Even when he didn’t know the whole story.
He just wanted to help her. That was all.
In light of that, some of her unwavering determination stalled, and as she watched him, she softened some more.
And melted.
As if sensing it, he dipped his head and stroked his thumb over her ribs, his eyes so dark and deep she could have drowned. His shoulders were certainly broad and strong enough to take the weight of her problems.
Was he going to kiss her?
She shouldn’t have been able to even think such a thing, but looking into those mesmerizing, melting eyes, it was all she could think about.
He slid his hand into her hair, cupping her nape, urging her closer, his thumb stroking her skin. Her heart sped up as anticipation swam through her.
She wanted him. She wanted his hands back on her.
“Trust me,” he whispered again. “Talk to me.”
She’d never been so torn in her life, wanting to do exactly that…and also wanting to jump him.
Devour him. “I’ve…sort of sworn off all men.”
“Including Kenny?”
“No. He’s all I’ve got.”
His voice was grim and solemn. “That’s what I was afraid you were going to say.”
“Kenny wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Well, Princess, I hope to hell you’re right.” He shifted even closer if that was possible, the blanket completely sliding off them. Oblivious, he looked at her, his hair falling into his eyes, making her want to touch.
But she didn’t.
She didn’t dare because she didn’t know if she’d be able to stop.
“What about your mother?” he asked.
“Oh, you know, it’s just the same old classic poor little rich girl story,” she said with a laugh that didn’t ring true even to herself. “She died when I was young. My father traveled a lot. I shifted from nanny to nanny until I got too old for such company, and then I went off to college.” Without really mastering the whole letting-people-in thing.
Which hadn’t mattered once Alan had come into her life. He’d come with a full social calendar and in the beginning had readily included her in everything. And had included Kenny, too, when he’d expressed interest. “All in all, a rather lonely childhood,” she admitted.
“I know how that feels.” He smiled a little grimly at her surprise. “See, we’re not so different. Except that I wasn’t a poor little rich girl.”
She was smiling, she was naked, and they were talking. “What were you? Seems a little late now, but I really do want to know.”
“I was born in London on the wrong side of the tracks. My mother was just a kid herself and not into the whole maternal thing. So I begged, borrowed, and stole my way here, where I landed pretty quickly in a series of decent foster homes until I struck out on my own.” He smiled. “I did okay.”
“I’d say you did. Though you’re not alone, you have Shayne and Brody to watch your back.”
“Why isn’t Kenny watching yours?”
“Because I don’t want him to.”
He just looked at her.
“Don’t say it,” she said fiercely. “He’s not behind any of this.”
He looked as if he might want to argue with that, but changed his mind. “Just promise me not to use your cell phone anymore. Don’t give anyone a way to track you.”
“I…I didn’t think they could do that.”
“We don’t know what they can do,” he said, and a shiver raced down her spine.
But she did know what they could do to her. What they would do if she didn’t somehow fix this. “Kenny is not the one trying to hurt me, Noah.”
“I didn’t say he was. But it’s possible, if they got a hold of him, that they’re using him to get to you. You have to know that much.”
Horror filled her. “He would never give me up.”
“Just keep the phone turned off.” He tugged her down to lie alongside him. She managed to keep the covers over her, but he slowly slid his hand up the blanket, closing his fist in the soft material.
“You told me they want something,” he said. “I’m assuming you were told to help or else, right?”
He held her gaze until she nodded, and then in reward, bent and gently, so gently it brought the sting of tears to her eyes, pressed his lips to her heart over the blanket, and then slowly pulled it free.
She could have stopped him, but she didn’t, not as the down scraped over her nude body, or when the air brushed her skin.
He kissed a bared rib now, then murmured, “Who are they?”
All she could see of him was his broad shoulders and back as he bent over her, his muscles flexed taut, and she stirred, from the inside out. “I…” Couldn’t think. “I really didn’t get a good look at them.” She hadn’t.
But she hadn’t needed to either, she knew exactly who was in charge.
Stephen.
Another soft kiss, lower now, on her belly, while his hand danced down her thigh. “You sure?”
She knew she had to give him something, had to let him in, even if only a little. “Y-yes,” she whispered, stuttering because his mouth skimmed over her hip on his way down, his wavy hair tingling her skin, making her belly jump and quiver.
She knew his eyes were open, that he could see her up close and personal. With a touch so light she couldn’t believe her body followed his direction, he nudged her thighs open. “Where did they come to you before?”
“Uh-” Hard to talk when he dipped farther down, his shoulders holding her legs open. Shocked that she’d allowed this, she stared down at the top of his head, watching him press his lips to her flesh. His mouth was soft, so achingly soft, as were his hands. Never in her life had she been so aware of her own body.
“Bailey?”
“The house.” She closed her eyes. “I’d fallen asleep on the couch, and when I woke up-” She’d been petrified to find herself facing three men, two of them huge and menacing and armed, one standing at either end of the couch. The third man had been Stephen. He’d sat on her coffee table at her shoulder as if he’d been invited in. And he had, many many times, by Alan. He was polished, elegant, and utterly, terrifyingly, smoothly dangerous. He’d said hello politely, while turning a very wicked looking knife in his fingers.
“They were just there,” she said now to Noah. “They wanted-” Money, of course. “They wanted to warn me. If I didn’t do what they said, they’d come back.”
“And kill you.”
If that was all it’d been, it wouldn’t be so difficult. But when she’d shaken her head, saying she didn’t have the money, didn’t know where to find it, he’d nodded, then stood and said that he hoped she’d said good-bye to Kenny.
And her second graders.
Because, he’d said, she wouldn’t be seeing them ever again, since his men would be killing them.
One by one.
Then he’d leaned over her and said that he’d be in touch, and she’d better hope he didn’t find out she was holding out on him. He’d nodded to the two other men, one of whom held her down while the other had crawled up on top of her, between her legs, wrapping his fingers around her throat, squeezing until she’d blacked out.
When she’d come to, she’d been alone.
She’d been on the run ever since. She’d gotten a hotel room, hadn’t gone back to the house or to work, and now she’d gotten Noah involved. “They’d kill anyone I cared about.”
“So you have to do what they want. You have to find something.” Turning his head, he kissed her other inner thigh.
With his mouth on her, she could hardly breathe, much less talk. “Hence the whole hijack-the-pilot thing.”
“Yeah.” He stroked his thumb lightly over her skin, his voice a sleepy, sexy whisper. “So why me?”
She wished he’d turned off the light, or that he’d stop talking and start kissing her again. “Your plane was there, ready to go.”
“So was Brody’s,” he reminded her.