Die for Me (12 page)

Taigen lay flat on his back, his eyes closed. Peaceful. A predator resting until his next meal.

“You can shower now.” She ignored the reasoning behind her selfish desire to see those electric blue eyes and moved toward her bed.

“Okay.” He pushed himself up, glanced in her direction. The glance turned into a gaze and heat worked its way up her neck.

So much for the cold shower.

* * *

Taigen blinked, shaking himself out of the most inappropriate fantasy he’d ever had and walked directly into the bathroom. He spotted her clothes hanging all around and smiled.
Ever practical
. He closed the door behind him.

The bathroom was nothing like he’d imagined, but he didn’t miss a beat stripping down. He copied Torrhent’s laundry method and threw his shirt into the sink, filling it with water and soap. He kept his jeans out. She’d taken the only robe and he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea as he waited for his clothes to dry.

The thought made him pause. “Shit.”

He rubbed a calloused palm over his face and eyes. Since when had he been conscious of what other people thought of him? When did he start caring?

He confronted his reflection in the mirror. “You’re using her as bait. Nothing more, asshole. You’re not doing this for her.”

A flicker of illumination in the depths of his eyes caught his attention. Torrhent had done something to his mind, something to his body even. The mere thought of her brought on a rush of curiosity he thought he’d extinguished long ago and made his dick stand on end.

He pushed away from the counter in disgust. A woman like Torrhent Lynd deserved better than a hit man with a death wish. Because that’s how this would end. “You’d be a fucking idiot not to remember that.”

Taigen reached into the shower and turned the handle down to cold. He’d gotten a little cooler from the air-conditioning but needed to bring his body temperature down further. Brain damage and organ failure weren’t an option at this point. He stepped in, enjoying the feel of the water hitting his skin, but nearly wished Torrhent was the one caressing him.

The bathroom door opened, Torrhent’s form wandering across the room.

Wish granted
.

She stopped in her tracks.

Taigen slid the glass door open a few inches. “Did you need something?”
My hands on your body, perhaps?

Her eyes widened. She went for the first aid kit on the counter, ineffectively hiding the blush crawling up her neck, but even with half-tanned and half-burned skin, he’d seen her reaction to him. “I just needed some bandages.”

Her gaze flickered toward him in the mirror and his breath caught. The longing in her eyes made him want her skin against his as he took her for himself. Nothing casual, just the two of them. Forever.

Bastard
. Taigen cleared his throat in a failed attempt to dislodge the happily-ever-after ballad ringing through his head. It wouldn’t work. No matter how many times he tried for a solution, he’d have to give her up in the end. Fucked-up guys like him didn’t get the girl. “Close the door on the way out.”

He slid the shower door closed and relaxed when the bathroom door clicked behind her seconds later. What he wanted was impossible, but damn if he wasn’t going to try to at least do right by her.

* * *

Torrhent sat on the edge of the bed and pushed the robe off her shoulders. The blisters were clean, but grotesque. “Definitely infected.”

Her skin piled in certain areas and had scrapped off in others. She picked at the loose skin carefully. Using the lotion gripped between her legs, she lathered the blisters and sighed as relief followed shortly after.

The shower turned off.

Taigen
.

She blushed at the memory of seeing him naked, those beautiful designs tattooed on his entire body fresh in her mind. Her thoughts were focused on him when she pushed a little too hard on her shoulders. Torrhent bit her lips as she secured a Band-Aid in place and reached for another.

The bathroom door opened behind her, the air caressing her bare skin.

She kept her back to him, applying the bandages as fast as possible. Torrhent listened to his movements, felt his eyes on her as she worked, and her body tightened automatically.

“Here,” he said, stepping closer to the bed, “let me help.”

Taigen reached around her, pressing his bare chest into her back as he grabbed for the box of Band-Aids in her lap, his arm next to her face.

Torrhent inhaled his familiar scent and closed her eyes. The bed dipped with the weight of his body, but she still flinched when his hand touched her shoulder.

“Does it hurt that much?” His voice dropped an octave lower than she remembered it.

“Yes,” she lied easily. It’d been his touch that caught her off guard.

The bed shifted again. “How did this happen?”

“My backpack.”

His hands caressed her shoulder. “You know I’m not a good man, Torrhent,” he whispered, applying another bandage, “but you’re still here, helping me find my sister. You’re very brave.”

She flinched, again not because of the pain.

He’d actually thanked her in his own way.

“Don’t worry about it. You were very convincing.” A drumming noise inside her head, louder than sirens or bells, gave her a headache. She was sure he could hear it, such an almighty sound. The drumming grew louder as his fingertips moved over her sensitive skin and she exhaled in nervousness, the resonance clouding her mind.

“Did that hurt?” His breath grazed her ear, tickling her neck and cooling her blisters.

Torrhent tried to think of an answer, but couldn’t speak. She shook her head from side to side. She’d imagined when she’d have to seduce him from the moment they’d met, but her dreams had been nothing like this. She couldn’t remember turning into a giant bundle of nerves for any other man. Then again, the men she’d been with weren’t anything compared to Taigen.

He touched her again, but she realized it wasn’t with his hand. “Does this hurt?”

He whispered the words against her skin, sending little shivers down her body. He kissed her shoulder again, working his way toward the side of her neck.

She didn’t trust her voice and shook her head.

Taigen slowly made his way up her neck, under her earlobe and finally to her jaw. He moved closer to her on the bed and she leaned into him, his bare chest against her back. His left hand circled around, tilting her head to the side as he retraced his kisses back down her shoulders. His right hand slipped across her waist above the robe, searching.

Torrhent didn’t want to be there, but couldn’t think of a more perfect place at the same time. Taigen made her body feel electric, come alive. It was new. It was exciting.

And terrifying.

His right hand slowly pulled the robe’s sash.

Fear, mixed with a hint of self-loathing, shot through her system. No matter how many times she’d imagined this moment, she’d never expected to want it. Want him. Men like him had killed her mother. They were everything she hated in the world and she’d allowed herself to fall for one of them. “Wait.”

He froze mid-motion. “Something wrong?”

“I just need—” She needed for him to tell her this was right, that she wasn’t crazy for wanting the man who’d killed people when ordered. Unable to determine the exact moment her own intentions betrayed her, Torrhent pushed away. “I just need a minute.”

“Take your time. I’ll check on our clothes.”

Her head didn’t feel right. Her blood pumped faster as Taigen stood and walked into the bathroom, leaving her without the warmth of his skin. It took her a moment to realize the pounding in her ears kept in rhythm with her heartbeat. Nothing in the world had prepared her for this situation and her hands trembled in doubt. Pushing thoughts of her ulterior motives aside, she forced herself to focus on the moment and think her emotions over rationally.

Taigen had saved her life. Twice. It stood to reason she’d have feelings for him. Gratitude. Maybe a hint of lust. Not love.

She repeated the last statement to herself. Love wasn’t logical. Not now. Not with him. Her double life ate at her from within. The lies had snowballed into a monster, disintegrating any future they had together, but his touch and the roam of his gaze each time he looked at her gave her an unhealthy dose of hope. He was the only one who understood what she’d been through. She’d killed a man in cold blood, but he’d done so on purpose.

He could help her.

He could save her.

* * *

Taigen relived the last few days in his mind. He’d worked so hard to distance himself from his previous life, from the lies and the things his sister had done. Now, it’d come back in full force, all because of an alluring convicted murderer.

Taigen turned on the faucet. Focusing on the running water, he drowned out his senses, but before he knew it Torrhent stood behind him. He hadn’t heard her come in, so distracted by the mere thought of her he’d lost all ability to concentrate. Her robed reflection in the mirror held him frozen. A slice of agony twisted in his stomach at the thought of what he had to do. He’d never find another woman like her, never be with a woman like her because he couldn’t ruin another life. Unsure of what he was doing for the first time in his life, Taigen turned around anyway. “Walk away, Torrhent. You were right to stop me. I’m not the man for you. You deserve better—”

“I’m here because I want to be.” The words resonated deep in his bones and he felt the truth behind them. She moved closer, only inches away from him, but he refused to close the distance between them. “Nobody could argue that you don’t have an ugly side, but without that side of you, I’d be dead.”

“You were convicted of a crime I’ve committed many times over.” His accent bubbled to the surface. “I’ve killed people. Some for money. Some for nothing. And you’re okay with that?”

“No.”

“Then what are you doing in here?” He turned back to the mirror. If she didn’t leave, Taigen wouldn’t be able to stop himself. Body and mind alike hungered for the false sense of safety he’d feel in her arms. Alone with Torrhent, even in the bathroom of a shitty motel, he’d forgotten the world and the hundreds to thousands of lives his sister was destined to destroy.

“You regret it.”

“How can you be so certain?”

Torrhent stepped even closer. “You’re willing to kill your sister to save people you don’t even know. That’s not the mark of a monster.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know me.”

“You’re right,” she whispered. “I don’t. But I want to.”

Taigen wrenched himself around and pushed his lips against hers. He couldn’t hold himself back any longer, thrusting his tongue into her mouth to just get one taste before she pushed him away. His hesitation disappeared with the press of her skin against his. She was soft and warm and he couldn’t get enough of her lemon-scented skin. Backing Torrhent up against the bathroom door, he ran his hands behind her thighs and lifted her up.

Her legs wrapped around him, gripping his torso and pulling him closer. Her nails dug into his shoulder blades, causing him to moan into her mouth. His chest pressed firmly against hers. The pulse of her heart pounded through the robe and all he wanted was to see her skin. He brushed short pieces of hair back from her face, reveling in the soft feel as it slipped through his fingers. Despite the blisters and burns, her skin drove him crazy. Warm, fresh and deliciously freckled, it called to him.

The world fell away.

Nothing existed but the woman in his arms, and the sense of safety he’d craved since meeting her descended like the cover of night. Peace. Warmth. Love.

Her lips ate at him eagerly, unwavering, constant.

His hands slid under the robe. Taigen stripped it off of her, returning his mouth to hers. The kisses were hotter, deeper, and then the robe was gone, discarded on the floor. They moved from the bathroom to the bed, his mouth following his hands as he dropped her onto her back.

A whisper of a thought this might not be a good idea crossed his mind, but he immediately banished it as Torrhent smiled up at him and pushed his jeans to the floor. He’d never felt more alive in his life. Of all the women he’d been with, none of them had made him feel this way. She cared for him, showed concern when the monster threatened to devour him whole and cheat him out of this bliss. “I need you so much,” he admitted against her lips.

Torrhent didn’t wait for him to catch his breath. She pressed her lips against his, banishing any thoughts he might have had of her innocence.

No hesitation.

No fear.

Only acceptance of his life and the monster he’d tried to hide.

Chapter 11

Taigen’s suspicion reached an alarming new level.

The cold desert air bit into the bullet in his chest, but he pushed himself forward, ignoring the pain. Something woke him a half hour ago and forced him from Torrhent’s warm body and outside. Now, he knew why.

Slowly, Taigen withdrew the gun from the back of his pants, taking aim.

He had no reason to fire. Yet. “What are you doing here?”

The motel manager ripped his ear away from the door as he turned in surprise, all three hundred pounds quaking with the effort. “I wasn’t doing anything. I swear!”

Taigen stepped in closer. He frisked the manager with one hand while keeping his weapon aimed with the other. “I’ll ask again. What are you doing?”

“I—They—” The manager’s hands raised in surrender. “Please. They just told me to listen. Nothing else! I promise!”

“Who?” Taigen straightened. No weapons.

“Two guys. I don’t know their names.” The manager licked his lips quickly. His eyes darted from the gun to Taigen’s eyes and back. “Please. I’ll tell you anything you want. Just don’t kill me!”

“What did they look like?” Taigen put the gun away, shoving it down the back of his pants.

“Asian. One of them anyway, with spiked-up hair. I don’t know about the other. I never saw his face.”

“What did they want?” Taigen had hoped they’d have a half day head start when they got back on the road, but evil never took a day off. He’d been an idiot to let them stay in one place longer than a few hours.

“Don’t know.” The manager’s face paled. “They gave me a hundred bucks, asked me about a man and a woman shacking up here and told me to listen in on the room. I don’t know where they are.”

“They left? Just like that?” It didn’t make sense. Why would two bounty hunters leave their recon to a civilian?
Unless they’re still here
. “They didn’t kill you,” Taigen said, “which means they expect you to report.”

He stepped closer to the obese bastard then glanced over his shoulder into the parking lot. Clear, but not private. “Come on.”

Taigen wrenched the manager around by the collar and pulled him toward the office.

“What are you going to do to me?” The man’s lips quivered as he stumbled into the office. He fell backward into the chair he’d occupied the day before, his hands gripping the edges.

“Nothing. You’re going to help me.”

The sound of the early morning news called Taigen’s attention to a small black-and-white TV on the corner of the desk.

. . . three men beaten to death with what looks like military precision and torture . . .

Three bodies. Three people Taigen hadn’t been able to save because he’d taken his mind off the mission at hand. Guilt stabbed him in the back like a bullet ripping through his spine for the second time. His breath caught in his throat. The chances of getting to New York before another murder were slim. Adelaide had escalated again.

“How?”

“What?” Taigen ripped his gaze from the small television.

“How am I going to help you?” Eyes brimming with tears, the manager sat up a bit straighter in the chair.

“Tell them you have information.” Time for Taigen to use his leverage.

He went back to the room with a renewed sense of purpose, mentally distancing himself along the way. He’d made a mistake with Torrhent. He’d known a future with her didn’t exist, yet like the selfish bastard he was, let himself fall prey to her.

Torrhent shoved the last two clean shirts she had into her pack as he entered and zipped it closed. They’d planned to move on to the next city, but now they had to wait.

“Torrhent, about last night—”

A car door slammed just outside.

Taigen stepped closer to the door, waving her back as she started to follow. He peeked around the thick curtain next to the door.

Two men climbed out of an older SUV.

“We’ve got company.” His expression hardened as he studied the pair of knives down one man’s leg; both held semiautomatics. “I hate knives.”

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Stay here.” Taigen let the curtain fall back into place. He slid the chain from the top of the door, his hand on the doorknob.

She sank behind one of the beds. “Just come back in one piece.”

With a curt nod, he stepped outside.

“I didn’t think you’d get my message so fast.” Taigen closed the door behind him as the two men approached from the SUV. He surveyed the area, taking in the easiest routes of escape and scanning every car in the lot he hadn’t seen already. “Must have been close.”

Neither of them answered. The full autos they sported were exactly like the ones he’d taken off the two men back at the apartment, leading him to believe he’d found the right people. The men stopped a few feet away, far enough he wouldn’t be able to reach them before they put a bullet in his head. The dry air burned his throat as he inhaled. The gun at his back dug into his muscles, reminding him of its presence. “I know who you work for and I know why Rutler sent you here. You want the girl and I’m willing to hand her over.”

Still no answer.

“Don’t you want to know the price?”

The paler of the two, the one in the cowboy hat and goatee, chuckled as he draped his gun across his left forearm. “We weren’t sent to negotiate.”

Taigen squinted into the sun with a close-lipped smile on his face. “It isn’t a negotiation.”

He kicked a heavy amount of dirt at them, but didn’t have time to wonder if it’d reached his target. Pulling the gun from the back of his pants, he dodged the bullet aimed at his head as he dove toward the man in the cowboy hat and grabbed the semiautomatic. The Asian man was at the other end of his gun when Taigen straightened with the cowboy in a chokehold. “Move and I shoot. How’s that for negotiations?”

He kicked the cowboy’s feet out from under him, sending him to his knees, but kept his gun aimed at the Asian man. Slinging the big gun they’d brought to the party over his shoulder, Taigen looked down into the man’s face. “There’s a bar not too far from here. You know it?” He waited for the cowboy to nod. “Good. I want Rutler there at seven o’clock tomorrow night with Adelaide Banvard in tow. We’re going to make a trade.”

Taigen lowered the guns. “If I see you anywhere near the girl before that, I’ll kill you, then I’ll kill her.”

* * *

She sat on the bed, motionless, and waited for Taigen to come back inside. She wasn’t angry. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to hand her over. His sister meant more to him than she did.

The motel room door opened inward, spilling sunlight into the room and emphasizing Taigen’s mass from behind.

He shut the door, wiping dust from his face.

Torrhent didn’t know how to approach the subject carefully. She just wanted the truth. “You made a deal with them.”

Taigen’s body stiffened, his expression careful, as if the man she’d known intimately the night before never existed. “How’d you know?”

“They’re not dead.”

He chuckled, sinking onto the bed. “Good point. I arranged a meeting.”

“Do you really believe they’ll trade me for your sister? Isaac will see everyone dead before he gives up something he wants.”

“No. They won’t bring her.”

“Then why ask for the meeting?” She held his gaze, keeping her breathing even. She was surprised by how calm she seemed when, inside, she screamed for release. Rejection took a lot of forms, and Torrhent felt its sting in the center of her chest.

“To draw Rutler out.” He stood and turned his back on her. Dirt caked itself to his T-shirt, jeans and work boots. “It’s the only way to ensure Adelaide won’t kill more people.”

“And you’re going to use me as bait.”

“If it gets him in front of me, yes.”

Torrhent nodded absently, a chuckle escaping. “So this is why you slept with me. To convince me to go along with your plan?”

Her mind went in circles as she tried to convince herself Taigen would never hurt her, that he cared for her after everything they’d been through, after everything they’d done last night. She’d seen the agony in his expression when he told her of what he’d done, but this didn’t fit the profile. Something had changed.

“I told you I wasn’t doing this for you.”

“What happened earlier? I woke up and you were gone. Where’d you go?” Everything depended on Taigen coming back to New York with her. If he handed her over to Isaac’s cronies here in the middle of nowhere, there were no guarantees she’d make it back alive. No, she wanted to see the job done, needed it. For her mother. “What happened?”

“She’s killing people, Torrhent!” He shouted the words as he turned to confront her. Absolute devastation shrouded his features and Torrhent had to look away. “Three more people are dead because I didn’t get to her in time. By forcing Isaac here, we’ll get more time.”

Taigen’s labored breathing filled the uncomfortable silence.

Torrhent didn’t know how this crap worked. It wasn’t her line of expertise. It was his.

Rubbing his hands over his face, Taigen exhaled loudly. “Airports, bus stations and train stations are out of the question with our photos all over the television, but if we bring the enemy to us, I can stop her from killing more people.”

“I think you just pulled that out of your ass.” She closed her eyes, breathing deeply to think clearly. She only had to be rational with him, turn this back around in her favor. Taigen didn’t want more people to die. With his decision to hand her over, he’d practically signed her death warrant. “You know what they’ll do to me if you hand me over.”

When she opened her eyes again, she found Taigen studying her. Nothing in his expression gave her any indication of what was going through his mind. “I won’t.”

“And if they get me anyway? Does that bother you?” The words slipped from her mouth before she had a chance to catch them. “You promised to protect me as long as I helped you get to Isaac. So let me keep my side of the deal. I’ll get you to Isaac. We don’t have to do it your way.”

“Are you asking me to choose you over my sister? She’s killed hundreds of people in her life, cut them up into little pieces. She’s a monster, Torrhent. This is how I planned for you to keep your side of the deal. I might have to sacrifice you for the lives of her future victims.”

She was shocked by his bluntness, but appreciated it even more. Truth. Something she hadn’t been able to decipher in a long time.

“You just wanted me to be a casualty of your little war.”

“I have to use you as leverage, but you’re going to have to trust me.”

“Trust goes both ways.”

“I trust you to make the right decision here. Come with me to the meet. Help me draw Isaac out so I can stop her.”

Torrhent considered his plea. Whether Isaac met his end in New York or the middle of goddamn nowhere, it didn’t matter. Her mother would have justice. “When is the meet?”

“Tomorrow at seven o’clock.”

She nodded again, inhaling deeply. “I’ll agree to go on one condition.”

In the end, there was only one way to find out how much Taigen Banvard would bleed for her, and if things went Torrhent’s way, he’d learn just how useful he was to her. “I want to be there when you put a bullet is Isaac’s head.”

His shoulders rocked on a deep inhale. “Deal.”