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“I’d just as soon you didn’t refer to that woman as my stepmother,” he said, caring for more about that detail than the money. “Selina Barnes Colton is no family of mine.”
Sierra nodded. “She did seem awfully pleased to hear you were in custody.”
“So you’ve spoken to her?”
“As briefly as I could manage.” Sierra wrinkled her nose in obvious distaste. “Especially when her reaction to learning that you had a knife wound was to ask me how I wanted the check made out for your capture.”
“Capture?” If he’d ever harbored any illusions that Selina might have acted out of genuine concern for him, they certainly would have died there. The real question was: Why did it matter so much to her, seeing him imprisoned? Was she trying to hide her own involvement in his father’s shooting, or did she need to keep the police from looking in her direction for some other reason?
“I almost told her where she could stick that check, and damn the paper cuts,” Sierra said with a sly wink at that last part, “but then I decided I’d be better off pretending I’m not onto her, and using the money to pay you back for what you sent Ice Veins. Or a down payment on it, anyway.”
“Never happened, so there’s no need.” Ace went on to explain that authorities had frozen his accounts, most likely in order to hinder his flight from justice. “So you go ahead and keep it.”
She shook her head, her forehead crinkling. “But I don’t feel right about—”
“I insist, Sierra,” he said, thinking of how, since she’d been struggling to pay her father’s debts, she must have little left to live on. And warmed by the fact that whatever happened to him, she would be okay now, safe from the danger that had followed her here. “Keep it.”
She nodded, her eyes gleaming. “All right, then, but I mean to earn that money, from you. Really earn it, helping the police realize they’ve got the wrong man and getting you back to your family—and your daughter.”
He stared at Sierra, his mouth going dry. “You believe me, then? Because that bank teller who came forward, who told the cops that I’d confessed to her that I’d hidden the murder weapon in my condo—was lying. That’s where they found the gun, but I didn’t put it there.”
“You asked about your father right away, with me,” Sierra said, looking directly into his eyes. “And with Spencer, too, here. You cared more about his well-being than you did about your own. That tells me everything I need to know about you.”
Relieved as he was with her assessment, he couldn’t stop himself from pressing. “Have you heard anything about him? Anything at all?”
She hesitated before nodding. “I spoke to Ainsley briefly last night. She told me he’s alive. And here, somewhere, but don’t even think of asking to see him.”
“Alive,” he echoed, gratitude pushing aside his pain. “Thank you. And it means everything that you believe me. Getting to know you, even for a few short hours—If things were different, Sierra... You’re the first woman in a long, long time I can ever remember making me feel—”
He clenched his jaw, frustration surging through him. Because he had no right to be saying these things to her, no right to be feeling anything for her when his life was hell on earth. Only the most selfish of bastards would drag a woman that he cared for into this mess.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m talking like a crazy man. You should probably leave now, go back home to Las Vegas.”
She moved closer and leaned over him, brushing an errant clump of hair from his eyes. “If you’ve lost your mind, Ace, I’m afraid I’ve taken the same wrong turn. Which means right now you’re stuck with me, for better or for worse.”
Chapter 6
Sierra brushed aside Ace’s light brown hair and ducked her head, fully intending to drop a peck onto his care-lined forehead to seal the promise she had made to help him find his way to freedom. What she didn’t count on was him fumbling for—and this time finding—the control to elevate the head of his bed. Or the feelings that cascaded through her when he raised his chin to press his lips to her mouth. Gently, tenderly, as if he sensed, just as she did, that if they didn’t dare to take this stolen moment, they might never get another.
You should run from here now, her survival instincts warned as he reached up to gently run his fingertips along the side of her face. Run from this before it traps you. Trade your dented car for some jalopy and drive across the southern border with Selina’s money in your pocket.
But she didn’t move, could barely breathe, as within the span of that single kiss, so many possibilities unfolded. Of joyful days sharing each other’s company, of nights spent coaxing each other’s bodies to the peaks of pleasure. Of having someone she could finally trust enough to share the secrets weighing down her every step.
Thoughts like these, they’re just mirages, she tried to warn herself as the kiss deepened, her hands reaching to frame his face, his drawing her nearer. This close to the desert, they’re beautiful, but cruel.
Still, when she heard someone at the door, she could barely pull herself away. And when she spotted Spencer Colton frowning at the two of them, his disapproval was blurred by the unshed tears in her eyes.
Grasping her by the arm, the sergeant hustled her toward the door.
“Wait,” she blurted, twisting to turn back. “We’re not finished talking.” She needed to ask Ace more about the evidence against him, evidence of a conspiracy she meant to unravel.
“What I just saw wasn’t talking.” The sergeant frowned at her. “And I specifically warned you earlier, no physical contact. Though I should have my head examined for trusting the kind of woman who’s responsible for a shootout at a local motel and three dead Vegas wise guys in my jurisdiction.”
“Please, Sergeant Colton, as Detective Stratford from the Las Vegas Metropolitan PD has already explained, I’m a legitimate professional with no ties to organized crime. It’s just in my line of work, I sometimes end up crossing paths with—”
“You’ve had the time I promised, bounty hunter,” he said firmly. “Now let’s go.”
Ace protested, “I needed to give her some information related to my case. Please, Spencer.”
