“Yeah?”
“I could easily fall in love with you.”
Ah, Jesus. They were not meant to do that now. He ripped his hand off Rick’s, he needed to put it back on the wheel again, and swerve to avoid the freaking smart car a-frickin-gain. Shit, this was the second time in three minutes that he didn’t keep his truck in his own lane. Roman was never going to let him live this down. “We…” He found he had to clear his throat to get the words past the feels that choked him. “We’ll talk about it later, ok?”
“Just wanted you to know, in case…”
“Do not finish that sentence.” Saxon growled at him. “Don’t tempt fate. Got it.” He wasn’t normally superstitious, but in this instance, he would take all the help they could get… even from fate.
“Yeah, I know, never tempt fate.” The words were almost a sigh as he drifted back to sleep.
Saxon stared out over the steering wheel, driving more by instinct than by skill. Rick’s words had shaken something loose inside him. He wanted to stop, to turn around, to drive Rick back home, and hide away with him forever. The only things that stopped him were the knowledge that Rick would probably never forgive him for it, and his honor.
“Bravo Three, TOC.”
“Go ahead, TOC.”
“Are you…”Max paused a heartbeat as if figuring out which word he should use.“Are you good?”
“Yes, Sir.” Shit, he’d forgotten that TOC could hear a lot of what they were saying. Not only from the dash camera, but also from their coms units.
“Roger that.”
Thank fuck Max let it go and didn’t push for more. Saxon wasn’t sure what he would have told him. So, for now, they would go ahead with the plan. He would just have to remind himself to let Rick out of the truck when the swap was to happen. He could do that—right? Without shooting everyone who wanted to take Rick from him. Right? Probably not, but he was going to try.
Half an hour later, Saxon lifted his hand from where it rested on top of Rick’s on his thigh. He didn’t remember dropping it from the steering wheel to cover his fingers. It probably happened one of the times he’d changed gears. How many times had he seen Roman and Luc driving like this? He’d just never imagined that if it was him that the destination in front of them would be quite so shitty. Stuff like this should have a happy ending, damn it. “Rick?”
The fingers on his leg tightened, knuckles brushing close to his dick. Rick gave a sleepy sigh and opened his eyes. “Yeah.”
Wanna go back home? Forget this plan and find another?
“We’re about ten minutes out from our target zone.”
“Why didn’t you take the long way round.” Rick pulled himself and the seat up to sitting position, then rubbed his eyes with his fingers, trying to ease the grittiness making them sting.
“I did.” The corner of Saxon’s mouth curved upward in a slight smile. Rick half asleep… sexy as hell. “You slept through it.”
He pulled out the seatbelt to make room for himself to stretch. “Any update from TOC?”
“No.” Saxon glanced at the GPS device sitting on the dash, following its instructions.
“Fuck.”
Even though he knew Rick knew how shit worked, he still said, “Max would have called us if they found him.”
“I was afraid of that.” Rick grabbed a bottle of water, opened it, and handed it to Saxon to drink. Taking it back, he drained the rest of the bottle dry.
Traffic behind them trickled off. A glance in the rear-view mirror told Saxon that he couldn’t see Roman’s truck behind them. He knew they were back there. He just couldn’t see them yet.
Pressing the brake, he slowed for a yellow light behind a sedan. “What’s that idiot doin’?” He watched a man get out of the rear left door. Saxon squinted through the windshield; if he was in the sandbox, he’d have no doubts. Here he did. “Is that...?” A second man exited the sedan on the opposite side. This one, Saxon could see what he carried clearly. “Contact.”
The men aimed their guns at Saxon and Rick through the windshield. What the fuck? This was supposed to be a peaceful swap, their meeting point was just through the traffic lights. Had these assholes jumped the gun or were their orders to kill Rick on sight?
“Bravo Three, TOC,”Max hailed him over coms,“Repeat.”
Saxon didn’t get a chance to do it. Max would just have to watch on his satellite link to their dash cam. The proverbial shit hit the fan and Saxon’s suspicions were proved right. The assholes opened fire right there on the street, spraying his truck with bullets. “Fuck.”
“Backup is three minutes out, they are stuck behind a truck.”
