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He leaned toward her, hesitating just a little, then brushed his lips against hers in a kiss unlike any other he’d ever given her. He fought back the possessive passion that surged through his body unexpectedly at the touch of her lips. The alpha male side of him—the side he’d only recently acknowledged after all these years—wanted to deepen the kiss, to swamp her senses, to sway her with sensual promises. But instinctively he knew that wasn’t what she needed right now. She needed to know she was safe with him. In every way. And only when she knew it was safe to trust him would she do so.
Trust. It was such a little word, but it meant everything.
His lips moved slowly, kissing her eyes closed. She caught her breath when he tucked a curl behind her ear, and his lips tugged at her earlobe. One hand clenched his arm, and Cody struggled not to pull her into his embrace. “Heart, mind, body and soul,” he whispered. “That’s all I want.”
He didn’t wait for a response, just drew away from her and exited the truck quickly before he could change his mind and tell her that whatever she wanted to give him was enough. It wasn’t. It might be enough for today, for a week, for a month. But not for a lifetime. And that’s what he wanted. A lifetime. His...and hers.
He went around the back and unlocked the tonneau cover. Keira was still sitting where he’d left her in the cab of the truck, and he smiled ruefully. He’d obviously taken her by surprise, and he’d given her a lot to think about. I just hope she won’t need to think too long.
He grabbed the computer, hefted it under one arm, and strode purposefully toward the back porch, taking the stairs two at a time. He unlocked the door with the key Callahan had given him, and went inside. He came out a minute later for the computer monitor, and froze as soon as he pushed the door open. Keira was standing at the back of the truck, but she wasn’t alone. A bearded stranger stood beside her, a gun pointed at her head.
“Stop right there,” the man told Cody, moving quickly to shield himself behind Keira, wrapping his left arm around her throat for more control. “I know you’re armed. Take the gun out real slow, and place it on the floor.”
“Cody, no—” Keira gasped before the stranger’s hand closed around her mouth.
Cody did exactly as he was bid. As if she’d screamed the words at him, the expression in her eyes told him not to, told him to keep his Glock and dash back inside the house where he’d be safe. And though his eyes answered, Not a chance, sweetheart. I’m not leaving you out here alone, a disconnected part of his brain registered that she was putting him first as he’d long dreamed. That she would rather die herself than risk him. Can’t think about that now, he warned himself as he thrust the thought aside.
“Step down, away from the gun,” the man ordered him, and again Cody obeyed. Time slowed to a crawl as his mind processed with incredible speed the data it had to work with, the same way it had when Keira had been dragged into the shack the first night he’d seen her. He knew instantly he had only one chance to rescue both of them, just as he’d known it then. It was a risk, but he’d taken bigger risks in his life before. This time, though, he wasn’t just risking his own life.
Then from nowhere a certainty settled over him, and he knew...knew...Keira would tell him to take the risk. He knew that her mind was working feverishly, too, weighing each option just as he was. And he knew they were on the same wavelength.
Patience, he told her silently. Patience. If he could get the man to shift the gun into his left hand, and point it in his direction instead of at Keira’s head... At the bottom of the porch steps Cody stopped. “She’s armed, too,” he said calmly. “Shoulder holster under her left arm.”
She knows, he told himself when Keira’s eyes didn’t accuse him of betrayal, just stared unwaveringly at him. But not by the flicker of an eyelash did he acknowledge that anything was coming.
A look of suspicion passed over the man’s face, and he hesitated, his eyes darting left and right as if he feared some kind of trap. Come on, you son of a bitch, Cody thought, easing imperceptibly forward on his toes. Come on.
