The Alpha Male Romance Boxed Set (16 page)

"Oh, you have
got
to be kidding me, Lincoln!" Angelique glared at him as he stood by her open door, handcuffs in hand intent on chaining her to the dashboard.

"What!"

"You don't trust me?" Her eyes dropped to the cuffs then back up at him. "Even after this morning."

With a loud sigh, Lincoln leaned over and braced his forearm on the roof of the car and then caught her hostile gaze. "Well, it's like this. I still plan on taking you in and I seriously doubt that you've changed your mind about letting me
take
you in."

Sure, he was right. The fact she had no intention of going to prison for a crime she didn't commit hadn't changed. So yeah, she would run if the opportunity arose. It just annoyed her that he assumed as much.

"But I'll cut you a break, yesterday I was being an asshole-"

"You think?" she cut in, pulling her eyes from his and refusing to look at him.

"But today," she heard the rattle of the cuffs and one being slapped onto her wrist. "Today, I'll cut you a break." He attached the other end of the cuff to the door handle and slammed the door on her.

She gave her shackled wrist a shake. At least she was comfortable this time. Being bent over for four hours while they drove the previous day had been slightly painful and extremely uncomfortable.

She watched as he walked along the front of the car to the driver's side, annoyed that he stirred feelings within her. She wanted to hate him, but instead she just wanted him. She knew she shouldn't blame him for her situation and punish him for being good at his job. She just wished...

She growled at herself, clearing her mind. Escape was the first and foremost priority, but until then, perhaps if she played nicely, especially after this morning, he'd help her until they made it to Denver. With a little - well, a lot - of luck maybe they'd come up with some ideas as to who had framed her. Long shot yes, but it was all she had.

There was one thing she needed from him and it was on the top of her priority list. She needed him to know she was innocent. She needed him to believe her.

Slipping behind the steering wheel, he inserted the key in the ignition and the car roared to life. Shifting into gear, the car vaulted forward and within five minutes they were on the highway, heading for Denver.

Angelique mulled over how she would go about trying to convince him of her innocence. She knew the evidence against her. Murder weapon with her prints, eye witness seeing her leave the crime scene, hell they even found her clothes covered in his blood in the damned trunk of her car! But he had been reviewing her file the previous night. Maybe he found the case suspect... Maybe...

With a sigh she finally decided to just blurt it out. "I didn't kill Nathan..."

Lincoln remained silent, focusing on the road ahead of him. She was starting to question whether he'd even heard her when he finally glanced over at her. "Angelique, I can't allow myself to consider whether you did or didn't do it. That's neither my job nor my place."

Frowning Angelique chewed at her bottom lip and eyed him. "I'm not asking for you to let me go."

Lincoln chuckled and shot her another look. "Good, cause I wouldn't."

"But I am asking you listen to the story. We have a few days before we get to Denver. Maybe together we can think of something, maybe come up with an idea as to who framed me."

A small diner, the mom and pop type, came into view. Lincoln signalled and pulled the Impala into the parking lot, which had only two other cars at the time. Shutting off the engine he turned in his seat towards her and frowned.

"Angelique. You were a reporter and, from my understanding, a damned good one."

Angelique brightened at the compliment. Her work had been her everything, until she’d gotten arrested. It had been a while since she was anything more than the girl that served a great cup of coffee and flirted with the customers for tips. While being a hostess had been enjoyable enough, she missed being a reporter.

"You had time to figure out who framed you, you couldn't. The police decided it was an open and shut case. Your attorney couldn't help you solve this in time, how can you expect to solve it in the next couple of days?" To her surprise, he took her dainty hand, sandwiching it between his larger ones and his indifferent expression softened. "I'm a bounty hunter, Angelique. I track down bail jumpers. I'm not a detective, so I would be of no help to you, even
if
I wanted to be."

Their gazes locked and she felt the electricity between them that she'd felt the night before and that morning. She felt the urge to lean over and kiss him; she might have acted on that urge had she not been shackled to the door.

"Come on, let's grab some lunch." Lincoln suggested, dropping her hand and breaking the heated silence that had come over the car as they both looked into each other’s eyes, neither knowing what to say or do next.

****

"Can I trust you not to run?" Lincoln pulled the keys to the cuffs from his jacket pocket, dangled them under her nose and nodded towards her wrist attached to the door.

She gave him a smug smirk and shrugged, with a mischievous look that he both hated and was growing to love in her eyes. "Didn't run on you this morning, did I?"

The mention of that morning made his cock twitch and he groaned inwardly as he leaned across her to unlock the cuff first from the door and then from her wrist. A whiff of her shampoo caught his nostrils as he began to straighten making him pause to bask in her sweet scent.

Turning to face her, his eyes lingering on her lips which were less than an inch from his, he was tempted, so-so tempted to close that short distance. He cursed himself for giving into his urges earlier that day. Before, he could only imagine what she'd taste like, or how her skin would feel under his fingertips, but now he knew. And he wanted her more than ever because of it.

As if knowing how much he wanted to taste her lush lips, she swiped her tongue along them, leaving them gleaming. Moist. Delectable. Not able to rein his desires in any longer he leaned into her, claiming her lips with his own. She moaned softly against his mouth, and slipped a hand behind his head, pulling him tighter to her.

She tasted as good as she had that morning as he thrust his tongue past her lips in search of hers. As their tongues duelled, he kept telling himself that it needed to stop, but his dick reminded him that he had already crossed the line that morning. He'd lost his edge with her so why deprive himself now?

Summoning the last ounce of reserve he had left in him, he pulled himself away and fell back into his seat. He closed his eyes and took a moment to steady himself and try to gain control of his rapidly growing cock. He took a deep breath in, exhaled and looked over at her sitting next to him, her face flushed, her breathing rapid.

"You can call me Angel," she finally said breaking the silence.

"Huh?" Turning his head he looked over at her.

"Angelique... My friends call me Angel."

Lincoln chuckled and ran a hand through his short blonde hair. "Alright, Angel it is." Finally calmed, he reached for the door handle and as he was about to step out, he felt her hand on his arm. "Yeah?"

"Well...  Can I call you Link?"

Getting out of the car, he turned and peered in at her. "Hmm... No." As he straightened up and closed his door he heard her huff and was certain she called him an asshole... again.

By the time he’d made it to the other side of the car to open the door for her, she was already out and slamming it shut behind her.

Falling into step beside him they made their way together into the 'Highway Grill' that boasted that their sirloin tips were world famous. Lincoln somehow doubted that the 'Highway Grill' was a worldwide attraction, but decided as he opened the front door and ushered Angel in that he'd take their word for it and give them a try. A little heavy for lunch he supposed, but they had a long drive ahead of them and he had no idea when they'd be stopping next.

Once their orders were placed, his for the sirloin tips and hers for spaghetti, she sat back and eyed him. He could see just by looking at her expression that she was mulling something over, something he was sure he'd say no to or be called an asshole for.

Finally it came, "So I was thinking..."

Ah, fuck.
Taking a sip from his glass of water he nodded. "Alright. I'll bite. About what?"

"You said earlier that you are from Denver."

He nodded his confirmation.

"So you tracked me all the way to Portland, across the country."

Slipping out of his jacket and setting it on the seat next to him he nodded. "Yeah, so."

"Well, wouldn't you call that detective work?"

Laughing, Lincoln shook his head. "Nah, I've been doing this for over ten years, and to be honest, you weren't hard to find."

"Okay, well. Just humour me. You saw my file, and so you know the case, right?"

"Angel, we've been through this, I'm not getting-"

"This is my
life
Lincoln. My
life
." Her face brightened as she leaned over the table. "I'll make you a deal."

Raising a curious brow, he leaned over the table as well. "Alright. What kind of deal?"

"If you help me. Just throw ideas around with me, and give the case some
serious
thought, I promise not to attempt to escape. I'll go to Denver willingly."

Leaning a little closer to her, only a few inches separating them, he shook his head, "Not good enough."

Frowning she narrowed her eyes at him and continued considering, "Alright. What do you want?"

He sat back in the chair, crossed his arms over his chest and let a sly grin touch his lips. Truth was, he didn't want anything from her, but she didn't have to know that. "I'll give it some thought and get back to you."

"Until then..."

"Until then, I'll help you as long as it doesn't interfere with our schedule."

"Deal." She stuck out her hand for him to shake, giving him a wide smile which lit up her face. It was the first genuine smile that he'd seen from her since she’d been caught by him.

Taking her hand he knew he was going to regret it, but he couldn't refuse; partly because she had gotten under his skin, and partly because something didn't add up with her case. The more he got to know her the more certain he was that it hadn't been her. Which led him to the big question, if not her then who, and more importantly, how could he hand her over to the police when he got to Denver knowing in his gut that she wasn't guilty?

Fuck!
He growled to himself.
Fuck and double fuck!

****

Buffalo, New York - Day 2

"We calling it a day already?" Angelique inquired from the passenger seat as they pulled off the highway taking the Buffalo, NY exit.

"Well, we had a late start."

He glanced over at her accusingly and she could feel the colour creeping up into her cheeks at his accusation. Instead of replying she turned her face away, not wanting him to see the effect he had on her, pretending to be interested in the passing buildings instead.

"We have to make a quick stop before the stores close and I have no idea when things shut down around here."

With a curious expression on her face she turned back to him. "Where are we stopping?"

He didn't answer, but less than two minutes later she found them pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot and as he turned the car off, he began what was becoming his usual speech to her.

"Okay, I'm going to trust you. Now-"

"If I try to run, the deal is off. You'll hunt me down."

He nodded and a smirk touched his lips, seemingly pleased that his speeches were being taken to heart.

"Then you'll pull out that big shiny gun of yours and punish me like the bad, bad girl I am."

"Exactly..." His smug smirk faded and his brows furrowed as her last sentence sunk in. "Wait, what?" Shaking his head, he huffed and got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

Laughing, Angelique got out and followed him into the store. "How come you're like that?"

The glass doors slid open and they stepped through them, Lincoln leading the way to the electronics department. She'd been searching her brain for close to seven hours as they drove from Chicopee, Ma to Buffalo, NY coming up empty with any new ideas as to how she could prove herself innocent, so she decided to partake in her newest favourite pastime - riling Lincoln up.

"Like what?" Lincoln glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but kept moving.

"So uptight. When was the last time you had fun?"

"Well the past couple of days with you have been a fucking hoot. Can't get much more fun than this."

Giving him a swat on the shoulder she chose to ignore his insult. "Seriously, Link."