“Then you’ll know where to hide.” He stopped in front of the door and looked back at her, his eyes hard. “I’m not kidding, Mia. You’re going to stay where I put you. I have to do some seriously dirty work to get us all out of this and I can’t do it while I’m worried about you. You agreed to obey me. We might not have a written contract in place, but there’s a verbal one and I expect you to abide by it or there will be harsh punishment. Am I understood?”
“You can’t expect me to hide while you’re in danger.”
“I don’t merely expect it. If I think I won’t get it, I’ll tie you up myself and stash you.”
Arrogant ass. “Fine. There’s a closet in my brother’s office built for just such a scenario. Apparently the last owner was very safety conscious. I’ll cower in there while you get horribly murdered.”
His expression didn’t change at all. “Excellent. You’ll forgive me if I tuck you in myself.”
He didn’t trust her at all. “I can find my way.”
His hand clutched hers. “Not on your life. The office is the one across the hall from here?”
She nodded. If she really looked at it, maybe this wasn’t about trusting her so much as he was worried about her. That was a much better way to look at it. Even in the midst of serious chaos, she preferred to look on the bright side. Sure she was covered in some dude’s blood and Case was being an unreasonable asshole, but he was likely one of those guys who didn’t handle pressure well. Women were infinitely more suited to handle stress than men. She had to encourage him. If he thought he worked better without her, there wasn’t exactly a ton of time to argue her point.
But they would have a serious discussion about it later.
“Mia?”
She rolled her eyes and then sighed. “I’ll hide.”
“Come on. You stay behind me.”
She didn’t point out that the hall went both ways so there was a fifty-fifty chance that he would be behind her from the would-be kidnapper’s point of view. Again, likely not the time to question him. Mia followed him as he opened the door and checked the hall, only bringing her out when he seemed sure they were safe. Luckily it was only a few steps to the office.
Mia was so tempted to try to see back out into the cabin, but Case hauled her along.
She found herself standing in Drew’s office.
“Where is it?” Case looked around the office, trying to find what was cleverly hidden.
Mia moved to the wood-paneled wall behind Drew’s desk. There were three floor-to-ceiling panels and the one in the middle hid the tiny safe place…she couldn’t call it a room. It was basically a closet.
Who the hell thought to put shit like this on a plane? It wasn’t like the cops could show up to save her at thirty thousand feet. All this casket of a room really did was fuck up her life. She touched the right place and it opened, revealing the tiny space with its cameras. She’d never been in it. Now she realized she could see every room from a small bank of monitors in the wall.
Her brother was such a liar. “I don’t think this is a safe room at all. This is like a creepy watch place. He could see into the bedroom from here. Ewww. I don’t want to know why there’s a box of tissues in here, do I?”
He pushed her inside. “I don’t care. Don’t you open this door until you know it’s me outside. I’m trusting you. I can’t do what I need to do unless I know you’re safe.”
He reached for her, his hand cupping the back of her neck and pulling her in. He kissed her, his mouth dominating hers. Her body relaxed, his need calling to her on every level. She molded her body to his, letting her hands run up the muscles of his back. So strong. So forceful. He was everything she needed in a man. With the singular exception of not understanding how competent she was, he was practically perfect.
She kissed him with everything she had. The passion between them was off the fucking charts. Never before had she felt anything close to the emotion she had for Case. Sometimes it felt like it had always been Case. Like she’d waited all her life for this one infuriating, arrogant, sexy as hell, other half of her soul man.
“Don’t you dare die, Taggart.” She held him fiercely for a moment before letting him go.
Loving Case Taggart would likely mean being in this moment over and over again. He wouldn’t ever quit trying to save his friends and his family and the world. He was that guy and she was crazy about him.
He smiled as he looked down at her. “Not now, Lawless. Not when I’m so fucking close to what I want. You be safe.”
He kissed her once more and then stepped back.
She knew what he wanted. He wanted her and that was why she reached up and touched the button that closed the panel between them.
Her heart immediately ached. It closed with a little thud. She placed her hands against that door as though she could still feel him.
With a long breath, she sat back and tried to deal with being left behind. She glanced down at the cameras. There was a keyboard in front of her. This was how her pervert brother kept up with what happened all around his plane. Including what happened in that bedroom.