He took her out of that room even as she still struggled against him. Elizabeth didn’t get it. The cops would be there soon, thanks to that call she’d made. They’d bust in with a fury, and if they found Saxon there, with a loaded gun on him…a gun that he figured Tommy Haines had used probably far too many times in the past…they’d be hauled down to the station. And before Victor could appear to sort out all the twisted shit—like the fact that, to the Miami PD, I’m a criminal, not an FBI agent—Elizabeth would be taken from him.
She’d be on her own, and, right then, he couldn’t let that happen.
He’d almost reached the elevator when the doors opened. Only that elevator wasn’t empty.
He put Elizabeth on her feet even as he brought up his weapon. And he found himself staring straight at another gun. A gun held in the grip of—
Victor?
Victor’s blue eyes widened in stunned surprise. “What the hell?”
Saxon lowered his weapon as Victor stepped out of that elevator.
“What are you doing here?” Victor demanded. “With her? You’re supposed to be at the motel, keeping her safe.”
“Yeah, right, a little problem with that.” Saxon gave him a grim smile. “Taggert’s goons found us. Three bozos that I knew—Tommy Haines, Flint Mayo, and Romeo Gustav. They burst in on us and I…” He glanced down at the gun he still held. “Had to get us the hell away from them.”
Victor swore.
“Tell me that Taggert is off the streets now,” Saxon urged. “Come on, man, you tell me—”
“He’s dead,” Victor said, voice tight. “Looks like a hit from someone who knew exactly what the hell they were doing.”
Wait, someone had just taken out the hitman? Saxon shook his head.
“He was carved up when I found him,” Victor continued.
Elizabeth gave a choked gasp. Saxon glanced at her and saw her shaking hands rise to cover her mouth. He knew exactly what she was thinking.
His gaze slanted back to Victor. “Yeah, well, you’re not going to like this…but Wesley Locke is dead, too.”
“You didn’t—” Victor began.
“No, someone beat us here. Someone who carved up the guy with a knife.” Just like Taggert. “Sure seems to me like someone is tying up loose ends.”
A muscle flexed in Victor’s jaw.
“H-he was alive,” Elizabeth whispered.
Both Saxon and Victor looked at her then.
“When we got there…”
“So was Taggert.” Victor’s voice was grim.
A killer who liked for his victims to suffer? Liked for them to linger with no hope of survival? That’s one sick bastard.
Horror flashed on Elizabeth’s face. “Wesley said it wasn’t him! He said he didn’t put the hit on me!”
With the bodies piling up, Saxon was thinking someone else had to be pulling the strings. But who else would want Elizabeth dead?
“I called an ambulance,” Elizabeth whispered.
Victor immediately pressed the button on the elevator, calling up that ride once more. “Get her out of here,” he ordered Saxon.
Damn straight.
Elizabeth tried to edge away from them. “But—”
There were no buts. He wrapped his fingers around Elizabeth’s wrist.
“I’ll take care of things here,” Victor told him. “You keep her safe.”
That was exactly what he intended to do. The elevator doors opened. He hurried inside, pulling Elizabeth in with him. He punched the button for the garage then looked back at Victor. Right before those elevator doors slid closed again, he heard Victor mutter…
“Just who are you, Elizabeth? Who are you really?”
And Saxon’s gut clenched.
He needed Elizabeth to be exactly what she appeared to be. A woman who was smart, kind, tough…strong. He needed her to be that.
Because if she wasn’t, if she turned out to be something, someone else…he wasn’t sure what he’d do.
Chapter Five
Elizabeth’s heart was about to race out of her chest, and she was about ninety percent sure that she’d be vomiting soon.
Wesley had just died. Right in front of her. She’d never seen anyone die before. Her parents—she’d seen them after the accident. Their bodies had been mangled, their faces barely recognizable. She’s been shaking and crying as she identified them. But they were already gone. Their suffering had ended.
When they’d burst into that condo and found Wesley, he’d still been struggling to live.
“What’s going on?” Saxon’s voice was flat. Dangerous. Rather scary-as-hell. Her gaze jumped from the floor of that elevator—she’d been staring at it rather blindly—to his face. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression.
She wet her lips and tried to swallow back her fear. “What’s going on?” Elizabeth parroted his words. “People are dying.”
“Taggert tried to kill you, so don’t act as if you’re grieving for him.”
His words felt like a slap. “I didn’t want to kill the man! I wanted him in prison, not hurting anyone else!”
“And Wesley?”
“I told you…he didn’t put the hit on me.” And Wesley had confirmed that, just seconds before he’d died. “He’s not the one who did this to me.”
“Wesley said that he knew who you were.”
“You know who I am, too. Elizabeth Ward.” Nothing special about her. Nothing that should make folks want to kill her.
The elevator doors opened. Saxon glanced around the area before they exited, and she noticed that he kept his gun close as they hurried toward their vehicle. Their stolen vehicle. He hadn’t mentioned that part to Victor—
Saxon pushed her back against a column in the parking garage. He caged her with his body, holding her there securely. “I see Gary…others must be coming.”
Who the hell was Gary?
But he wasn’t looking at her. His body—heavy, muscled, but taut with tension—was pressed intimately to hers. Every breath that he took, she felt. His rich, masculine scent wrapped around her. The warmth of his body also slowly penetrated, pushing away some of the horrible chill she’d felt ever since she walked into Wesley’s condo.
“Okay, we’re clear. Let’s go.” Then they were running toward the truck. Jumping inside. She expected him to gun the engine and rush out of there as if escaping from the gates of hell. But he didn’t. He just took them out, all nice and slow-like.
“We don’t want to draw any attention,” he said.
Right. No attention. At the scene of a murder. He’d removed all of the broken glass from the truck’s window earlier, so if anyone looked at it now, they’d probably just think the window was down. They were driving all Sunday-afternoon-slow, so it didn’t look as if they were terrified or—
“We’re getting away from the city.”
They were already out of the parking garage. But as soon as they exited that garage, she heard the scream of sirens. She looked up and saw police cruisers and an ambulance heading for her. Elizabeth forgot to breathe right then.
But Saxon just pulled the truck to the side of the road. When the line of rescue vehicles had passed, he maneuvered the vehicle back onto the street and kept driving. All slow-like still.
She didn’t speak for a few minutes. Mostly because she was trying to get her ragged emotions under control. Wesley is dead. Dead. He’s—
“Are you all right?” Saxon demanded. “Because you look like you might pass out any moment.”
She felt that way. Her cheeks were stinging, alternating back and forth between feeling ice-cold and red-hot. “I’m fine.”
He grunted. “Keep holding that shit together, sweetheart. You’re doing great.”
Elizabeth thought she might be in hell. “Who—who’s Gary?” Should that name have meant something to her?
“Gary is one of the FBI agents on Victor’s team. Only Gary usually plays back-up, staying out of the way while he works on his compute
rs.” Saxon sighed. “For him to get pulled into an investigation like this, that means we’re in trouble.”
“Not you,” she said, the words too soft. “Me. Whoever is doing this…that person is coming after me.” But because Saxon was with her, he was being put at risk too. “Stop the truck,” she ordered him. “Just take me to the nearest police station.”
He kept driving.
“Saxon? Stop the truck!”
He stopped the truck. Luckily, no one else was on that street. “Do you want to live?”
“Y-yes.”
“Then you keep trusting me, because I’m your best bet, sweetheart.”
She tensed at the endearment, but it hadn’t sounded mocking. It had actually almost been—
“I’ve done things you can’t imagine. Things you don’t want to imagine.” His voice was a rumble in the dark interior of that truck. “But because of who I am…I know how to fight. Damn dirty.”
She’d seen him do it.
“I’ve kept you alive this long, and I don’t intend to let anything happen to you now. Stay with me, stay alive. It’s as simple as that.”
Her heartbeat drummed in her ears. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you risking so much for me?”
Silence.
She didn’t want him risking his life for her. She didn’t want anyone hurt. Because if he wound up on the floor, like Wesley—what will I do?
Headlights flashed behind them.
“You have to make a choice, Elizabeth.”
Her breath heaved out. “Drive the car.” Because in this crazy world, he was the one person that she trusted completely. “But you’d damn well better not do something ridiculous like die on me later.”
He laughed, and that rough, rusty sound went straight to her heart.
***
“Another one, sir?” Gary asked as he stood just outside of Wesley Locke’s condo.
Victor gave a grim nod. He was glad his agent had arrived so soon. “And it looks like the same MO.” He’d need a medical examiner to tell him for certain, but judging by the injuries he’d seen…I think the same man killed both Wesley Locke and Kurt Taggert.
How long had Locke fought for survival in that condo? Had he been in there, bleeding out, when Victor had discovered Taggert’s body? Shit, he felt as if the killer were two steps in front of him with every move that he made.
Victor raked a hand through his hair. “We need a team to get over to the Moontree Motel. Three of Taggert’s guys burst in that place and tried to get Elizabeth Ward.”
Gary’s eyes widened. “Is she all right?”
“She’s with Saxon.”
Gary blinked. “Is that…wise?”
Victor really didn’t like the guy’s tone. He’d revealed more info about Saxon to the guy lately—mostly because the mission had been coming to a head. When Saxon worked undercover, Victor liked to keep the details of his cases locked down.
But we were so close to taking out Taggert. I had to tell the rest of the team what was happening. Because when the FBI went in with guns blazing, he hadn’t wanted Saxon getting caught in the cross-fire.
“He seems a little…dangerous to me.” Gary was sweating. “Maybe Tracy or I should take over her guard duty.”
Victor shook his head. “He is dangerous, and that’s why he’s the one who’ll keep guarding her. No one is going to hurt her, not while Saxon is there.”
Gary nodded. “You…you’re so sure of him.”
One of the cops called to him and Victor turned away. “I’m more sure of him than I am of anyone. I’d trust Saxon with my life.”
“But it’s not your life that’s on the line,” Gary mumbled. “It’s Elizabeth Ward’s…”
***
Dawn had come. The world was supposed to look bright and fresh in the morning, wasn’t it? But it didn’t.
Fear still clung to Elizabeth. They’d stopped earlier—mostly just so they could wash Wesley’s blood off them. Then Saxon had kept driving and driving. The street had disappeared, and now they were heading into the Everglades. She didn’t speak much, she felt too tired. She wanted to crash hard and escape into her dreams, for just a little while.
But Saxon kept driving.
“Don’t worry.” His low, growling voice made her jump after that long silence. “We’re almost there. Soon, you’ll be safe. My cabin’s just a few minutes away.”
Her hands curled in her lap as he took them down what was not a road, not really, more like some partially worn path. She glanced back and realized that the path was pretty much invisible from the main road. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d drive right past it.
And that probably makes this place a perfect hiding spot.
A few moments later, they were in front of the promised cabin. The place was small, wooden, and totally surrounded by the swamp.
“You know…” Her throat had gone dry. “I’ve read stories about the giant snakes that live near this area. People have been letting their pet pythons and anacondas out here in the Everglades, just dumping them, and the snakes are getting huge and even attacking the gators.”
He didn’t say anything. She tore her gaze away from the cabin to see that he’d turned toward her, his brows raised in surprise.
“What?” Elizabeth demanded. “I’m serious.” Dead serious. “You should read the news stories.” She shuddered. “I can’t handle snakes.” Especially snakes big enough to attack an alligator.
He leaned forward, and his knuckles slid under her chin. “Sweetheart, you have men trying to kill you. Don’t you think you should be more worried about them? And not the snakes that might be out here?”
Something…happened to her when Saxon touched her. Her heart beat too fast. Her skin seemed to overheat, and her whole body just became far too sensitive. “I’m worried about the men…and the snakes.” She had enough fear for both of them.
He smiled. It was a rather stunning sight because he had a truly gorgeous smile. One that transformed his face from rough and dangerous to drop-dead gorgeous. “How about I promise to protect you from the snakes?”
The way he was already protecting her from the men who were after her? Twice now he’d saved her life. How was she supposed to repay him? “You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met.”
His gaze had fallen to her mouth. Was he thinking about kissing her? Because she was thinking about kissing him, and that was just insane. She’d watched a man die! But…
But right then, she wanted to kiss Saxon. She wanted to grab tight to him and feel alive. Because she was very much afraid that she might be living on borrowed time. And I don’t want my last days—moments?—to be filled with just fear. I want more.
When they’d kissed before, escape had been her priority. Her mind had been racing the whole time as she waited for a moment of weakness from him. What would it be like to kiss him again? To just feel him against her? His mouth? His tongue?
“Since you’re sitting down, you can’t knee me in the groin.”
Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t—”
“So I’m going to kiss you now, unless you tell me to back the hell off.”
She didn’t speak.
His smile was gone, and desire lit his eyes. “You’re not like anyone I’ve met before, either,” he said, and then his mouth was on hers. Warm, sensual, lips open, tongue-teasing. She felt that kiss in every cell of her body. Need and desire twisted within her, and she kissed him back a little harder, a little deeper. Elizabeth found herself wanting more, wanting to feel so much more than just a kiss.
Because his lips had just touched hers and—Bam. Desire burned through her body. He did it. He makes me feel this way. I am in so much trouble.
“You taste good.” Those words were a deep, dark growl against her lips. “I could just eat you right up.”
Her panties got wet. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to be the guy who made her think—Bam.
He k
issed her again.
Her hands came up and wrapped around his neck. She pulled him closer and because she wanted it so much, Elizabeth opened her mouth wider for him. The man sure knew how to kiss.
How to kill and how to kiss. She’d discovered two very important skill sets that the guy possessed.
He licked her lower lip. Elizabeth couldn’t help it—she moaned, and his whole body went tense at that sound.
Saxon pulled away from her, settling back on his side of the truck, and Elizabeth realized that the panting sound of her breath filled the truck’s interior.
“Just so we’re clear…” Saxon told her, “I want to fuck you more than I want my next breath right now.”
Her panties got a bit wetter. No, she’d definitely not met anyone like him before. The guys in her circle—even Wesley—were always so controlled. Perfect gentlemen. They would never dream of saying something like that to her.
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. His door was still open, and the interior light kept shining down on them. Her gaze trailed over his hands. Such big, strong hands. Her eyes focused on his knuckles and on the faint, white scars there. Her fingers reached out and traced lightly over the marks on his right hand. “What happened?”
“I busted too many faces.”
She looked up at him.
“In another life…”
Wait, those were scars from fighting?
“You need to remember,” he told her, staring straight into her eyes, “I’m not some safe guy you can play around with while you’re biding your time until you get to return to your real life. When I said I wanted you more than breath, I meant it.” His gaze glittered. “Next time, I’ll take you instead of that breath.”
She was not ready for this. For him. Not in any way. Elizabeth hurriedly pushed open her door. It wasn’t until that moment that she fully became aware of the sounds—it was like a million different insects were out there chirping at her. Probably because they are. She high-tailed it toward the cabin because she did not want to deal with any snakes, and when Saxon opened the front door, she rushed inside.
“I have a generator out back,” he told her, his voice the deep rumble that made her think far too much about what he’d sound like in bed. “I’ll get it going for you. Just stay here, okay?”