Simon Says Die

“Give me fifteen minutes to pack.” She headed up the stairs, but stopped and turned around when she realized he was following her up. “I don’t need your help packing my bras and panties.”
    His mouth quirked up. “You sure about that? I wouldn’t mind.”
    Even though she knew he was teasing, the idea of his hands running through her underwear drawer had her feeling flushed. If it weren’t for the fact that she needed to pack without him seeing what she packed, she’d see if he were bluffing.
    â€œFifteen minutes,” she repeated. “You already searched for bad guys. I’m perfectly safe.”
    He didn’t look happy letting her go upstairs by herself, but he nodded and turned around.
    She hurried up the stairs, down the long hallway to her bedroom. She grabbed one of her larger suitcases, and tossed it onto the four-poster bed. She shoved far more clothes into it than she needed, trying to ensure the suitcase was full enough to explain the weight.
    Then she stood back to judge her handiwork. She grabbed several more pairs of panties, the silkiest, sexiest ones she had, and sprinkled them on top. That should deter Pierce if he searched her suitcase, which she assumed he would do.
    The man probably thought he’d taken all of her guns when he took her Colt .380 and .357 Magnum. But he hadn’t even made a dent. She’d heard too many horror stories from her brother and his law-enforcement friends through the years not to be hyperaware about all the kinds of evil that existed in the world around her.
    And having been married to Damon, she knew all about evil.
    She clenched her jaw and headed into her closet. She took two pocketknives and shoved one into her bra, and one into her front jeans pocket. Then she crossed to her suitcase and stored two 9mm pistols with loaded magazine clips in the bottom of the suitcase, under a stack of silky thong underwear and some lacy bras. She wasn’t sure that was enough to deter a thorough search. What else could she do?
    She tapped her finger against her jaw. Ah, yes! She hurried into the bathroom, reached under the cabinet and pulled out the perfect thing to keep him from searching her suitcase well enough to discover her cache of weapons. The one thing that made even the toughest of men stutter and blush.
    Tampons.
    She grinned as she tore the box open and headed back into the bedroom. She dumped every last one of them into the suitcase.
    M ADISON SMOOTHED HER hand over the bumps on the rustic wooden front porch railing as Pierce stood next to her. A log cabin was the last place she would ever expect him to choose to live. She’d always thought of him as a city slicker, like her, not the type to surround himself with acres of trees, or to live miles outside of town.
    He’d surprised her several times since forcing himself back into her life again. She’d never realized how tenacious he could be, how stubborn, how loyal. He had every right to turn his back on her and not help her, especially when she’d fought him every step of the way. That’s what most men in his situation would have done. But he’d made a promise to a friend, and because of that promise he was doing everything he could to help her.
    She couldn’t help wishing that he wanted to help her because he cared about her, not because of some stupid promise to her brother.
    â€œNot what you expected?” he asked, watching her closely, as if it were important to him whether she liked his house.
    He wasn’t what she’d expected. She was beginning to think she’d never really known him at all, that she’d missed something important by not spending the time to peel back all his layers. “No, I can’t say that it is.”
    He must have seen something in her eyes, because his smile faded.
    â€œSomething wrong?” he asked.
    What was wrong was that she’d made a terrible mistake by breaking up with him. And it was too late.
    She sighed. “Just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night with Tessa the Terrible holding a gun on me.”
    He laughed and unlocked the door. He entered a code into the beeping alarm keypad and rolled both of their suitcases inside. “I never would have thought I’d like anything but a condo or an apartment like I had in Jacksonville. But your brother teased me about my city ways one too many times, so I thought I’d give it a try.” He shrugged.