Rules In Defiance

Shadows fluctuated along the right side of her face from the flames, darkening the small mole beside the bridge of her nose. Waylynn rolled her lips between her teeth, unfolding her arms. “In.”

“Is that what you’re wearing?” As much as he hated the thought of her covering up all that smooth skin, she couldn’t exactly walk around downtown Anchorage in nothing but his T-shirt and her underwear without drawing unwanted attention. “I mean, I won’t argue—”

“In your dreams, con man.” She turned on her heel and marched straight back up the stairs. A smile curled at the edge of his mouth as he caught sight of the delicate tattoo inked behind her right ear. A small double-helix DNA strand. He’d always attributed it to her work in genetics, but knowing now what he did about her family, about her father, maybe there was more significance in those sequences than he thought.

A few minutes later, Waylynn rounded down the stairs, dressed in Officer Ramsey’s sweats once again, hair pulled back in a long ponytail, and his gut warmed. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He cleared his throat to counteract the rush of heat climbing up his neck. Didn’t help. Even in a borrowed, stained pair of sweats, she was the most stunning, addictive woman he’d ever met.

“Ready to go?” She settled that ocean-blue gaze on him and the entire investigation disappeared to the back of his mind.

Wouldn’t happen between them. Not now. Not ever. He’d been imprisoned long enough. First, due to his parents and his upbringing. Second, from actual prison in the middle of the hottest hell on earth and now contracted with Sullivan Bishop and Blackhawk Security. A relationship with the woman waiting for him to answer would commit him for life. Because she deserved nothing less. Elliot swung the door open completely, then withdrew his weapon as he faced the midnight sun as a precaution. “I’d say ladies first, but I’m the one with the gun.”

“Such a gentleman.” Waylynn took position behind him, the wild rush of geraniums still clinging to him after their close call with Mabel the Moose.

He led her toward the SUV, senses at an all-time high. He doubted whoever’d framed her for Alexis Jacobs’s murder had followed them all the way out here, but he wasn’t going to take the risk. Not with her.

Movement registered off to the left, past the tree line, and her long fingers latched on to his nondominant arm. Elliot slowed, trying to hear anything past the hard pounding of his heartbeat behind his ears. Not from the possibility of danger—he’d tear anyone who came close to her apart with his bare hands—but because Waylynn’s touch had rocketed his awareness of her ever higher.

“Are we going to have to outrun a moose again?” Her question wisped against his earlobe.

Iridescent white eyes shifted in the bushes. Most likely a fox. A laugh vibrated through him. His nerves had run a bit too high for his taste. “Come on. I’m sure Mabel and the calves have had enough excitement for one day.”

“They’re not the only ones.” She released her grip on his arm and moved to the passenger-side door.

They took the ride to Alexis Jacobs’s apartment in silence. Tinted, bulletproof windows cast them into darkness and, despite the fact he could see her clearly in the front seat, Elliot felt her all around him. In her scent still imbedded in his clothing, to the memory of her pressed beneath him as Mabel charged. Hell, even the skin beneath his hoodie burned with memories of her touch.

He’d kept his distance, no problem, for the past year, but over the last twenty-four hours, she’d defied the single rule he’d set for himself when it came to wanting her. The only change? She needed him now more than ever and he’d been stupid enough to hide her in his own damn cabin while he hunted the bastard doing this to her. They hit the highway and headed back toward Anchorage, the combination of road and rubber pulling him back into the moment. Get control. Solve the case. Move on with their lives. That was it. They’d go back to the way things were once her apartment was cleared as a crime scene. He’d pay off his debt to Blackhawk Security and move on and she’d probably work the next decade trying to recover her research.

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