“Keep your hands to yourself, and I won’t have to break your fingers.”
Strong as hell.
“Someday—”
Don’t finish that.
“Someday what?”
Making himself small enough to fit into the back seat and keep his body from showing above the level of the seats wasn’t as easy as it sounded. He contorted himself like a pretzel to make room for her. He pressed his butt to the seat behind him as she wriggled against him. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel his dick harden against her butt. If she hadn’t run from him yet, she would if she realized how attracted he was to her. “Someday, you’ll beg for my touch,” he rasped softly in her ear.
She sucked in a breath, and he felt her swallow against his chest as she muttered, “You wish.”
Challenge accepted.
“Ready?”
He snapped his focus to Dalton. He made a mental note to make him pay for the amusement in his tone at some point. He lifted his head to check that the door was closed and nodded. “Ready.”
“Stay down.” Dalton fired up the engine. “Until I tell you it’s safe, assume the Fuckwad who’s chasing Rose is right on our six and can see through the blackouts.”
“Roger that.” He knew Jeep would travel with them. Even though Dalton had just told him to stay down, he lifted his head to peer around the seats. The boss rarely traveled without his second in command. This time was no exception, and Jeep climbed into the passenger seat, smacked his hand on the dash, and muttered the command that typically sent them into the line of fire.
“Go, go, go.”
“I thought that saying,” Rose nudged his stomach with her elbow, “was something they only said in the movies.”
Caleb wasn’t sure if she meant ‘roger that’ or ‘go, go, go,’ but he figured it didn’t matter. He clamped his arm around her, flattening his palm on her stomach under her breasts. “Nope, Rosey-Posey. Those are all real, and you’ll hear a lot more sh—stuff like it over the next few days.”
“Then I’m going to need a dictionary,” she quipped, “because I wasn’t born with a built-in translation service.”
“The only voice I want you to hear in your head is mine.” He buried his nose into her hair, taking shameless advantage to soak in the closeness between them. If that made him a jerk, then whoever objected could see him in court. Just because he tried to stay on the good side of the line didn’t mean he’d become a saint. He bit back a snort. Considering the direction of his thoughts, sainthood wasn’t in his near future either. “You see any sign of our tango, Jeep?”
“Nope. I’ll tell you if I do.”
He figured that Jeep knew he was asking the question for Rose’s benefit rather than for his own. “Thanks.”
“Go that way, Nem.” Jeep gave Dalton directions. “We’ll take the long way round. Head as if we’re going to the highway.”
“We should head straight for the airport,” Dalton grumbled as the truck made a hard right, “and get as far away from this fucker as possible.”
“He’ll just follow,” Rose whispered so softly to Caleb. He wasn’t sure she’d be heard in the front of the truck. “Please don’t let them put others in danger.”
“They won’t.” He kept his tone as soft as hers. “We promised you three days. We’ll stick to it. If at the end of that we want to adjust, then I promise I’ll make sure you have a say.” It didn’t mean he wouldn’t override her if needed. But he knew he’d said the right thing when she relaxed slightly against him. He smiled against the back of her head as one of her fingers moved under his, and he linked it with his baby finger. That small gesture told him that even if her head wasn’t quite on board yet, Rose trusted him on some level. He would work with it. Yes, he could definitely work with her trusting him a little.
“ETA five mikes.” Jeep gave him a heads-up.
It was disconcerting to know where they were going, but to not quite be able to make out where they were on the streets he should know like the back of his hand. “When we get back to my place, we’re going to cover you as much as possible to keep you out of camera view.” He figured it was better to give her time to get used to the idea now before they had to get even more up close and personal than they already were.
“O—okay.”
“How are we looking, Cookie?”
Without looking, Caleb knew they were closer to his place than the five minutes Jeep had warned them about a couple of seconds before.
“Watch for cops if you’re on Copper and Fifth. They hide with the speed gun behind to the north side of the garage.”
“Shit.” The truck slowed as Dalton slammed on the brakes. “You could have warned me, asshole.”
