“Take me with you, or you’re not going anywhere.” She shoved Chris’s keys into her pocket to punctuate her threat, and my gaze snagged there, on the front of her jeans. “I’ve never been to Las Vegas. I’ve never beenanywhere,Justus.”
I dragged my focus up her body, forcing myself to find her face. To push past the hypnotizing thought of running offwith Kaciand focus on the madness she was actually proposing. “Kaci, this isn’t a…” …vacation. Except that was exactly what I’d told her it was. “I can’t takeyou.”
“Whynot?”
“Because if I’ve learned anything from what my brother just went through with Robyn, it’s that taking a tabby out of her territory without permission is considered an act of war against the Territorial Council. I’m in enough troublealready.”
Kaci crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and I had to drag my gaze back up to her face. Again. “I know you’re new at this, but you aresoclueless. I’mgivingyou permission. And no one’s going to start a war over me. First of all, I’m not defecting, like Abby and Robyn did—I’m just taking a vacation. Second, I’m not going into the free zone. Nevada’s in the Southwest Territory, so the worst we’re really going to have to worry about is Paul Blackwell getting pissed that we didn’t ask permission to cross the border. But you’re already up on murder charges, so how much more damage can a trespassing charge actuallydo?”
Fair point, especially considering that I had no intention of actually sticking around for mytrial.
“And besides all that…I’m not one of the tabbies they fuss over around here, in case you haven’t noticed.” Her expression suddenly felt like armor, but there was something fragile in hervoice.
“I have noticed,” I admitted. “But I don’t really understand why.” The fact that her childhood trauma scared all the other guys away said more about them than it said about her, in myopinion.
“Think fast, rich boy. Are we staying or going?” She glanced at her wrist, as if she were wearing a watch. “Time’s running out if you want to catch thatflight.”
If she turned me in, I wouldn’t make it off the ranch again until my trial, which I might never come backfrom.
“June’s a terrible time to go to Nevada,” I told her. “It’s hot. You’re going to hateit.”
Kaci blinked at me in incomprehension. Then her eyes lit up. She smiled, and for the first time since I’d met her, she looked trulyhappy.
And utterlygorgeous.
This isn’t a date, Justus. This is acrime.
“So, can I have the keysnow?”
“No way. I’m driving,” she insisted. “And we’re not leaving until you buy myticket.”
I rolled my eyes. Clearly she didn’t trust me—with good reason. “Fine. Throw some things into a bag, and make itfast.”
While she packed, I pulled up the airline website on my phone. “Hey,” I whispered from the bathroom doorway while she dropped her toothpaste into the bag. “I don’t know how to spell yourname.”
She motioned for my phone, and when I handed it over, she typed her information into the online form. Two seconds later, her phone dinged. She checked the text and found her boardingpass.
“Now can I have the keys?” Iasked.
“No. I’m still driving.” But she was grinning from ear to ear as she threw her backpack over one shoulder. “Let me make sure Faythe’s office door is closed, then we’ll go for it. Walk straight down the hall, but not too fast, because if it sounds like we’re in a hurry, they’ll come out. The front door doesn’t squeak, and Chris parks facing away from the house, so that’s already one stroke ofluck.”
“I assume we’ll leave the headlights off until we get to the road?” Suddenly I was excited by the idea of this escape, though before, I’d just beendetermined.
Kaci shook her head. “Rookie mistake. They’ll hear the engine and assume Chris is going out. But if there are no headlights, they’ll know something’swrong.
“Good point.” I was a little frightened by how good she was atthis.
No, I was a littleimpressed.
“Ready?” Her eyes lit up, and seeing her so excited made me want to pull her close and steal some of her joy and hope, and pretend this really was just a vacation with a beautiful girl, rather than a last-ditch effort to save my ownlife.
Instead, I returned her smile and grabbed my bag. “Let’s doit.”
Kaci turned and opened the door, then sucked in a little gasp of surprise. Her spine stiffened. She slowly let her bag slide off her shoulder, then she set it on the floor next to the door, hidden from the hallway by thewall.
“Change of plans.” She opened the door wider, and little Greg toddled inside, rubbing his eyes with both chubby fists. “First I have to do something aboutthis.”
“I’m ‘posed to be sleepin’.” Greg dropped his hands and looked up at me in confusion. Even the toddler knew I wasn’t supposed to be in Kaci’s bedroom. If hisfathercaught methere…
