Escaping Reality

someone?”
    Liam asks.
    “I don’t know anyone to expect,” I tell him and my mind races. Who
    would visit me except maybe my handler? And I haven’t even checked the
    email I was given. The very idea that I’ve missed something important sets
    my heart leapfrogging. I flash back to the call in the hospital. They’re
    coming for you. If they come for me, they could come for Liam too.

Chapter Fifteen

    I twist out of Liam’s arms and rush for the hallway, certain he will
    follow. Eager to get as much of a jumpstart on him as I can, I all but sprint
    the rest of the distance and a second knock sounds on the door right as I
    reach for the knob. I don’t bother with “who is it?” as I normally would. I
    yank the door open and I am both stunned and relieved to find Jared
    leaning casually on the doorframe, one elbow on the frame above his head,
    a Boeing logo on his pale blue t-shirt.
    He straightens when he sees me, one thin strand of light brown hair
    falling from the clasp at the back of his neck. “Hey,” he says, and offers me
    a sexy smile I imagine a guy like him has down to a science.
    That familiar sensation I get with him is back. “Hi.”
    He pulls an envelope from behind his back and the adrenaline
    already racing through me spikes. “This blew off of your door so I thought
    I’d hold onto it for you,” he explains, and offers it to me.
    Remarkably my hand does not shake as I accept it, and I note that it’s
    free of any text or stickers. It’s also not sealed. “I appreciate you doing
    this.”
    “It gave me an excuse to check on you.” He gives me a half-smile I
    just manage to return as he adds, “You gave me a scare yesterday. I actually
    came by last night before the envelope to check on you but you didn’t
    answer. I was concerned about you being alone after you almost bit the
    dust.”
    “She wasn’t alone. She was with me, and what do you mean she
    almost bit the dust?”
    Liam steps by my side, his hand sliding around my waist, and the
    touch is a branding, his hip leaning into mine, fingers flexing into my skin.
    The two men’s gazes lock and I am suddenly swimming in a pool of
    testosterone, in need of a life raft. The crackle of power being pulled and
    pushed is almost palpable. The certainty Liam and I will have words over
    the encounter: absolute. He’s out of control, or rather, he’s making me out
    of control.
    “Liam Stone,” I say, “meet Jared Ryan. Jared lives across the hall, or
    at least he will for thirty days.”
    “Thirty days?”
    “That’s right,” Jared says, offering no explanation, the two-word
    answer hanging in the air with the heaviness of a storm cloud about to
    erupt. Silence lingers and we all three just stand there. And stand there. Oh
    good grief, I’m losing my mind. Someone say something!
    “Do you work for Boeing?” Liam asks, proving he is not done being
    direct, and I am not done being flustered by it, and yet, I find myself curious
    about the answer as well.
    “No,” Jared replies. “But I have a Dallas Cowboys shirt too and I don’t
    play football.”
    “Smartass,” Liam says, sounding irritated while I am slightly amused,
    though still uncomfortably lost in the power play between these two. I
    wonder why Jared is so secretive.
    Maybe it’s simply that he doesn’t like Liam. I’m pretty sure Liam
    doesn’t like him either. Maybe though, like me, Jared has something to
    hide. This, with the familiarity I feel for him, does not sit well.
    “Most of the time,” Jared agrees, and I find myself caught in the line
    of his stare. “Glad you’re okay. If you need anything, you know where to
    find me.” He turns away and makes his way to his door and neither Liam
    nor I move, and I wonder if Liam is as surprised by Jared’s abrupt departure
    as I am.
    Jared unlocks his door and he’s about to enter when he cuts us a
    sideways look. “I’m in safe now. You two can go back inside.”
    He disappears into his apartment, leaving me with my new envelope
    and the overwhelming man that is Liam Stone.
    I am the first to move from the doorway, turning away from Liam
    with every intention of escaping to the other room to see what is in the
    envelope. I cannot be cornered by Liam until I know what I am facing. In
    another mad dash, the bedroom is my destination, but I do not make it.
    Liam shackles my arm and the next thing I know I am back against the wall,
    caged in his arms. Clearly we are turning the entryway into