Passing His Guard (Against the Cage #2) (24 page)

She knew from experience that Aiden wasn’t the kind of guy that wanted to be chased. He didn’t respond well to pressure. If Aiden had feelings for her, if he wanted to be with her, to see where this thing could go, he was going to have to do the pursuing. She’d already said too much the other night. Now the ball was in his court. The last thing he needed was her acting like a love-struck cage banger.

The ringing started up again, and she cursed one of Aiden’s favorite oaths. Shooting a quick glance at the bathroom door, she offered up a quick prayer of thanks that the shower would likely drown out the noise. The last thing she wanted was for Aiden to get any more involved with her problems. The poor guy had enough of his own without dealing with hers, too. Throwing back the covers, Ryann quickly dressed and returned to her room. She closed the partition door between them just as the ringing ended. With lead in her feet and heaviness in her heart, she drudged over to the bed and grabbed her cell off the nightstand—twelve missed calls.

When the phone began ringing in her hand, she swiped her thumb over the screen and snarked, “What do you want?”

“Good morning, Ms. Andrews. And I think you know full well what I want.”

Goose bumps prickled up her arms, revulsion washing away any last vestiges of endorphins flowing through her veins. She feared she did know what he wanted, and decided it’d be best to ignore the innuendo. “I still have four days. You’ll have the money.”

“Running it down to the wire, are you? Who was the man on the phone the other day?”

When she didn’t answer, he pressed, “Do you think taking a lover will keep you safe, Ryann?”

A shiver wracked her spine, dread taking root deep in her gut. This was the first time he’d used her name, and the familiarity in the way he spoke it made her stomach threaten to revolt.

“I hope you’re not trying to run from me, Ryann. Though I do love the thrill of a good hunt.”

“I told you, I’ve been working,” she snapped. “Earning the money to pay your boss. You can tell Mr. Moralli he’ll have his money. Stop calling me!” She heard the shower in the adjoining room cut off and quickly ended the call. She didn’t want to field any more of Aiden’s questions. Talking about it wasn’t going to change anything. Soon enough, it would all be over, which truly was a bittersweet thought, because saying good-bye to Aiden was going to be one of the toughest things she would ever do.

Tossing her phone on the bed, she grabbed a change of clothes and hurried into her shower. They had another full day of driving ahead of them, and she was already exhausted. The thought of getting home and settling in after almost two weeks on the road held surprisingly little appeal to her. What was there to look forward to?—an empty house full of painful memories that only drove home the direness of her situation. How could she feel safe knowing Moralli had someone watching her? She was behind in her other cases, having had to focus solely on Aiden these past two weeks, and the thought of all the work waiting for her when she got back was overwhelming.

Sighing, she admitted a secret part of her wished they could steal away to Aruba or some remote place where no one would ever find them.
Fuck Moralli, fuck his parents, and FML.

So on that happy note, Ryann rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, stepped out of the shower, and put on her big-girl panties. No one said it was going to be easy—or even pleasant, for that matter—but she would see this through to the end.

CHAPTER

 25 

T
he knot in Aiden’s gut tightened the closer they got to the city. He wasn’t sure what bothered him more: parting ways with Ryann or the unpleasant task of dealing with his parents tomorrow, but something wasn’t sitting right. The entire time they’d been stuck in this car, she hadn’t said a word about last night. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have plenty of opportunities.

Not a
Last night was amazing
or
I wish it didn’t have to end.
Nada. Nor had she tried to get him to talk about his feelings or press him for more of a commitment, something he’d gotten used to women doing after they slept with him, which in part was why he’d made it an unspoken rule never to hit the same hole twice. But something about Ryann was different. Even now, he had a hard time keeping his eyes on the road. His attention kept drifting to that lush mouth of hers, or the pert fullness of her breasts, and his hard-on was depriving his brain of some much-needed blood flow.

Last night
had
been amazing. Hell, he’d say it even if she wouldn’t, even if it was to himself and in the silence of his own mind. Everything about Ryann had surprised him—her openness, her passion, her unguarded trust. She’d given herself to him fully, and it’d rocked him to his very core, so why was he having such a hard time telling her? It was ironic, really, because the one woman he wouldn’t have minded having that awkward morning-after conversation with hadn’t brought it up.

Maybe she hadn’t found last night as wow-worthy as he had. Maybe she lacked the experience to know just how once-in-a-lifetime-amazing that sex had been, or maybe she’d never intended for this to be more than a good fuck. Perhaps he was arrogant in thinking that she would be as taken with him as he was with her. She’d dismissed his warnings easily enough—maybe it had been her intention all along to fuck him and forget him.

“You’re frowning . . .” she said, watching him from the passenger seat.

“Am I?” he asked noncommittally, glancing at her.

Is there something you want to talk about?”

He shrugged. “Not really. You?” This was her chance. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

“Are you worried about meeting with your parents tomorrow?”

Not the thing he wanted to talk about—Not. At. All. “Not worried as much as just not looking forward to it. But since I’m here, I have some other business to take care of before I head back, so I might as well make the most of it.”

“Where are you going to stay?”

Her gaze darted into her lap. Those delicate fingers, with the blunt-tipped nails that had scored his back a few short hours ago, fidgeted nervously.

“I own a condo in Manhattan. I’ll stay there.”

“Oh . . .”

Was that disappointment he heard in her voice or just wishful thinking? “Why?”

She shrugged. “Just wondering. I didn’t want you to have to stay in a
hotel while you were here. How long will you be staying in New York?”

“Probably a couple of weeks. Just long enough to list my place and hopefully find a buyer. I’d like to have it sold before I go back. It’s my last financial tie here. Where do you live, Ryann?”

“Brooklyn.”

He frowned. “Brooklyn?” Holy hell, maybe he should ask
her
to stay with
him
. There weren’t a lot of places in Brooklyn he’d deem safe for a woman to live. “And your office?”

“Also Brooklyn.”

Now the lawyer in him stood up and took notice, suspicion niggling up his spine as his mind worked to fit the connections together. “Why would my mother, a woman that doesn’t set foot outside Manhattan, travel to Brooklyn to hire a private investigator? I’m sure there are plenty of them in Manhattan.”

Ryann’s shoulders stiffened indignantly. He hadn’t meant to offend her, though he obviously had. “Maybe I’m just that good. Have you ever thought of that? I do specialize in missing persons, you know.”

“You might be, but unless you found Jimmy Hoffa, you wouldn’t have blipped on my mother’s radar. There’s something going on that either you’re not telling me or she’s hiding.”

“I told you everything I know, Aiden.”

The defensive edge in her voice told him either (a) she was telling the truth, or (b) she was a damn good liar. If she was lying to him, her evasiveness today sure would make a whole lot more sense, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t done it before. And while they were talking about coincidences, what were the chances that they were both connected in some way to Vincent Moralli?

Suspicion seeped into his veins like black, insidious poison. How could he have not seen it before? Was he walking into a trap? It was a brilliant plan, sending a beautiful woman in to snag his attention and then plead for his help to get her out of her bind with Moralli. How cleverly Ryann had snuck past his defenses and broken down his barriers. If this was a ploy, she would have played him to a tee. And to think he’d been tempted to tell her he had feelings for her. Fuck. But what if he was wrong and Ryann was just as much a victim in all this as he was? Guess only time would tell.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he asked gruffly, suddenly ready for this ride to be over and to get some much-needed space between him and his little felon. He couldn’t think straight around her. He needed to clear his head.

“Like you don’t believe me! You don’t, do you? What, you think I’m working for Moralli? Is that it?” she accused.

Seeing as he hadn’t suggested it, that was a pretty damn accurate leap not to have a thread of truth wrapped up in it somewhere. Pinning her with his stare, he said, “Are you?”

If looks could kill, the glare she shot him would have stopped his heart cold. “I can’t believe you just asked me that. Stop the car.”

Was she crazy? They were in rush hour traffic. It was bumper to bumper, and they were moving at a steady twenty-five miles per hour. There was no way in hell he was pulling his car over. Not that he’d have to. Just ahead, brake lights began flashing like a row of falling dominoes, forcing him to hit his own brakes a few seconds later. Just to be sure she didn’t do something crazy, he hit the driver’s panel power-control button, and not a second too soon. As the SUV ground to a halt, Ryann’s hand was on the handle and she was throwing her shoulder into the door. He winced when she slammed her tiny frame into glass.

“Ryann, stop.”

She shot him a glare over her shoulder and he’d be damned if she didn’t slam into it again. If she was expecting a different result, she’d be sorely disappointed.

“I said stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“What the hell do you care? If you were worried about me getting hurt, you wouldn’t have said what you just did.”

“Oh, come on, Ryann, try to see it from my perspective. You gotta admit it doesn’t look good. And you’ve been acting cagey as hell ever since we left that motel this morning. I’d be a fucking idiot not to question it.”

“And I was a fucking idiot for ever thinking you could get past my earlier actions and trust me!”

“
‘Get past it’? Who in the fuck do you think I’m doing this for, Ryann? It sure as hell isn’t for my benefit. If I didn’t care about what happened to you, I would have left your ass back in Portage! But I swear to God, Ryann, if you’re keeping something from me—”

“I’m not! I told you everything I know! Turn right here.”

He gave her an arched-brow glance.

“You can take me home and keep the Escape. It’s a rental. Just have it returned by Monday.”

When they reached the intersection, he turned right. She was throwing off some serious hostility as she navigated him to her place in Brooklyn. Perhaps he was being an asshole, but coming back here, being in this city, was really fucking with his head and giving him a bad case of déjà vu.

He didn’t know what to say to
make this better. He knew he’d offended her, but dammit, what did she have to be so touchy about? Who could blame him for being suspicious? She could hardly deny something wasn’t adding up here. Admittedly, he’d had his mind so focused on getting in her pants that he hadn’t given it much of a second thought before now.

“Stop here. It’s the first on the left.”

He hit the brakes, shifted into park, and the locks automatically unlatched. His pulse quickened, the invisible band around his chest tightening with dread.
Aww shit . . .
What could he possibly say to make this better? Hell if he knew. Relationships were not his forte, not that this was one, but dammit, it was something—something he didn’t want to just throw away over a carelessly spoken accusation, whether founded or not.

She turned to leave, and he grabbed her arm. “Ryann, wait—”

“You know what, Aiden, don’t bother. I’ve been dreading this all day. Did you ever stop to think that’s why I might not have been myself? I was wondering how I was going to say good-bye to you, especially after last night. But I should actually thank you. You’ve made it real easy for me. Good-bye.”

She jerked her arm out of his grasp and jumped out of the car. There weren’t many times in Aiden’s life he’d been rendered speechless, and now was a hell of a bad time to have it happen. She yanked open the back door and grabbed her suitcase before slamming it shut and stomping up to her house. Back straight, shoulders stiff, and head held high, she dragged her suitcase on wheels behind her. When it hit the cracked sidewalk, the thing turned and crashed into the back of her leg.

He noted a slight limp in her step and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. It took all his self-control to watch her go and not race after her.
It’s for the best
, he told himself.
You don’t need this kind of drama in your life. She’s just like every other skirt you’ve crawled up and in a couple of weeks, you won’t even remember her name.

Bullshit—all of it. And if he didn’t feel like a complete asshole before, he sure as hell did now.

Ryann let herself into the house and slammed the door behind her.
Don’t look back, don’t look back
, she chanted, sure if she did, the result would be as disastrous as what happened to Lot’s wife. There were far worse things than turning into a pillar of salt, like having your heart torn out and stomped on by the man you’d been foolish enough to fall in love with.

What was she thinking?—clearly, she hadn’t been. Foolishly, she’d thought he trusted her, that he’d forgiven her for the manipulation, the lies, and the roofies. Huh . . . when she put it like that, it didn’t sound quite as compelling of an argument.

Oddly enough, she’d always prided herself on her honesty, her straight and narrow moral compass. She wasn’t proud of what she’d done, nor had she been given much choice. It was in the past, what was done was done, and if Aiden couldn’t let it go, then there was nothing more to be said. She didn’t know why his mother had hired her. By her obvious surprise in discovering Ryann was a woman, it was clear Madeline Kruze didn’t know very much about her. Ryann’s and Aiden’s connections to Moralli baffled her as much as it did him.

But that suspicion and mistrust in his eyes had come as an unexpected blow. It hadn’t been as much what he said but what he didn’t say. She knew what he was thinking, could sense the wheels of that clever mind turning. For being such a smart man, he could sure be an idiot sometimes. If he couldn’t see how much she cared for him, especially after last night, then he was hopeless and so was a future with him. Better to learn the truth now before she gave any more of her heart to him. It was better like this, she told herself. Make a quick, clean break.