Author: Jaci Burton

It would be damned unmanly of him to faint, but his legs were shaking. He sucked huge breaths through his mouth, then dragged Lily to her feet and pulled her in his arms. He planted his mouth over hers and kissed her long and hard. She moaned against him, sliding her fingers into his wet hair.

Goddamn. He was still hard, and nowhere near ready for this to end. He reached for her leg, intending on fucking her right there.

But Lily backed away from his embrace, shaking her head. “Oh, no,” she said, a teasing glint in her eye. “Some things you’ll have to wait for.”

Mac frowned, not understanding what she was saying.

“Lily,” he warned, moving toward her again.

She pressed a palm to his chest and grinned. “Come on, Mac. Anticipation is half the fun.”

He didn’t want to anticipate. He wanted to have her. All of her. Right here, and right now. But he read the ‘no’ signal loud and clear. Lily was done playing.

“Your call, babe,” he said with a shrug, then grabbed the soap, handing it to her to finish washing herself. She did and scurried out. He watched her through the clouded glass door. She dried off in record time and hightailed it out of the bathroom, shutting the door securely behind her.

Had he just been used? Maybe he should be pissed, but hell, how could he be after what she’d just done? His cock still hadn’t calmed down after her sexy performance. Maybe she had done it to distract him.

Then again, maybe not.

But she sure put a halt to the fun in a hurry. Like she had something else more important to do. He smiled, knowing exactly what she was after. He took his time, enjoying the remnants of the hot water. No reason to rush. Whatever Lily thought she was going to do, she was wrong.

He wasn’t that stupid. And he knew exactly how smart Lily was. By the time he’d finished washing and the water had turned cold, he stepped out of the shower and was greeted by a naked, very perturbed looking woman leaning against the bathroom door.

She tossed him a towel.

“Dammit, Mac. What did you do with the motel room’s telephone?”

He took the towel from her hands and feigned an innocent look. “Phone? What phone?”

“You know damn well what phone I’m talking about.

The one that used to be on the nightstand. Where did it go?”

“Maybe it made an escape while we were otherwise occupied in the shower. We should report that.”

She rolled her eyes and stalked out of the bathroom, snatching his clean t-shirt on the way out. He followed, watching her pull it over her head and place the clothes she had laid out on top of the dresser. She jerked the comforter to the end of the bed, flounced onto the mattress and grabbed the remote, glaring at him. He grabbed his boxers, slipped them on and sat beside her.

“You hid the vial and your cell phone, too,” she said, her voice low and laced with irritation.

“Well, yeah.”

She busied herself with flipping channels, refusing to look at him.

So much for cuddling after sex. She sure blew hot and cold. Not that he could blame her. He knew damn well she’d be after the phone and the vial, so while she was in the shower he took care of getting rid of the motel room telephone, and made certain the virus and his cell phone were well hidden. Like locked outside on the bike where she couldn’t get to them.

Then he stuffed the bike keys somewhere she couldn’t find them. Not that she could ride it, but hell, he wouldn’t put anything past her. She might just try to get away.

“Lily, what did you expect?” He slid closer. Lily scooted further away. And she didn’t answer.

Unless ‘hmph’ was an answer.

“I can’t turn over the virus or let you contact your people. Right now I don’t know who to trust. We don’t even know who was shooting at us. It could have been someone from the museum. It could have been your client. I just don’t know.”

“Uh-huh,” she mumbled, flipping channels and staring at the television.

If it was possible, a layer of frost would have coated the sheets. Man, was she ever pissed. “I know who I work for, and it’s one of the good guys.”

“I work for the good guys,” she said.

“So you say. But do you know that for a fact?”

“Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate. “I don’t work for people I don’t trust. And I’d never take a case I thought was shady.”

Lily had always been honorable. Her biggest downfall.

“Maybe you were misled.”

She shot him a glare. “I’m not an idiot, Mac. I know what side of the law I work on. And what side you work on.”

I am on the right side of the law, Lily.”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s the truth. But I understand your lack of trust.”

“Really? That’s so magnanimous of you.”

Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him. She had absolutely zero reason to trust him.

And when he was finished riding her around several states, when he had to drop her off without the virus—when he had to dump her yet again—she’d have even less reason to trust him.

Most days he loved his work, the freedom it gave him, the excitement and pure adrenaline rush of living the life of a thief, but doing it legitimately.

Sometimes, like now, he really hated his job.

Chapter Five

By morning, Lily didn’t even want to speak to Mac.

The hotel only had one bed, so they’d shared it. Lily had thought about grabbing the blanket and pillow and curling up on the chair, but it looked hideous and uncomfortable. And why should she suffer just because she was angry at Mac? She didn’t care where he slept. So she took her side, and he took his. Despite the bed’s warmth and comfort, she tossed and turned the entire night.

Besides being utterly pissed at him for hiding the motel’s telephone, his cell and the vial, she’d slept next to Mac all night and hadn’t done what she really wanted to do with him—make love.

Not that it was his fault. Oh no, the blame lay entirely at her feet. Or more appropriately, in her head. Because her stupid mind was stuck in the stupid past where it stupidly shouldn’t be. For the love of God, she was an adult woman, no longer a teenager in the blushing throes of her first love. She was levelheaded and understood the dynamics of a physical-only relationship. Last night she could have fucked him, could have felt the utter bliss of his cock inside her. She could have spent the night wrapped up in his arms, having the best sex of her life.

But oh no. She was afraid. What a moron. It was time for her to grow up and get over it, because Mac sure as hell was going to dump her again. Big deal. She’d survive. They had nothing together, just like they’d had nothing together ten years ago. The least she could get out of this was some decent sex. And the vial containing the virus, because she was most definitely going to come out of this the winner. And maybe, just maybe, she would leave Mac with some lingering memories of what he was losing and leaving behind this time.

It was time to stop acting like the victim and start taking control of this situation. He might be hiding the vial and his cell phone from her, but there were other ways to play this game.

She had learned quite a bit in the past ten years. After Mac had fucked and dumped her, she’d made it her quest not to spend her life wallowing over a guy she couldn’t have. Oh sure, she allowed herself time to mourn, had even thought that maybe there was a way for her and Mac to work things out.

But when the months passed and he hadn’t once tried to find her or contact her, she knew she was living a child’s dream, that it was time to grow up and become a woman. It was then that she put Mac in the past. Determined to move on, she’d tackled men with gusto, figuratively anyway. In college, she’d had a few lovers, though they were mostly inept drunken frat boys sorely lacking in the finesse department. None of them had resulted in a relationship because frankly, she hadn’t been interested and neither had the guys. After college, she’d dated here and there, mostly cops, but none of them had generated enough of a spark to carry on a lasting relationship.

She had learned about sex, though. What she liked, what she didn’t like, and how to please a man. She wasn’t an unpracticed virgin any longer. And she intended to use everything she knew on Mac.

When he left her this time, he’d leave still wanting her.

This time she’d be the one to walk away without looking back.

Okay, maybe it was petty. So what? She deserved at least a little payback, didn’t she? And anger seemed a lot more productive than angst.

They ate breakfast, then packed up the bike and checked out of the motel. She climbed onto the bike behind Mac, feeling a little hum of excitement when he cranked up the engine, the pipes emitting one incredibly loud roar that made every nerve ending in her body tingle. When he took off, she rested her hands on his hips, enjoying the cool morning air whipping through her hair. Riding a motorcycle was damn thrilling.

Once again, Mac headed south.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re headed today?”

she asked, already knowing his answer.

“We’ll stop in a little while,” he said, completely avoiding her question. “I think you’ll enjoy this.”

Oh sure. Flying blind while semi-kidnapped was her favorite pastime. She’d probably end up fired, too. Why was she doing this again? Oh yeah, for her job. The one she’d thought would be adventurous and exciting.

Then again, it couldn’t get much more adventurous and exciting than this, could it?

The day warmed up in a hurry, but Lily wasn’t uncomfortable. The scenery was gorgeous. She was used to traveling by highway, the typical views those of concrete, billboards, hotels and fast food joints. Traveling the back roads was entirely different. No boring highway signs. Only scattered signs, houses and the occasional town. Though she kept track of the road marker in case she did manage to make an escape or find a phone. At least she’d have a faint clue where she was.

Tall trees, houses nestled deep into the dense woods, with the nearest neighbor sometimes a mile away. Kids played in expansive yards, with endless freedom to run and hide and live out their childlike fantasies of Robin Hood or whatever games kids played these days. No city limits restricted them. It was remote, peaceful, and she even saw deer leaping across the road a couple times. Lily sat back and breathed in the clean, smog-free air, feeling every muscle in her body relax.

They passed the state line into Missouri, crossing the interstate and staying on the two lane road. They rode for several hours, stopping for a drink and break every now and then. The road seemed deserted, though she was certain a few cars must have passed them. She was probably just oblivious.

Some private investigator she was. Give her some fresh air and country road and she lost all sense of reality. For all she knew, they could have been followed the last hundred miles and she wouldn’t have had a clue.

If she didn’t start paying attention, she really was going to get fired. Though she probably already had been.

No, not true. She wasn’t going to be fired. She was going to be a hero when she returned with the virus. But she had to be alive to do that, so she’d better make sure no one was on their tail. She did a quick half-turn and noticed no cars behind them. Okay, that part was good.

It was early afternoon when Lily started seeing more motorcycles. Then more. And even more, all heading in the same direction they were. Puzzled, she started counting them.

Guys by themselves on their bikes, some with women, and even women riding their own bikes. When Mac paused at a four-way stop sign she leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What’s going on?”

He tilted his head back. “You’ll see. We’re making a stop.”

She hated mystery. Yet she couldn’t help but feel a thrum of excitement as they ended up joining a group of bikers.