I clench my jaw as the tension tightens between us, and my hands involuntarily lower down her body, grabbing hold of her perfect ass. Then in one swift motion, I lift her against the wall, her toned legs wrapping around my waist as I bear down against her, feeling her heat through the thin tights.
We’re eye to eye, her lips barely a breath away. All I’d need to do is close the gap and take everything that’s always been mine, but I can’t do it. I can’t allow myself to get lost in her, not like I always was as a kid. I can’t risk it. Keeping five steps ahead of law enforcement needs to be my only priority. No matter how damn tempting these lips might be.
“Sweet, Menace,” I rumble, shifting her weight and freeing my hand before closing it around her soft, delicate throat. The rapid thrum of her pulse beats against my palm.
Aria reaches up, her fingers hooking into mine around her throat, not daring to pull me away, and her heavy, panting breaths continue. Then just as she decides to throw caution to the wind and close the gap between us, the neighbor’s screen door whips open again, quickly rebounding against the brick wall, pulling me right out of Aria’s orbit like a bucket of ice water was tipped over both our heads.
Her eyes go wide again, that longing I saw briefly shifting right back to fear. “I’ll be late again tonight,” the Sheriff says as I move my hand back over her mouth and shake my head, warning her to keep quiet. “They want to brief us on that escaped prisoner from Hartley Creek.”
“They haven’t caught him yet?” his wife asks.
“No, but it’s all a waste of time. He won’t be coming this way. Not when there are so many better areas for him to hide out. We’re too quiet here. Newcomers stand out too much. They get noticed. Not like in the big cities where they can blend.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Just keep your eyes open anyway,” he tells her, before the familiar sound of a kiss fills the air. “Don’t wait up. I’ll grab dinner from Macy’s Diner.”
“Okay,” she tells him. “Be safe.”
“Always, baby.” And with that, he makes his way back down the porch and across the lawn before climbing back into hispatrol car and taking off, allowing me the chance to breathe for the first time in ten fucking minutes.
“Come on,” I tell Aria, grabbing her hand and slipping straight back into the house through the laundry room door. “We’ve gotta get the fuck out of here.”
17
ARIA
That was way too close for comfort.
Stone drags me back into the small home, pulling the door closed silently behind us, reminding me just how lethal this man truly is.
Panic claims every inch of me, but before I even get a moment to process what the fuck just happened and how close we were to either being caught or having to take out that man in front of his wife and child, Stone has me up against the back of the laundry room door . . . the very door I just attempted to escape through.
“Tell me you didn’t just try to run from me,” he growls, his tone deathly low.
A mask of indifference overcomes me, and I shrug as though what I just attempted to do wasn’t only the most moronic thing that I’ve ever tried to do, but also not a big deal. “And if I did?” I muse, knowing my response is only going to fuel the anger thatconstantly rages through him. “You got to have your big escape moment. It’s only fair that I get to do the same. And it would have worked if your nosy ass wasn’t constantly all up in my business.”
“You’re really not understanding how this whole hostage thing is supposed to work, are you?”
“Says the man who was about to risk it all just to kiss me up against the wall,” I scoff, leveling my stare on him, daring him to deny it. “No judgment, but it seems you’re the one who doesn’t understand your role here.”
He clenches his jaw and growls, but I roll my eyes. Two days ago, that lethal stare might have had my whole body trembling, now . . . all it does is make me want to jump him. Fuck, I hate how attracted I am to this man. It’s really becoming an inconvenience.
He huffs and pushes away from me. “We don’t have time for this shit.”
Understatement of the century. The moment the Sheriff’s car stopped next door, I knew it was only a matter of time before the cops closed in on us, and while I know I’m technically a hostage in all of this, I can’t help but wonder if maybe I’m on his side. At least, I didn’t realize that I was until I saw the way he was looking at me earlier.
When his wide body was pinned against me, his eyes boring into mine, a strange moment of familiarity came over me. It might have been a flashback, maybe a memory from my past life struggling to get through, but in that split second, I just knew that those eyes were ones I’ve known all my life. That this was the man who always vowed to protect me and would put his life before mine, despite all the shit he talks. But more than that, I saw past his walls. I saw what was really on the inside, and it finally made sense. Stone Blackthorne was in love with me. At least, the Riley Maddox version of me. I’m not her anymore, andjudging by the way he so desperately wants to tear my head off my shoulders, it’s clear that he no longer feels that way.
What matters is that being around him might just be what I need to regain everything I lost in that accident. If only he were a little more forthcoming about our past and willing to give it to me straight. Shit, it would make everything so much easier, but something tells me that Stone Blackthorne isn’t the type to take the easy road.
Following him out of the laundry room and into the kitchen, I find myself being a little more cautious about staying away from the windows. He immediately starts searching through drawers, pulling them out one at a time, rifling around before quickly closing it and moving onto the next.
“What are you looking for?”
“Keys,” he tells me. “Get looking.”
Keys? What the hell could we possibly need keys for? Is he planning on locking up the house after we finish raiding it?
