No Escape From War (Trouble for Hire #1) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,11
fatal mistake.”
“Oh, shit. Oh, shit.” The man—his name tag identified him as Todd—began to shake. “No one is there, I swear it! I didn’t assign that room to anyone!”
“Who did you tell about her?”
“What?” His face scrunched.
“Someone came here asking questions about her. You gave that someone her room number. I want to know who it was. Describe him to me. Tell me everything.”
But Todd shook his head. “You.”
“Me—what?”
“You’re the only one who came asking questions! Just you. You gave me a twenty for her room number.”
“Twenty dollars?” Rose piped in to say. “Really? That’s it?”
Jaw locking, War kept his glare on Todd. “Someone tried to kill my fiancée tonight.”
“Now I’m your fiancée?” Rose inquired. “Good to know.”
He ignored Rose. For the moment. “I take someone attacking her very personally. If I find out you are lying to me, Todd, I will be back. I will make your life hell, I promise you.”
“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Todd was looking a little green. “I don’t like confrontations. Could you let me—”
War shoved Todd back. “He attacked her. He could have killed her. Think about that the next time you give up a woman’s room number for twenty dollars.”
“But I only told you!”
“Yeah, but for all you knew, I could have been the murdering asshole.” He wasn’t going to get anything from Todd. The man was scared to death, and War didn’t think he was lying.
But I’ll still dig into his life.
He shoved a card at the guy. “You think of something else, you remember seeing someone else, you call this number, got it?”
A white card with a number embossed in black.
Todd nodded quickly. The card vanished in his sweaty grip.
War spun back to Rose. “Come on. We should get the hell out of here.”
Her brows climbed. She looked back at Todd, then toward War. “Fine.” She headed outside with him without another word. She immediately turned her body toward the Jeep.
“No, sweetheart. We’re taking my ride.” His hands closed around her shoulders, and he angled her toward his car, a beast of a classic Impala from ’67 that he’d spent countless hours lovingly restoring after he’d done his last mission as a SEAL.
“What? Why?”
“Because the jackass who was in your room probably knows what you were driving. We have to assume that.” He wasn’t about to take any chances. “Maybe he was at the restaurant earlier. Maybe he saw you there and followed you. However he figured it out, the Jeep stays, and you come with me.”
He thought she’d argue. He was ready for arguments. But Rose just grimly nodded, and that worried the hell out of him. She’s still afraid.
“I hid my bag under the passenger seat. Just let me get it, all right?”
He got it for her. Then he unlocked the passenger side of his ride and wrenched open the Impala’s door even as he mentally gave an apology to his baby for being so rough with her handles. “Get in the car,” he told Rose.
She slid inside. Looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.” He shut the door, using much more care. He stored Rose’s small bag in the trunk. Moments later, he was in the driver’s seat and cranking the engine. It purred like the perfect machine it was.
Her fingers touched his hand. “You saved my life. If you hadn’t come in when you did, he would have killed me.”
That was not the visual War wanted in his head. Rage was still twisting inside of him, getting thicker and hotter. “If I hadn’t left you cuffed in the bathroom, you would have at least had a fighting chance.” His head turned so he could stare at her. “I’m sorry.”
Her lips pressed together. “Are we…friends again?”
“We were never friends.” Things had always been too hot and too complicated between them. “Friends don’t want to constantly fuck each other.” He reversed the car.
“Oh.”
She didn’t deny the constant desire. Good to know it had been mutual.
“If we’re not friends, then what are we?” Rose asked him.
His lips parted. I’m the man who will stand between you and any damn threat out there. And you—you are—
“War? What are we?”
“Hell if I know.” He slanted her a fast glance. “Buckle your seatbelt.”
Her fingers slid away. Fumbling, she buckled the seatbelt.
“You’re going to tell me everything. You’re going to explain to me exactly what has happened and why the hell we aren’t going to the cops after that jackass just tried to kill you.”