The Favor Page 13

  SIERRA HAD almost mastered walking in the three-inch sandals by the time they pushed through the glass doors of the mall. The muggy heat slammed into her, almost stopping her in her tracks. But Ryder pulled her forward. They’d parked close, but thanks to the denim jacket and baseball cap Ryder had insisted she wear, she could feel sweat running down her back by the time they reached it.

  While she waited for Ryder to unlock the door, she noticed the van. She might not have given it a second glance if it hadn’t been blocking the path of a car pulling out of a space one lane over. The woman driving the car had to lean on her horn several times to get the driver to move.

  She closed her hand around Ryder’s wrist. “The next lane over, the dark van. Tell me I’m being paranoid.”

  “Shit!” Ryder exclaimed as a large man climbed out.

  Sierra recognized him as the man who’d been beckoning her toward that same van last night. Icy fear filled her veins.

  “You got good eyes, Doc,” Ryder said, as he linked his fingers with hers. “Let’s go.”

  Hand in hand, they raced back toward the mall entrance. Just before they reached the curb, something smacked into the asphalt to her right and propelled a small rock into her leg.

  The big guy was shooting at them. Sierra’s heart shot to her throat and plummeted to her stomach. As Ryder pulled the first door open, she caught the large man’s reflection in the glass, and another man had joined him. By the time they made their way through the second door, their pursuers were entering the first door.

  As they broke into a run, Ryder glanced at her, and she could see he was grinning. “Ready to have some fun?”

  Fun? Before she could think of an adequate reply, he squeezed her hand. “Remember that scene in North by Northwest, right near the end? Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint have just snatched the statue with the microfilm away from James Mason and they’re racing through the woods.”

  Sierra drew in a deep breath. “I remember that they ended up hanging by their fingernails from Mount Rushmore.”

  Ryder laughed as they careened around a fountain. “Well, I hope it won’t come to that. Just relax and follow my lead, Doc.”

  Relax? As they dodged an unsuspecting shopper, Sierra reminded herself to breathe. “You’re not wearing three-inch heels.”

  “Thank heavens.”

  Indeed, Sierra thought. She didn’t dare look down as they tore past one shop after another. Her feet seemed to be on auto pilot, and she certainly didn’t want to interfere with whatever they were doing.

  “Hang a right, Doc.”

  She did and nearly crashed into an astonished woman laden with bags. At the last moment, Ryder released her hand and she veered around the woman, then joined hands again with him. They were eating up ground, but based on the disgruntled noises and shouts behind them, their pursuers were close.

  She could hear her own breath whistling and her ankles were registering major complaints when they reached the next corner. A column of glass-walled elevators blocked their path and on either side of them escalators rose slowly toward the upper two levels of the mall.

  Just then one of the elevators opened its doors, and people flowed out.

  “This way.” Turning on a dime, Ryder pulled her toward it, angling his way along the edge of the crowd. They squeezed into the elevator just as the doors began to slide shut.

  Sierra caught a glimpse of the two large men trying to fight their way towards them. They weren’t going to make it in time, and they didn’t look like happy campers. Her relief was short-lived. As the elevator inched its way up to the second level, she peered through the glass and saw their pursuers start to push their way up one of the escalators.

  “They’re gaining on us,” she said.

  “Give me your hat and the sunglasses, and take your jacket off.”

  Turning, she saw he had the duffel open and he was already pulling on a white T-shirt with Orioles scrawled across the front. When she handed him her baseball cap and sunglasses, he put them on, the hat backwards, and then stuffed her denim jacket into the duffel.

  “Sorry.” He grinned at her as he ran his fingers through her hair to muss it a bit. “We don’t have time to change your shoes.”

  They’d been shot at and two men built like trucks were chasing them. Her heart was beating like a metronome on speed, and Ryder looked like a man who was having the time of his life. “I don’t understand you,” she said.

  “It takes time. I’m an acquired taste.”

  When the elevator stopped, he locked his hand on hers and said, “They’ll be looking for a woman in a baseball cap and a man in a black T-shirt. So we’ll just stroll out of here, and then run on my signal. Got it?”

  Praying that her ankles would survive, she nodded as the doors slid open. She caught sight of one heavyset man scanning the throng of people pouring out of the elevator, but she kept her gaze straight ahead to where three rows of shops fanned out like the spokes of a wheel. Ryder chose the one to their right, and the moment they turned the corner, he said, “Run.”

  They did. Later the images and sensations would come back to her—feet pounding on polished marble floors, skidding and recovering as her muscles strained and her ankles screamed. She’d also recall the wide eyes of oncoming shoppers as they parted to let them through. She’d almost gotten used to the burning sensation in her lungs when Ryder hung a right into a narrow hall. He picked up the pace then, dragging her past a bank of phone booths, an ATM machine, restrooms, until he reached a door with no label on it.

  Sierra dragged in air while he tried the door with no success. As he rummaged in the duffel, he shot her that wicked grin again. “Having fun yet?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. Not that she could have given him one. Speech was a ways off yet. In the meantime, Ryder dropped to his knees and inserted a thin piece of metal into the lock. “Watch my back, Doc.”

  She turned. They were at the far end of a corridor, but the lighting was good. Anyone passing by would be able to see them quite clearly. Five seconds and then ten ticked by. She didn’t catch so much as a glimpse of the two large men. Had they given them the slip? Her heartbeat wasn’t racing quite as fast. And she suddenly realized that it wasn’t fear, but a strange sense of exhilaration that had filled her. Could it possibly mean that she was having fun?

  “Bingo,” Ryder murmured as the door clicked open. Then he rose and pulled her into a small, dark room and closed the door. Before she could even think, he grabbed her and planted his mouth on hers in a long, consuming kiss. In that instant, she wanted nothing more than him.

  It was just that simple. Just that terrifying.

  She was trembling when he broke off the kiss and said, “You were great. Fabulous. You’re a natural.”

  His words of praise sent a mix of feelings tumbling through her: doubt, hope, astonishment. When he pulled her close for a hard hug, she let herself simply cling to him. A natural? He had to be kidding. She’d never in her life even imagined herself dodging bullets and escaping from bad guys. That was something Natalie was good at. Or Rory. But not Sierra.

  And yet she had. Since she’d met Ryder Kane, she’d done a lot of things she’d never imagined herself doing. When he drew back, she tried to study his features in the dim light from the red exit sign above the door. He wasn’t grinning now, and his eyes looked very dark.

  “You all right?” he asked as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You need your inhaler or anything?”

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t.” The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that she hadn’t really needed it for a long time except as a crutch.

  “Good,” he said with a short nod.

  A few seconds passed, and neither one of them moved. Gradually, Sierra’s body began to register that it was still pressing lightly against his. And the heat began to build at each and every contact point.

  She cleared her throat. “What are we doing in here?”

  �
�Buying ourselves a little time. There’s a possibility that those goons will give up and go back and wait by your car.”

  “But you don’t think so.”

  “No. One of them may go back to wait at the car, but I’m betting the other two will prowl the mall for a while. They know the general location of where we disappeared. Whoever is behind this is dead serious, and I suspect that person has both powerful connections and deep pockets. There’s only one way they could have located us here at the mall. They must have been able to put a tap on Ramsey’s phone.”

  “And they pinpointed the location of your cell phone?”

  He smiled. “Yeah. The technology is expensive, but it’s out there.”

  “How much time are we buying?” Sierra asked.

  “Enough for me to come up with a plan.”

  “You don’t have one?”

  “I’m sure that intuition will kick in at any moment.” With a finger he played with her earring. “You know, sometimes it helps if I get involved with something else that takes my mind off the problem for a while.”

  “Really.”

  Ryder laughed softly. “That dry tone of yours really gets to me, Doc. What I was thinking of was to put favor number two on the back burner for a while and work on favor number one.”

  “You want to compartmentalize.”

  “Exactly.”

  “In a locked utility closet in a mall?” The idea amused and thrilled her at the same time.

  He raised her hand and kissed her fingers. “I’m good at improvising.”

  She’d never before thought that she was. But the intimacy of the situation and what he was suggesting had images tumbling into her mind. And the teasing way he was seducing her was somehow even more erotic than if he’d just kissed her. She took a quick look around the cramped space, and then met his gaze. “We might have to invent a new position.”

  Ryder grinned at her. “I’m your man. But before we do, I’ve got a little fantasy that’s been running through my mind ever since you stepped out of that dressing room in those jeans. Are you game?”

  She nodded.

  He set his duffel down on one of the counters. “Okay, back away as far as you can.”

  As she did, Ryder moved until his back was against the door. The room was lined with counters and shelves, making the space they stood in about three by three. “Now, take that scarf off.”

  Sierra blinked at him as she moved her hand to the knot at her waistband. “This scarf?”

  “Yeah.” From the moment she’d stepped out of the dressing room Ryder had thought she’d looked like a present a man might risk anything to open. “Take it off.”

  She did. Slowly, pulling it free from her belt loops inch by inch, holding his gaze all the while. When it was all the way out, she draped it around her neck. “Step two?”

  “The jeans.”

  When she unsnapped them, the noise was loud in the room, and as she began to slide the zipper down, he was sure he heard the sound of each piece of metal unlinking.

  “It’s exciting to watch you,” she said.

  “Ditto.”

  When she slid the jeans down her legs, he swallowed hard. “You’re not wearing any panties.”

  “The pair I was wearing showed above the waistline of the jeans, so…” She stepped out of the jeans.

  He unfastened his own and freed himself. Then he found the condom, slipping it on as he moved toward her. “I’m going to have to skip a few steps here.” In one smooth move, he closed his hands around her hips and lifted her against the wall. “I think we’re going to have to repeat a position too. I can’t seem to help myself.”

  “Not a problem,” Sierra said, wrapping her legs around him and doing everything she could to urge him closer.

  “Don’t wiggle.” He lifted her, found her and thrust in.

  “Ryder.”

  The thready sound of her voice as she said his name pulled at his control. He could feel the strain on every muscle as he held himself still.

  She was the first to move, but he gripped her waist hard when he heard the approaching footsteps. “Shhh.”

  When it took only that one warning whisper to still her, he was again impressed by this woman.

  “What?” The word was barely a breath in his ear.

  “Footsteps,” he whispered as the sound grew closer.

  Neither of them breathed as the steps slowed to a stop on the other side of the door. Holding her against the wall, he withdrew and lowered her carefully to the floor.

  Meeting her eyes, he mouthed, “Stay.” Then moving silently, he reached for the duffel, pulled out his gun, and turned, keeping her behind him as he adjusted his jeans. He’d bolted the door from the inside, but he couldn’t be sure that a key wouldn’t release it. On the other hand, a person with a key wasn’t likely to be one of the two thugs they’d been running from. Either way, if someone came through that door, they were not going to see Sierra.

  The knob turned slowly. Then the door clicked against the jam.

  The bolt held.

  Again the knob turned, and the bolt held. Five seconds stretched into ten before the footsteps sounded once more and gradually faded away.

  Ryder slipped his gun back into the duffel. Behind him Sierra said nothing. What could she say? he thought. The gun was a concrete illustration of what he used to do for a living, and a reminder of how different their worlds were. A definite mood breaker. But when he turned, it wasn’t shock or disgust he saw in her eyes. Even in the dim light, it was clear to him that she was sitting on the floor, silently laughing.

  Laughing. Kneeling down, he used a finger to tilt up her chin so he could see her eyes. “Doc, I am never going to figure you out. What the hell is so funny?”

  She clamped a hand over her mouth as she tried to swallow the laugh, but she couldn’t. He saw the tears come to her eyes before she managed to gather control. Finally, she said, “I think that gives new meaning to the phrase, coitus interruptus.”

  Shaking his head, he joined in her laughter, sitting down on the floor next to her and pulling her close. When their amusement finally subsided, she laid her head in the hollow between his shoulder and his neck, and for a moment, as the silence stretched between them, he felt a warmth move through him.

  Then she removed the white scarf from around her neck and said, “Now where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”

  “I was in the middle of a lust attack.”

  “Ah, yes. I have an idea…about this scarf. I came across it in my research for my book…” Leaning forward, she whispered her step-by-step plan in his ear.

  Ryder cleared his throat. “It’s an interesting idea, and you’re very persuasive, but step three has me a bit worried.”

  STEP THREE had her a bit worried, too. But she’d done the interview herself. She’d taken very careful notes, and she was very curious about just how it would work. It was the way he’d looked at the scarf when she’d been taking it off that had given her the idea. And she’d felt the way his hands had tightened on her as she’d described what she wanted to do. When in the world would she ever have another chance to try it out?

  She smiled at him before she brushed her lips lightly against his. “Just follow my lead.”

  He grinned at her. “Touché, Doc.”

  “Now step one is very simple. All you have to do is take your jeans off.”

  Sierra thought her heart might just pound out of her chest as she watched him rise and do just that. Step two was trickier. But she could do it. When he stepped out of his briefs, her throat went dry and she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out a hand to touch him.

  “If you do that, we’re never going to get to step two.”

  “Okay, but then I’ll want a rain check,” she said. Then gathering her focus, she glanced up at him. “The position is a little tricky.”

  “My specialty.” He knelt down again. “Just turn around.”

  “First, I have to tie the scarf.” She
carefully looped it over the base of his penis. Then she gently tied it. “Is that okay?”

  “You’re doing fine, Doc. You want to put the condom on?”

  The tightness in his voice had her glancing up, and the heat in his eyes was enough to sear her nerve endings. She moistened her lips. “I can do that.”

  “Fine.” He handed it to her.

  It took her a few seconds, the quick hitch of his breath making her fumble. When she was satisfied, she couldn’t resist running her fingers down the length of him.

  He groaned. “You’re running out of time, Doc. If you still want to try this scarf thing, you’d better turn around.”

  As she turned, she lifted one leg over the scarf so that she was straddling it. Once she was on her knees facing away from him, she said, “Not I’m supposed to pull the ends of the scarf taut. The tension is supposed to increase your pleasure. I’m going to do it now. Ready?”

  “Go ahead.”

  She gently pulled the ends of the scarf until it was taut between her legs.

  He groaned, and she immediately dropped the scarf. “Are you all right? Did I do it wrong?”

  “You did it just fine, Doc. Damn near perfect.”

  “I’ll do it again then. Just let me find—”

  When she leaned over, he gripped her hips and drew her back. For a brief moment, she could feel the hard length of him between her legs, pressing, seeking.

  “I—”

  “It’s time for step four.” His mouth moved along her shoulder, sending little tremors through her. “Just relax.”

  “I’m trying, but I…ohhh.”

  He slid a finger into her and slowly withdrew it. The pleasure was so sharp, so piercing that she lost both her breath and her concentration.

  “Lean forward and prop your hands against the wall.”

  She would have done anything he asked. “Please.”

  She felt him enter her then, not all the way.

  “I’m going to take you now, Doc. I can’t wait any longer.”

  Then he was stretching her, filling her. The pressure and the angle of his penetration was so different. Slowly, he withdrew and then pushed into her again. “If you want me to stop…”