THE OUTLAW’S BRIDE Page 31

  This was as good a time as any to ask, so she jumped onto the couch beside him. Not so much beside him. She was as far away from him on the seat as she could possibly get. This was the first time she’d seen him sit on the couch at all. She’d been keeping the couch for herself. There were bedrooms, sure, but Darren let her know he was watching her and she didn’t really want to have a room that close to him. She didn’t trust herself, for one, and for another thing, she especially didn’t trust him.

  “That reminds me. How long are you going to want me here for?”

  “That depends on how long it takes to find who’s trying to kill you,” he said, looking at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it was, to him. How did such a cute, sassy little thing like her miss things like this? She should know better.

  “You haven’t been doing anything to find them!”

  “That’s because I’ve been watching you.” She glared at him, and he smirked back. “Which reminds me…you should probably start sleeping in an actual bedroom.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t really think I’m going to be okay with you just staying on the couch this whole time, are you? Now pick a room, or you’ll stay with me.”

  She looked from his eyes to that perfect jaw again, and imagined the small stubble there scratching up against her skin as they kissed. She knew what he was getting at. But he couldn’t possibly be wanting to share a room with her, could he? That was too soon.

  “I am trying to protect you,” he clarified, like she might’ve been thinking he could have some ulterior motive.

  But he must. She looked to his eyes again, and what she saw there was pure, unbridled lust. Her thighs ached to be spread open before him, and her eyes fell from his face to the growing bulge in his pants. Yes, he meant exactly what she thought he meant.

  Why would he ever be interested in her, though? They didn’t even run with the same crowd. The only reason Victoria knew about him was because of her job. And she kept that job for one reason, and one reason only: money to pay the bills. There was nothing in particular tying her down to Lanterns, and there was nothing in particular tying her down to Darren Saylor. But here they were, and it was where she applied that’d gotten her tied down to a man like this.

  There was no way they could be tied together for so long. She would have to get back to her life eventually; she’d brought up these concerns with Darren, though, and he didn’t seem to be too bothered by them. If anything, he seemed more amused by the fact that she thought her job – and her lease – were more important than her life. Because that was what this was about: keeping her alive so some gangster didn’t kill her.

  Victoria’s eyes went up to Darren’s for a second, her vision blurring as she forgot he was even there. She was so tired. She hadn’t slept well over the past few nights that she was here. She didn’t know why. Being closer to Darren made her more comfortable, but also more on edge, and she resented the way the feelings he stirred in her resembled a paradox.

  Still, though, even if she did end up having some kind of feelings for the guy – which wouldn’t happen – there was no chance of anything more happening. Even though she had been through that teenage girl phase of thinking pretty much everyone she came across was attractive, Victoria had never been in love. She’d come close, once, but then the guy had just revealed what she already knew: that dudes were jerks who were just out to have sex.

  And there was no way this guy was any different. It hurt her that she was hopeful, but there was no chance. Why would she go looking for some guy in a club if what she wanted was a sweet man to love her? Not that that was what she wanted. She could take care of herself, and did so happily, and would continue to do so for the rest of her days. She was just getting all hyped up because of the situation and the circumstances, and that was it.

  But she really wanted to fuck this guy. And she was going to be stuck with him for a while, and he…

  He caught her attention again. There were other places for her to sleep, but she guessed that he could argue she’d be safer in the same room as him.

  “Do you understand?”

  She nodded.

  This was going to be a wild ride.

  Chapter Nine

  Victoria

  They didn’t talk for days.

  “This was going to be a wild ride…”

  Or maybe it wasn’t going to be any ride at all. Darren had basically told Victoria that she was going to be staying in a room with him, like it or not, or that she was going to be somewhere close to him, in any case. And, not only that, he’d told her that she was going to have to be okay with it.

  At the mere thought of it, her body had tensed up and she had felt goosebumps – the good kind – erupt all over her skin. But since then? Absolutely nothing. She still felt those same nerves up and down through her stomach when she thought of the way he looked at her. Since then, though, she’d been avoiding looking at him, and…

  She shook her head.

  Getting lost in her thoughts wasn’t going to be the way to deal with this. Besides, she might be better off if she could find a way to be pissed off at him. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in this place anyway, and it didn’t even take an entire day for her to be bored out of her mind. The safe house was as unexciting as it had been the moment she first walked into it; she didn’t know where Darren kept disappearing to, but she hoped that he was having as good of a time as she was.

  She scowled. She stood in the living room, her hands at her sides as she roamed the room, looking for anything better to do than just stand there. Whoever had designed this place hadn’t done it with the intent of its inhabitants having a good time, though, and she couldn’t find anything to do no matter how hard she looked.

  Not that she was looking that hard. She was just ignoring things that she didn’t think made for suitable entertainment. There were still those bookshelves lining the living room, yes, but there were no books she wanted to read there, so why bother?

  She didn’t see Darren that often, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t always around. She twisted her head, looking around the room for him. As soon as she did, he appeared. His nod let her know that he was there, and that he knew she was looking for him. Then, when she turned her head again, he was gone.

  She sighed. How long was this going to continue?

  It couldn’t. It wouldn’t. Victoria didn’t know how much time had passed while she stood there glaring at action book after action book. There had to be better things to do in this place, god damn it, and she would find them or die trying.

  “Still intent on hating on those books, love?”

  “Are you trying to act like you’re British or something?” She didn’t even turn around to look at him. He’d gotten in the habit of exposing his skin to her, and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with the flutters that sent rushing through her chest.

  “No, but,” he leaned over her, so she could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck as he lowered his head to hover near her shoulder. “Unlike you, I’m trying to be…” He exhaled some air towards her skin. “Hospitable.”

  What was wrong with this guy? She jerked away from him, using her eyes to send daggers in his direction even as he started chuckling. Or was he giggling? He was definitely giggling. She narrowed her glare at him even more.

  It took Darren a while to stop laughing. Victoria looked so cute when she was angry with him, like she thought she could just squish him beneath her feet or something regardless of the disparity in their size; he wanted to tell her so, but it didn’t seem like the best time right now. Besides, it might piss her off even more later, and she was just so adorable when she hated him.

  It was also cute that she still tried to believe that she did hate him, though, and now was as fair a time as any to tell her that.

  “Do you always try to lead men into believing you hate them?”

  Victoria glanced up at Darren, her jaw tightening as she scowled. Her jaw wasn�
�t nearly as taut as Darren’s could get though, and part of her hated the fact that he wasn’t glaring down at her right now. She wanted to see it. Unfortunately for her, instead of scowling, he was smiling.

  And this was never a good sign.

  That didn’t mean that she was going to just let him get away with talking and acting however he wanted, like…like, he owned the place or something! Well, he did actually own it, she remembered. But that didn’t have to mean anything.

  “You can’t just say whatever you want,” she said.

  “I’d argue that I can,” he grinned. “And I’d argue that since you’re in my care, you’d better learn to deal with it.”

  He retreated from where he was standing behind her, turning and falling back onto the couch. He was so pleased with himself. The bastard. He always corned her when she went to the bookshelves, she realized; it wasn’t like this was the first time he had done it.

  It also wasn’t the first time she had gone to the bookshelves knowing full well what would happen. As much as she hated him, or wanted to hate him, her body had other ideas for the type of relationship they would be having, and he drove her wild to no end. Wild. Not so much a turn on. It couldn’t be a turn on. No, it was just extreme aggravation. That was all.

  She wasn’t going to pretend not to be looking at him now, though. He had made his presence known, so he might as well have invited her to stare at him. She turned her body completely, not even bothering to only turn her head to look at him like she might have earlier. She could feel him staring at her, so why shouldn’t she look back?

  Her face blushed red at the sight of him. She turned just as he was pulling the fabric of his shirt up over his chest, and she could see the hard outline of every chiseled muscle on his torso. She’d known he was muscular, but that was different from actually seeing his skin in the flesh.

  His eyes rose to hers as he caught her staring.

  She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t say anything. Any small retort or insult she could come up with, he would just turn around on her. There was no way of getting out of the fact that she had been ogling Darren Saylor’s abs, his shoulders, his…

  While she couldn’t get out of the fact that she had been staring at him, she could get out of wherever this was going to go. But she wanted it to go places. At the same time, though, she didn’t. She looked at him again once before moving her eyes to a point to the side of his head, avoiding looking at his skin.

  And then she left the living room, making her way back into the little hiding of an alcove she’d chosen as her room – temporarily, Darren had assured her. There were some things she was better off not seeing, she decided.

  But oh, had she missed the wild look in Darren’s eyes.

  Chapter Ten

  Darren

  Victoria Parker was a feisty woman, but Darren Saylor knew how to handle those. And judging by the way that Victoria averted her eyes at the sight of his skin, and how she turned away from him like some kind of timid animal, she wasn’t as feisty as she made herself out to be. There had to be something else about this girl. Something he wasn’t getting. Besides sex, anyway, and that would probably change soon enough, so long as he teased her out of her mind.

  He could tell that she was still unhappy about the food arrangements. So the fiery girl didn’t like to eat healthily. Fine. He was standing in the kitchen, looking through the cupboards, trying to find something remotely chocolate-y that she might like. He wasn’t trying to be some kind of a good host, but they might both be better off if she wasn’t constantly grumpy. Plus, he’d noticed that she wasn’t eating enough. He guessed that his diet of chicken breasts and broccoli wasn’t enough for her.

  He closed one cupboard and opened up another. Most of the food in this place was in the freezer, not because of the nutrients of the food that could be stored there, but because of how long frozen food could last. That was a long time. That didn’t mean either of them would be able to last very long off of it.

  Victoria’s cravings, as subtle as she tried to be about them, weren’t hard to miss. He’d noticed her repeatedly going back into the kitchen and then scowling after looking through everything and walking away. It was affecting him, too. He wasn’t a fan of eating well, as much as he did it. That was mainly for his body, and for strength. And both things were having the effects on Victoria that he wanted them to, so it wasn’t like it could be that bad.

  But God, if the food in this place wasn’t up to snuff. He found a box of Rice Krispies and grabbed it, pulling it down from where it sat on the top shelf. His hands went to the flaps, opening it as quickly as he could. Disappointment flooded him at once. Not only was the box mostly empty, what remained was definitely stale. Whoever had brought them here – because he sure as hell hadn’t – hadn’t closed the box up properly, and now every little crispy flake in it was ruined. He chucked the offending box into the garbage.

  And then he went to the freezer in his quest. He didn’t want to leave Victoria here just so he could run to the store, but they both needed food. Even if they decided to ignore their cravings and just live off of the stuff that was in here, there wasn’t enough food to last them the entire month. That typically wasn’t a problem at the safe house, though. Usually, when people came here, they either stayed a very short time or a very long one, for one of two reasons.

  Reason #1: they were being kept here because of their own bad behavior. Acting out in the Bloody Saints got a small timeout, with the offending biker spending out a few days here while they cooled down. If they didn’t cool down, well, they got to stay here longer.

  Reason #2: they were being kept here because they either owed the Bloody Saints money.

  He scratched his chin, trying to come up with a time where the safe house had been used for any other reason than the two he’d already listed in his head. He couldn’t think of any. He couldn’t remember it ever being used to actually keep anyone safe from someone looking to kill them.

  That reminded him, his club would be looking for him. He’d shot off a call and a few texts, but only to say he would be out of town. He couldn’t let people know where he was, or even why he was there. It wasn’t his friends he was worried about. It was Victoria. If he involved her in his world any more deeply than he already had, she would probably do something to fuck everything up and cause a bunch of mayhem, and she would probably wind up dead for it.

  Yeah, no. That was not going to happen. It was better to leave his friends in the dark in order to keep her out of trouble. Which meant he couldn’t call someone and ask them to bring provisions. He’d have to go out himself. Victoria would almost definitely have to come with him, unless he could convince her to let him chain her up to something while he disappeared for the better half of a few hours.

  That wouldn’t work either. Knowing that girl, she’d probably find some way to cause as much destruction to the house – and to herself – in his absence, even if she only had a few feet of moving space.

  She was so frustrating. In such a good way, though. What was wrong with her? There had to be something wrong with her. No woman had ever talked to him like she had, and her lack of respect was a sign that there was a screw or two loose inside her head. There was no way of putting those loose screws right, either. At least, not a way that he could see. She was fine just the way she was. Or maybe she would be to some other man.

  He tried again to tell himself he wasn’t looking forward to being stuck with her for so long. A not-so-small part of him was, but that didn’t have anything to do with Victoria in particular, he reasoned. That was the reaction that just about anyone could expect from a man, especially one like him, around an attractive woman. And she was attractive. It was normal, and that was it. It was the only thing that was normal about this situation, in any case.

  He scavenged through the kitchen some more. There were a few spare baking supplies here and there, but, like the Rice Krispies, they had been left with only a little bit inside of them. That was
alright. Darren wasn’t much of a baker. Never had been. That didn’t mean that he didn’t have nights of mindless snacking, though, and he knew how to make a thing or two in the microwave.

  He found a few tablespoons of flour and sugar. There was some oil in the cupboard, so he grabbed that as well, throwing a few spoonfuls of each into two mugs. Then he threw in some cocoa and divided an egg unevenly between them. There was no way to make this pretty, so he just threw both mugs in the microwave at the same time. Then he set the mug cakes so they’d be in there for about a minute, and went back to looking through the kitchen.

  Maybe there was some chocolate syrup, like for ice cream, that he could throw on top of them. He knew that was unlikely, so he wasn’t all that sad when he couldn’t find anything to drizzle the cakes with. This search had only taken about 30 seconds, and the cakes still weren’t done. He pulled open another drawer, hunting for something.

  Fuck.