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“Well, we’ll have lots of time to change that,” he said. She wondered if he meant what he said—did he really want to get to know her better, or was he just being polite? There was only one way that she was going to find out and that was to start asking questions to get to know him, and her motto was that there was no time like the present.
“Do you have any family that you need to check in with? You know, let them know that you’re going out of town for work or anything like that?” she asked.
“Family?” Spider asked.
“You know—like a wife or girlfriend?” she asked. Yeah, she wasn’t good at being subtle, but she needed to know if he was attached before she made a complete fool of herself.
“Um, no,” he breathed. “I’m not involved with anyone. I make it a rule to not get involved with the women that I go out with. Hell, I guess I can’t even call it going out.”
“You mean, you don’t date?” she asked.
“No,” he said, “I haven’t dated since I was in high school.”
“That must get pretty lonely,” she breathed.
“It’s not like that,” he grumbled. “Listen, not that it’s any of your business, I usually pick up women at the bar and take them home for a night.” She held up her hand, essentially stopping him from telling her the rest.
“I can piece the rest of it together, thank you,” she said. She didn’t need to hear about him having sex with bar flies and then dumping them after one night. She had never had a one-night stand in her whole life.
“You understand, right?” he asked. “I mean, you said that you were at a club when the Ghosts picked you up.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t at the club to pick up a guy and have a one-night stand,” she insisted. “I was there to have some fun, dance, and blow off some steam.”
“Have you ever had a one-night stand?” he asked as if reading her thoughts.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” she said, giving him back his words, “No, I have not.” He chuckled and pulled his hand from hers. “It’s not funny,” she insisted.
“I’m not laughing at you,” he said. “I just think that it’s funny how you said it—as if one-night stands are such an awful thing.”
“Well, not awful, but I don’t think that they’re for me,” she said. “I mean, I can’t separate feelings from sex, I guess. I mean, I haven’t been in love with every man that I’ve had sex with, but I’ve at least had feelings for each one of them.”
“For me, feelings make things mess. In my line of work, I can’t let my feelings get mixed into things. It’s what could get me killed. Hell, it’s what could get a lot of people killed. So, I keep things like feelings out of my relationships and just take what I need from the women willing to give it to me. If that makes me sound like an ass, so be it,” he said. “How about you—any family that we should get word to that you’re okay?”
“No,” she said knowing that he was changing the subject. “Just a friend, who was at the club with me. Can someone let her know that I’m okay?” she asked.
“Sure, just get me her name and number and I’ll have someone from the CIA call her,” Spider said.
“Thank you,” Amelia breathed. “I appreciate you doing that for me. Honestly, I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me, Spider. I know that I didn’t seem grateful at first, but I am. Thank you.”
“Anytime,” Spider said, “thanks for trusting me. I know that it couldn’t have been easy with everything that you’ve been through.”
“I know that I should be more upset about being abducted and thrown into a cage, but I got lucky. I was able to get out of there before anything bad happened to me,” she said.
“I don’t know,” he breathed, “I think that being taken and put into a cage isn’t so lucky.”
“Well, I got out of there before they could sell me off to some disgusting pig at auction. Those other women that we left behind might not be so lucky. I don’t know, I just don’t feel like a victim. I feel like I want to fight for those other women before they become victims.”
“I promise to do everything that I can to help make sure that those women aren’t sold off at auction,” he said.
“How will you do that from Gatlinburg?” she asked. “I have my sources,” he said. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
“I’m working on it,” she teased. “I’m working on it.” She was starting to realize that Spider wasn’t the man she thought he was. He was sweet and even gentle with her, trying to make her feel safe and secure when all she should feel was afraid. She had a feeling that getting to know Spider was going to be more of a fun adventure than she thought it might be, and she was looking forward to every second alone with him.
Spider
Spider was worried that moving them around so much might give them away, but he had no choice, really. After about a week at the place Repo had set up for them, he called to warn Spider that he had to get Amelia out of there. They had intel that the Ghosts were close to catching up with them and that was the very last thing that they needed.
They had moved a total of five times, to five different states, in the past six months, and he could tell that it was beginning to take a toll on Amelia. He had found a little house in Massachusetts just before the weather changed and now, it was getting warmer. They had to drive through a major snowstorm just to get to the house, but he got them there. The only problem he had now was trying to keep his distance from the sexy little minx who was trying to get him into her bed at every turn. He wasn’t sure that he’d be able to keep turning her down and jumping into bed with her wasn’t something that he could allow to happen. He couldn’t let his feelings for her get in the way of keeping her safe. It was what could end up getting them both killed and keeping his eyes on his assignment might be the only way to keep Amelia safe.
