Dom looked in his rearview mirror. The freak was stillon their tail. Must be a fortified engine in that rig. He should’ve been able to put more distance between them by now. If he couldn’t outrun them, he wouldn’t be able to head to the loft. He’d have to think of some other way.
The Porsche practically flew over the bridge, catching air a few times, and he banked it sharply to the left into the SoDo district. The sound of his suitcase thumping against the side reminded him he wasn’t catching that flight to San Diego tonight after all.
Punching it, he saw he’d put some distance between them. With the Jeep’s high center of gravity, it wasn’t able to make the turn as tightly as the Porsche had. The key to outrunning it would be in the cornering, not the straightaways.
Dom turned up and down various roads heading into downtown. The Jeep still followed and even though it fell farther behind, he didn’t dare take a chance and head to the loft. They weren’t that far ahead.
As he cranked the vehicle down another street, he heard the horn of the ferry up ahead, signaling its departure.
If only...
He slammed on his brakes and veered into the holding area, flashing his pass at the ticket booth. The last vehicle had been loaded, the tie ropes cast off, and a ferry worker reached for the neon orange netting to secure the car deck.
Laying on his horn, he sped down the loading chute. The worker jumped out of the way as the Porsche caught air and flew onboard, skidding to a stop behind a delivery van.
Thank God the terminal was quiet this late at night. Doing a mass mind scrub wasn’t an easy task for one.
“What the hell! Are you fucking crazy? You can’t do that.” The ferry worker ran toward them, grabbing his walkie-talkie from its shoulder holster. Dom jumped out of the car and flashed him his identification.
“You still can’t...”
Dom brushed a hand across the man’s temples.
“We paid at the gate and were the last car on the ferry before you attached the netting and pulled away from the dock.”
The man blinked a few times and said, “You staying on the island or heading to the peninsula?”
“Not sure yet,” Dom said and watched the Jeep screech to a stop on the dock as the ferry churned through the water away from the city.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Stay here.” A door slammed shut. Mackenzie turned her head slowly, as if she were in a dream, and blinked a few times, but all she saw was the empty driver’s seat.
Where was she? Who was that? Her eyes couldn’t seem to focus as she looked out the window. The muscles in her neck ached, and her arm throbbed. A narrow steel tunnel? She heard the deep low blast of a marine horn and felt a shuddering movement beneath her. She was on a ferry. As the sound faded in her ears, its familiarity contrasted with something she’d heard not long ago. What was it? An unearthly sound. Laughing—oh God, awful, hideous laughing. And the horror of the night imploded on her.
With every last ounce of energy she possessed, she wrenched open the car door and clambered onto the deck. An icy blast of wind whipped her hair around, roaring in her ears, and her knees collapsed to the pavement.
Run, her mind told her. Run.
Before she could move, strong arms lifted her from the ground and pinned her tightly to a warm chest. The scent ofsandalwood filled her nostrils, and a tidal wave of relief washed over her, dissolving her fear.
“They’re gone. You’re safe with me. I promise.” The reassuring rumble of Dom’s voice vibrated against her cheek.
Wait. His teeth, his eyes, the strange fog. She should push away from him, but as he stroked her hair, every muscle in her body relaxed. She didn’t want to move away from him.
“I wish you hadn’t seen what happened back there.”
Was this really happening? It didn’t make sense. Not the comfort she felt with his arms around her, the way her body automatically melted into his, or the soothing effect his voice had on her heart. Images of the night flashed in her head, but she blinked them away. Why did his embrace feel perfect, so right? She had a million questions for him, but for now, at this exact moment, all she wanted was for him to hold her.
His arms loosened their grip and for a moment she thought he was going to release her, but he didn’t. The harsh overhead lights of the car deck cast angular shadows on his face, but they couldn’t mask the concern and worry in his expression. She smiled up at him as if it were the most natural reaction to want to ease the tension she felt in him.
Her good arm slipped inside his hip-length wool peacoat and wrapped around his waist before she knew what she was doing. Like her body was on autopilot or something. He opened his lapels farther and pulled her inside against him. The smell of him calmed her senses as her cheek pressed against the muscular planes of his chest beneath his T-shirt. A tiny moan escaped her lips. He felt so good. She knew she was safe.
The loud drone of the engines made talking impossible. But that was okay. She didn’t want to talk or think right now, anyway. He held her for what seemed like hours. Then in one movement, he swept her feet from the ground and set her back inside the Porsche.
“Your arm. Let me take a look at it.” His nostrils flared slightly, and his mouth pressed into a hard line of concentration. She examined the chiseled lines of the face she hadn’t seen in a week—his strong jaw with its slight stubble, the chaotic state of his hair as it hung in pieces over the forehead currently creased in a troubled frown. It was a week that had felt like a lifetime.
“What happened back there, Dom?”
