“Yeah, well afterward, I vowed never to be that vulnerable again. I scraped together enough money to enroll in some self-defense classes at the YMCA. Once I tackled those, I was good enough to earn a scholarship to a local dojo. I got my black belt in karate before I graduated high school. Then I joined the Navy. Rest is history.”
“Wow.” Silence stretched between them and her nerves prickled. To ease the awkwardness, Everly tried her question again. Somehow, she felt closer to him now, knowing what had made him the man he was today. “C’mon. It’s just the two of us now. Why do you want the car? You said the security company you work for needs to recover it for the government. What’s their interest in it?”
Cam exhaled, toying with the hem of his T-shirt. Such nice hands, big and smooth with long, tapered fingers that looked like they’d play over a woman’s body just as deftly as they flew over his computer keyboards. He frowned, transforming his cute baby face into darker, deeper emotions. The sound of cracking knuckles filled the air. “It’s the technology,” Cam said at last. “The government’s interested in finding other applications for its use. Since tech is my specialty, I’m perfect for this job.” He fiddled with his drink, then looked up and caught her staring. “All right. I told you. Now you tell me. Why do you need the money from this job?”
Everly did her best to hide her astonishment and failed miserably, if his raised brow was any indication. “You looked at my phone,” she said, hoping her anger would help diffuse the powder keg of attraction she felt for this man before it ignited and burnt her to nothing but a pile of ash. “You spied on me. You had no right to touch my stuff, asshole.”
“True.” Cam sat forward, resting his forearms on his knees, not denying her allegations at all. “But if you tell me the truth, maybe I can help you. If the mafia’s involved then—”
“I don’t need your help.” She pushed to her feet and stalked into the kitchen, not trusting herself not to touch him if she sat there beside him much longer. Why couldn’t he have been the asshole she kept accusing him of being? Instead he had to go and be all nice and sweet and helpful. She clenched her fingers at her sides, battling the rising tide of yearning inside her. No one had cared about her well-being in a long, long time. Not since her dad had gone to prison after a warehouse raid five years prior. And Lord knew Everly’s mom had never cared. Not when Everly was nothing but a big disappointment. All she cared about these days was marrying up in the mob, finding the next big meal ticket to raise her profile amongst the mafia wives.
She tensed at the sound of Cam’s footsteps coming up behind her.
“Listen, I’m sorry I—”
Everly reacted without thinking, turning fast and using her body weight to shove him hard against the wall. Cam reacted quickly, clasping her wrist and twisting Everly until she was flat beneath him, switching their positions. Back against the wall, she panted, each breath rubbing her sensitive nipples against his chest, while Cam stared down into her face—his gaze flickering from her eyes to her parted lips then back again.
“Tell me the truth, goddammit. I can’t help if you won’t tell me.”
“Why do you want to help?”
He opened his mouth, closed it, then leaned closer, so close his heat penetrated her clothes and seared her skin. Close enough for her to smell his scent—soap and warm, clean male—and see his pupils blown wide with arousal. “I want…”
“What?” she whispered, unable to stop herself from pressing her hips tighter to his, loving the feel of his hardness against her soft heated core. “Tell me what you want, baby.”
“I want you.” The gruff words emerged as little more than a growl. Cam bent his head and his lips hovered over hers, mere millimeters from contact.
Everly raised on tiptoes, wanting to close that small gap between them more than she wanted her next breath. She would’ve done it too, if the sound of an engine pulling up in the driveway, followed by the sound of a slamming car door, hadn’t stopped her.
6
“Shit!” Cam pushed away from the wall and away from Everly despite the fact that every cell in his body screamed for him to stay where h
e was and finish what they’d started. He clenched his fists and switched his brain over to SEAL mode. “We got company. Wait here and don’t move.”
She still stood, back pressed to the wall, just as he’d left her—looking wild and wanton and infinitely desirable. Everly blinked at him several times, her expression dazed.
“Understand?” he said, his tone harsh to break her out of her reverie. “I don’t know who these people are. I need to grab my shoes and jacket and weapon from the bedroom.”
He rushed through the living room and into the hall, ducking low to avoid revealing his moving shadow through the curtained windows. Once he’d reached the bedroom, he yanked his socks on then jammed his feet into his shoes before shrugging into his jacket and grabbing his gun. He cocked it on the way to the window. Sticking close to the wall, he lifted the edge of the curtain to peer out over the front yard and the driveway.
Who the fuck was it?
The guys wouldn’t show up here without a warning call first. Unannounced visits in their line of work were a sure way to end up flat on your ass with a boot to the trachea—or worse. Nope. It wasn’t Loki or Hunter. Cam frowned. Whoever the hell it was drove a big ass Humvee too. Damned thing blocked the entire end of the driveway and half the alley entrance.
Cam sighed. There had to be a tracker on the Aeon somewhere. That was the only thing that made sense. He’d checked the vehicle over as best he could outside that gas station, but he must’ve missed it.
As footsteps neared the front stoop, adrenaline seared through Cam’s nervous system like lit kerosene. Time to get out of here. He ducked and ran down the hall again, scrambling through the living room, just as the front door slammed inward, wood shattering from the impact of a booted foot. He barely caught a glimpse of one of the huge thugs from earlier filling the doorway before Cam veered into the kitchen to haul Everly out the back door and—
She was gone. The backdoor was open, allowing the early morning chill to seep inside.
Son of a—
“Tell us where the fucking car is and we might kill you quick,” one of the thugs growled from behind Cam. “Otherwise, we’ll have some fun first.”
Whatever the hell those two goons had planned for their victims, Cam was one-hundred-percent sure it would never be classified as fun. He fired two rounds blindly into the living room, hoping to buy a little time, then charged through the open back door and down to the small wooden garage in the back yard. The overhead door was open and the lights were on inside the Aeon, but of course the engine wasn’t running. Cam sidled around the passenger side and eased open the door to clamber inside. He cringed at the sound of the Aeon’s beautiful paint job dinging off the rough wood exterior of the garage, but it couldn’t be helped. This was a life or death situation and he’d take his hide over the vehicle’s any day.
Everly gave him an inquiring look from behind the wheel, her hand extended. “Give it to me.”