Forbidden Fantasies Bundle(113)

He drew her closer, but she pressed her hand more firmly against his chest.

“You’re playing with fire to tell me something like that and then try to push me away.”

“You remind me of him…in a way,” she said.

“So you followed me because you want this other man?” He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.

“I told you it was complicated. I also followed you because,” She shifted on her feet and said more softly, “I want to know why you can have this effect on me.”

Jed did pull her closer then, and this time she didn’t resist. “Maybe you don’t have to figure it out.” He drew her up onto her toes until he could wrap one arm around her and press her body to his in that perfect fit he remembered. Then he rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Maybe you should just enjoy it.”

“I…I can’t think when you do that.”

“Good,” he murmured as he brushed his lips against hers. “That means I’m doing something right.”

“But—”

He traced her bottom lip with his tongue.

“I—”

“Shh.” In some part of his mind, he knew that if he were thinking straight, he wouldn’t be kissing her as Ethan Blair. And he certainly shouldn’t be doing it on a Georgetown street. Then he pressed his mouth more firmly to hers and tumbled them both into the kiss.

Sensations shot through him—everything he remembered, and more. Her taste was hot and sweet. Only it was more intense than he remembered it. And the heat shot up as if the time they’d spent apart had only stoked the fire.

Each little explosion of pleasure was sharper than he’d remembered. Her teeth nipped his bottom lip and shot a bolt of desire through him. Her hands gripped his shoulders, and he felt the pressure of her nails through the material of the thin fabric. He moved his hand in one smooth sweep up her side and then covered her breast. Then he changed the angle of the kiss. The need he tasted was so intense, so desperate, and such a perfect match to his own. He could have sworn that the ground under his feet had shifted.

Then he felt the sharp jolt of something pressing into his back, and Zoë was yanked from his grasp.

“Don’t make any sudden moves, and we won’t have to hurt you,” a gruff voice behind him said.



ZOË’S HEAD WAS SPINNING, but the sharp spurt of pure adrenaline helped her to focus. Several things were crystal clear. The huge mountain of a man who was currently holding her arm in a viselike grip had jerked her from Ethan Blair’s arms, and he now had the barrel of a gun pressed into her temple. Another man, shorter, leaner and much meaner looking, was standing behind Ethan, and though she couldn’t see it, she strongly suspected that he had a gun, too.

“I’ll cooperate fully if you’ll let the lady go.” Ethan’s tone was soft, the accent clipped.

The man gave a soft laugh, and the sound made Zoë’s skin go icy. “It’s the little lady we came for,” he said. “If you don’t want a bullet in your spine, you’ll do what you’re told.”

The beefy man next to her pressed the gun more firmly against her temple, and Zoë found that she was having trouble breathing. Adrenaline was keeping at least a part of her mind sharp, but the fear lodged in her throat was blocking her windpipe. She concentrated on getting some oxygen into her system.

“Now, we’re going to walk up the street to that SUV.”

Zoë spotted it parked in a driveway four houses up the block. The motor was idling.

“We’ll go first,” the man said to Ethan. “Two by two, just as if we’re taking a little nighttime stroll. No false moves or Bobby will put a bullet in the little lady, and we wouldn’t want that.”

Zoë and the linebacker fell into step behind Ethan and the other man. They must have looked like an odd kind of a parade. The thought had a bubble of laughter rising, and there was a strange ringing in her ears—a combination of hysteria and panic, no doubt.

Think, Zoë told herself. Think. She made herself take in another breath. The one thing that had been stressed in her karate classes was never give the opponent an advantage. So they couldn’t get into that car. Bobby and his buddy didn’t want to shoot them in the middle of a Georgetown street. So the best chance of escape for her and Ethan was right now.

Zoë focused on her surroundings. Bobby had a firm grip on her arm, but she was banking on the fact that since she hadn’t once struggled, she’d lured him into complacency. Plus, he probably figured he could handle anything she could try.

What was she going to try? That was the question. They were quickly closing the distance to the dark SUV. Two more driveways to go. Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement as a man stepped out of the front door of a Federal-style house. He was followed by a sizable dog. It was too dark for her to recognize the breed, but Zoë prayed it was vicious. A golden retriever was not going to be of much help. Then relying on pure instinct, she stumbled and let out a startled cry.