Critical Density Read online

  She sensed rather than saw him when he took his seat again and she heard the buckle on his seat belt click.

  “We’re about thirty minutes from touchdown,” he told her. “You can try to catch a little more shuteye if you want.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping. I don’t think my brain will turn off enough for it.”

  “Been there too many times myself.” His deep voice had a touch of humor. “But sometimes just being quiet is good, too.”

  “Yes, well, I’ve had two weeks of being quiet and by the time I broke loose tonight, I was done with it. Viper, if you’re really going to help me with this, you have to tell me what your fee is. I have a healthy bank account. Comes from never doing anything to spend money. But still, I want to make sure I can afford this.”

  He leaned forward and took her hands again, like he’d done before. Their warmth and slight roughness were soothing to her jangled nerves, and the scent of outdoors that he carried was better than the most expensive men’s cologne. Every time he touched her, it seemed that a hunger she’d thought had disappeared reared its hungry head.

  Great, Hannah. You’re in what might be the crisis of your life and you keep thinking about sex with this guy. Shouldn’t you find out if you’re going to stay out of prison first?

  “Did I say that before? Money is never an issue. The Powerball set us up for life, plus we get hefty fees from the people who have hefty bank accounts. When we started Galaxy, we made a decision that if we believed in someone, were convinced they needed our kind of help, something they couldn’t get anywhere else, money wouldn‘t be a factor. So drop that from your mind.”

  “I can’t tell you…” She swallowed and started again, hoping he wouldn’t let go of her hands. “I can’t tell you what that means to me.”

  “If it helps you relax a little, then it’s good.” He squeezed her hands.

  “Thank you.”

  She didn’t know what else to say, so she tried to make herself relax for the rest of the trip, and not worry about where she’d end up after they landed. Viper was tapping into his phone as she closed her eyes. She must have dozed after all, because the next thing she knew was the wheels bumping on the tarmac. She opened her eyes and looked out of the window, watching as the plane taxied to the hangar in the private plane section of the airport. They rolled to a smooth stop. Viper unbuckled his seat belt and held out his hand to her. His grin was warming, as was his touch.

  “Ride’s over. Time to get off the plane.”

  Hannah swallowed and accepted his help. Now what? She’d better come up very fast with someplace for him to drop her off or she’d have to beg him to let her sleep on the plane. But before she could get a sentence together, he was nudging her forward to where Saint had opened the cabin door and lowered the stairs.

  “Careful getting down,” he told her.

  When she stepped onto the tarmac, she stopped, still unsure of what came next. She felt like someone’s poor relative begging for a handout. It wasn’t a very good impression to make on the sexiest man she’d met in, well, probably forever.

  “Hold on one sec while I talk to Saint.”

  Viper didn’t wait for an answer, just strode over to the pilot, who was doing the post-flight check.

  She looked around at other planes on the tarmac either finished with their flight or getting ready to taxi. People were coming and going from the building she knew was called the FBO—fixed base operation, or terminal, in layman’s terms—that served the private planes. It was certainly a busy place, much busier than the smaller airport where Lowden kept its plane. Her brain was doing its usual thing, trying to calculate area and angles, when Viper was back beside her.

  “He’s all set. Come on.” He cupped her elbow with his palm. “Let’s get moving.”

  “Come on where? I have no place to go. I can’t go back to the hotel. I don’t have a lot of cash with me…”

  “No worries. I’m taking you with me.”

  Taking me? With him?

  “Um, are you at someplace special?”

  “Not really. We’re close to the airport. The only reason I was downtown was that I had to meet someone for dinner. Saint had the choice of coming along or not and he chose not. The good part about this is the people looking for you have no idea we’ve connected or where I’ll be putting you up.”

  “Thank god for that.”

  But still, as they drove away, she couldn’t help studying other cars on the road and wondering if any of them were following her.

  No, dummy. Like he said, there’s no way they can know where I am. This man whisked me away slick as rain.

  But she also was aware that Lowden had all kinds of contacts and resources, so anything was possible.

  They rode in silence for a while until Viper turned off the highway into the parking lot of a small hotel. Hannah noticed that no cars turned in behind them, which made her relax a tiny bit. She stared at the sign near the entrance.

  “All suites? Isn’t that expensive?”

  He laughed. “When I say it doesn’t matter, I’m just stating a fact, not bragging. But when I have to stay overnight someplace, I like my creature comforts and I also like being out of the mainstream of traffic.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say…except, was she supposed to share his suite with him? How many beds were there? What would she sleep in? All she had were the clothes on her back.

  Shut up. At least no one from Lowden knows where you are.

  Instead of parking in the lot in front or to the side, Viper drove around to the back of the building and parked in the shadow of the main overhang.

  “Here we are.” He went around, opened her door for her and helped her out. “No one knows you’re with me, but I’m not taking any chances.”

  He used a key card to open a back door that led into a corridor lined with doors to suites. Halfway down the hallway, he stopped, unlocked another door and gestured for her to go on in.

  The living room was what she’d call quiet luxury. Thick carpeting on the floor and simple but elegantly styled furniture. A fireplace with a big flat screen television hung over it. To the left, French doors to the bedroom stood partially open, and she carefully restrained herself from staring in that direction.

  “Okay.” Viper closed the door and double locked it. “I’ll feel a lot better in the morning when we get you the hell out of Houston. I told Saint we want to be wheels up by seven.” He studied her face. “That okay with you? You haven’t left any kind of trail, and at least at the moment, they don’t know about me. But just in case they decide to get more manpower and do a sweep of the downtown areas, I don’t want to take a chance on someone remembering you.”

  A shiver tiptoed the length of her spine. “I certainly don’t.”

  What next? Who’d assign the sleeping places? Should she just curl up on the couch? She was getting to the point where even the floor looked good.

  “I’ll bunk on the couch out here, and you can take the bedroom.”

  His deep voice broke into her wandering thoughts.

  She looked up at him. “Oh, no. That’s not right. Besides, I think I’d fit on the couch better than you do. You’d be all cramped up on there.”

  He chuckled, a sound as warm as hot chocolate. “Believe me, I’ve slept in much worse places in conditions you wouldn’t believe. It’s not a problem. Come on. Let me show you where you’ll sleep.”

  Lightly clasping her arm, he nudged her into the large master bedroom, which she noticed had… Aha! Two large beds. She had only met this man a few hours ago, and what did she really know about him? He was a great kisser and he said he could protect her while he took care of her situation. Well, that was more than she could say about anyone else in her life right now.

  She wet her lips and dredged up her courage. “There are two beds in here. There’s no reason for you to get crippled on that couch.”

  He turned her to face him, his eyes darkening almost to navy, the flecks of gold
like tiny flames.

  “I don’t think I could ask you to do that.”

  “You didn’t ask,” she pointed out. “I suggested. That’s different.”

  Again he pinned her with that electric gaze. “Aren’t you afraid of what I might do?”

  She let out a long sigh.

  “If you had that in mind, you’ve had plenty time for it to happen.” Her lips turned up in a small grin. “And truthfully, I’m so drained it would probably be like taking a wooden dummy to bed.”

  He slid his hands slowly up her arms to her head and cupped her cheeks.

  “I’m not sure that would be even possible.” He searched her face for a long moment. “I should be polite and stick to the couch, but you know what? No one ever accused me of being polite. If you’re sure you’re okay with it, I accept.” His mouth slanted in that sexy grin again. “We’ll be roommates.”

  Despite the late hour and a case of near exhaustion, her nipples tightened until they felt hard and the pulse between her thighs that had been dormant for so long began pounding away so strongly that she had to squeeze her legs together.

  Great. Just great. Is this what happens when you haven’t had sex in so long you almost forget how it works? Not to mention the fact that she couldn’t give any of her partners more than a B minus. If she had sex with Viper, would he think her a loser in bed?

  Hell, Hannah. Ge your head out of the gutter and back in the game.

  “You can even choose which bed you want,” he teased.

  She turned away, hoping to conceal the blush of heat creeping up her cheeks. She took off her hoodie but then was stumped. How did she get ready for bed? She had no toothbrush or toothpaste, not even a comb for her hair. And what the hell was she supposed to sleep in? The bottom of her T-shirt barely covered the cheeks of her ass.

  She stood there like an idiot, trying to figure out the sensible thing to do, or if there even was one.

  But Viper seemed to get what was going through her now addled brain.

  “One thing about staying at a classy joint like this. They have all kinds of amenities, including combs, extra toothbrushes and toothpaste.”

  “Uh, thank you. At least I won’t have bad breath.”

  Wonderful line, stupid. Where did I leave my brain?

  “They don’t, however, provide extra sleeping stuff, but I think I’ve got that covered.” He opened a small leather duffel and pulled out a black T-shirt. “I always bring a couple extra for when I spill coffee on myself.” He winked.

  And oh, god. That wink. Yup. She was definitely losing her mind.

  She wanted to protest, but the alternative was either sleeping in her clothes or letting her bare ass hang out of her bikini panties. At least she wasn’t wearing a thong.

  “Thank you.” She spoke as formally as possible. “I appreciate it.”

  “Hope you like Blake Shelton.” He shook out the T-shirt, which had the singer’s likeness on it.

  “As a matter of fact I do. Thank you.”

  “No wonder we connected,” he teased. “Listen, there’s a second bathroom off the living room. I’ll use that so you can have privacy in this one.”

  “Oh, but—”

  He held up a hand. “It’s no problem. Let’s just get it done and get to bed. We’re leaving early in the morning, and when we get to Tampa, we have a lot of work to do. I already texted one of my partners and I’m sure he told the others. That means they’ll hit the road running, so sleep is important. Okay?”

  “Okay. Yes. Thank you.”

  “Everything else you need is in the bathroom.” He grabbed what he needed and headed out of the room.

  Hannah closed the door to the bathroom and stripped out of everything but her bikinis. She looked at the shower longingly, started to pull on the black T-shirt, then thought, The hell with it. Especially when she found the upscale shampoo and conditioner next to the hair dryer.

  She turned on the shower, yanked off her panties and stepped under the stream of hot water…and let out a long sigh. She couldn’t remember the last time a shower had felt this good. She stood there, letting the water stream over her body, eyes closed, wishing it would wash away her desperate situation as easily as it washed away the sweat from the day. Lowden Tactical was a powerful company. They had a lot of money that could buy whatever they needed to have happen, and their tentacles reached everywhere.

  The shower gel the hotel provided had a soothing floral fragrance to it that seeped into her muscles like a tranquilizer. The shampoo was even more relaxing. Finally, when she wondered if Viper would think she’d fallen asleep in there, she turned off the water and stepped out. She decided to give her panties a quick rinse, since she had none to change into, and hung them over a towel rack. She managed to dry her body and hair without falling asleep, but she was more than ready when she stepped out into the bedroom. She thanked god the T-shirt came halfway down her thighs so he couldn’t see she was naked beneath it.

  Viper was already back in the room, under the covers on the bed nearest the door. She couldn’t help noticing the gun resting on the nightstand closest to him.

  “My permanent companion,” he told her when he saw her looking at it.

  The sight of it actually made her feel safe. But how had she gotten herself into a situation where guns became a necessary part of things?

  Viper had his arms folded behind his head, blankets covering him from the waist down. Hannah blinked, wondering if that was his cock pushing against the material. She immediately looked down at her own bed, but not soon enough, she was sure, for Viper to miss her staring at him.

  His lips curved in a crooked grin. “Sorry. Not all of me goes to sleep at the same time. By the way, that shirt looks better on you than it ever did on me.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’ll conk right out,” she told him as she climbed into the other bed. She made sure the T-shirt was pulled down far enough and her rear end pointed away from where Viper was lying “No tossing and turning for me tonight.” She hoped.

  “We’ll be up pretty early,” he reminded her. “That okay?”

  “Fine by me. If you’re serious about helping me, the sooner we get started the better.”

  “Oh, I’m serious, Hannah. Trust me. I don’t kid about things like this.”

  Good.

  “Thank you.”

  She burrowed into the pillows and pulled the covers up to her chin. She heard Viper shut off the lamp on the nightstand and the room was plunged into darkness. Closing her eyes, she tried to forget the very sexy man sleeping in the other bed, but the faint outdoorsy scent that clung to him drifted through the room. She tried counting backwards from one hundred, usually a time-tested method for her. But that didn’t seem to be working, either. Finally she dug deep for her shattered discipline and at some point, just fell into the darkness.

  The chopper set down on the plateau where she and her team had staged. Greg Kingsley, Lowden’s executive vice president, was hanging out of the door.

  She turned, puzzled. What the hell was he doing here? Whatever it was had to be some kind of emergency. He never got involved in the actual operations.

  “Get in the helicopter now. All of you.”

  They looked at each other, puzzled.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Just get in the chopper. Someone will explain later.”

  Her hands shook as she set her controller down on the makeshift platform and, along with the others, packed up their equipment. As soon as everyone was boarded, the helo took off. The noise of the rotors precluded any conversation, but she was damn sure that everyone, like her, wanted to know why an officer of the company had personally come to fetch them.

  She tried again to get answers when they landed someplace to offload the rest of her team, but Kingsley was more interested in taking off again and heading to the campus. By the time they got to Lowden and he took her silently to Lowden’s office, she knew something was drastically wrong
.

  “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it,” were the first words out of her mouth.

  She glanced at two men standing to the side wearing similar gray suits, and…

  “What?” she cried. “I’ve done nothing wrong. What’s going on here?”

  “Hannah? Hannah, wake up.”

  A hand touched her shoulder, and she bolted upright, lashing out.

  “I didn’t do it.” She couldn’t seem to make them understand.

  “Hannah? I know you didn’t. Wake up. Come on.” The deep male voice, sounding so far away, filtered into her dream. “Open your eyes.”

  She tried to push whoever it was away, but strong hands grasped hers, holding her in place.

  “It’s just me. Viper. Open your eyes, please.”

  She forced her eyes open. Maybe this would all go away if she did. When her eyelids lifted, she saw only total darkness, but someone was sitting beside her. A click, and the lamp on the bedside table popped on. She was shocked to see Viper, in a pair of boxer briefs, at her side, one hand on her shoulder, the other stroking her arm.

  “What—?” She blinked. “What happened?”

  “I think you had a bad dream.” His voice was like warm syrup, his touch comforting as he brushed the hair back from her face then cupped her chin. “More like a nightmare. You okay?”

  She blew out a breath, wishing she could hide under the bed. How embarrassing. She’d be lucky if he didn’t decide she was a nut and change his mind about helping her.

  “Yes. I’m fine. I’m sorry I disturbed you.” She fiddled with the covers draped across her legs. “If you want to cancel our…agreement, I’ll certainly understand.”

  “Because you had a bad dream?” He shook his head. “I’m surprised you don’t have more of them, with the shit you’ve been through.”

  She hugged herself, rubbing her arms and trying to stop shaking. This was not her at all, but she was finally feeling the impact of her situation.