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“That’s perfect.” She kissed him sweetly, which turned into a full-on make-out.
A tap on the car door broke it up and Luke cleared his throat. “If you two don’t separate immediately, this ticket is going to double.”
Dustin took it from Luke and his jaw went slack. “A thousand dollars?”
Luke grinned. “Next time you want to get it on, take her back to your castle, rich boy.”
Once Luke was backing away, Dustin turned to her, flashing her an evil smile.
“I am going to destroy him on poker night.”
Fifteen minutes later, Rylie hopped out of the Jeep with her tote from the day in hand and blew him a kiss. “See you in a half an hour.”
“Not a minute more,” he said.
She closed the door, floating all the way to her house. She put the key in the knob and then turned it. As she was coming through, she realized she hadn’t heard the click that usually happened when she unlocked the door. Had she forgotten to turn the deadbolt when she left this morning?
She shut it behind her and heard Raider’s frantic barking from his crate. Still buzzed from the champagne, she fumbled in the dark toward her bedroom.
“Hey, baby, do you need to go potty?”
As she passed by the bedroom, it registered two seconds too late that there had been a large shadow on the wall.
Suddenly, she was slammed against the wall in the hallway, a sweaty hand covering her mouth.
Raider’s barking became high and hysterical and the clink of metal told her he was throwing his body against the cage. She tried to scream, to tell him to stop, but she couldn’t make a sound. She stared up at the ski-masked face, his eyes glittering in the dark.
“If you make one sound, you’re dead. You understand?”
Oh, God. She knew that voice, and it wasn’t Asher.
It was Will.
Chapter 27
Dustin whistled as he pulled out onto Highway 16, pressing a little harder on the gas. He was eager to go home, pack, and get back to Rylie. He’d had Victoria pick up a bunch of ingredients he needed to bake his mother’s scones, and he was hoping that he didn’t screw them up. He wasn’t exactly a culinary master.
Something silver flashed between the trees on the right and for some reason, Dustin slowed down to a crawl to see what it was. He flipped around half a mile up the road and came back, pulling off across from the place. He got out of the Jeep and jogged across the road, listening for oncoming cars, since the curve was blind.
Using the flashlight app on his phone, he pushed through the trees and shone the light around.
It was a silver Chevelle in mint condition. He stood there for a minute, trying to figure out why someone would leave such a nice car behind the trees and where he’d seen it before....
He looked in the window, and when he saw that the door was unlocked, he opened her up. The car was immaculate, and there wasn’t even a receipt lying around.
He opened the glove box and found a black leather wallet and a metal box. He peeked inside to find a driver’s license and froze.
It was Will. Rylie’s date.
Parked less than a mile from her house.
Dustin dropped the wallet and ran through the trees before taking off across the street. The flash of high beams and blare of a horn scared him shitless, but he kept going. He frantically turned the key and shoved the Jeep into drive, peeling out onto the road.
I’m coming, baby. Just hang on.
* * * *
Rylie fought back tears as Will kneeled in front of her, waving the long, serrated knife just under her nose. He’d strapped her hands together behind her back with zip ties, and set her down in one of the kitchen chairs. She hadn’t called him by name, or given any hint that she knew who he was, hoping it would keep her alive. So far he’d only spoken to issue orders, but hadn’t told her what he wanted.
