He wasn’t that stupid. And he knew exactly how smart Lily was. By the time he’d finished washing and the water had turned cold, he stepped out of the shower and was greeted by a naked, very perturbed looking woman leaning against the bathroom door.
She tossed him a towel.
“Dammit, Mac. What did you do with the motel room’s telephone?”
He took the towel from her hands and feigned an innocent look. “Phone? What phone?”
“You know damn well what phone I’m talking about.
The one that used to be on the nightstand. Where did it go?”
“Maybe it made an escape while we were otherwise occupied in the shower. We should report that.”
She rolled her eyes and stalked out of the bathroom, snatching his clean t-shirt on the way out. He followed, watching her pull it over her head and place the clothes she had laid out on top of the dresser. She jerked the comforter to the end of the bed, flounced onto the mattress and grabbed the remote, glaring at him. He grabbed his boxers, slipped them on and sat beside her.
“You hid the vial and your cell phone, too,” she said, her voice low and laced with irritation.
“Well, yeah.”
She busied herself with flipping channels, refusing to look at him.
So much for cuddling after sex. She sure blew hot and cold. Not that he could blame her. He knew damn well she’d be after the phone and the vial, so while she was in the shower he took care of getting rid of the motel room telephone, and made certain the virus and his cell phone were well hidden. Like locked outside on the bike where she couldn’t get to them.
Then he stuffed the bike keys somewhere she couldn’t find them. Not that she could ride it, but hell, he wouldn’t put anything past her. She might just try to get away.
“Lily, what did you expect?” He slid closer. Lily scooted further away. And she didn’t answer.
Unless ‘hmph’ was an answer.
“I can’t turn over the virus or let you contact your people. Right now I don’t know who to trust. We don’t even know who was shooting at us. It could have been someone from the museum. It could have been your client. I just don’t know.”
“Uh-huh,” she mumbled, flipping channels and staring at the television.
If it was possible, a layer of frost would have coated the sheets. Man, was she ever pissed. “I know who I work for, and it’s one of the good guys.”
“I work for the good guys,” she said.
“So you say. But do you know that for a fact?”
“Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate. “I don’t work for people I don’t trust. And I’d never take a case I thought was shady.”
Lily had always been honorable. Her biggest downfall.
“Maybe you were misled.”
She shot him a glare. “I’m not an idiot, Mac. I know what side of the law I work on. And what side you work on.”
I am on the right side of the law, Lily.”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s the truth. But I understand your lack of trust.”
“Really? That’s so magnanimous of you.”
Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him. She had absolutely zero reason to trust him.
And when he was finished riding her around several states, when he had to drop her off without the virus—when he had to dump her yet again—she’d have even less reason to trust him.
Most days he loved his work, the freedom it gave him, the excitement and pure adrenaline rush of living the life of a thief, but doing it legitimately.
Sometimes, like now, he really hated his job.
Chapter Five
By morning, Lily didn’t even want to speak to Mac.
The hotel only had one bed, so they’d shared it. Lily had thought about grabbing the blanket and pillow and curling up on the chair, but it looked hideous and uncomfortable. And why should she suffer just because she was angry at Mac? She didn’t care where he slept. So she took her side, and he took his. Despite the bed’s warmth and comfort, she tossed and turned the entire night.
Besides being utterly pissed at him for hiding the motel’s telephone, his cell and the vial, she’d slept next to Mac all night and hadn’t done what she really wanted to do with him—make love.
Not that it was his fault. Oh no, the blame lay entirely at her feet. Or more appropriately, in her head. Because her stupid mind was stuck in the stupid past where it stupidly shouldn’t be. For the love of God, she was an adult woman, no longer a teenager in the blushing throes of her first love. She was levelheaded and understood the dynamics of a physical-only relationship. Last night she could have f**ked him, could have felt the utter bliss of his c**k inside her. She could have spent the night wrapped up in his arms, having the best sex of her life.
But oh no. She was afraid. What a moron. It was time for her to grow up and get over it, because Mac sure as hell was going to dump her again. Big deal. She’d survive. They had nothing together, just like they’d had nothing together ten years ago. The least she could get out of this was some decent sex. And the vial containing the virus, because she was most definitely going to come out of this the winner. And maybe, just maybe, she would leave Mac with some lingering memories of what he was losing and leaving behind this time.
It was time to stop acting like the victim and start taking control of this situation. He might be hiding the vial and his cell phone from her, but there were other ways to play this game.
She had learned quite a bit in the past ten years. After Mac had f**ked and dumped her, she’d made it her quest not to spend her life wallowing over a guy she couldn’t have. Oh sure, she allowed herself time to mourn, had even thought that maybe there was a way for her and Mac to work things out.
But when the months passed and he hadn’t once tried to find her or contact her, she knew she was living a child’s dream, that it was time to grow up and become a woman. It was then that she put Mac in the past. Determined to move on, she’d tackled men with gusto, figuratively anyway. In college, she’d had a few lovers, though they were mostly inept drunken frat boys sorely lacking in the finesse department. None of them had resulted in a relationship because frankly, she hadn’t been interested and neither had the guys. After college, she’d dated here and there, mostly cops, but none of them had generated enough of a spark to carry on a lasting relationship.
She had learned about sex, though. What she liked, what she didn’t like, and how to please a man. She wasn’t an unpracticed virgin any longer. And she intended to use everything she knew on Mac.