Table of Contents

+ Add to Library

Previous Next

Chapter 3

  • Dom inhaled the cool air deeply. It felt good to be outside, even if it was to tromp through the snow in the little treed area behind Jennah’s building. She knew he went for these little strolls and had given him one of those female looks that told him she thought he shouldn’t, but she had never voiced it. That was one of the things he loved about her. She got him. She didn’t fake understanding what he was all about. She genuinely grasped what made him tick.
  • He stopped and looked back behind him again, and checked for any movement that wasn’t supposed to be there. He smirked. She probably understood him because they has a lot of things in common.
  • He reached for her with his mind. “Hey, beautiful, are you heading home to me yet?”
  • Her soft chuckle filled his mind. “Soon. I had to stop at the store and get a few things, so you can cook me dinner after a hard day at work.”
  • He grinned even as he sunk into snow deeper than it had looked. “I might be persuaded to cook for you.” He could picture her standing in the grocery store, grinning with that sexy mouth of hers.
  • “And how would I go about persuading you?”
  • Her soft, sultry tone had his body hardening. It amazed him how it only took a look or a certain tone for that to happen, or just seeing her, period. “I’m sure you’ll think of some way.”
  • “I’m sure I will too. Dom? Why are you cold?”
  • He stopped in midstride and looked down at the snow that was almost to his knees. “Damn, babe, you’re getting too good at this.”
  • “I really have to focus...you’re outside, aren’t you?”
  • “Relax— I’m armed. I’m in the bush, just getting some air and walking off some frustration.”
  • “The meeting with the captain not go well?”
  • He sighed and leaned against a tree, making sure he kept his eyes searching as he did. “No. Nothing has turned up from any source.”
  • “I’m sorry. I know how hard this is for you. I’m heading to the checkout now, so I’ll see you in ten minutes or less.”
  • The understanding in her voice warmed him despite the snow packed in his boots. “Okay, beautiful, I should be back then.”
  • “Okay.” There was a pause. “And Dom? I think you should get naked and into the bath.”
  • He grinned. “Only if you join me.”
  • “You are insatiable, Mister Palmer—but I could be persuaded.”
  • “Only for you, Miss Best.” He felt her break from his mind. Putting his hands in his pockets, he felt the small box and grimaced. He had meant to find a place to hide it, but the captain, and lack of helpful information, had distracted him. Pulling it out of his pocket, he opened it and looked at the ring. It wasn’t a huge cluster of stones, nothing too flashy for Jennah, but it was large enough that he hoped she’d be proud to wear it and show it off. Snapping it closed, he stuffed it back into his pocket. Things were going to be perfect when he asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.
  • He glanced around and decided he’d better start heading back to her place. You know you’re in love when the snow in your boots doesn’t even bother you, he thought with a shake of his head.
  • Brody would laugh his ass off if he could see me now. A noise behind him had him jumping behind the closest tree. His hand was automatically on his gun and ready. He squatted down and looked around the tree in any direction he could see from his position. He exhaled slowly when a rabbit frozen in its tracks came back to life and fled in the opposite direction. He slowly tucked his gun back into his jeans as he stood up. Paranoia was definitely an issue.
  • Quickening his pace, he headed back, making sure he stepped in his own tracks. Jennah would laugh when he told her he was being stalked by an assassin bunny.
  • “Dom!”
  • The panic in her voice sent him running in the direction of the building. “Babe, what is it?” He kept moving fast, his hand riding beside the gun grip now sticking up for easy reach out the bottom of his coat. “Jennah!” He reached for her and felt panic.
  • “Dom!”
  • “I’m coming!” He lengthened his strides and jumped through the snow as fast as his legs could manage.
  • When he reached the back door, he whipped it open and ran into the kitchen. He stopped and listened—nothing. Pulling the gun, he gripped it lightly and let his arm hang down his side. He walked out into the living room with slow movements and let all senses filter back what was around him.
  • When he’d almost reached the front door, he stopped, his heart lodged in his throat as he looked at the table knocked to the floor and grocery bags scattered with the contents spilled all around them.
  • With long strides, he was out the door and into her driveway. Her car was there. A movement caught the corner of his eye and he spun, gun aimed and ready. A black-capped pickup was fishtailing down the street. He ran to the end of her drive and aimed at it. Squinting, he tried to make out the plate, but there wasn’t one.
  • He swore and lowered the gun. It was too far, and without knowing if Jennah was in the back of it, he couldn’t take a chance on a stray shot.
  • Fumbling for his phone in his jacket, he flipped it open and started to walk slowly back over his own boot prints toward the house. He punched in Brody’s number as he knelt down and looked closer at the red drops in the snow. He clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to touch it. Brody answered the phone. “They got Jennah.”
  • “What? When? Where are you?”
  • Dom straightened slowly and looked at the footprints in the snow. There weren’t any individual prints that he could make out. She was struggling if the drag marks were any indication. “At Jennah’s. Get the kit, call the captain and get here before it’s dark!” He flipped the phone closed and stuffed it in his pocket. Reaching into the other one, he pulled out one of his gloves and knelt down by the drops of blood again. Please, don’t let it be hers, he chanted in his mind as he tented the glove over the red in the snow, to mark and protect it until Brody arrived.
  • Standing up slowly again, he looked around for his own tracks. Finding them, he walked back toward the house as he followed the marks beside the drive. He spotted another spot of red and clenched his jaw again. Dammit! Every instinct in his body had told him something was going to happen. He should have done something about it!
  • “Dom?”
  • Something inside him went off when her voice filled his mind. She could still call him. “Are you okay?” He swallowed the lump in his throat.
  • “I thin ...yes.”
  • “There’s blood...”
  • “Not mine. I think I broke one of their noses.”
  • A beast he didn’t know lay inside him rose up at the thought of her struggling against two assailants. “There are two?” He took careful steps toward the door and made sure he didn’t touch anything as he waited for her to reply.
  • “Yes, two. One is your height, the other closer to mine...”
  • “Did you get a look at either?” He stepped carefully over the spilled groceries and went back toward the kitchen. He couldn’t take a chance in touching anything until Brody got here.
  • “No, they wrapped something around my face.”
  • He leaned on the counter and gripped it tightly in both hands. “Are you in a truck?”
  • “I think—yes.”
  • His anger flared. He’d been looking right at it! He should have been faster!
  • “They knew you weren’t in the house, Dom...”
  • He cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry, babe. I should have stayed in the house...”
  • “Don’t!”
  • He took a deep breath. “Can you tell me anything else?” He wanted to tell her he loved her and that he would find her, but she was a cop. She knew as well as he did that he needed facts to find her.
  • “I...no!”
  • He straightened from the counter, every muscle in his body tensed. “Babe?”
  • “Dom...no...”
  • The connection was gone. It hadn’t faded like she had moved out of that range. It was like she was just gone! “Jennah? Babe!” Nothing. He clenched his hand and slammed his fist down on the counter. The cup that had been near the edge bounced to the floor and shards flew across the floor.
  • He turned and dropped down to squat with his back against the counter. Dropping his face down into his hands, he sat there. Nothing could happen to her. She had to all right. His hands were trembling with the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Lifting his head, he glanced back out toward the door. Focus! He had to get it together and do what he was trained to do.