Page 38 of Savage Escape
14
NATHAN
Nathan was unceremoniously slapped awake.
“Caden.” It was a whoosh of breath that left his gut when he shot upward and slammed head-first into something horribly hard. “Fuuu-dge.”
He groaned and slowly lowered his aching body and head back down, not bothering to open his eyes, until the dizziness settled and the nausea didn’t overwhelm him.
“You okay, Princess?” He could hear the smile in her voice.
Relief sagged his shoulders at the sound of her low, husky voice. She was alive. They were alive. Captured again or not, she was alive. He cracked an eye open and located Caden in the cramped space. She was hunched by his shoulders, sitting on the floor of the car she’d stolen. A bone-melting kind of ease had him breathing deeply and smiling. She’d gotten them out.
“You’d think you’d treat a princess a wee bit better. Maybe, ya know, and this is just a thought, you could have kissed me awake—like any proper knight in shining armor knows to do.”
Nathan felt more than saw the utter stillness that settled over her after he spoke. No tiny movements, no fabric moving against skin, not even the sound of her breathing. He swiveledhis pounding head in her direction and listened intently for any sign of a hidden enemy.
Her dark eyes were locked on his. That frozen darkness in her eyes shifted and softened just a tiny bit. She looked... vulnerable and innocent. Nathan was careful not to show any kind of shock on his face, not wanting to startle her out of this new mood.
The stillness in her melted and she leaned forward until the space between their lips could no longer be counted in centimeters. Nathan drew a shaky breath, watching as her dark eyes focused on his lips. Blood, sweat, and cordite hung in the air. He was in pain, or he should have been feeling his newly acquired bullet holes, but with Caden’s lips so close to his, all he could feel was anticipation and a sense of awe.
For a breathless moment, she pressed her busted lips to his. It was soft and sweet and short, but Nathan felt the touch in his bones. It left him breathless and excited and triumphant and possessive and all kinds of things that made his head swim.
She moved away the barest inch, wavered like she wanted to kiss him again, but then sat back on her haunches. That hard thing in her eyes was firmly back in place.
“You’ve been out for half an hour—maybe.” All business again, she opened the door and managed to get out only using one arm. “We’re in a barn. I doubt anyone’s followed us. You’re looking kinda shock-y. Here.” She put an open bag of Skittles in his hand and turned her attention to the pile of weapons on the floorboard of the SUV.
“What happened to your arm?” Nathan sat up, slower this time, so he didn’t bash his head against the SUV’s frame again. “What’d I miss?”
“You didn’t miss much. You fainted. I loaded your heavy ass into the vehicle, I got into it with this asshat, and I dislocated my arm. I thought about knocking over a mini-mart, but decided that we’d squat for now.” She selected a Colt, a hand cannon withstopping power, from the pile of guns she’d collected while he was out. “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait—where the hell are you going?” Nathan tried to stand, but he was too slow. She was already at the door. “Caden!”
“Stop yellin’! I’m going to make sure the house is empty.” She offered a smile, not the shark smile he was used to, but an honest to god reassuring smile that had him stumbling to regain his balance.
He was feeling pain now. It was like he’d survived getting run over by an eighteen-wheeler. Sharp pain was radiating from both his shoulder and his leg. When he put weight on his shot leg, lightning bolts of white-hot pain would shoot up his leg and set his nerves on fire. Sweaty and clammy and shaking like a leaf. God, he needed to nap. And shower. Especially if he was going to do any seducing. He couldn’t do any wooing smelling like blood and guns and dirt, at least not if he was planning on succeeding.
Nathan went still, pushing the searing pain to the back of his mind, and mentally took inventory of all his hurts. His limbs were shaking, not just trembling, but actually shaking. He was cold and getting colder. Nathan recognized the signs of shock and promptly swallowed a handful of Skittles. The sugar would combat the adrenaline crash.
The man absorbed his surroundings, looking for a makeshift crutch. The only light in the place was the sunlight shining through the walls. It was a standard barn with stalls and hay bales. A loft on his right with a ladder leading up to it, wood slats under his boots, and high ceilings. It looked as if it hadn’t been used in years.
Caden had obviously driven through the double doors on the far end of the building, effectively hiding the vehicle. The SUV had no bullet holes, not in the doors or the tail, which maybe meant they hadn’t even been pursued out of the compound.
He spotted a broom in the corner and limped his way to it. He could flip it over and prop the blunt end under his arm and hope that it would hold up under his weight.
“Nathan!” Her voice was sharp and almost panicked. “Oh.” She located him in the gloom and visibly untensed. “Don’t—don’t” Nathan watched her stutter and then scowl accusingly at him like he was somehow the cause of her speech problems. “Don’t wander off. Don’t go where I can’t see you.”
“Quinn, I’m a middle-aged grown-ass man.” Was she serious? How did he even respond to something so ludicrous? “I’m not gonna get lost. Well, I might, but I’ll be able to handle it.”
“Yeah, well, the last time you wandered off on your own, you got shot.Twice. That’s two, count ‘em,twonear-death experiences, and all because you didn’t stay with me. And we’re still not outta the woods with your bullet wounds either, so you may still die. So, you’re staying in my line of sight or I’m gonna knock ya out and drag your ass around.”
Nathan didn’t possess the energy to fight with her, besides the fact that the whole situation had been one big near-death experience on top of a big ol’ pile of near-death experiences shared by both parties.She’dbeen the one to be in a near-constant state of peril. Not him. But it was nice that she cared enough to start making demands of him.
“Is the house empty?” He limped slowly back to where she was stuffing her pockets with their weapons, the makeshift crutch holding up under his weight. She spared him a cursory glance, still looking reproachful.
“Yep, looks like it’s been vacant for a while. You think you can make it—it’s a ways to the house.”
“Yeah.” He wasn’t feeling up to even walking, but there was a bed at the place she wanted him to go. A bed and a shower and possibly even food. “Let’s do it.”