How could he have been so wrong? His instincts were usually better than that.
Paul couldn’t look her in the eye. He couldn’t bear to see the greed he knew would be lurking there. “Deal,” he said, but he couldn’t bring himself to shake her hand.
“I’m going to grab a quick shower,” she said. “If the money is in there when I get out, we can leave.”
Andra nearly wept with relief when Paul agreed to her terms. He was already on his cell phone making the transfer of funds into her account when she went to shower. She couldn’t believe how easy it had been.
Finally, Andra could be sure that Nika was always going to have a place to live. Between the half million Paul was giving her, and Andra’s large life insurance policy, if anything happened to Andra, Nika would always be cared for. She’d be safe.
Andra made quick work of washing off the sweat of pain and fear from last night, and threw on the first mostly clean pair of jeans she could find. Her laundry was becoming a problem—one she’d have to deal with when she got back, but not now. Now she had to hit the road with a man she barely knew. A man who made her go mushy with just a single touch.
Andra was going to have to be really careful that she didn’t let him touch her anymore.
She went into the living room, presentable but by no means glamorous. Her hair was still wet and she hadn’t bothered to take time for makeup. She was just too damn tired to care what she looked like.
“It’s done,” said Paul, his tone bleak. The warmth in his eyes had disappeared, making him look less human. More deadly. She’d seen him in a fight and knew that the man was a formidable opponent, but she’d never worried that she’d be on the receiving end of his sword.
Until now.
The money had changed the way he looked at her, and no matter how much she told herself it didn’t matter, she knew it was a lie. She wanted him to like her. Respect her. She had no idea why it mattered. It never had before. She’d pissed off more than just a few people in her determination to find a missing child, but with Paul it was different. That slight disdain lifting his lip when he looked at her hurt.
Andra couldn’t make herself not care about what he thought, so she refused to think about it. They had a deal. Nika would be safe. Time to move on. “Where are we going?”
“Missouri.”
Andra nearly groaned. She was too tired to drive that far. She knew she was. She’d never make it there alive. Then again, if she didn’t survive, Nika would get all that money from her life insurance.
She decided to put this situation under the win-win heading.
Something in her thoughts must have come through on her face, because Paul said, “I’m driving. I wouldn’t want you to crash your truck before you finished giving me my money’s worth.”
Andra nodded. “Fine.”
“Pack for a couple days, but be quick.”
Andra picked up one of two overnight bags she kept packed and ready to go at all times in case she got a call from desperate parents. “I’m ready.”
She thought she saw a glimmer of respect cross his hard features, but she couldn’t be sure.
There was a loud pounding on her front door, as if someone were trying to kick it in.
Paul slid a sword out from nowhere—which was the coolest trick ever—and brought a finger to his lips for silence.
“It’s probably my newspaper boy wanting payment. Would you back the hell off?” She stepped forward to go peek through the hole, but Paul held her back with a thick, muscular arm.
He’d just grazed the skin of her arm, but it was enough to make Andra clamp her lips shut over a groan of pleasure. A tingling warmth spread out from the point of contact and invaded her limbs, making them feel heavy and languid. She wanted to rub herself up against him like a cat, and she wished he hadn’t put his shirt back on while she was in the shower. It would have felt so good to splay her fingers across his back and get to know all of the rigid muscles lying beneath his flesh.
Her skin heated until she was sure she was bright red. An aching, needy emptiness gnawed at her, and she pressed her thighs together in an effort to ease the ache. It didn’t work. She needed Paul to lay her down and fill her up—to slide inside her over and over until the world fell away and nothing but the two of them existed. No worries. No fears. No monsters. Only Paul and the touch of his skin on hers.
He stepped away from her, leaving her reeling, nearly swaying with the potent force of her need. She gripped the wall for support, but it did little good. She ended up sitting on her ass, shaking like she’d just spent the last week throwing up.
Through the door came, “It’s Madoc. Open the fuck up.”
Dimly, she was aware of Paul letting the surly giant inside her home. He was carrying something big and heavy and wrapped in a sheet. Booted feet stuck out of one end.
Holy shit. He’d brought a corpse into her apartment.
“He’s bad,” said Madoc.
“How bad?” asked Paul. Concern roughened the edges of his words.
“He started seizing a couple minutes ago. Thought the sun might make it worse, so I brought him in.”
“You didn’t let any light touch him, did you?” asked Paul. “We don’t need that kind of trouble right now.”
Madoc laid his burden down on her couch and started closing the blinds over Andra’s windows. “Do I look like a fucking idiot? I was careful—had him wrapped up nice and tight. We don’t need any more surprises.”