“And I guess it doesn’t matter that you’ve already taken away my boots?”
“It doesn’t matter in the least.”
“And you wouldn’t consider sleeping on the love seat, maybe? We could push it in front of the door. You’d be sure to wake up if I tried to climb over you.”
He looked over at the love seat and back at her. “I’m six foot two. How much rest do you think I could get on a four-foot love seat?”
“Well, you’re crazy if you think I’m taking off my clothes,” Maddie sputtered.
His grin was as wicked as his laugh had been nasty. “Suit yourself, but I’m taking off mine.”
“Fine. I’ll sleep on top of the covers.”
“It gets chilly out here in the desert at night,” he warned.
“Not that chilly.”
He shrugged, then motioned toward the bedroom. Reluctantly Maddie marched ahead of him like a prisoner on her way to the gallows. Dear God, what was she going to do now? He had rendered her senseless with the mere possibility that might kiss her. And now she was going to be handcuffed to him. In bed. With him naked.
Good Lord, Maddie thought, how am I ever going to survive the next three days? Stopping when she reached the side of the bed, Maddie turned around and faced him with both arms held out in front of her.
“Just the right arm, please,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
Maddie rolled her eyes, but did as he instructed. However, when the cold steel clamped around her wrist, Maddie wondered if Hawk realized once he handcuffed them together he couldn’t escape, either. The thought of him being her prisoner brought a faint smile to her lips.
“Now, let’s see.” He rubbed a hand over the shadow on his chin that only emphasized his maleness. “If we both sleep on our left sides, that means I need to cuff our right hands together. Correct?”
“Don’t ask me, I’m just the prisoner,” Maddie was quick to point out. “You’re the mastermind behind this catastrophe.”
He ignored her comment, then bent down long enough to take off his boots. Then he turned her around and stepped up behind her so close, Maddie could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. A tingle spread through her body so fast it almost made her swoon.
“Should it concern me that you just happen to have a pair of handcuffs in your possession?” Maddie quipped, trying to disguise her rapid breathing.
The chuckle was low in his throat. “I’m not into bondage, if that’s what you’re asking. Pleasure’s always been my game.”
Forcing her eyes shut at that comment, Maddie bit down on her lower lip, hard. She was trying with everything she had not to let her traitorous mind wander into the pleasure department. Not now. Not when she was only seconds away from crawling into bed with a naked man.
To her surprise, instead of shedding his fatigues, he clamped the cuff around his own right hand, leaned over and pulled back the covers and switched off the bedside light.
The room instantly became pitch-black.
“I thought you were getting undressed,” Maddie mocked when he didn’t go through with his threat.
He leaned closer, resting his chin on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t want to tempt you. You might take advantage of me.”
“By putting a pillow over your face until you pass out, you mean?”
He laughed, then found the small of her back with his free hand. “Be a good girl and climb in first. I’ll climb in right behind you.” Maddie didn’t move until he gave her a gentle push. “And then we’ll be just as snug as two bugs in a rug,” he added with another one of those husky chuckles that unnerved her. “Which is an appropriate way to be if you’re sleeping with a famous entomologist, I would think.”
“I wouldn’t give up my day job,” Maddie scoffed. “A comedian you aren’t.” She slid under the covers and scooted as far to the opposite side of the bed as humanly possible. It didn’t work. He scooted right in behind her. A piece of paper couldn’t have been wedged between them. Okay, you can do this, Maddie told herself. Like the man said, we’re both two mature adults. We’re both exhausted. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t get a little sleep.
Not that Maddie intended to fall asleep. After all, she was handcuffed to a total stranger who had her sexual motor running faster than a turbo-charged Indy race car! But she would get some rest. Rest was important if she wanted to survive the next three days. Yes, she would just lie there in the darkness awake, still as a mouse, and pretend she was asleep. Maybe then he would stop all the snuggly-buggly crapola that was driving her out of her usually focused mind.
But God, he did feel good pressed up against her, she admitted with a mental moan. In fact, they were a perfect fit. She would never have pictured Hawk as a cuddler kind of guy. But lying there in the darkness in that intimate spooning position, suddenly made the whole point of cuddling crystal clear to Maddie. Until she felt an unmistakable bulge pressing against her backside.
“Okay, soldier. That better be a hand grenade in your pocket,” Maddie warned, hoping the nervousness she felt wasn’t evident in her voice.
The second he moved away, Maddie let out a deep sigh of relief. Or was it regret? Whatever! Maddie was simply too exhausted to sort it all out. Unable to suppress a yawn, she mumbled, “It’s going to be a long three days.”
“Hopefully, long enough,” he said with a yawn of his own.
Maddie didn’t dare ask, “Long enough for what?”
She had a feeling she already knew the answer.
5
THE SOUND OF THE BEDROOM door closing launched Maddie into a sitting position. Thankfully her iron bracelet and her bed-buddy were now both gone.
“God, what a night,” she groaned, glaring at Brad’s beside clock. It was only 6:00 a.m., but he had been up and on the move for at least an hour while she kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. Amazingly she had managed to stay awake most of the night, long after the sound of Brad’s even breathing told her he was out for the count; a fact that upset her whether Maddie wanted to admit it or not.
Yes, her, she mused. Dr. Madeline Morgan, the woman who only had time for her career, had actually been a bit disappointed that the handsome hunk who had taken her prisoner hadn’t been a little more persistent about his boastful house-playing threat.
And what would you have done if he had tried to get a little frisky? her pesky libido wanted to know.
Refusing to even ponder that question in her sleep-deprived state, Maddie scrambled from the bed and made a mad dash for the bathroom. The reflection she saw in the mirror a few seconds later, however, sent her fist to her mouth to stifle a scream.
Her hair, which had never fully recovered from the helicopter wind storm, looked as if she had contemplated dreadlocks but left the task only halfway completed. An ugly purple bruise the size of a quarter had popped out above her right eyebrow. And worse yet, the skin now seemed to be missing on the very tip of her nose. Praying her bloodshot eyes were only distorting her image, Maddie leaned closer to the mirror, then reached up and tweaked the bright red spot. An instant stab of pain told her bloodshot or not, her eyes still had perfect 20/20 vision.
“If this isn’t a day for heavy makeup, I don’t know what would be,” Maddie grumbled aloud, then remembered all she had with her were the clothes on her back.
Wonderful, she thought, frowning at her horrid reflection. No wonder she had awakened to an empty bed. The way she looked, she suspected Mr. Air Force was probably in the other room now, still hyperventilating over the shock of waking up next to Medusa, snake hair