Bytes of Passion

Chapter 11

He would have, could have, broken away from the giant and the man who joined him as soon as they entered the hallway, except he'd didn't know where that asshole Mac had taken Skylar. His tracking device, along with his knives, had long since been lifted from him and now he sat more or less confined under the watchful eye of two hulking half-wits in a room with way too many pillows on the floor and the foul, lingering smell of sex.

"Teegan?" Skylar said from the doorway. She slid inside the room, her eyes watchful of the guards.

"Clear out," a man ordered from the hall. The guards left her alone, but the door remained open.

Skylar's long dark hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore a shiny silver top that showed the outline of her breasts a bit too well, like the women who worked the topless bars. He hoped she had something on underneath, given how those tops were designed to be easily torn off by patrons. This Mac friend of hers was toxic. She needed to walk away from him, run in fact.

"You need better friends, Pi," he said, using the name Mac had called her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, still standing by the door, a weary look on her face. That hurt, that she was afraid to approach him. It was his own fault for hoping she'd run to him. He was nothing to her, always would be, but it didn't change why he was here.

"Better, now that you're here," he said. Her gaze drifted to the floor. She couldn't or wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"You afraid of me now, Princess? Or did lover boy forbid you from getting near me?"

Hazel eyes took their time rising, as if testing the waters. "I had to do it. You weren't listening to me, Teegan. This isn't your fight."

"I'm not having this conversation again, Skylar. I'm here, so get used to it."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're not mad?"

"You wounded my ego a bit, considering I thought no one could break into my computer and modify the programs, but mad at you... never," he said as he pulled her in against him. The tension in her body melted away as she leaned against his chest, until he placed her at arms length again. He checked her neck and throat for bruising. At least H. hadn't injured her.

"You shouldn't have run," he said, the words sounding harsher than he'd meant them. He'd been scared shitless when she'd disappeared. Each agonizing minute that it took to reverse what she's done to his ship's security, he'd imagined every possible scenario of what was happening to her. None of them ended well.

With a single finger, he lightly touched the underside of her chin. Hazel eyes filled with angst. "Can we start again? You know, where we pretend we met in a coffee shop instead of a kidnapping. You can picture me with one of those white aprons on, serving you coffee... in that mug you like so much, the one that looks all squashed. I slip you my number on a napkin. You go home, ponder whether you should or shouldn't call, and then you remember my gorgeous smile and exceptionally handsome face and decide I'm worth it."

That earned him a brief but genuine smile. He'd take what she could give.

"Are you wearing anything under the apron?" she asked, a sparkle returning to her face.

"You'll have to find that out for yourself," he said, grinning. Caring about her came easy, too easy when he thought about what lay ahead. Letting himself get involved with her, even hinting at it, was a bad idea.

"I'm scared, Teegan," she said, all humor fading from her face. And that's when he knew he was in trouble. Hearing the fear in her voice and noticing the slight shake to her hand at her side put him on edge. Everything inside of him screamed to take her away from here as fast as he could.