NaturesBounty by J. Rose Allister Page A

and tugging on
the jeans that had given him an instant erection in the middle of a store. She
put them on commando style, dropping her bikini bottoms on his bare,
still-throbbing crotch.
    “I’m not wearing those,” he said, trying to scoot himself
upright.
    “I should hope not. Consider them a little memento of the
occasion.”
    “Can I have the handcuff key now, please?” he asked while
she pulled on her shirt and flipped her hair out of the back.
    She put her shoes on without a word.
    “Very funny,” he said. “Be a good girl, Ly, and take off the
cuffs so I can shower.”
    She whirled on him. “How do you know that nickname?”
    “I heard it when I was eavesdropping on your call with
Valerie the day she hired the stripper.” On the drive to Flagstaff, he had
already told her how Valerie had inadvertently provided him with everything he
needed to know about where Lydia was, as well as giving him the stripper idea.
    She actually looked stricken at that. “Oh.” There was a
pause. “So there was actually a stripper.”
    “I told you there was. Is that disappointment I hear?”
    When she grabbed for the jacket he’d bought her, he frowned.
“What are you doing?”
    She pulled on the ski coat and turned, and this time, the
guilt in her face and her voice were quite real. “I’m really sorry, Nate. I
planned to be gone before you woke up.” She gazed at his body longingly. “I
just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave without fucking you one more time.”
    Now he was pulling hard on his wrist. “Leave? What the hell
are you talking about? I thought we agreed we need to stay together?”
    She shook her head and went to the door. “I can’t let you be
involved. It wouldn’t be right.”
    “I already am involved. You leaving now won’t change that.”
    “Those men nearly shot you because of me. If we stay
together, you might get in harm’s way again.” She glanced at the floor. “I
couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
    “A little late for that, wouldn’t you say?”
    “I’m going to fix it. I have to see Andrew.”
    “Why? No, Ly. Don’t.”
    “That’s the only way to stop this. I know I can work a deal
with him. Then you’ll be free again, and hopefully I will too.”
    She reached for the knob, and desperation reared up in him.
“Stop!” he called. “Do not go out that door. Let me help you, Lydia. Don’t do
something we’ll both regret.”
    “Too late,” she whispered, and she pulled open the door.
Bright sunlight streamed in, meaning it was midmorning at least.
    Lydia paused in the open doorway for a final look at him.
“God, I really wish we could have met under better circumstances. Stay safe,
Nature Antillean.”
    Then she was gone.
    “God damn it,” he said, shifting around to check the
handcuffs. They weren’t loose, but she had neglected to secure them on his arm
above the wrist bone.
    Putting his thumb to his pinky, he used a twist and tug
motion. It took some doing, but he managed to slip off the cuff. Resisting the
urge to bolt after her stark naked, he grabbed his pants and barely tugged them
on before running barefoot out the door. Their room was on the second floor,
and by the time he hit the stair rail, he saw the taillights of his car headed
out the driveway.
    “She’s stealing my fucking car,” he said, racing back to the
room with his pants still flapped open. “Miss I’m-not-a-lawbreaker just
committed grand theft auto.”
    Which would be exactly what he would have to do in order to
stop her.
    He took quick stock of what Lydia had and hadn’t taken.
She’d left with the new cell phone and some of the cash, not to mention the
contents of his trunk. But she hadn’t left him entirely destitute. She hadn’t
emptied all the cash from his wallet, and he still had a few of the prepaid
cards. One of them had already been used to secure the motel room, though.
    Nate stuffed what he had into his jacket pocket, except for
the