Christmas Stalking

“Can’t you wait a couple of minutes?”

“Morning breath. Hang on.”

“Jade, please.”

She took pity on him, and a moment later, he’d shut himself behind the door.

He knew she was waiting for him to leave so she could finish with her teeth, but even after taking care of business, he still had a bit of a problem, and he didn’t want to go into the living room with the tent in his pants.

He grabbed his toothbrush and anointed it with minty toothpaste. He got it as far as his mouth before he realized he’d left her out there on her own. He dropped the toothbrush and threw open the door.

Jade was right outside, holding up her still-wet toothbrush. She blinked at him and shrank back.

Thank God she hadn’t run. Not that she could have gotten far. But he didn’t need the aggravation. He had to remember to keep her cuffed when he wasn’t with her. He sucked as a kidnapper.

Her bare legs drew his gaze, as did her cherry red, painted toenails. He forced himself to look away. “Stay right here.”

He went back inside and finished brushing his teeth, leaving the door open so he could keep an eye on her.

JADE WATCHED HIM at the sink, studying the curve of his backside, the breadth of his shoulders. Nothing personal. It was like looking at a piece of art. The important thing was not to look down at his jeans. His arousal had nothing to do with her, but everything to do with Max being a guy. All she had to do was keep her gaze on his face. So the second he opened the door, her gaze went right there. Just like that.

The tent had folded.

Which just proved that he was a normal guy, and she was clearly a perv. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, glad that he couldn’t see the bright red blush on her cheeks. So okay, she had to admit that under ordinary circumstances, the sight of Max’s body would generate considerable interest. He didn’t have the overbuilt weight lifter’s upper body, but he didn’t seem to have an ounce of extra fat either. And just enough chest and stomach hair to be interesting, a light trail heading downward from his abs….

Jade shook her head as she turned on the water. Good God, what did it say about her that she’d been kidnapped, stolen from her life by a man who quite possibly was a cold-blooded killer, and she was thinking about his abs? Maybe a therapist wasn’t such a bad idea.

She finished in the bathroom, having chastised herself to the point of boredom, and reentered the living room. When she’d first arrived last night, she’d been far too worried about Max to really examine her surroundings, so she took advantage of the moment to look around.

It appeared to be one of those manufactured log cabins, a single large room divided into sections more by furniture than architecture, with the exception of a countertop between the kitchenette and the rest of the room and the half wall by the bathroom. Nothing that clued her to the sanity—or lack thereof—of Max Travis. Nothing that could be fashioned into a weapon.

She bent over the desk and looked out.

Trees. Snow. Tire tracks disappearing into the distance.

Where the hell was she?

Max walked over to stand next to her. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“If you like the middle of nowhere.”

“My dad used to bring me out here hunting when I was a kid. It’s in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

“Fabulous. So you’ve got me in rural hell. What’s your plan now?”

Max’s piercing blue eyes met her gaze. “I’m going into town to make some calls.”

“What about me?”

“Get dressed.”

She looked down at the blue pajamas, at her bare legs, forgotten in the face of the winter desolation outside. As she headed to the chair where she’d left her clothes, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Want some cornflakes?”

“Sure,” she said absently, her excitement mounting. If he took her into town with him, she had a much better chance of getting away.

“They’ll be ready when you are.”

True to his word, when Jade came out of the bathroom, there was a box of cornflakes, a bowl, a quart of milk, a sugar bowl, and a few packets of Sweet ’n Low on the table.

“Only one bowl.”

“Like I said. I have some things to do.”

“What about me? I’m going with you, right?”

“You won’t be bored. You’re going to be reading.”

Jade stood with her hands on her hips. “You can’t just leave me here.”

Smiling, he opened his briefcase. “There’s all this, and some stuff on my laptop. I don’t know how much you’ll be able to get through in a couple of hours…”

“Couple of hours?”

“That’s how long I figure it’ll take me to make some calls, get some more groceries and pick you up some clothes.”

“Clothes?”

“You need some warm shoes, warm clothes.”

Her shoulders sagged. “So you’re not going to let me go.”

“Not yet.” He sighed. “I have a friend—someone who’s been helping me track down leads—between him and a guy I know with the FBI I’ll see if I can’t work out a way to get you back without me getting my head blown off. In the meantime, you’ll read.”

After she sat, she poured some cornflakes into the bowl, then looked up at him. “You’re going to leave me here alone?”

“Cuffed to the bed, so don’t get too excited.”

“What if something happens to you?”

“You mean if the cops stop me?”

She nodded.

“I’ll send them back here to get you.”

“Yeah, right.”