Full Throttle (15 page)

“Upstairs, in my bedside table drawer.” Sammy said.

Josh took a deep breath, stepped back and
immediately mourned the loss of Sammy’s hot little body.

“I’ll be right back.” He whispered, leaning forward
to take another quick, hard kiss before he turned and sprinted up the stairs
like a desperate man, all legs and arms as he sprinted headlong in search of
the condoms.

From downstairs Josh heard the sound of a telephone
ringing, but he thundered into the bedroom and yanked Sammy’s bedside drawer
open. His hand fell upon the small box of condoms and he snatched them up. “Got
them!” he hollered, even as his mouth turned up into a wicked smile. Oh, he had
the condoms all right, and from a quick glance the box was unopened. That
knowledge made Josh’s smile stretch wider.

Josh flew down the stairs, three at a time, but as
he came crashing around the corner back into the kitchen, he froze.

Sammy was stood up, leaning on the counter by the
phone. And her face was as white as a sheet.

Josh glanced at the phone, and to Sammy’s shaking
hand, and then he raised his gaze back to her petrified face.

“Who was that?” Josh asked, glancing at the wall
clock that read 5:15a.m
..

Sammy took a shaky breath, and frowned, looking away
from Josh in the most maddening way. Sammy pointed to her t-shirt on the floor.

“Can you pass that to me, please?”

She sounded flat, cold, and nothing like the
breathless sex-kitten he had been holding, and stroking, just a moment before.

Josh dipped, picked up her top and handed it to
Sammy. She thanked him quietly and pulled the top over her head. She looked
lost, and utterly fragile, as she pointed to her trousers. Josh picked them up
and handed them over to her.

“You want some help with those?” Josh asked. He
stepped closer to Sammy, but she shook her head weakly. Josh ignored her and
dropped to his knees to help her work the trousers over her cast.

When Josh glanced up he noticed that Sammy was
staring blankly at the far wall. Her expression was empty, yet haunted at the
same time. He sensed fright coming from her, though she had barely said a word
since she put the phone down. Josh glanced at the black phone and frowned.

“Who was on the phone?” he asked again.

Sammy seemed to yank herself from her thoughts and
she stared down to where Josh now tugged gently at her trousers. Josh held her
stare and began to worry when she swallowed deeply.

“Is everything okay?” He stood up again and finished
pulling her trousers up past her sexy bum. His dick reminded him in a hot flash
of how wanton she’d looked not four minutes ago, sprawled on the bar stool. But
he shoved the thought aside as worry for Sammy took over his mind. “Sammy?” He
said her name and watched as she came out of a daze and focused on him for the
first time since he had re-entered the kitchen.

Sammy shook her head and glanced downwards. She
tried to push off from the side to move away, but Josh blocked her.

“Are you okay?” This time he used more force in his
words.

Sammy shook her head and glanced up. Josh nearly
swore aloud when he saw tears glistening in her eyes, and the worry he felt
moments ago twisted in his gut and turned in to a sudden jolt of unease. He
reached up and brushed a lock of her hair from her face and watched as a heavy
tear slid down.

Josh reached for her and pulled her against his
chest. She went willingly, her slim body tucking comfortably into his embrace.
Josh held her for a long moment while she trembled in his arms, but far too
quickly, Sammy pulled back and wiped her face with jerky swipes of her hand.

“Sammy—” Josh began, but Sammy shook her head and
ducked out from under his arms.

She hobbled away from him, her fingers gripping the wall
as she struggled on one leg.

“Sammy—” He began again.

But Sammy turned and shook her head. “I am fine. Just
drop it, Josh.”

Josh halted at the vehemence in her tone. This was
the first time he’d seen Sammy look angry, not that he had known her for long,
but the expression looked wrong on her. Josh glanced at the phone and saw the
light flashing showing it held messages. He looked back at Sammy and saw her
eyes slide to the flashing lights as well.

“So if I press that button and listen to the backed-up
messages, it will be nothing?” Josh pushed. He reached towards the phone and
watched as Sammy seemed to fight internally with something.

“Don’t.” Sammy said. The anger was emptied from her
tone, but her expression held a solid resolve. She lifted her gaze and looked
directly at him. “Please, don’t. I—” Sammy shook her head and leaned against
the countertop, as if she had suddenly lost her energy. “It’s not something I
want to talk about with you.”

He watched Sammy—shy, timid Sammy—and he saw a
thread of steel suddenly appear over her expression. She was defensive and
brave, and Josh suddenly saw that there was much more to this woman than her
shyness and her clear intelligence.

She was a confusing puzzle.

He dropped his hand away from the phone and Sammy’s
expression relaxed.

“I won’t pry if you don’t want me to, but just
answer one question for me, please.” Josh waited. He leaned against the kitchen
counter next to her and watched Sammy as she frowned and then nodded.

“Why are you scared?”

“You said you wouldn’t pry.” Sammy countered.

Josh scowled. He glanced at where Sammy gripped the
countertop and ground his teeth together. “I didn’t ask what the phone call
was, or who it was from. I asked why you were scared.”

“It’s the same question.” Sammy replied, and sighed.

Josh pushed away from the counter and moved into
Sammy’s personal space. Her clean, fresh scent hit him squarely in his chest and
he remembered that he was nowhere near satisfied. Sammy straightened her spine
and glanced upwards. He was a lot taller than her, so she had to tip her head
back to see him. Josh felt her breath on his chin, her chest fluttered against
his and nothing could have stopped him from reaching up and cupping her cheek
in his palm.

“It isn’t the same question.
Unless
it’s a person that frightens you and not a thing or a problem.
If a
person is the problem, then I suppose it’s the same question… Is it a person
that frightens you?” Josh held onto Sammy’s cheek as she tried to look away.
Something that closely resembled possessiveness squeezed his chest, and Josh
had to swallow to push the unfamiliar feeling back down.

“Don’t.” Sammy whispered. Tears brimmed in her eyes
again and Josh swallowed hard.

Was someone threatening Sammy? Why would she be
scared of a phone call? Josh glanced at the brown envelope sat on the coffee
table in the lounge and his heart throbbed a warning inside his chest.

“Please, don’t.” Sammy said, bringing Josh’s attention
back to her. Sammy’ eyes slid back to him from the brown envelope and Josh knew
the envelope was something that frightened her as well.

He stepped around Sammy and strode to the coffee
table. He picked up the envelope and looked up to see Sammy hobbling
desperately into the living room. Her broken, casted foot dangled as she tried
to hop and shuffle over to him. Josh held up the envelope and Sammy stopped
moving.

Her frantic gaze flicked between him and the paper,
and Josh had to pause at the pleading look in her expression.

“Please don’t. It’s my
problem,
I have already been to the police about it—”

Josh tore at the envelope, driven by the word police.
A cold shiver worked its way along his spine, until he pulled out three black
and white photos and a letter made from newspaper cuttings. That ice turned
into rage as he read the words that had been glued together.

Oh,
so nearly dead. Pity the ambulance arrived so soon.

I was
hoping to attend your funeral.

Better
luck next time.

Chapter
Fifteen

Josh looked up after he read the letter and watched
as Sammy glanced down, as if ashamed. She gripped the doorway and wobbled on
her good foot.

He turned over the three pictures of Sammy being
helped into the house by him. The photographer obviously had taken them with a
long lens just hours ago. Josh swore loudly.

“What is this shit?” Josh gripped the note with such
intensity that the paper crumpled within his palm.

Sammy sniffed loudly and lifted her head. Her
beautiful eyes were full of tears, shoulders that looked weighted down hitched
up enough to show a shrug of feigned nonchalance.

Nonchalance Josh didn’t buy for a moment.

“It’s a threatening letter.” She replied, her answer
a slight snap of annoyance as she glared at the photos.

If Josh wasn’t so furious, he might appreciate the
flash of another side to her personality, but his mind was so focused on this
fact that someone was threatening her, all he could do was scowl.

“ I
can
see that, Sammy. Who is it from?”

“Well, if I knew that, Josh,” Sammy enforced her
words by saying his name in the same tone he had snapped hers,
then
I would have the police stop him from sending anymore.
Wouldn’t I?”

She had a point. Josh looked back down at the crumpled
letter and put it down. He placed the rest of the package on the coffee table
and moved to where Sammy was barely standing up against the doorframe. He
reached out and pulled her into his arms. She was stiff at first, but the more
insistent he got, the faster she relaxed. She wrapped her arms around his waist
and sighed deeply against his chest.

“What do the police say?” He murmured into her hair.
Sammy’s grip tightened on his waist, and he waited for her reply.

“Nothing.”
She
shrugged against him.

He dipped to pick her up.

Sammy made a soft shocked sound but she didn’t fight
him as he moved her over to the sofa. He put her on the soft cushions and
dragged a knitted blanket from the back. He placed it over her,
then
sat down beside her, pulling her legs over his, taking
care not to jostle her cast.

Sammy relaxed into the colorful cushions and watched
him, her eyes wary and tired. He tucked the blanket around her and reached to
wipe a stray lock of hair from her face.

“Tell me about it.” This time, he schooled his tone
into something he hoped sounded gentle. He wasn’t sure he could pull off that
tone, not when his insides burned and coiled with tension. Who the fuck would
threaten someone
so
gentle and kind as Sammy? He had no
idea, but Josh had never felt so incensed on someone else’s behalf before. And
incensed didn’t even come close to describing how mad seeing the letter, and
witnessing Sammy’s fright, had made him feel.

He resisted going to the phone and listening to the
answer machine. He was pretty certain that he would find a threatening message
on there, and he also pretty sure he could get there, listen to the message,
and garner what was going on before Sammy even got off the sofa. Instead, he
decided to let, or at least coax, Sammy into confiding in him by turning on his
softer side.
If, in fact, he could find that side.
And
if he couldn’t find his softer side, he could always threaten to pin her down
until she talked.

Josh swallowed hard as that idea began to grow and
evolve in his mind. Pinning Sammy down and … well, he now hoped she didn’t give
up her information easily, because pinning Sammy to do anything to her appealed
greatly.

Josh took a hold of one of Sammy’s tightly clenched
hands and prized her fingers open. He scowled at her and waited until she
sighed loudly and opened her fingers. Then, he started a slow slide with his
thumb over her soft palm. The longer he massaged her hand, the more Sammy
relaxed against the pillows, and him. He liked that on a level he wasn’t sure
he wanted to like it on.

Josh cleared his throat. “I am still waiting for you
to tell me.” He gently squeezed her hand. Sammy tried to pull her hand back,
but he held fast. He flicked another scowl her way and fought not to grin when
she snorted softly with indignation.

“You’re bossy.”

Josh tilted his head, raised a brow and flashed a
hot look in Sammy’s direction. “Yes. I like to take control.”

Sammy swallowed hard, and he felt a tremor run up
her body, and he grinned wickedly. Yep, Sammy was feeling the heat just as much
as he was. But that wasn’t going to get her off the hook.

****

Sammy lay back on the soft cushions and resisted
groaning loudly at the amazing feeling of having her hand massaged by Josh. Who
knew a hand massage could be so sexy? But here she was, ready to melt into a
pool of need.

“Tell me about it.” Josh said again.

Sammy sighed deeply and closed her eyes, the wash of
relaxing feelings from the hand massage instantly gone at the thought of
divulging her most frightening secret to Josh. She tried to tug her hand away,
but he held fast and when she opened her eyes, she saw an answering scowl on
his hard, but beautiful face.