The ring of the cell phone on the seat beside her had her heart racing again. Picking it up, she glanced at the number, fortified her courage, and flipped the phone open to answer it. "Leave me alone for now," she ordered briskly, praying she sounded more determined than she truly was.
"You picked the perfect time to leave." Shayne's chuckle came through the line. "Khalid was on his way to your apartment as you pulled from the garage."
"That's what I pretty much figured," she informed him. "I need some time."
"You should have thought about that before you shared his bed last night." Shayne's tone became firmer. "What the hell is going on, Marty? You're not some flighty kid. Why the hell are you running from him?"
Because she didn't know what to say, what to do. Because she wanted to dream of happily ever afters and she was terribly afraid those couldn't exist in Khalid's arms. He couldn't hold her after taking the innocence she had saved for him. He could only give her half truths. What made her think he would ever do more than f**k her?
She should have considered this; she should have thought of it. But she would have sworn he felt more for her than simple lust.
"I need to think," she finally breathed out roughly. "I'll call him later."
Shayne grunted at that. "Does Khalid seem like a man you can dangle on a string, sweetheart? I think you know better."
Yes, she knew better. And she had a feeling Khalid would reinforce that impression.
"I didn't ask for your opinion," she muttered.
"I volunteered it," he stated, his voice like dark silk. "If I were you, I'd return to the estate."
She laughed at the order. "Go to hell. Look, I'm certain you'll be talking to Khalid soon if you're not still at the estate. Tell him I'll call him later. I have some things I have to sort out, and I can't do that in his bed."
"You may not have a choice," he growled.
"Yeah. Right." She laughed into the line as she made her turn and took the road to her parents' home. "When I no longer have a choice is when you'll be burying me, Shayne. Now go away. I have things to do that don't include you."
"For the moment." Though low, his tone was intense, commanding.
"Good-bye, Shayne." Flipping the phone closed, she cut him off as effectively as possible and ignored its strident ring as it lay in the passenger seat.
No man ordered her around, and she was going to be damned if she was going to allow Shayne or Khalid to do so.
She could see this situation deteriorating rapidly, and she knew it was her own fault. She shouldn't have run. She should have faced this; she should have faced Khalid and demanded what she knew was her due as a lover. Spending the night in his study was not acceptable loverlike behavior as far as she was concerned.
But perhaps it wasn't just Khalid's fault. From the moment the intensity of her orgasm had begun to ease, Marty had known she had entered a realm of sensation and emotions that she wasn't prepared for.
She had been suddenly terrified of a broken heart. In the moments after that final orgasm she had sensed that she had already allowed herself to cross a line. She had invested much more of herself in a man than she had ever intended.
Pulling to a stop at the intersection, she waited for the car in the opposite lane to proceed first, her mind still racing to figure out how to handle her personal life.
She was distracted, and she knew better than to allow herself to do that. Khalid and Shayne had her off balance, but not so off balance that she didn't see the black car as it raced from its parked position farther up the street or the barrel of the rifle as it was shoved out the back window.
Bullets tore into the front of her vehicle as Marty jerked the wheel to the right, stomped the gas, and started praying as the window shattered. A scream tore from her lips as she ducked, and her foot hit the gas harder.
Another blast blew out the back window, and a second later she heard the scream of tires, horns blowing, and the sound of voices raised high in shock. The vehicle slammed to a hard, shocking stop, throwing her forward into the steering wheel. For a moment the world seemed to tilt on a crazy axis. She could hear sirens in the distance. Her cell phone was ringing again, that crazy "Who Can It Be Now" ringtone echoing in her head as she fought to get her bearings.
She struggled to reach the phone on the passenger seat as she lay across the console, the world still tilting around her.
"Hello?" Her voice was scratchy, weak. It didn't sound like her, even to her own ears.
"Marty?" Shayne's voice was instantly concerned. "What's wrong?"
She tried to push herself upright. "I'll have to call you back. Someone just tried to blow my head off." She was going to throw up. "Bye, Shayne."
She could hear him screaming her name as she flipped the phone closed and took a hard, deep breath. Her stomach was roiling. A sense of vertigo plagued her, as she struggled to sit upright.
She hadn't hit her head. She hadn't been shot. The car had slammed into a tree, however.