Rules in Blackmail Page 3

  “Where are we going?” She brought up the hood on her cargo jacket. Smart move. The Alaskan wilderness wasn’t any place to screw around. They had to stay warm and dry or risk hypothermia.

  Sullivan covered his head to conserve body heat. A gust of freezing wind whipped one side of his body as he headed into the forest. “Somewhere no one will find us.”

  * * *

  HE’D CALLED HER Jane back on the embankment. Not Captain Reise. She’d heard him clear as day. Because even in the midst of suffocating unconsciousness, Jane had locked on to his voice. The man she was blackmailing had brought her out of the darkness. Why? He had no allegiance to her.

  Sullivan cleared a path through the thickest parts of the forest with one of the extra blades from his duffel bag a few feet up ahead of her. Shadows cast across his features from the beam from his flashlight. Snow had worked down into her boots, turning to slush. Her jeans were soaked through. How long had they been out here? An hour? Two? Three miles didn’t seem like much until deep snow and freezing temperatures added to the misery. Not to mention it was dark and difficult to see. Her toes had gone numb long ago, fingers following close behind, but Jane kept her mouth shut. They had to be close, right? She swiped away a few drops of water from her cheek, wincing as pain radiated up toward her temple. The sooner they made it to their destination—wherever that was—the better.

  Distraction. She had to keep her mind off her frozen limbs. “Bet you’ve never had to walk through the Alaskan wilderness with a client to escape a crazed psychopath before.”

  “You’re right.” He laughed, a deep guttural rumble she felt down into her bones. It was real, warming. Swinging his arm out, he held back a large branch so she could pass. He stared down at her while she maneuvered around him, those sea-blue eyes brightening in the muted beam from his flashlight. “I usually reserve these kinds of trips for people I’ve been assigned to hunt down.”

  “Is that a nice way of putting that you’ve killed people for a living?” She instantly regretted the words, and her heart rate rocketed. “I mean, I read your military record during the trial. I know you used to be a SEAL, one of the best. You don’t have to lie to me or sugarcoat anything.”

  “Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. You never really retire. It stays in your blood, makes you who you are. Forever.” Defensiveness tinted his words as Jane followed in his sunken footsteps. But, faster than she thought possible, he latched onto her arm and spun her into his chest. The hard set to his eyes said Sullivan Bishop could be a very dangerous enemy, but she’d known that before throwing his secrets in his face. Right now, in this moment, her instincts said he wouldn’t hurt her. She’d learned to trust those instincts to get her through the past few years. “And, as a prosecutor, you of all people should understand that the best defense against evil men is good men who deal in violence.”

  Jane took a deep breath. One, two. She couldn’t get enough air. Staring up at him, she noted the gash across his cheek he must’ve suffered during the wreck. He’d protected her back there because she was a lead. Nothing more. He’d said as much, but why did being this close to him change her breathing patterns? “And what about now?”

  “What do you mean?” Sullivan narrowed his eyes, his features turning to stone.

  “Do you still ‘hunt down’ people for a living?” she asked.

  Seconds ticked by, then a minute. Something in her heart froze. Sullivan was a killer. It’d been part of the job description, part of his past, but Jane couldn’t keep track of how long he held her there as snow fell from branches around them. His mesmerizing gaze held hers, but Jane had a feeling he wasn’t really seeing her at all. His fingers dug into her, keeping his hold light enough not to bruise. He wasn’t trying to hurt her. Maybe...he didn’t want to let her go.

  “Isn’t that why you blackmailed me into helping you?” The demons were evident in his eyes, but Sullivan released his grip on her arm and put a few inches of freezing Alaska air between them as he turned his back on her and pushed forward.

  “No. I blackmailed you to find the man doing this to me so we can turn him over to the police.” Her skin tingled through her thin coat where he’d latched onto her arm. Phantom sensations. There was no way he could affect her like that. Not in these temperatures. She studied him from behind, the way his back stretched each time he took a step, the way he carried himself as though nothing could get through him if a threat arose. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

  What? Pry into his life? Doubt his reasons for doing what needed to be done overseas and here in the United States?

  Pushing on up ahead, he worked to clear branches. After a few seconds, Sullivan halted in his tracks, turning back toward her. Stubble speckled with ice and snow, he swayed on his feet. Good to know she wasn’t the only one suffering from exhaustion. He scanned over her from head to toe. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I appreciate everything you’ve done for your country and what you’re doing now. I’m sure every American does. It’s admirable.” She fought for a full lungful of air. Despite the dropping temperatures, her skin heated when he looked at her like that. Like she was a threat. She stepped over the remnants of a few branches he’d demolished along the way, nearly losing her footing. In that moment, something between them shifted. An understanding of sorts. No messy blackmail. No psychotic lunatic trying to run them down with his tow truck. Not even security consultant and client. Just two people trying to survive in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. Together. “You don’t have to do all this work yourself, you know. I can help.”

  “You’re more than welcome to...” His mouth went slack as though he couldn’t get enough oxygen. Probably couldn’t. Freezing temperatures didn’t discriminate against SEALs or lawyers. Mother Nature treated everyone equally.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “Sullivan?”

  They’d crossed at least two and a half miles of heavy snow and growth, maybe more. She was tired and couldn’t feel her toes, but her instincts urged her to get to him. Now.

  Sullivan doubled over, dropping his gear before he collapsed onto his side.

  “Sullivan!” Jane discarded the duffel bag and lunged toward him. Her feet felt like frozen blocks of ice, but she fought the piling snow with everything she had. Hands outstretched, she checked his pulse. Weak. “No, no, no, no. Come on. Get up.”

  Gripping his jawline, she brought one ear to his mouth. Still breathing. Would anyone hear her out here? “Help!”

  Sullivan Bishop was a SEAL, for crying out loud. This shouldn’t be happening. He’d trained for situations exactly like this. Her heart beat out of control. She dived for the duffel bag he’d been carrying. Food, more guns. There had to be a—

  “Yes!” She ripped the first-aid kit from the bag, fought to break the seal on the space blanket, then covered him completely. The hand and foot warmers were easier to open with her stiff fingers, but they wouldn’t be enough. One look at Sullivan’s normally full, sensual pink lips said she was running out of time. She had to get his body temperature up before hypothermia set in, but the blanket and a few warmers wouldn’t cut it.

  “You are not allowed to die on me. You hear me? I can’t do this without you. You’re going to listen to my voice and wake up so I don’t have to carry you.” Scanning the thick trees ahead of their location, Jane narrowed in on a clearing. And across that? A small cabin set into the other side of the trees. Had to be Sullivan’s safe house. Had to be. If not, they’d at least have some protection from the elements while the owners called for help. “You’re going to make me drag you there, aren’t you?”

  She didn’t have time to wait for an answer. Leaving the duffel bags, Jane fisted her numb grip into his jacket and pulled. The snow eased the friction underneath him as she hefted Sullivan toward the clearing, but her strength gave out after only a few hundred feet. She collapsed back into the snow, fingers aching, heart racing. Ho
urs upon hours of training kept her in shape in the army, but this? This was different. And the security contractor at her feet wasn’t exactly a lightweight. “Come on, Sullivan. Think lighter thoughts.”

  The trees passed by in a blur. She couldn’t focus on anything but shoving one foot back behind the other. Minutes passed, hours it seemed, and they hit the clearing. Only a few hundred more feet and faster than she thought possible, the heels of her boots knocked against the steps leading into the cabin. She tried the door. Locked. Pounding her fists against the door, she listened carefully for movement, but no one answered. In a rush, she searched for a fake rock, anything that would get her inside. She hunted around the bushes and flitted over something that was most certainly not natural: a key taped to one of the thick branches. Shoving the steel into the dead bolt and turning, she sighed in victory.

  Heat enveloped her in seconds, thawing her fingers in a rush until they burned. No time. She spun back to Sullivan and slid her grip under his arms. An exhausted groan broke free from her lips as she hauled him inside. Fire. She had to start a fire to get him warm.

  “Almost there. Hang on.” Throwing off her coat, Jane ran toward the fireplace and got a small fire going. She’d add more to it in a few minutes, but right now, Sullivan’s wet clothes and his own sweat were doing his body more harm than good. She stripped off her coat, socks and jeans, staring down at the peaceful expression settled across his strong, handsome features. Then it was his turn.

  “Sorry, Sullivan. You might hate me even more after you wake up.” Crouching at his feet, she untied his boot laces and unbuttoned his pants. Jane hefted her own shirt over her head, adding it to the pile of clothes at her feet. Tugging him up into a sitting position, she stripped him down to nothing. “But it’s going to save your life.”

  Chapter Three

  Dying hurt like hell.

  Heat blistered along his forearms, neck and face. His entire body ached in places he hadn’t thought about since his SEAL days. He hadn’t been on active duty for over a year now, but Sullivan still trained as though he were. Had to be ready for anything his clients might throw his way. Even the beginning stages of hypothermia. Damn it, he should’ve known better. Groaning, he cracked open his eyes, stomach still rolling. A fire popped a few feet from him.

  At least he knew where he was. The cabin was sparse: one bedroom, one bath, a living room and small kitchen. He mostly came out here when he wanted to be alone, needed to get away from people, the city or both. No neighbors, no one to encroach on his business. And he’d never brought anyone here before. He’d kept this place under his mother’s maiden name in case he’d needed a safe house. It couldn’t be traced back to him if Jane’s stalker—or anyone else—had the inclination to investigate. But how in the hell did he get here?

  Sullivan raised his head. He wasn’t alone.

  Endless amounts of warm, smooth skin stretched out beside him under the heaviest blanket he kept on hand in the cabin. A head of black hair rested against his right arm. Jane? He had to be dreaming. Skimming his fingers across her shoulder blade, he sank into how very real she felt. Nope. Not a dream. But why would she... The lapse in his memory filled almost instantly. The last thing he remembered was the look on her face as he...collapsed. Terrified. Hell. Had she dragged him all the way out here on her own?

  Her shoulders rising and falling against him in a slow, even rhythm said she was fast asleep. He couldn’t have been out for long. An hour—two, tops—from the amount of moonlight coming through the front room window. He’d messed up out there, but her sultry vanilla scent spared him a few ounces of guilt. It dived into his lungs, and he took a deep breath to keep it in his system as long as possible. His heart rate dropped to a slow, even thump behind his ears. He closed his eyes, all too easily seeing himself burying his nose in her hair for another round.

  Nope. Not the time and definitely not this woman.

  Sullivan shifted his hips away from her backside. If Jane woke up now, there’d be no hiding what was going on downstairs in that moment. His brain might have control, but with the expanse of soft skin along his front, his body had other ideas. He scanned the living room and spotted his clothes hanging from fishing line around the open rafters by the fireplace. He’d gotten out of some real complicated situations in the navy. There had to be a way to unwind himself from this warm, coldhearted woman without waking her.

  He leveraged his weight into his toes and stretched out his arm. A soft, guttural moan worked up Jane’s throat. Something primal washed through him. He froze. There was a stalker on the loose and he’d nearly died out in the wilderness, but all Sullivan could think about was what he wouldn’t give to hear that sound again.

  She shifted against him, wrapping her leg around him as though she sensed he was trying to escape. What the—

  The breath Sullivan had been holding crushed from his lungs. He settled back where he’d been, pressed right against her, his front to her back. “You’re awake, aren’t you?”

  Rolling into him, Jane startled him with a wide, gut-clenching grin. The dark, sultry look of her gaze constricted his throat, and a shiver chased down his spine. Her pupils expanded. For an instant, he swore he saw desire blazing in her eyes. Or maybe the hypothermia had done more damage to his brain than he’d originally thought. “I couldn’t wait to see your reaction when you woke up and found a naked woman under the blanket with you. Surprise.”

  “Did I meet your expectations?” Sullivan was proud of the fact his voice sounded steady and calm. Especially considering how very far from calm he felt at the moment. Aware of how naked he was and how she couldn’t possibly miss the show going on at her lower back, he held his weight away from her.

  “Absolutely priceless. And, as a bonus, I got to see you naked.” That amused smile of hers did funny things to his stomach, and he couldn’t help but clench the blanket in his grip for some piece of control. Resting her hand on his chest, Jane pushed herself up to a sitting position, taking the blanket with her as she stood. Cool air rushed down his body, prickling his skin along the way. “Don’t worry, big guy. It wasn’t anything sexual. You were dying and I had to get your body temperature up.”

  Her long legs peeked out from between the folds of the blanket as she walked, the fire glinting off her bright red toenail polish. Not exactly the color he’d visualized for the woman he’d blamed for his brother’s suicide this past year. Black maybe, something to match her soul.

  But Jane had saved his life out there. Even if she was only using him to track down her stalker, that counted for something in his world. Her reputation said she was the JAG Corps prosecutor willing to do anything and everything to convict the men and women who interrupted her crusade for justice. He scanned over his clothing hanging from the rafters. The Full Metal Bitch had only kept him alive to fix her stalker problem. Nothing more.

  There was a lot he didn’t know about her, even more he couldn’t trust. One thing he did know? He would’ve died out there today if it hadn’t been for Jane. So, for now, he would choose to see a woman in danger, a woman who’d lost her grip on everything she thought she could control. Not someone who could turn on him at any moment.

  She smiled over her shoulder at him as she pulled her clothing from the makeshift laundry lines.

  Pulling a pillow from the couch across his hips, Sullivan cleared his throat. “Thank you for saving my life out there. Can’t imagine what it took to get me through that door. Couldn’t have been easy.”

  “Guess that makes us even, doesn’t it?” Her hair flipped around her head as she headed straight for the single bathroom on the other side of the cabin and shut the door tight. The sound of the lock clicking into place shut down any hint of something between them.

  It wasn’t going to happen. Not now. Not ever. She might’ve saved his life out there a few hours ago, but Jane had a lifetime of steel running through her veins, steel that’d gotten h
is brother killed. She was the reason he didn’t have any family left in this world. Besides, she was a client, and Blackhawk Security operatives were never to get involved with their clients. No exceptions.

  Which reminded him—he had to fill his team in on their new case. Because even without blackmail hanging over his head, the bastard terrorizing Jane owed Sullivan a new SUV.

  He tossed the pillow back onto the couch and dressed in a hurry. She’d hung his clothes up by the fire to dry them out, and the warm fabric chased away the chill of Jane leaving his side. How could he have been so stupid out there? Rule number one when in below-freezing temperatures: stay dry, stay warm. He usually had enough sense to slow down and ensure he wasn’t sweating. What had changed?

  The bathroom door clicked open and his attention slid toward Jane as she stepped back into the main room. He pulled his shoulders back. There stood his answer. He hadn’t exactly been in the right frame of mind after nearly getting run down by a tow truck. He’d wanted to get Jane to safety as fast as possible. Stupid. She’d proved she could take care of herself, had even saved his life in the process. Aside from a few bumps and bruises, she was no worse for wear.

  “This is a nice place.” She scanned over the small cabin, fingers stuffed into her jacket as he opened one drawer of his massive desk. “Not great security, though. A key taped to a bush? Thought you security consultants were better than that.”

  “Sometimes there’s beauty in simplicity. Anybody breaking in here would expect some kind of elaborate security system, all the while wasting time looking for it. Gives me time to counter.” Another one of those debilitating smiles overwhelmed her features, and he couldn’t help but smile back. Sullivan flipped one of the many burner cell phones he’d unearthed from the desk over in his hand. The sensation of lightness disappeared, however, the longer he studied her. Eyes narrowing, he tried justifying the last few hours since she’d broken into his office. Why him? Why now? “What are you doing here, Jane?”