Page 25 of Justified Fear (TFH Team Bravo #2)

Fourteen

A fter dinner, Ryan insisted on helping in the kitchen.

“No, you cooked. My mother raised me right. The one who cooks doesn’t clean up.”

She gave him a bemused smile. “I’ll get the malasadas ready to eat. You want some coffee? I can’t eat them without at least a small cup.”

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

He got to work on rinsing off the plates and putting them in the dishwasher, as she started the kettle. She pulled out a French press and tossed in some coffee. By the time he finished his task, she was pressing the coffee and pouring it into cups.

“Do you need anything for yours? Any cream or sugar?”

He shook his head. “Black is fine with me.”

She handed over the cup of coffee, and then she grabbed hers to drink. Her eyes sparkled over her cup. He didn’t move because in that moment, he couldn’t think of anything but her. Everything in the world seemed to fade as he realized that this woman could destroy him.

Her smile faded as she set her cup on the counter. “Is something wrong?”

He shook his head and stepped closer. He needed a taste, to feel her mouth against his. Just like last night, he knew this was different. Lust—that he could handle. This was deeper, and it made no sense. The connection he felt to her seemed to grow even stronger each time he was with her.

Slipping his arm around her waist, he urged her closer to him. “I’ve been trying to behave.”

Her eyes widened. “Why would you do that?”

The humor was there. This woman knew he was worried about what was going on in her life, but she could use humor in the little things.

That told him more than if she had explained herself to him.

She was strong, just like he had said. But there was a good soul beneath the surface.

Ryan knew he wasn’t good enough for her, but he couldn’t stop the need he had for her.

He swooped in, pressing his mouth against hers.

Fuck, she was as delightful as he remembered and so much more.

Slanting his head to the side, he deepened the kiss.

Trailing the tip of his tongue against the seam of her lips, he urged her to open her mouth.

She hesitated for only a second. He stole inside, enjoying the taste of her.

It was like a drug that was pulling him under.

Keely’s fingers danced over his shoulder, a butterfly touch before she finally rested her hands on him.

He was lost in her, in the feel of her body against his, in the way she moaned against his tongue.

His dick shoved against the front of his jeans.

In all of his adult life, he could never remember feeling this overwhelmed by a simple kiss.

Warning sirens were going off, but he ignored them and barreled ahead.

Walking her back, he crowded her against the counter.

Fuck, he wanted her. Now, here in the kitchen, in her bedroom, he didn’t care.

He was sure he would die if he didn’t sink into her wet heat within the next ten minutes.

Her breasts were pressed against his chest. He could feel her nipples even through their layers of clothing. Need vibrated through him.

No. Fuck . That was his phone. He forced himself to pull back. Keely moaned in irritation, and he swooped in for another kiss before pulling his phone out of his pocket.

“This had better be good,” he said without looking at the number.

There was a long pause before he heard Seth’s voice. “I’m going to assume you didn’t look at the number before answering.”

“Sorry, boss.” Even to his own ears, his voice was rough.

He was looking at Keely, who was flushed with desire, her eyes seemed to glow.

She was breathing heavily, and it was hard not to look at her breasts with each deep breath she took.

It just made him want to kiss her again, so he turned away. “What’s up?”

“Ray Galbreath is missing.”

“Missing?”

“Yeah. He was in the hospital. They had a power outage; things were a mess.”

“What happened to the guard who was supposed to be watching him?”

If he hadn’t been watching Keely, he wouldn’t have seen the heat die in her gaze.

“He was hit over the head. Major concussion.”

“Security footage?”

“It was taken out at the hospital.”

“Any surrounding cameras?”

He sighed. “No. The four blocks that surround the hospital had their cameras go dark before the electricity went out.”

Fuck. That was not good.

“We’re going to have to move Keely, and since I’m assuming you’re still there, you need to talk to Mix. They are going to have good safe houses for her, or we can use one of ours.”

“Gotcha. I’ll take care of it.”

He hung up the phone.

“What are you going to take care of?”

The hesitancy in her voice made him want to growl. Instead, he slipped his phone back in his pocket.

“Ray is missing, maybe abducted from the hospital.”

Her eyes widened. “Missing?”

He nodded. “So that means you need to go to a safe house.”

“But they don’t know it’s me. Right?”

“We don’t know that, and you understand that on some level. Otherwise, Dillon wouldn’t have been called in.”

She swallowed. “I have a business.”

Up until now, she had been reasonable, but her chin had gone up a notch, and she settled her hands on her hips. Sexy…but also a problem.

“This is also your damned life, Keely.”

She pursed her lips. This was the thing she was fighting. She had been so reasonable up until now. “I can refuse, right? I mean, I’m a private citizen.”

“Really? You want to give them a chance to get to you. We still don’t even know what the hell is going on, and you want to run around doing dinner parties?”

“Excuse me for having a business I care about.” She cocked her head as she studied him. There was a coldness in her gaze that left his soul frozen. He had never seen that look from her before. “Is that why you’re here? Did you take orders from your boss to keep an eye on me?”

“What?”

Her face seemed to lose color. “Is that why you made love to me last night? Was that on orders of your captain?”

He stared at her, trying to figure out if she was being obtuse on purpose. “That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“It does from my side. Now all the interest makes sense. You are here for your job. It’s just an excuse to keep an eye on me.”

He knew she was scared. That was what was driving her comments. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from being angry at her. It hit him hard that she thought he would just jump into bed with her for the job.

“Why would anyone need an excuse to accept dinner from the sexiest woman alive?”

He practically yelled it at her. Apparently, that was the absolutely wrong thing to do. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “No. I refuse.”

“You could put other people at risk.”

There was a flicker in her eyes.

“And if that doesn’t change your mind, I’ll contact your father.”

Keely looked like she had just taken a body blow. When she spoke, her voice was small, and every word pierced his heart. “Good to know just where we stand. I’ll go pack.”

She walked around him, but he grabbed her arm.

“I was not here for any other reason than I wanted to spend time with you.” More than that. He would have happily tried his best to talk her into bed again, which wasn’t normal for him. Usually, he took his time, but there was a need that seemed to be driving him.

She looked down at his hand wrapped around her upper arm, then her golden gaze rose to meet his. “Please let go.”

Every word was bitten out, anger threading each syllable.

He hesitated, then released her. She walked away, her hips swinging with each step.

Maya tossed him a look, then she followed Keely.

His partner had just abandoned him for the woman who made her dog biscuits. He understood, but still, it sucked.

A whistle sounded behind him. Great.

“That sure did not go the way you wanted, right?” Mix said.

He looked over his shoulder. “Do you like peeping in on people and their personal lives?”

“No. My sister called while you were talking to Seth. Then, I called Dillon and lined up a decent safe house. I take it you’re going to be there?”

He nodded. There was no way she was getting rid of him. If those bastards came after her, they would have to go through him first.

To say Keely was irritated would be putting it mildly. Even after a night’s rest, she wanted to growl. It wasn’t a whole night of rest because it had taken her forever to fall asleep.

She understood that she needed to be at a safe house.

Truthfully, the safe house, or rather apartment, was in a luxury high-rise, and it was beautiful.

When she saw the kitchen, she wanted to jump for joy.

If they were going to have her hiding out, she would need to have at least a decent kitchen to cook in.

Since that was her stress relief—as her other favorite stress relief was off the table—she decided that she would need to cook up a storm.

For some reason, she was hot. It wasn’t the insanely erotic dream she’d had about Ryan because she was refusing to deal with that.

She glanced over at the heavy curtains. They looked like good blackout curtains; however, she saw some sun peeking in around the edges of the fabric.

She had definitely slept in. It wasn’t like her, but they hadn’t arrived at the apartment until the early hours of the morning.

Mix had insisted on driving all over Oahu.

He said it was to make sure he could keep her safe. She’d rolled her eyes.

She rolled over and realized she wasn’t alone. A wall of fur greeted her. That’s why she was so hot. Maya had come in to sleep with her. Which meant Ryan was here. Dammit. Her heart sped up even as she wished he would just go away.