoothed her hair. “I have a
few things of yours. I didn’t get a chance to throw them out yet.”
Lowering to her hands and knees, she reached under the bed for the
Rubbermaid container. She’d kept these things because they were his
favorites—and they smelled of his cologne and soap. Whenever she
had a wretched day, she removed them and inhaled his scent—even
though any trace of him had disappeared long ago.

He took the container, shooting her a curious
look. The bin was clear plastic, so he could see what she’d chosen
to keep. And he seemed to know why, too.

“Thank you, Eva.”

His voice cracked, bringing tears to her
eyes. Damn it, why did it have to be so hard to forget the feelings
she’d had for him?

Because they’d never went away.

Not meeting his gaze, she waved a hand in
front of her face. “I’ll get the stuff I need from the bathroom
while you finish up in here.”

“Eva, please. Listen to something before we
go.”

“No, we better hurry. I don’t want to get
shot at again. Talk later.” She chose to call her exit a nicely
timed retreat, but in all reality, calling it a coward’s run would
have been more accurate.

As Eva walked away, Joseph locked his gaze on
her swinging ass, enjoying the sight for a moment before he kicked
the bedpost. Why wouldn’t she let him explain? He’d been trying to
get through to her for six weeks, only to be detoured at every
attempt.

Once he got her to safety, he would tell her
everything. What had happened the day he’d broken her heart. She
might not want to hear it, but she would damn well listen, even if
he had to tie her up to accomplish it. But she had been right in
one aspect. He needed to get her somewhere safe. Then, all bets
were off.

He put the container on the bed and ripped
off the lid. His breath caught at what she’d chosen to keep. The
shirt she’d always stolen to sleep in because she liked how it
smelled like him. The jeans he’d worn every Saturday for walking
through the local farmer’s market. The sweatshirt she’d bought him
on their first vacation. The list went on and on, each item more
sentimental than the last. How had she managed to keep anything if
she’d thrown of his stuff out the window?

Dare he hope she still had feelings for him?
She’d kicked him out and refused his calls. He hadn’t seen her
since the day he had stumbled away from her, broken and confused.
Now, he came to find she hadn’t banished him quite as completely as
she would like him to think.

And if he stood even a one in a million
chance of having her allow him back in, he wouldn’t rest until she
damn well let him explain the truth behind what she had seen that
day. One way or the other, he would make her see reason even if he
had to tie her up to force her to listen to him.

What the hell did he have to lose?

Slamming the lid back on the container, he
tucked it under his arm and exited her room. After one last look at
her bed, he shut the door. He didn’t dare to retrieve the ring with
her so close. Maybe someday, if she ever let him talk, he would
return, get the diamond, and propose. If not, he could always leave
it there to rot in hell. Like him.

Eva exited the bathroom with an overnight
bag, and when she saw him standing guard outside, she grimaced.
“Your charge is ready to leave.”

He groaned. “I think we both know you’re more
than a mere assignment to me, Eva. So cut the drama.”