“Hey, you two. Over by the Hummer. What are you doing?”
Lana’s head jerked in the direction of the voice. Two men raced toward them. Her heart took off down the speedway. “Okay then. You win. Remove me. Remove me.”
James grabbed her hand and dragged her across the road and into the forest. They followed a bike trail through the bush at top speed. Branches cracked and leaves tore as their pursuers ran through the forest behind them.
“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God,” she panted as she tried to keep up with James’s long strides. The light faded as they ran deeper into the undergrowth. Finally, James’s steps slowed. He pulled her down to the forest floor behind a dense thicket of bushes, and threw leaves over the shiny surface of her camera.
Lana lowered her head and breathed in the scent of fresh earth and decay. Her heart thundered in her chest. Feet thudded down the path and the beam of a flashlight swept over their hiding spot. Lana held her breath until she thought she might burst. Finally the steps faded away and she let go a sob.
“Shhhhh.” James stroked his hand down her back. “We’ll have to stay here for a bit. They’ll be waiting on the road, hoping to flush us out, and it’s too dark to navigate the rest of the trail without a light.”
“Well, it certainly hasn’t been a boring date,” Lana mumbled. “Sex in the office. A stakeout. A little nookie in the car. Illicit activities in a parking lot. And pursuit by armed bikers and drug or arms dealers. You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
“It’s not over.” James flipped her onto her back and eased himself on top of her, holding his weight on his elbows, his weapon still in his hand. Lana wiggled and felt his erection, hard as steel, settle firmly between her legs.
“James Hunter. I can’t believe you. We are not having sex in the forest while we’re being hunted by men with guns. Who gets turned on in life-threatening situations?”
“You.” He slid his hand between them and under her dress. Shoving aside her panties he pressed a finger into her center and then trailed her wetness along her inner thigh.
“That was from before,” she spat out, her cheeks flaming. “It doesn’t just evaporate.”
James slid his finger between his lips and smiled. “It’s from now.”
“Like you can tell.”
His hand cupped her sex again and his finger dipped inside her, just enough to tease, and then out. “Maybe you’re right. I need another taste.”
Heat flared through her body and she softened beneath him. “What if they come back?”
“I have my weapon ready.”
Lana wiggled her hips against his hardened length. “I noticed. Good thing I’m wearing my easy-access dress.”
James tilted his head down until his eyes met hers. The warm glow in their blue depths stirred the heat in her veins.
“I’m sorry I pulled you out from under the Hummer.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. “They wouldn’t have seen you under there. I should have trusted your judgment.”
A strange contentment flowed over her skin and squeezed a drop of graciousness from her heart. “You were just trying to protect me.”
When he kissed her again, something changed in the air between them. Her body still thrummed with need, and his hand still slid down her body, seeking her moist, warm heat. But something else flowed in the current, breaking down walls, joining them with an invisible bond.
Whatever it was—danger, desire, desperation—it clouded her mind and opened her heart, and for the first time she wanted to share with him some of the past that haunted her.
“You’re not bad at this protection thing,” Lana said. “I might hire you as a bodyguard when you’re done with your assignment.”
James chuckled. “You’re my girl. You get my services for free.”
Lana lifted her head. Darkness surrounded them like a thick black cloak, pierced only by the tiniest sliver of moonlight. “I was Levi’s girl,” she whispered. “And he never protected me.”
“Who’s Levi?” His hand stilled.
“He was the biker I told you about. I was with him for four years, from when I was sixteen. I was kind of a bad teenager, looking for trouble, and he was a badass biker who was all the trouble I could handle. I thought it was meant to be. He didn’t hit me much the first year, but then we moved to the US and he joined the Wolverines.”
James sucked in a sharp breath and for a second Lana wondered if she should tell him the rest. Maybe not. Maybe just one piece at a time until she knew she could trust him with the biggest secret of all.