“She went missing?”
“When I was eight years old. She left me alone for the weekend and . . . never came back.” Naomi swallowed, her eyes welling. “I kept waiting. I kept hoping, even after child protective services came to our apartment and took me away with them a couple of months later.”
Asher exhaled a curse that boiled up from the pits of his soul. Her anger was one thing. He could’ve handled that in stride and been fine. In the short time he’d known her, anger and combativeness were the emotions she’d worn the most. Along with stubborn, unflagging determination.
No, those emotions she kept right up front for all to see.
It was the single tear rolling down her cheek that made his heart ache.
And the next one and the next after that. Her sadness over her mother ripped him clean in half.
He had no skill when it came to giving comfort or saying the right things. He’d been bred to deny any softness, any emotion that might make him a weaker instrument when it came to dealing death. Not even his time looking after Ned had smoothed all of his rough edges.
But he wanted to give Naomi comfort. He wanted to let her know that her pain was his now. That he would not only protect her, but do whatever was necessary to ensure Leo Slater never had the chance to hurt her or anyone else again.
Wordlessly, he moved his hands from her shoulders to the sides of her beautiful face, cradling her gently in his palms. She didn’t resist him. Her gaze stayed locked on his as he smoothed his thumbs over the tears that now coursed down her face in steady streams.
And when he drew her toward him, her lips fell open on a quiet exhalation, a sound that was far from a sob. Asher brushed his mouth over hers, shocked at the current that roared through him at that first tender contact. He wasn’t prepared for how sharply he craved her.
He wasn’t prepared for how deeply this female was impacting his life. He didn’t have room for the trouble she was bringing into his solitary world. And he sure as hell wasn’t prepared to deal with all of the feelings she’d been stoking inside him from the moment their eyes first met.
He drew away from her on a low groan and a murmured apology that he didn’t actually mean.
“Buckle up,” he ordered her gruffly. “It’s not safe for you in this city. And we’ve wasted too much time already.”
She sank back against the seat in silence and drew the seatbelt across her body. When she was secured, Asher threw the truck into gear and sped out of the garage with renewed determination.
He would protect Naomi, with his arm and his life. As slim as his honor was, he couldn’t live with himself if he allowed anything to happen to her.
And now, on top of that obligation, he would call in the debt Leo Slater owed her if it was the last thing he ever did.
As soon as he’d ensured Naomi was out of Slater’s reach, that son of a bitch would be going down.
CHAPTER 10
He didn’t say two words to her for the duration of the drive out of Vegas.
She told herself she was relieved to have his brooding silence beside her, especially since her lips were still burning from the heat of his kiss. It had been so unexpected, his tenderness coming right on the heels of his obvious frustration with her.
Had he kissed her out of desire? God knew she’d been entertaining some unbidden, purely sexual thoughts and urges where Asher was concerned. As angry as she wanted to be, and was, with the overbearing Breed male, she could hardly deny her awareness of him nor her body’s all-too-eager response. Any woman with eyes in her head and warm red blood in her veins would find it impossible to describe Asher as anything less than panty-meltingly hot.
But that didn’t mean the attraction was mutual. In the instant before he’d covered her mouth with his, he seemed so angry she half-expected him to punch something—possibly even her. That is, until her eyes started leaking and those pathetically broken sobs started falling from her mouth before she could hold them back.
Humiliation flamed her cheeks, adding to the fire already settled there in the wake of his kiss.
How utterly embarrassing to have broken down in front of him like that. Tears, for fuck’s sake. She never cried over her mother, least of all in the presence of someone else. Not even Michael knew how deeply the loss had truly wounded her. Now, she’d gone and blubbered in front of Asher like the heartbroken, abandoned eight-year-old girl she’d been all that time ago.
For all she knew, he might have done it simply to shut her up. Or, even worse, out of pity.
But his burning kiss hadn’t tasted like either of those impulses. Not that she had been fit to judge. By the time his strong hands had closed around her shoulders, then cradled her face, she’d been too far gone to question anything but the intensity of her need to sink against him in surrender.
At the moment, all she wanted was to get as far away from him as possible and try to put the whole unsettling idea out of her mind.
As Asher turned off the starlit desert road and onto the bumpy dirt lane that led to the old ranch, Naomi hung suspended between the thrill of having bilked Leo Slater out of one of his millions and the concern she had for Michael in these next crucial hours following his big “win” at the casino.
By now, all of the casino paperwork would have been signed, the check issued and in his hands, ready to be deposited in his bank account. But what if something had gone wrong?
What if it had all gone to hell after she fled Moda with Asher on her heels?
Naomi reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her new burner phone to check for messages from Michael. No word at all yet. Dammit. Although they’d agreed he would text once he was in the clear and felt it was safe to make contact, her fingers itched with the need to check in with him.
She’d barely tapped the screen with the first letter when the device suddenly leapt out of her fingers and into Asher’s right hand.
“What the hell?” She gaped at him, reminded of just how little she understood about him or his kind. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You have your little talents; I have mine.” He dropped the phone between his parted thighs as he maneuvered the truck over the potholes and valleys of the rambling driveway. When they were parked in front of the house, he killed the engine and gave her a grim look. “If you care about your friend, the best thing you can do for him is keep your distance for a while.”
She knew he was right, but it went against her grain to let any man—particularly this one—boss her and tell her what she could or could not do. “Fine, you made your point. I’ll take my phone back now.”
She held out her hand but he ignored it. Taking the keys and the burner in one hand, he got out of the truck and stalked around to open her door before she had the chance. “Let’s get inside. It’s not a good idea to linger out here longer than we need to.”
His tone was grim, and sounded far from enthused at the notion of having her at his place for a second time. She nearly reminded him that the only reason she had been there at all was because of his insistence that she would be dead without him.
Begrudgingly, she climbed out of the truck and walked with him onto the porch where Sam’s panting mouth and eager whining greeted them on the other side of the screen door. In spite of everything else that was upsetting and out of control in her life, the sight of the dancing, wiggling hound made a smile break across her face. At least someone was pleased with this unwanted arrangement.
“Hey, you,” she said, dropping onto her haunches and giving Sam’s swiveling rear and thick shoulders a good rub as soon as she stepped inside the dimly lit house. She laughed as the big dog turned excited circles in front of her and showered her chin in wet licks. “Oh, yes, such a good boy! Your dog’s a nut, Asher. I mean, look at him. His whole body wags when I touch him.”
Asher was looking, but not at Sam. When she glanced up from her squat in front of him, still petting and scratching the deliriously happy hound, she found Asher’s eyes fixed on her.
Those dark blue pools smoldered, tiny sparks crackling in their depths.
Snared in the intensity of his unblinking study of her, all the heat she’d felt during and after Asher’s kiss swamped her all over again.
He made a strange sound in the back of his throat. Not quite a growl, but a deep vibration that seemed to call to something wild inside her veins. Her pulse kicked, throbbing in the side of her neck and lower, a heavy throb that made her legs go a little weak beneath her.
When he finally spoke, she saw the gleaming tips of his fangs. “I’ll go turn on some more lights for you.”
He disappeared into the dark of the house, moving silently, with the stealth of a ghost. Or something far more dangerous than that.
As soon as Sam heard him in the kitchen, his floppy ears perked and he trotted off ahead of Naomi. She followed, feeling suddenly awkward and uncomfortable in Asher’s home. It wasn’t as if she belonged there. And she felt pretty certain Asher was regretting her presence too.
“You know, if it’s just a matter of laying low for a while, I do have other places I can go. I can get a new fake ID and change my appearance again.”
He flicked on the light over the kitchen table and sent a scowl in her direction. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t think you really want me here any more than I want to be here.”
“What difference does that make?”
She shrugged as if none of this was any big deal to her. “I’m just saying I have other options. I know plenty of other people I can call for help if I—”
“No one else can help you, Naomi. Only me now.”
He looked so certain, so gravely serious, even she was tempted to believe that. She crossed her arms over her chest to stifle the shiver that swept over her. “Not even the Order?”
His jaw tensed as he studied her. “I can get word to them right now, if you prefer. There’s a command center near Tahoe. They can probably have someone here to retrieve you in a couple of hours.”
“No.” She shook her head, cursing herself for even bringing up his earlier threat to pack her up and ship her off to the Order without her consent. “I’ll stay.”
At least for now. She told herself it was a reasonable enough plan, at least until she got the all-clear from Michael. The farther they stayed apart for the time being, the safer it would be for both of them. Once the jackpot check from Casino Moda was in his bank account, their lives could resume.
She could handle a day or so here at the ranch with Sam and his domineering vampire housemate.
It was the thought of staying overnight that gave her more than a little pause.
“You will take the master bedroom,” Asher informed her tersely. “I don’t need the bed. Besides, I’ll be on watch twenty-four-seven now.”
She scoffed, leaning her hip against the counter as he turned on more lights. “On watch to make sure I don’t finesse the lock and escape again?”
He pinned her with a sober stare. “I can make sure you stay inside, but I’m more concerned about keeping anyone else from getting in.”
The gravity of his voice took her aback. He was more than concerned. He was grim with a certainty that shook her. “Who do you think will be looking for me? Slater?” She lifted her shoulder, considering. “He doesn’t know I’m the one who’s been repeatedly hitting his casinos this past year. I take care to always look different, never like myself. And last night was the first time I ever got caught.”
Asher’s face looked thunderous with building disbelief—and fury. “How many times have you crossed him?”
“I don’t know. Ten or twelve, I suppose.”
“Christ.” His mouth pressed flat. “Using your Breedmate gift—what do you call it, finessing?”
She nodded. “With a touch, I can manipulate metals and magnetics. Simple gears, machinery. Locks.”
He grunted. “And casino slot machines.”
“Sometimes I hit the roulette tables too. For variety. All I have to do is rest my hands on the casing in order to make the connection with the moving parts and bend them to my will.”
“For how much, Naomi?” His brows furrowed deeper, his big body radiating a heat she could feel all the way on the other side of the kitchen. “Holy hell. How much have you already taken from him?”
“Before tonight?” She licked her lips, her mouth going dry under the blazing force of Asher’s stare. “A couple hundred grand. It’s how Michael and I have kept the shelter open at his house. Without the money, those kids—”
“Damn it, woman.”
His snarled interruption cut her off sharply. He stormed up to her, his face a mask of rage. And something else too. Was it . . . fear? He looked as if he wanted to take hold of her and shake her until her teeth rattled. Either that or kiss her again, although if he did that, she knew there would be no tenderness in it now. It would be punishing, brutal in a way that shouldn’t have made her heart race the way it did now.
But he didn’t take hold of her. He raked a hand over his hair, then glanced at the windows and sliders that looked out over the property outside. Nothing but endless blackness on the other side of the glass, yet when Asher’s gaze swung back to her, it was bleak with dread.
Suddenly his cryptic statement that no one but him could help her now—not even the powerful warriors of the Order—came rushing back to her like a chill wind.
“What is it?” she asked him. “Something happened tonight back at the casino. You know something, don’t you? Asher, what aren’t you telling me?”
“I ran into Slater’s chief of security right after you took off. His name is Cain. He’s Breed, Naomi. Worse than that. He’s a trained assassin.”
“Oh, shit.” Her head felt light, as though all of the blood had drained away. “An assassin. Are you . . . are you sure?”
He said nothing, merely offered a grim nod. Of course, he was sure. No wonder he was acting as if she were one step from her grave all night. She probably was.
“He doesn’t know you’re with me,” Asher told her. “As far as I can tell, he doesn’t know anything about you. If he did, you never would’ve made it out of the casino tonight. You’re safe for now. With me.”
His calm reassurance helped take the edge off her fear—a little. She had no reason to doubt anything Asher told her, not even this. But he couldn’t protect her forever.
Nor was he offering that.
“Oh, God,” she murmured. “I have to warn Michael.”
“No, Naomi.” Asher shook his head. “The surest way to help your friend is to keep your distance now. Is there any reason for Slater to think the two of you were together on this?”
“No. We’ve never done a job together, and there’s nothing to link us together inside or out of the casino.”
“The house you share—”
“Is in Michael’s name only. I don’t even use the address on any of my IDs.” At his nod, she went on. “We arrived at the casino separately tonight, him about forty minutes before I got there. Once we were inside, we didn’t talk or signal that we knew each other.”
“But you did touch the machine to ensure he claimed the prize?”
She nodded. “We had it all rehearsed. The only change was my disguise. Before tonight, I’ve never been inside the casino without disguising myself. And I only ditched my old lady cover after I thought I’d been made somehow.”
Asher cursed low under his breath. “You took off your disguise because of me. Because I was shadowing you. I’m sorry, Naomi.”
“Not your fault.” She barely resisted the urge to reach out and touch the tightly clenched fist that now rested on the counter near her. “All the mistakes I’ve made have been my own. I only hope the ones I made tonight don’t end up hurting Michael. I’m not going to be able to relax until I hear from him that he’s okay.”
Asher gave her a vague nod. “You’ve had a long day. It’s only going to get longer. Go on back and get settled while I put out some food for the animals.
”
She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until he mentioned it. Her neck was stiff from stress, her body aching and tense. Her eyes burned from remnants of her hastily scrubbed-off makeup and facial prosthetics adhesive.
“Would it be all right if I use your shower?”
He gestured over her shoulder, toward the hallway leading to his bedroom. “Halfway down the hall on the left.”
“Thank you,” she murmured. She started walking that way, then paused to regard him over her shoulder. “I mean that, Asher. Thank you. For everything you’re doing for me.”
He merely stared at her, silent as he watched her leave.
CHAPTER 11
Asher grabbed a large bag of dog food from one of the cabinets and set it on the counter, trying to ignore to the sound of the water running through the old pipes of the house.
It wasn’t easy. The plumbing rattled and groaned, which was normally just a mild annoyance on any other day. Combined with the knowledge that Naomi was standing naked under the warm spray just a short walk down the hall from him, the shower noise seem to go on forever.
And with that awareness came a lot of vivid images he couldn’t seem to banish from his mind. Images of her black hair sleek and wet against her milky neck and shoulders, her petite body lathered with suds and slick under her moving hands.
He could practically feel her soft skin beneath his own hands, and as he imagined spreading her leanly muscled thighs to delve between them, first with his fingers, then with the full length of his cock, he shuddered with the rush of need that rolled over him.
“Christ.” He raked a hand over his clenched jaw, his fangs aching and extended, filling his mouth.
Kissing her had been about the worst thing he could have done—for her sake and his own. Because now he knew what her sweet, lush little mouth tasted like and it had only made him hungry for more. Hungry to know how sweet the rest of her would taste under his lips and tongue. Or under the sharp press of his fangs.