Eric always had something to say, but at that moment, he didn’t speak. All he did was stare at me. Had I actually scared him? He pulled his helmet off, and I saw the color in his face. I knew it wasn’t just from the heat.
“Eric?”
“I’m sorry. That was… I didn’t mean…”
God, his embarrassment made him adorable. I’d never seen him flustered like this. Shocked. Annoyed. But never unable to form sentences.
“I didn’t mind.” The words came out flirtatious, and Eric’s eyes widened. I cleared my throat. “We need to get inside. The mosquitoes will eat you alive out here.”
“You can’t just…”
“I can. Now get in the house.”
“Why do you live out here with mosquitoes and alligators?”
“It’s quiet, and it’s what I know best. Now get inside.”
“Do you know how crazy this is?”
“If you did your research, then you’d know I’m crazy. What did you expect?”
“I did not expect to be kidnapped.”
“I saved your life.”
“Thank you.”
That wasn’t what I’d expected him to say, and it threw me.” I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it.
Eric slapped at mosquitoes as I unlocked the cabin and gestured for him to step inside.
He didn’t argue this time, but he glanced around, taking in his surroundings, likely looking for an escape route.
“You do not want to wander off here. You won’t find your way out, and you might not survive until I locate you. Also, I hardly sleep. I’ll always be listening.”
“I’m not staying here indefinitely.”
“No. By tomorrow I will have arranged a safe house for you. I’m supposed to be watching Hope after all.”
Eric stared at me open-mouthed.
“I didn’t want you to think I don’t take my dog-sitting duties seriously.”
“You think that’s the most disturbing thing about what you just said?”
I laughed. “It’s not? Don’t you care about Hope?”
“I’m sure Corbin can take care of her.”
Ambrose snorted. “Maybe. But Dax didn’t choose him. He chose me.”
“How are you planning to take down Carlotti while hanging out with a puppy?”
“I’ve done far harder things than that.”
“Could I at least get something to drink? It’s hot as hell in here.”
I turned on my window unit. “Do you have any idea how much fuel it takes to run that damn thing?”
“Do you seriously live here with no AC?”
I shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
I opened my mini fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. I needed to find us something to eat too. I was looking through the cabinet that served as my pantry when I heard Eric speak. I quickly realized he wasn’t talking to me.
I turned to face him as he said. “He’s fine. He just appeared out of nowhere near the shed.”
I lunged toward Eric, grabbing for his phone.
He evaded me. “Gotta go. At his house. Not by choice.”
I got the phone then and cut the call, but not before I saw who he was talking to. Lance. How had he gotten Lance’s number?
Eric reached around me for his phone. I turned and used my back against his chest to push him into the wall.
His hand was around my wrist, and he had a firm grip.
“Give me my fucking phone. Your family needed to know you’re not lying dead in the bayou or a prisoner of Carlotti.”
“Lance is going to fucking come here now.”
Eric struggled against me, but I kept pressure on him with my body as I tried to free my arm. The feel of his hard chest against my back was making it hard to focus. I wanted to feel his erection against me again. He was making me fucking lose what was left of my mind.
He managed to free his other arm, which I’d pinned against the wall, and his next move shocked the hell out of me.
He tickled my side in the one place guaranteed to make me squirm. He shook my arm as I fought to get away, and his phone hit the floor. Instead of going after it, he took hold of my waist and spun me to face him. “Lance called me. He was worried when you didn’t show up to the meeting with Remington.”
“Don’t tell me the son of a bitch asked you to look for me.”
“No, he told me to stay put just like you did.”
At least I didn’t have to kill my cousin. “And you didn’t listen?”
“I was worried.”
I started to argue with him, but then his words hit me. “Why?”
“Because for all I knew, Carlotti had gotten to you.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“You’re not bulletproof, are you? You’re damn good at”—Eric waved his hand around—“all you do. But that doesn’t mean you can always evade trouble.”
It sure as hell didn’t, because right then I was in a hell of a lot of trouble. I’d kidnapped a sheriff, and all I wanted to do was rub against him until I felt his cock harden, then make him show me what it’s like to be with a man. “Why are you like this?”