Her feet slipped and the aching turned to a harsh pounding in her foot. But that was nothing compared to the knocking in her chest. Her lungs seemed to want outside her chest.
Pebbles skidded under her sneakers as she tried to gain traction. “How can you tell?”
“Different sound.” He slipped an arm around her waist and lifted. “Come on.”
Her body took flight and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to keep from falling. She wanted to scream and argue, but that engine noise and the ambling of the truck drew closer.
They’d gone about ten feet in when Cam turned and dropped. His knees buckled and they went down. She landed on top of him in a bone-crushing thud. His landing had to be harder against the rough ground, but she didn’t have time to think about it because the world started spinning.
He flipped her until she lay underneath him, covered head to toe by firm, muscular male. She looked up and followed his gaze. They lay sprawled behind two stacked logs. Peeking through the sliver of space between them, she could see the tires and a flash of blue.
It was her truck or one that looked very similar. Her fury at being robbed mixed with the very real horror of being found out here. She’d heard the threats the men made about her to Cam. They didn’t need to use the exact words for her to know being caught by those guys was not an option. She’d go out shooting instead.
The truck door opened and black shoes came into view. The leg bottoms of the police uniform. Footsteps echoed on the dirt path as the guy walked from one side of the car to the other. When he bent down to touch something on the ground, her breath caught in her throat. Not a single cell moved within her body.
Cam also froze. His eyes darted as he watched the movements, but even his hands stayed still. He had a gun in one and she had no idea when he had brought that back out again after checking her ankle.
What felt like hours passed. Finally, the guy stood up again. She still refused to breathe. Her fingers tightened on Cam’s shirt, balling wads of material within her tight fists.
She heard keys jingle. Probably her keys. And whistling.
The jerk.
When the guy got back into the truck and the engine revved, she finally let the air rush out of her lungs. Her head fell back against the cool ground and she inhaled the scent of peat moss. Getting her heart to stop racing seemed impossible.
It took another few seconds for the tension across Cam’s shoulders to ease. Still, he didn’t move. His head lowered and he looked down at her with his mouth hovering over hers. “You okay?”
She shook her head because that was all she could get out.
Chalk it up to the adrenaline or the moment or that face, but she gave in and did something totally unlike her. Her hands smoothed up his chest to his cheeks, and then she brought his mouth even closer. When he didn’t bridge the gap between them, she did.
Her lips touched his and at first he didn’t react. Didn’t make a sound or do anything. Then his fingers slipped into her hair and held her still as he deepened the kiss. The touch hit her with a jolt of mind-blowing fever. He kissed her long and hard until that dizziness came roaring back.
When he lifted his head again, she could barely hold her neck up. Her hands dropped to the ground beside her head. “Wow.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
But she had to be smart. “The kiss was a onetime thing.”
“That’s a shame.” The corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile. “What was it for?”
“Not letting me die.” Seemed simple enough to her.
Some man pretending to be a police officer was looking for them, and Cam hadn’t hesitated. He’d tucked her body under his and kept her safe. He’d already killed a man rather than let him touch her. She didn’t know how to thank him for those things or how to deal with the confusion rattling her, since he was the one who’d brought the danger to her doorstep in the first place.
“Now what?” She felt as if she kept asking that, but it still seemed relevant.
He brushed her hair away from her face. “We find my team.”
“Are they like you?” She tried to imagine a whole group of hot undercover guys with guns, and her mind couldn’t process it.
He frowned at her. “You don’t get to pick another team member to stay with you.”
“I didn’t say—”
“You’re stuck with me.”
“You don’t want to pass me off?” She really hoped he’d say no.
“You do talk a lot.” His thumb rubbed over her temple.
Much more touching and she’d forget they were outside and in danger and return to the kissing that felt so good. “You don’t like talking?”
“Strangely enough, I’m starting to.”
She looked like death by the time they got within a quarter mile of the ferry landing. Cam called in the team to have them rendezvous at a new position because he doubted Julia could make it much farther.
Not that she complained. No, she never made a sound except for a grunt here and there. But when they started down the grassy hill behind them, he heard her sharp intake of breath and called a halt. No way could she take the slope from here to the water, and she all but punched him when he mentioned again the idea of carrying her.
He liked her spunk and the well of energy she kept finding. Most men he knew would have dropped at the sight of two dead guys on their family room floor. She’d hung in there.
But she needed rest, which was why they sat at a picnic table behind a grocery market with her sore ankle resting on the bench next to him. The employees likely used the space for breaks, but right now he claimed it.
From this position he could use his binoculars to scan the marina. Sailboat masts bobbled and a cool wind blew off the water. People lined up on the dock. A group of men talked with each person as he or she stepped into line for the ferry.
Cam didn’t know what that was about, but the lack of uniforms and the fact that no one had performed those checks when he landed a few hours ago suggested it wasn’t legitimate. More likely this group was part of the one that had shot up Julia’s house.
He scanned the faces he could make out and body types for anyone who looked like the fake police chief. That guy struck Cam as the leader. If they cut the group off at the top, the rest should wither or at least be confused enough that wiping them out would be easier.
He glanced at his watch. Before he could read the dial, she piped up. “The ferry will be leaving soon.”
“You’ll be on it.” For some reason that promise sliced through him. He felt the cut through his midsection.
Which meant he needed to get her on that boat now. She was a distraction. A long-legged, sweet-faced distraction with a butt that held him captive and a drive that enthralled him.
He’d watched as other members of the Corcoran Team paired off. Marriage, engagements, living together, serious dating. Strong men who vowed to put work first bowled over by compelling women they could not resist.
The Corcoran traveling team had made a vow, too—keep moving and stay bachelors. He had no idea how the promises broke down with the other members, but looking at Julia, watching her trace a fingertip over a crack in the tabletop as her long hair fell over her shoulder, he felt an odd tug. One he planned to ignore, and that started with a no-more-kissing rule.
“Do you plan to roll me down the hill?” she asked as the finger tracing