Ruthless. HelenKay Dimon
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tone signaled caution as much as if Joel had thrown up a flashing red light. Pax shortened his stride and stopped a few steps from the back door.
“We are going to walk out there and get into the SUV.” He lowered his voice, forcing the tension to leave his jaw before it cracked from the pressure. “We are going to get out of here and to somewhere safe. Then we can talk all of this out. But, Kelsey—and you need to understand this—we are leaving. No discussion.”
The muscles in her arm went slack. All of a sudden it was easy to glide her across the floor and direct her where he wanted her to go. Pax knew that was a very bad sign.
This lady had the moves down cold—force your body to relax, and the person holding you will ease the grasp. Pax knew because he taught self-defense classes at the YMCA and had advised more than one class of women to avoid ever getting into a car with an attacker.
As the realization hit him, her body jerked. She slammed to a halt and pivoted away from him as she whipped her arm up, shrugging out of his hold. When he reached for her again, she ducked under the arc of his swing. Doubled over and head down in determination, she sprinted.
With his messed-up leg, she could have vaulted and took off and left him sputtering, but her sneaker snagged on the foot of the guy on the ground and she tripped. Her momentum took her flying and stumbling. She crashed against the wall next to the back door and stopped.
He swooped in before she could take off again. “Whoa.”
He trapped her against the wall with his body, ignoring the uneasy sensation rumbling through him from mimicking the actions of the man who had attacked her earlier. Pax slapped his palms against the uneven cement on each side of her head and rested his body against hers, careful to crowd her but not smash into her.
She clearly saw it differently because the second his body touched against hers, she whipped into a wild frenzy. “Not again.”
She kicked out behind her and raked her fingernails against the back of his hand. With her head shaking and shifting, she struggled and grunted. Energy pounded off her as every limb, every muscle, moved in concert against him.
This time, he threw his weight into the hold. He pressed his chest against her back and grabbed her wrists and stretched her arms out to keep them from flailing. Their heavy breathing mixed together as air pounded in his lungs. Beneath him, he could feel the rise and fall of her upper body on rough gasps.
She turned her head to the side and stared at Joel. Until that moment, Pax had forgotten his partner was even there. So much for calling in reinforcements. He could only hope Ben was having an easier time with the crowd out front.
“You could help me,” she said to Joel.
“If it’s any consolation, I plan on telling everyone back at the office about how close you came to getting the jump on Pax.”
Pax swore under his breath. As if the shot to the thigh wasn’t enough cause for ribbing. Now he’d have to hear about this. “Kelsey, listen to me.”
“Why should I?” The harsh words lost their impact under the weak thread of her voice.
“You’re in danger.”
She turned her head and balanced her forehead against the wall. The position cut off all potential of eye contact with Pax and Joel. “Obviously.”
“Not from me.”
“You’re the one who threw the knife. The same guy who’s holding me now.” She shrugged. “You’re hurting me, by the way.”
He eased his stance, shifting his weight to his heels and thinking to move away. Then he stopped. In addition to the sweet face and impressive legs, she was smart and skilled. He wouldn’t put it past her to use guilt to break free.
He tried logic one last time. “There are men after you.”
“Why?”
Pax glanced at Joel. The slight shake of his head mirrored Pax’s feelings on the subject. It was too early and they had too little information on Kelsey to dump the truth on her. They needed to press her for information on her brother. But not here. Certainly not now.
Joel cleared his throat. “That’s what we’re here to figure out.”
“And you two just happened to show up—”
“Three,” Pax said.
“What?”
He didn’t see a reason to hide the team. “Ben’s out front.”
“How comforting.” She wiggled and pushed until he let her turn around. Anger and confusion battled in her eyes. “You understand why I’m confused. You guys all conveniently show up, claiming to be the good guys.”
Pax knew he’d never used those words. “I get it.”
“And?”
She deserved points for good questions and intelligence. The instructor side of him would pass her without trouble. In real life, her discomfort meant danger. And facing him, she had a clear shot at using the first attack move he taught women to use against men, and he had no intention of falling to his knees in pain.
That meant the conversation was over and he would end it. Right now.
“We’re done with this.” Her breath hiccupped and the sharp intake echoed in his ears as he bent over and lifted her off the ground. She landed on his shoulder with her head at his back. “Let’s go.”
Joel shook his head. “Man, this is a bad solution.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Kelsey stammered and spoke in half sentences. She finally got out a string of words. “What are you doing?”
“Since you want to do this the hard way, we will.”
Then he walked out the back door as she started to scream.
Chapter Three
Kelsey stopped kicking and squirming as her brain rebooted. She looked down and saw his jeans and back, an odd from-above shot of his butt and the ground racing by beneath his feet. Being upside down with his fat-free shoulder digging into her stomach, she didn’t have a good angle to nail him in the back. That was okay. She needed to save her energy and come up with a plan to get off this guy and out of there.
She also had to beat back the wave of disappointment swamping her. The wounded military hero backstory she’d created in her mind and spun into interesting tales didn’t fit the real man at all. She’d secretly declared him a hottie and thought about him far too often once the workday ended and she lay in her bed.
Now she knew she’d picked the wrong description. Something that summed up a bossy, manhandling secretive liar would have been more appropriate.
Paxton or Pax or whatever he wanted to call himself carried weapons and got all grumbly and demanding when he wanted something. The idea she’d once thought of him as sweet and had piled all those free doughnuts on him … she wanted every delicious calorie back. The least he could have done was gain weight because really, she needed something to slow him down.
Even with the slight limp—an injury she now totally viewed as an act—he’d stalked down the alley with only the barest crunch of gravel beneath his shoes to give away his position. The bouncing steps continued as they rounded the car and walked within a few feet of the SUV’s back door.
Once he got her in there, breaking free could be impossible. No way was she going anywhere with two men she didn’t know. She’d taken the lessons and listened to the lectures. She’d already lived through an attack once in her life, years ago.
She would not be a victim again.
She’d be smart, pick the exact right moment and then run in the direction of the nearest person or telephone, screaming her head off as she went.
The