Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,33
hit the road.”
His mouth edged up. “Good idea.”
Despite hustling and getting lucky with traffic, with the extra time it took to get Ben’s pistol through security, they missed their plane.
“Dammit!” Ben turned away from the boarding gate, stalked over to the waiting area and plopped down in one of the empty seats.
“LAX is a busy place,” Claire commented, sitting down beside him. People of every size and shape walked past, some dressed in jogging suits and sneakers like they were out for a morning run, some sporting tattoos and piercings, a few in business suits, all of them in a hurry. Kids scrambled to keep up with their parents, who tugged on their hands or chided them to move faster.
Ben seemed not to notice. Claire could feel the frustration coming off him in waves.
“Maybe we should call the police,” she said, “have them check out the address.”
“If Troy sees cops, he might take Sam and run. Next time it’ll be even harder to find him.”
The minutes crawled past as they sat in the waiting area, Ben working his laptop, Claire on her iPad, checking her email, sending a message to Mary Wilson. She wanted to find out about Ryan, make sure the boy was okay.
It was almost time to board the plane when her BlackBerry started ringing. Claire recognized the caller ID, considered letting it go straight to voice mail, then relented and answered.
“Hello, Michael.”
“Hello, Claire.”
“Michael, I’m kind of busy right now, is there something you wanted?”
“I just wanted to hear the sound of your voice.”
She looked over at Ben, saw him watching her, a scowl on his ruggedly handsome face. “I didn’t expect to hear from you until you finished your assignment.”
“I’m still in L.A. I don’t leave for a couple more days. I thought maybe I could come over and we could talk.”
There was a time she had yearned to talk more openly with Michael. That time was gone.
“I’m just about to get on a plane. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
A long silence on the phone. “You’re not...with that guy, are you?”
She could feel Ben’s hard gaze boring into her. “We’re working together, trying to find Sam. I told you that, Michael.”
She felt a hand on her shoulder. “They’re boarding the plane. You can talk to your boyfriend later.”
She gave him the same dark look he was giving her. “I have to go. Take care of yourself, Michael.” She didn’t give him time to reply, just ended the call and went over to where Ben waited for her at the boarding gate.
Having missed the first flight, stuck with potluck seating, Claire wasn’t able to sit next to him. Fine with her. She didn’t like the way her attraction to Ben kept surfacing, her heart skipping when those steel-blue eyes met hers, the way she had to try not to stare at his amazing biceps, or the shape of the muscles outlined beneath his T-shirt.
She didn’t want to get involved with him, didn’t want to feel this constant sexual awareness. She told herself in time she would get used to being around him, but it was impossible to convince herself.
After a short hour-and-twenty-minute flight, the plane landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Making their way to the baggage claim, Ben picked up the bag he’d been forced to check because of his weapon while Claire pulled her carry-on over to the rental car desk to pick up the vehicle Ben had reserved.
A silver Chevy Tahoe four-wheel-drive SUV waited in the Hertz parking lot. No more compact cars for Ben.
It was after seven by the time they were ready to leave the airport. The sun went down early this time of year and darkness had settled in. Ben threw her bag in the back of the Tahoe, set his duffel down and unzipped it. He took his empty pistol out of its locked travel case, shoved the loaded clip back in and reholstered the weapon. Just watching him made her nervous.
Ben stashed the gun in the console, then punched Lyla Holden’s address into the navigation system. A few minutes later, they were driving out of the parking lot, heading for the I-10 freeway.
The early-October weather was dry and warm, not the burning hot of a Phoenix summer. A slight breeze cleared the air, giving them a view of the barren desert mountains in the distance. The evening traffic wasn’t too bad, thinning as they drove farther out of the city.