Out of Bounds (20 page)

“That’s wicked good reception.”

“It’s a satellite phone.” He ran his fingertip across the screen and answered the call. “We’re ready.”

“Ready for what?” she asked.

He pushed the end call button and put the cell phone back in his pocket. “For some comfort.”

A low rumble started in the distance. It sounded like a bee. It grew louder and louder until she could identify it as a helicopter. She turned and watched it hone in on them. It stopped just on the other side of the lake clearing, its rotors whipping up the surface of the water and making the trees dance. It lowered to touch down on the granite rock, but the rotors never stopped. Someone opened the side door and dropped two bundles. The man closed the door and the craft lifted off.

Tarak got up and went over to the bundles. Sabra followed him, curiosity chewing on her.

“You’ve been such a good little student, I thought you deserved some bedding.” He tossed one of the bundles to her and it turned out to be a rolled up sleeping bag.

“Somehow, I don’t think you’re praising me for my survival skills.”

He chuckled wickedly and pulled something from another bundle. “At least you can’t accuse me of trying to soften your resolve with wine.”

The moonlight washed over a bottle clenched in his hand.

“You’re showing off.”

Tarak shrugged. “Maybe a little. Are you impressed?”

“Only if it’s chilled and it comes with dessert.”

She carried the sleeping bag over to the shelter he’d built while she fished. All he’d done was lean branches against the rock face to give them a partial wall. A thick bed of fresh pine needles was piled up for their bed.

The sleeping bag was going to be a nice addition.

A really nice one.

He popped the cork on the wine bottle, and she turned around to watch him pouring it into two glasses.

“Is this a graduation celebration of Tarak Nektosha’s survival course?”

“Yes.”

She took the glass and smiled at the chill coming through the glass from the wine.

“Now that was precise timing.”

He nodded and sipped his wine before setting it on the rock and opening a black case. Inside were chocolate-covered strawberries, a selection of cheeses, and petit fours.

Sabra took a strawberry and hummed when she bit into it.

“I can call them back if you want to sleep in a bed tonight.”

His tone didn’t give anything away, but she felt as though it were a test of some sort. Maybe it was a test of her own feelings.

“Call me selfish, but I like knowing your office phone isn’t going to start ringing. Something tells me your clients don’t have that satellite phone number.”

“Nope,” he answered before popping a petit four into his mouth. “If we stay here, I’m all yours.”

“I like the sound of that.” She lifted her wineglass for him to fill again.

They sat cross-legged on the rock, watching the fire. But two glasses of wine finished her off and she yawned.

“I’ll roll out the bedding,” Tarak informed her.

There was one drawback to the rustic location and that was the lack of a restroom. There wasn’t even an outhouse, but she chided herself for worrying so much about it.

The sleeping bag was a double-wide one that covered the entire pine-needle bed. She untied her boots as Tarak disappeared into the woods. He returned and checked the rifle before propping it up next to the head of the bed. Two pillows were lying there, and he stacked them up before lying down and crooking a finger at her.

“Come here, Sabra. I’m going to enjoy my night off the grid.”

She suddenly felt shy, like a girl on her first date. There was an intimacy present which she hadn’t expected. She moved down and Tarak pulled her close.

The stars shone brilliantly. The side of the shelter he’d left open allowed them a full view of the nighttime sky. As she settled against him, she began to absorb the beauty on display. “This is neat.”

“Are you serious?”

His question surprised her. “Yes. Any chance we’ll see the northern lights? That’s on my bucket list.”

“We’re not far enough north, but we could go up to Denali when it warms up. Mt. McKinley is spectacular when it comes out of the clouds.”

“Cool.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Why do you doubt I’m serious?”

He rubbed her shoulder and pulled the sleeping bag up to cover her completely.

“I think I might have been testing you without admitting it to myself.” His arms tightened around her for a moment. “I owe you an apology for that.”

“Not really.” She rubbed her hand along his chest, just enjoying the feeling of their warm skin meeting compared to the crisp night air. “This feels like a more sincere moment with you than a limo ride would. That would be a dead giveaway that all you wanted was sex.”

It made sense in a funky sort of way. He wouldn’t bother to test her if he didn’t care.

“You understand me, Sabra, and I’m not sure how to handle it.”

She yawned and smoothed her hand along the side of his jaw. “I love you and it scares the hell out of me.”

He captured her hand and pressed a kiss against her wrist. Tears prickled her eyes, but she blinked them away because he’d feel them. The darkness was a curtain to help shield her pride. He was hiding within its folds too. It made it possible to confess, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear nothing in return.

She’d just given him the power to destroy her. The hard part was trusting him enough not to use it.

***

Tarak’s phone was ringing when they returned to the cabin the next evening. Sabra waved good-bye and blew him a kiss before heading off to the bathroom for a shower.

She heard him talking in the office on the opposite side of the master bedroom. He was still in there when she went to bed that night. She woke up to him nuzzling up against her, his hair still wet from the shower.

“My period showed up.”

“Hmm?”

He lifted his head and looked down at her.

Sabra rubbed her eyes and tried to keep them open. “Just so you know there’s nothing to stress about.”

He kissed her shoulder and she went back to sleep. Monday morning arrived right on time, and they hurried off to the office with the rest of the crew.

But man, what a weekend.

Her personal phone went off in the middle of the day. Sabra ignored it. A few minutes later someone stepped into her office without knocking. Tarak stormed straight to her desk.

“Why do you have to be the only one of my VPs who actually ignores their personal life during working hours?”

“Because my boss is a hard-ass,” she retorted with dry humor. “But I like his tight ass.”

His face grew dark but there was something in his eyes that made her abandon her teasing. It looked as if he were cornered.

“Okay, what’s happening?”

He stepped back, looking as though the office were closing in on him. “Walk with me.”

She hadn’t made it around her desk when he was already through the doorway. Kurt looked up as Tarak crossed the main office hallway at a half sprint. He held his office door open for her and closed it with a thud once she was inside.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to ask you not to leave, Sabra.”

He sounded tormented and it cut into her. When he turned his gaze on her, it was full of fear. The sight socked her in the gut.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don’t understand,” he interrupted her. He caught her biceps and pulled her close. “I gave you that damned ticket, and I’m asking you not to use it.”

She reached out and cupped his jaw. He jerked, but his eyes closed and it looked as though he was savoring her touch, soaking it up because he feared it might be the last time he felt it.

“Tell me what the problem is, Tarak.”

He opened his eyes. “Anastasia is on her way up here.”

Sabra recoiled, but he held her close.

“Her father is a client, and he comes up to take a test drive once in a while, but I sure as hell didn’t think she’d set foot up here. It’s not her style.”

She swallowed hard and laid her hands on his chest. “If you say she wasn’t expected, I believe you.”

Surprise registered on his face. “That simple?”

She smoothed her hands over his tight pectorals. “A relationship isn’t much without trust.”

He pulled her close, covering her lips with his. The kiss was hungry and seeking, their mouths meeting as though they were ravenous for a taste of each other. He bound her against his body, holding her as if he planned never to let her loose. But he did drag his head away.

“Security will keep an eye on her. I don’t want her attacking you again.”

The testing facility was a secured one. She’d seen the armed guards near the perimeter and around the hangars where the test vehicles were stored.

“I don’t need protection.”

He sat back and folded his arms across his chest.

“Ah hell,” she groused. “You just adopted the boss position.”

His lips curled. “So you know you’re going to lose this argument.”

“Fine. But I’m going to order a whole lot of DVDs tonight and start some self-study, since I can’t get to my martial arts classes,” she informed him. “I’m using your credit card too.”

He smiled, the expression genuine. The phone on his desk started buzzing and he picked it up.

She walked back into the hallway and made it to her office before her façade crumbled. Her trust in his feelings was as thin as tissue.
I
care
about
you
wasn’t
I
love
you
.

And she loved him.

Without a doubt and so deeply, she suddenly understood how he had built an entire cabin out of the pain left from a broken heart.

***

“The test track is firing up.” Kurt popped his head into her office in the afternoon. “Got some clients here. Are you coming?”

Sabra shook her head. Kurt came all the way into view, the excitement in his eyes turning to disappointment.

“Don’t let that stop you, Kurt. I’m fine.”

He stood undecided in the doorway. Sabra opened her desk drawer, pulled out a set of keys, and jingled them.

“It’s clear as a summer day,” she assured him. “I can get myself home.”

Kurt’s face lit up like a kid’s on Christmas. “Give a call if you need anything.”

He was off a moment later, hurrying to catch up with the rest of the office personnel. When the test track was open, they all found a reason to abandon their desks.

Well, she had a mighty good reason to avoid the test track.

Chicken.

On second thought, she wasn’t going to be that hard on herself. There was something to be said for knowing how to pick your battles. Tarak was worth fighting for, but that victory would go to the woman who faced the man head on. Bickering with his ex-girlfriend wasn’t going to impress him.

There was the distant roar of the test track again and it went on for the next few hours. At least with everyone out of the office, she had the chance to catch up without constant interruptions from the instant chat function on her system.

“I heard you were up here,” Anastasia purred from the doorway.

Sabra looked up and had to blink to make sure she hadn’t conjured the sex kitten from her imagination.

No such luck.

Anastasia was dressed in some designer snow suit that she’d made sure fit her waist, but that meant she had to keep the jacket open at her chest because her enhanced breasts didn’t fit into the top.

“I work here,” Sabra replied smoothly.

Anastasia smirked at her. “I know you
work
here.” She looked around the office with disgust. “Just don’t get too comfy. My daddy is going to make sure Tarak knows that keeping me happy means daddy’s wallet is open.” She flashed Sabra a bright smile of victory. “You’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

“We’ll see.”

Anastasia’s smile faded, but her eyes filled with determination. “You’re not worth millions of dollars. Do you really think Tarak runs all of this and doesn’t know which wheels to grease? My daddy has connections all over the globe. He’s the main buyer for most of the royal families outside the United States. You are so insignificant compared to us. Just wait until my daddy holds up ordering because of my injured feelings.” She paused to smirk again. “That’s when you’ll get your pink slip.”

“Well, we’ll just see about that.”

Sabra wished she felt as confident as she sounded, but she’d take the firm tone she replied in anyway. It was enough to sour Anastasia’s expression. She hissed before turning around and disappearing.

That was a relief because Sabra was suddenly shaking.

Celeste’s words rose from her memory like an alarm.

“Men with money always look out for one another. We are pets to their sort, nothing more.”

She’d be a fool to overlook the merit locked up in reality. Tarak might care about her, but that wasn’t love, and it wasn’t likely to hold up against letting his business suffer.

He was Nektosha.

It was a fact that drew her to him and defined him.

Reality sucked.

***

Sabra packed up at five. The sun was down, but there was no snow blowing. She drove up to the cabin, trying her best not to dissolve into self-pity. She was dreading what hadn’t even happened yet.

Yeah, but I’m not stupid either.

She kept her cell phones on the table, but they remained silent as she cooked dinner. The huge, ultra-plush cabin bored her without Tarak in it. The media center didn’t beckon to her, and she ended up just staring at the view from the picture windows.

Her personal phone chirped at last. She jammed her thigh into the corner of the table as she raced around to grab the call before it went to her voice mail.

“Hey, Celeste.”

“Sabra, you need to get to the airport.”

The tone of her friend’s voice was one she knew too well. It sent a chill of dread through her body that settled in her stomach. “Why?”

“Your father is going into surgery first thing in the morning.”

“What?” Sabra yelled into the phone. “He swore he’d call me!”

“I thought he hadn’t called you,” Celeste confirmed. “He’s so stubborn. He went to see a second specialist today who admitted him and told him if he went home, he’d better fill out his last will and testament because he’d be lucky to open his eyes in the morning. He’s using the no cell phone rule at the hospital to avoid calling you.”

“He promised me.” But she couldn’t be too surprised. It was her dad. In his world, he took care of her. “I’m getting to the airport, Celeste. Thanks.”

She took a moment to send a text to Tarak. Her heart was racing as she confirmed a seat on an outbound flight, but when she ended the call, there was still no response from him.

Which was an answer in itself. The man took calls twenty-four hours a day. He’d seen the text.

Obviously it was working out for him.

So she’d have to get on with what she needed to do.

Tears stung her eyes as she left the cabin. At least there was no one to hide them from until she made it to the airport. The last thing she did was seal the keys to the truck in a prepaid envelope and drop them into a mailbox. It was a sad end, but the pain ripping through her heart promised her that at least for her, it was far from over.

She checked her phone at least a hundred times before switching it off for departure. But there was nothing.

Nothing, that was, except the crack in her heart.

***

Anastasia was waiting for Tarak when her father finally called it a night.

“Forget whatever it is you planned to say,” he informed her.

Anastasia enacted a perfect shocked look, but he knew it was a sham. He held up a single finger, and she shut her mouth right on cue.

“You’ve made a grave error in setting your father on me. I’ll tell you what I just told him. If he wants to walk away and spend his money somewhere else, do it. I’m not a gigolo and he should really teach you not to hire your dates.”

Her face turned red. “You had no right!” she sputtered. “After I came all the way up to this shithole!”

“You don’t get it, Anastasia. This is the cradle of Nektosha. It’s where the next generation is forged. I can’t be serious with anyone who doesn’t understand that.”

“Is that why you brought your little slut up here? Because she puts up with this frozen wasteland?” Anastasia snarled. “If she claims to like it, she’s lying. No woman would like it here.”

The door behind Anastasia opened, revealing her father. His face had darkened as he listened to his daughter.

“Anastasia Victoria, it’s time for you to go to bed,” he directed.

“But,
Daddy
.”

He made a slashing motion with his hand. “It is done. Go to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss your future. It is time for you to grow up.”

She clenched her fists but turned and hurried off, her spike heels clicking on the hallway floor.

Her father remained, looking pensive for a long moment.

“You have brass balls,” he said at last. “Part of me wants to smash my knee into them, but the other part of me realizes my daughter used you as much as you used her—so no smashing. Anastasia must accept the risks of the games she plays. My assistant will have the order to you in a few days.”

The door closed softly, granting Tarak some much-needed peace. He raked his fingers through his hair and grabbed his keys. The office was lit only by security lighting, but he didn’t care. It was after two in the morning, and the darkness suited the moment.

The light he craved was at home.

The cabin came into view and he realized that it was Sabra who made it a home.

But the cabin was empty. He turned on all the lights, searching every last room for her. Hell, it even felt as if she were gone. Pain slashed through his heart, a pain he recalled feeling only once before.

Only this time it hurt a hundred times worse.

He yanked his cell phone out of his pocket and cussed when he saw the text message from her.

He cussed louder when he read it.

Only a client with the sort of money Anastasia’s father had made him turn off his cell phone. The man wasn’t ordering just for himself but for several other clients. It was something that would be changing just as soon as he caught up with Sabra.

His night assistant picked up on the first ring.

“Good evening, Mr—”

“Get my plane ready for takeoff. I need to go to Los Angeles.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

Hospitals were always cold.

After Alaska, Sabra wasn’t sure why she thought the waiting room was chilly, but it was.

She paced and walked around the small waiting room. The clock on the wall moved at a snail’s pace. What worried her most was the way a young priest walked by every so often and looked in to see if he might be needed.

She couldn’t lose her dad and Tarak on the same day. Tarak was already doing enough damage.

Noon came and went, and so did the young priest again.

Her sanity was being stretched to its limits. She was sure she could hear the second hand on the clock moving. Another set of steps grated on her ears as someone approached the door of the waiting room. She turned around and walked the other way, not wanting to see the young priest again. She wasn’t going to need his solace.

Nope.

She refused to allow the idea into her thoughts.

Which left her nothing to contemplate but Tarak.

His face filled her thoughts—the way he grinned when she broke through his stern exterior and the way he looked when he was hungry for her. Every intense moment. It was all etched into her mind so deeply—she drew in a ragged breath as her emotions shredded in response. When she turned back around, all she saw was him.

“We both have issues with checking our phones,” he said

“I didn’t realize you were… real.”

It sounded lame. Really, really lame, but she was so happy to see him, all she could do was smile.

“You were thinking about me?” he asked quietly.

She nodded and stopped as she bit her lower lip.

His eyes suddenly brightened. “You should turn your phone on, Sabra. I’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”

“Wait a minute.” She looked up at the clock. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I keep a private jet at the test site.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I only got you a commercial airline ticket so that you wouldn’t argue with me about there being a paper trail at the office. With a private jet, I don’t have to make a connection in British Columbia and lose three hours. I just had to wait for LAX to approve my landing.”