Illicit Temptation (Astoria Royals #3)

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Shea

M y eyes open with the sun coming up over the horizon, and with a groan of protest against the cool, cracked vinyl seat of an old car, I attempt to sit up. Only, my hands are tied behind my back. I try to kick, but my legs are bound, too.

Still getting my bearings, a heavy car door shuts with a whack, the idling engine revs, and tires spin out, spitting gravel. A few bumps, a few turns, and next, we’re flying eighty miles an hour down a narrow two-lane dirt road.

“What the hell?” I bellow, straining against my ropes.

“Morning, princess,” Trace answers from the driver’s seat.

“Where the hell are we?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.” He looks over his shoulder. “Never took this road before.”

With effort, I put my feet on the floor and shimmy into a sitting position, the ropes around my ankles and wrists chaffing my skin.

“That’s comforting.” I look down and see this road hugging the edge of a very steep drop. “You’re insane. Why am I tied up?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t let me take you out of there without a fight, so I had to do it while you were asleep. And I knew when you woke up, you’d try to punch me, or worse jump out of the car.”

And fall to my death on the rocks below? “A lot of good jumping will do even if I weren’t tied up. Where are we going?”

“A cabin that belongs to a friend of mine on the northern end of Waterford. From there, we’re headed to an airport. ”

“You left my brothers and my mother to Malone’s mercy?”

“Cormac broke out of Dunbar and brought armed men with him last night while you were sleeping. Lachlan has Balor doing his cyber magic to jam Malone’s phones so he can’t order more men. He’s also fucking with Dunbar’s computers so Malone will be busy for a while chasing overlapping cyber hacks. Still, if Malone got to the house and made it to the front door alive and you were there, I didn’t trust the outcome would land 100% in our favor. I refused to take that risk.”

Every word drags across my skin like steel wool. I’m on this dangerous road headed in the opposite direction with a man I’m sure would risk his life for me. It just doesn’t seem right.

“I’m not made for this, Trace. This letting the man rescue me thing. Letting everyone take all these risks and getting hurt for me.”

Trace swings the car off the road, the tires skidding to a sudden stop. He reaches into the backseat, grabbing me by my nightgown to pull me close. “I am made for that. And, good news, I don’t want some helpless waif.”

“I’m tied up!”

“It was necessary because you’re headstrong. And I love you for it.” He leans over the back seat and smashes his lips into mine then pushes me back. “Now stay down and keep quiet, brat.”

“Whose car is this?”

“Your da’s. One of them. I took the one with the most petrol.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Your mother is awake, by the way.”

“What?” I screech, kicking the seat. “You bastard. You know how much I wanted to talk to her.”

“Your brothers will take care of her.” He gets back on this crazy road. “You’ll see her again.”

“When? ”

“I don’t know, princess. Right now, I’m worried about you.”

I exhale, absorbing everything he’s saying. It’s just so out of my comfort zone. “I have to pee!”

Trace grunts and takes the next turn to an open space to park. When he opens my door, he grins at my tied-up, flailing legs. “I knew you’d kick me.”

“In the balls,” I mouth off.

He barks a laugh. “I doubt you’d injure your favorite part of me.”

“My favorite part of you is a few inches higher,” I admit.

“My balls aren’t that low.” He lifts me out of the car. “I hope you’ll stop being mad at me when we get to the cabin, so you can remind my cock how much you miss him.”