Savage Hunger(19)

Dammit, he’d hoped he could trust her. Had decided to not force her to share a bed with him, because he’d told himself he could trust her.

Well he should’ve known better. Should’ve damn well remembered that Sienna had never exactly been the agreeable type. And if he’d learned one thing over the years, it was that you couldn’t trust some women farther than you could spit. And he’d be sure to thank Sienna for the reminder when he put a stop to whatever harebrained idea she’d talked herself into.

Where the hell did she think she was going? They were miles from a main road, and that main road wouldn’t be seeing much traffic this time of night anyway.

He could’ve grabbed her before she’d left the bedroom, but he was going to give her a little rope to hang herself with first, see just exactly what she thought she was going to do.

He waited, eyes closed and ears alert, until he heard the faint click of the front door opening and shutting. Then he was on his feet, moving swiftly and silently through the house after her.

In the darkness he kept his movements stealthy and stuck to the shadows.

A few minutes later he shook his head in dismay as he watched her start jogging—in her dress and heels, no less—toward the main road. His lips quirked in amusement and he was tempted to let her make it all the way there. The blisters might just be punishment enough.

But Sienna slowed down a moment later and he fell back, brows drawing together. Until he saw a familiar glow and heard the beeping of buttons on a cell phone.

The hell she did.

Done with the little game of cat and mouse, Warrick sprinted forward and grabbed her, covering her mouth before she could scream. He snatched the phone from her grasp and disconnected the call before someone on the other end answered, then tossed it to the ground.

“Dammit, Sienna, what the hell were you thinking?”

She stopped struggling and the tension eased from her body. A sob of frustration spilled past her lips to caress his hand.

“You don’t know how much I wanted to trust you.” He turned her around, uncovering her mouth and catching her wrists in one of his hands.

She groaned and shook her head. “You don’t understand, Warrick. I can’t stay here, you’ve got to listen to me.”

“I don’t recall giving you a choice.” He ran his thumb over the inside of her wrist, felt the blood thundering through her veins. “What’s so important that you’d try to hike all the way to a highway? And where the hell were you even hiding that phone?”

He’d searched her back at the lab, hadn’t he? Or maybe he hadn’t. His gaze slid to the top of her dress where it hugged her breasts as realization clicked into place.

The phone wasn’t overly big and it was entirely possible she’d hid it in the bodice of her dress. The one place he hadn’t searched, because she’d bit him.

Coincidence? Hardly.

His gaze narrowed and he slid his palm up her back, holding her tighter. “Just what else are you hiding? If I searched you right now, Sienna, would I find anything else in that pretty little gown of yours?”

The muscles beneath his hand bunched with tension and he could almost smell her panic.

“What do you mean? No, of course not, Warrick. I just like to keep my phone on me.”

Bullshit. Dammit, there was something else.

“Really? Well you don’t mind if I check for myself?” he muttered.

He lowered his head so that their faces were just inches apart in the darkness. Her perfume, faded now, and the hint of sweat off her skin formed a scent that was seductively feminine.

Initially in the lab it had thrown him, he hadn’t expected to find Sienna there. But now he could place the vanilla perfume as the same one she’d worn for years. Whatever it was didn’t smell expensive or overpowering, but it was what he’d always associated with Sienna…and that made it sexy as hell.

The blood in his veins quickened as every inch of him became aware of the softness of her breasts pressed against his chest.

Need crashed through him, distorting his thoughts and his original plan to try and search her. But that mouth, it tempted him…so lush and sweet…so damn close. All he had to do was—

“Donovan.”

The harsh voice cracked through the night and Warrick cursed, stepping back from Sienna but not releasing her.

Nathan Larson stood a few feet away wearing a pair of swim shorts, his arms folded across his chest. “I thought I told you to handle her.”

Warrick’s jaw flexed and he bit back a sharp reply. “I’m taking her back inside now.”

Larson didn’t reply, but stepped closer. Warrick wasn’t surprised to feel the anger radiating off the other man, but Sienna must have picked up on it too as she suddenly clutched his arm and maneuvered herself behind him.