money I’d stashed into a bag over the past year, packed our things, and walked out,” she said bluntly. “And I never looked back.”
I gave a low whistle. “That’s ballsy.”
Her laugh sounded out from the seat next to me. “Not really. It was either do that or give up my own life to that sort of abuse—and curse Rhea to it as well, one day. I wasn’t willing to waste her. Or myself. So I took the only option I had. Haven’t seen him since.”
“Does he live in San Jose? Don’t you run into him there?”
“He does, and I don’t. He never wanted anything to do with our daughter, so it’s not like he has any reason to seek me out. He definitely doesn’t want me telling anyone about how he treated us. So he leaves me alone.”
Alice, I thought, was a lot of things. Weak was definitely not one of them. And I wouldn’t want her as an enemy. The fact was, I was starting to realize that I would want her as a friend. And if it came right down to it, a whole lot more than that.
And the other thing was… well, as you’ve seen, I didn’t miss the flash of her eyes when she looked at me, or the way she glanced at my lips while I was feeding her that cheeseburger. I knew what was on my mind… and I could see that it was on hers, as well.
The problem was, I couldn’t act on it. Not now, not ever. It violated my contract with my clients, and every set of morals I had. Because yeah, I did have morals. Even a kidnapper had those. Or at least, this one did. But I needed the money from the job. Desperately. And I didn’t think she’d get hurt.
Still, it would have been a huge mistake to say that I wasn’t rethinking my involvement in this situation. Partially because I couldn’t say for sure that she would be okay.
And partially because I didn’t want to think about letting her out of the van and never seeing her again.
Chapter 14
Alice
I wasn’t sure what I’d said or why he was reacting the way he was, but when the silence started to stretch to the point that I could have cut it with a damn knife, I decided maybe we’d better change the subject. And that was just fine, because as long as we were talking about backgrounds, there were a few things I wanted to know myself.
“So what about you?” I asked. “How did you come to be in the business of kidnapping?”
Jack sighed, long and hard, and I settled into my seat—then realized that I was still handcuffed to it and that it would be a whole lot more comfortable to settle into said seat for the long story if I could do things like cross my arms.
“First,” I said, interrupting his indrawn breath. “How about we uncuff me? I know you’re worried about me escaping, but I promise not to jump out of the vehicle while we’re moving. I’m not suicidal.”
He threw a quick glance at my hand where it was handcuffed to the seat, and I watched that glance turn hotter as it slid up my torso to my chest, and then to my face.
I felt heat rush through me at the sight, coming to rest between my legs, where my body let me know in no uncertain terms that it remembered what we’d been doing in that apartment before he decided to play kidnapper—and that it wouldn’t mind going back to that role.
I squirmed a bit at the thought, catching my breath as the material of the sweats slid up against skin that was more sensitive than it had been, and then forced my thoughts back to the handcuffs—and the fact that I wanted them off. I yanked at them twice, making them rattle to demonstrate my point.
“Hey, kidnapper guy. Handcuffs? Off?” I asked pointedly.
He dragged his eyes back to the cuffs, and then to the road in front of us—the highway was completely deserted, which was no surprise really, since it was getting to be the middle of the night on a Friday and we were, according to the signs, driving to Reno rather than Vegas—and sighed. “You promise not to try to escape?”
“Where do you think I’m going to go?” I asked, gesturing out the window. “I’d have to jump from a van going at least eighty miles an hour and survive the