Moving Target (5 page)

After she had the Kevlar vest on, over her blouse, he took her by the arm and, with the cover of several police officers, hustled her into the passenger seat of the SUV and slammed the door behind her.

He sucked in a deep breath of relief as he went to the driver's side. They'd gotten her this far. He'd never let anything happen to her.

When he climbed in and shut the door, he paused to look at her. "It's good to see you again, Ani."

She'd been staring at her lap, but her head jerked up when he spoke. "You're not mad?"

"Hell, yes, I'm mad." He reached over and gripped her forearm. "Because I was worried about you."

He shouldn't have touched her. A jolt traveled through him and he removed his hand. Her eyes widened, as if she felt the same electrical feeling he had.

Daniel forced himself to look away from her and turned his keys in the ignition. "Let's get out of here."

The drive back through the small towns and on to Tucson was less hurried, but the tenseness in his muscles wouldn't let go.

They were both quiet for a while, before Daniel said, "I've been looking forward to seeing you for a long time."

"You have?" She sounded so shocked that it surprised him.

"Ani, we've been talking to each other nearly every week for a year now." He glanced at her. "Don't you think I'd like to see you?" Daniel clenched the wheel tighter. What the hell was he saying?

"I guess," she said as he focused his gaze on the road, and he frowned. "I mean, I feel the same way," she continued, "it's just the circumstances—"

"Are behind us now." He shifted his hold on the steering wheel.

This time when he glanced from the road to look at her she was smiling. She was so beautiful. He'd always thought she was, no matter what she looked like. It might take him some time to get used to this toothpick version of the woman he'd—

Daniel clenched his teeth.

Don't even go there
.

After a moment's silence, she asked, "Where are we headed?"

"After we stay the night in Tucson, we'll take a puddle jumper to the Phoenix airport in the morning." Daniel guided the SUV into the passing lane. "We've booked a direct flight out of Sky Harbor to New York. Our plane leaves at noon."

She shuddered. "The trial. It's time."

Daniel gave a slow nod. She stared at his profile that was illuminated by the red dashboard lights. She'd memorized his features down to the shadow of a beard on his jaw. But now her heart was pounding like mad.

"Oh, jeez." She leaned her head against the headrest. "I can't believe it. So much time has gone by that it doesn't seem real now."

"It's real, honey," he said in his deep voice. "We've got to do everything we can to protect you."

Ani's belly did a little nosedive when he called her "honey," the endearment he'd used so many times on the phone. Maybe he said it to all women, but it made her feel special somehow.

"Have you had any more of those bad flashbacks from your PTSD?" he asked quietly. "You sure had me worried the last time."

"Not since then." Ani paused, then remembered that she nearly did this evening. "Well, I almost had one while I was waiting for the cops, but I pulled out of it."

He glanced at her. "Did something trigger this one or did it just come on?"

She shivered before she said, "I saw a man outside the window, watching the store. He dropped his cigarette butt and it reminded me of the fire—how it started."

Daniel's jaw was hard when he looked at her. "That could have been one of Borenko's men. They could already be on to you."

Ani took a deep breath. "The doorknob to the back room jiggled just before I heard police sirens."

Daniel cursed again. She saw him look at the rearview mirror as he said, "It's dark, and with the amount of traffic—it might be hard to see a tail."

"I'm sorry," she said, but this time Daniel didn't answer.

They were quiet most of the trip to Tucson. On the way, Daniel had Ani use his secure cell phone to call the hotel and make a reservation. Her stomach dropped to her toes when he said one room, no smoking, double beds.

Her voice shook as she made the reservation. Daniel and her sleeping in the same room?

That thought drove away her worries about the danger from the Russians.

Daniel. Her.

In the same room
.

So that he could protect her, of course. That was it.

After she made the reservations, Ani could hardly think straight the rest of the way to Tucson. She didn't know what to do with her hands, so she clenched them in her lap. Every now and then, Daniel would glance her way, and she felt heat in her belly that traveled downward, and it wasn't to her toes.

When they arrived in Tucson, Daniel drove up and down several streets and said if they did have a tail he hoped they had shaken him off.

At the hotel, Ani walked beside Daniel up to the front counter, her high heels clicking against the stone-tiled floor in the large lobby. It was a nice place with a restaurant and a gift shop.

She had absolutely nothing with her but what she was wearing, which now included a plain navy blue windbreaker she had zipped up over the body armor. Daniel hadn't even let her bring her purse, her cell phone, and definitely not her credit cards. He'd forced her to leave them all at the police station. Now that the location where she worked had been exposed, her identity had been compromised.

Daniel had brought in a duffel bag with him, and she wondered if he kept one packed in his SUV for emergencies.

Like helping a dumb protected witness who gave away her true identity to someone from her old life
.

He'd put on his Stetson before heading into the hotel and that just about made her melt. Between that bod, the tight Wranglers, Stetson, and boots, she'd been a goner from the first time she met him.

Once Ani and Daniel checked in at the front desk, they took the elevator up to their floor. Daniel swiped the key card in its slot to let them into the room. It smelled of new carpeting and starched sheets when they walked in. She blinked in the darkness and Daniel switched on a light.

The first thing she noticed was that there was one king-sized bed in the room. Not double beds.

She could barely breathe and stood still. He tossed the duffel on the bed, laid his hat on a vanity table, and shrugged out of his plain dark blue wind-breaker, which he discarded by draping it over a chair.

"I've got to take a shower." Exhaustion was evident in his voice and he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. It was well after one in the morning. "Mind if I head into the bathroom first?"

"Uh, Daniel?" She swallowed hard when he turned to face her. "There's only one bed."

He cast a tired glance over his shoulder at the bed. "Yeah, there is," he said just before continuing into the bathroom.

Ani stared at his back and then the bathroom door as he closed it. She was standing in the same spot when she heard the shower start.

She closed her eyes and imagined water running in rivulets over his hard, naked body. Her breathing elevated and her heart pounded more at the images. She knew his body would be perfection. Picturing his muscled form caused her nipples to harden and she ached between her thighs like she'd never ached before.

Ani opened her eyes and shook her head. In her fantasies she didn't have a scarred back or an equally ugly pit from a large bullet wound in her shoulder. Even if there was a chance of them getting together—a chance in hell—she couldn't handle him seeing the mess her lower back was now.

With a sigh, she kicked off her high heels. When she went to the mirror over the vanity she ran her hand through her thick, brunette hair. She'd lost the clip long ago. Tired, red eyes stared back at her. Mascara smudged one cheek, her makeup pretty much gone from crying. Her black slacks were wrinkled and her white silk shirt limp and clinging to her skin.

This was all she had to wear and she was flying with Daniel to New York tomorrow. She sighed again as the weight of the day settled on her shoulders. She was so, so, tired. She pushed out of the windbreaker Daniel had loaned her, and tossed it on the chair by his.

The door to the bathroom opened, sending wafts of steam into the bedroom along with the clean scent of soap. Suddenly she didn't feel so tired.

Instead, her mouth watered and she could feel the ache in her nipples as they pressed against her bra. Daniel was rubbing a towel over his head and wearing another towel low around his hips. She'd never seen him in anything but jeans and shirts, and
oh, my God
, did he look delicious.

Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice her panting or her tongue hanging out. Instead he went to his duffel bag, pulled out a T-shirt, and tossed it to her. "Will that do to sleep in?" She caught it and he went back to towel-drying his hair.

A little more and that towel around his waist would just slip off . . .

"The bathroom's all yours if you want it," he said in his smooth drawl.

"Um, yeah." She gripped the T-shirt tight against her chest. "Thanks."

She darted into the bathroom, closed the door, and leaned against it. Crap. Daniel was bound to see how attracted she was to him, and even if he
was
interested in her, they couldn't do anything about it. And she wouldn't want him seeing her—or touching the twisted flesh on her back.

Daniel's body armor was lying on the floor in a heap with the rest of his clothing and boots. She paused to look at the armor. This was what protected him when he was out on the job.

Ani fumbled with the vest Daniel had given her for protection. When she managed to get it off, she put it on top of his. She slipped out of her clothes and folded them on the marble vanity.

She climbed into the shower and let the warm water ease her tired muscles and relax the tendons at her neck. The hotel's almond-scented shampoo, conditioner, and soap were all relaxing.

Ani felt almost human again when she climbed out of the shower and toweled herself off. The hotel hair dryer was handy, so she used it to get her hair mostly dry. The shirt Daniel had loaned her to sleep in had U.S. MARSHAL emblazoned on the back. When she slipped it on, his masculine scent surrounded her. The shirt was so big on her—or she was just so small now—that it hung to mid-thigh. It was one of the most erotic sensations, to be wearing his T-shirt with no underwear.

Nothing had happened, and nothing would, but she always had her imagination.

After hand-washing her bra and panties, she hung them over the shower curtain and picked up her blouse and slacks from where she'd left them on one end of the marble vanity. She slipped into the bedroom, her heart thumping like mad. This was going to be so awkward.

But when she saw Daniel she had to stop and smile. He was passed out cold on one side of the bed, on his back on top of the bedspread. He wore a T-shirt that matched hers and a pair of jogging shorts, and one of his arms was resting across his eyes. She shook her head and went to the closet to hang up the blouse and slacks. She'd just have to iron out the wrinkles in the morning.

Before turning off the light beside the bed she had to study him. He was even better looking than she'd remembered. All those muscles, sinewy forearms, and carved biceps. She was so in lust.

And so in love
.

"Nope, nope, nope," she mumbled to herself. "Not happening, not happening,
not happening
."

She turned off the switch and slipped under the sheets on her side of the bed.

Oh, the sheets felt so good against her skin and the soft pillow . . .

Ani woke to the sensation of being cocooned. Like she was enveloped in a big bear hug.

She blinked to see it was morning, that she was in a hotel room, and Daniel's arm was draped around her waist, his thigh over hers. He was still on top of the covers and she was beneath them, but she was now spooned up against him, her back to his chest. She felt completely and totally safe . . . and loved.

And good Lord, but the man had an early-morning erection that nearly made her moan out loud. She wasn't wearing any panties and the sensation of being naked beneath that shirt made her feel naughty, sexy, and she felt moisture in between her thighs. Nothing but a bedspread separated them now.

To have him inside her . . .

Ani closed her eyes for a moment and pretended that she could wake up every morning like this. With Daniel up against her back and surrounding her with his big body. And then he'd make love to her . . .

"You smell like almonds and woman." His voice was sleep roughened and she groaned when he nuzzled her hair. "So good."

He gave a low rumble and pressed his erection tighter against her back, rocking his hips as if he were taking her.

Butterflies flitted in her belly and she ached even more between her thighs. She couldn't hold back a whimper.

Could they?

"Christ!"
He drew away from her so suddenly it startled her. "Honey, I'm sorry," he said when she rolled over to look at him and met his coffee-brown eyes. He was already on his feet on the other side of the bed. He ran his fingers through his rumpled brown hair. "I didn't mean—damn."

She didn't know what to say, so she just studied him. What was going through his head?

"I want—I can't—
damn
." He grabbed his duffel bag and strode to the bathroom. "I've got to take a shower," he said, and mumbled under his breath, "A freezing cold one."

Ani didn't think he'd intended for her to hear that last part. If what had just happened meant anything, he had the same intense attraction that she felt for him, or at least partly.

She shouldn't even be going down that path. The main reason being he was a federal agent assigned to protect her, not sleep with her. What she wanted—even if he wanted the same thing—just couldn't happen.

A long, shuddering sigh rose up in her chest. She shouldn't be thinking this way, but she couldn't help it. She wanted Daniel more than she'd wanted anything in her life.

Daniel came out of the bathroom with a distracted expression. Ani barely held back a groan of appreciation at how delicious he looked. He was wearing Wranglers, a plain black T-shirt, and blue overshirt. His hair was damp from his shower and his eyes filled with concern.