Shannon reached up and brushed her long hair out of her eyes. “I think so. A little woozy. A lot naked.” She readjusted the blanket to wrap it more tightly around her body. “Where are we going?”
“North. I’m taking us up into Maine until we can figure out why those two wanted you. I’ve got a cabin up there. It’s isolated and sort of rough, but it’s a good place to keep you out of sight for a few days, at least until we know what’s going on.”
“About the naked thing…” Her eyes, looking directly at his in the rearview mirror, were steady.
Jake had to give her credit. She didn’t scare easily. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like, waking up out of a drugged sleep in the back of a car, wrapped in nothing but a blanket, traveling through the dark with a complete stranger.
He flashed her a smile. With any luck, it would reassure her, not scare the crap out of her. “Once we get into Maine, I know where there’s an all-night shopping center. They’ve got everything from clothes to groceries. I figured I’d go in and get you something to wear, then once you’re dressed, you can come back with me and we can shop for supplies.”
Jake glanced up again as she nodded. “Why don’t you get some sleep. We’ve got a long night ahead of us. Whatever drug they shot you with is probably still in your system.” He grabbed a water bottle off the front seat and handed it to Shannon. She took it with a grateful smile.
“Thanks. My mouth feels like cotton.”
Jake watched in the mirror as she upended the water bottle and drank almost half of it. Her throat glowed like an ivory column in the light from passing cars. Jake glanced briefly at the road but watching Shannon’s reflection claimed him once again. She smiled, handed the water bottle back to him and once more stretched out on the back seat. She didn’t ask about the men who’d tried to abduct her, or even comment on what had happened. Maybe it all seemed like a bad dream at this point.
Jake took a sip out of the water bottle, imagining the taste of Shannon’s lips on the cool plastic. He turned his attention back to the road ahead, relaxing for the first time in days, as he guided the sedan through the dark night.
She really must be one sick puppy, to feel aroused by a stranger hauling her bare butt through the night to Lord knows where. Shannon wrapped the blanket close around her shoulders and lay down in the wide back seat, scrunching her butt in tight against the soft leather. Whatever drug they’d shot her with must really pack a punch, because she felt as woozy and hungover as if she’d combined drugs and booze and bad sex.
Well, she’d definitely had the bad sex.
What the hell happened tonight? She’d booted Richard and his Big Dick out the door, taken her shower and walked into a nightmare. Where were the men who attacked her? Had the stranger in the front seat dealt with both of them?
Were the two who attacked her still alive? Still a threat to her safety? How had Jake managed to rescue her from two dangerous men?
She had no idea how big a man Jake was, though his shoulders were definitely broad enough to go with a fairly tall frame. It looked as if he’d shoved the driver’s seat as far back as it would go, obviously adjusting to long legs. She hadn’t been able to see him all that well in the pale reflection from the dashboard lights, but she noticed he wore his hair unfashionably long, so that it curled around his collar. His jaw was shadowed with at least a day’s growth of beard and there was something dangerous about him, almost feral, something that appealed to whatever base instincts seemed to rule Shannon’s body and mind.
She heard a rustling in the front seat and blinked, surprised she’d almost fallen asleep again. Jake glanced back in her direction, then he shoved his leather coat over the seat. “Here. It’s pretty soft. Maybe you can use it for a pillow. Get some sleep. We’ve got about an hour until we get to Biddeford. That’s where the store is.”
“Thank you.” Shannon grabbed the coat. Her fingers sank into the soft, creamy leather, still warm from Jake’s body. She folded it over and tucked it beneath her head. It carried his scent, a tantalizing blend of man and forest that reminded her of something, some place just out of memory’s reach.
Inhaling deeply, filling herself with Jake’s heat and scent, Shannon felt herself growing drowsy once again. She should have been frightened, or at least uneasy, traveling through the night with a strange man, her naked body wrapped in nothing but an old blanket, with no idea where they were headed.
She wasn’t. Maybe it was the drugs, but for the first time in ages, Shannon actually felt calm, even relaxed. Snuggling her cheek close against the soft leather coat, Shannon sighed and let her thoughts drift. After so many years in the city, there was something comforting about a man who reminded her of the forest.
Chapter 2
“Ms. Murphy? Shannon, wake up.”
Shannon raised her cheek away from the soft coat, disoriented and confused. She looked up into the dark eyes of the man she’d been dreaming about and blinked.
It hadn’t been a dream. She really was bare-ass naked, wrapped in a scratchy blanket in the back seat of a car headed somewhere away from Boston in the middle of the night. Shannon shoved her hair out of her eyes and focused on Jake’s face. They must be in, or near, a town somewhere, because pale light from an outside source filled the interior of the car, casting dark shadows over the harsh line of his jaw, the high, angular cheekbones, the long nose.
Questions twisted in Shannon’s mind…how, and why, and who, all coiled together into a seething mass impossible to untangle. Then Jake smiled. Just the right side of his full lips quirked up, but he didn’t look like a man who smiled often. The questions melted away, just disappeared like black mist on a night wind.
Shannon felt like an idiot, reclining on the back seat awkwardly supported on one elbow, clutching the blanket to her chest and staring at Jake. The interior of the car sort of closed in around her until all she noticed was her racing heart, her weeping pussy, her taut nipples standing at attention beneath the blanket.
Who was this man? Why did her body react so powerfully to his presence?
“Are you all right?”
She took a deep breath, let it out. “I’m okay. I think I’m awake, though all of this still has the feel of a very strange dream.”
Jake nodded. “I imagine it does. You’re really quite calm, considering what you’ve been through tonight. I hope those two didn’t hurt you.”
Shannon realized she was grinning like a fool. She couldn’t believe her reaction to the man. Even the rumble of his deep voice turned her on. This close in the confines of the car, his scent filled her head, drew her closer. She took a deep breath and had to bite back a moan of pleasure, before shaking her head. “Only my pride. I’ve taken a lot of self-defense classes. Not a bit of it helped.”
“What happened? How’d they get in?”
Shannon frowned. She’d wondered that herself. Ah…Richard. “I had a visitor who took off when I went to shower. He must have left the door unlocked. The men were in my room when I came out of the bathroom. I only saw one at first. The other grabbed me from behind.”
“You left your mark. I heard him grousing about scratches on his arm.”
“Good. How did you…? They’re not dead, are they?”
Jake shook his head. “No, but they’ll probably have really bad headaches come morning. One of them may have a broken arm.” He reached for the door handle and glanced back at Shannon. “I’m going to pick up some clothes for you. What do you want me to get? What size?”
“Sweats would be great. Then I can go in with you and buy what else I need.” The reality of her situation suddenly hit Shannon hard. “I don’t have any money, no ID. I don’t…”
Jake