Deceptions. Cynthia Eden

Mac allowed. “But according to the ME, Steve didn’t have the chance to put up a fight. He had no defensive wounds at all on his body.” Mac had made good use of his time away from her, and he’d been very aware of the ticking clock on that twenty-four-hour period. “The attacker was able to get up close to him, and the guy made one hit—just one—a stab right in Steve’s heart.”

      She paled.

      “It stands to reason,” Mac continued, “that Steve would try to fight off an attacker, if he saw the attacker coming.”

      “He was distracted,” she said softly. “Talking to me.” Elizabeth cleared her throat. “He might not have even seen the danger...”

      Not until the attacker plunged a knife into him.

      The sneak attack, the deadly precision...this wasn’t some kind of amateur hour. The guy they were after was good—too good.

      “And you might not see it, either,” she whispered. “The last thing I want is for you to be killed.” She stumbled back.

      “Do you want to find a knife in your heart, too?” The words were brutal, but they had to be said. “Because when I raced into that alley—” and he would not be forgetting that damn scene anytime soon “—the attacker was there. And he was going for you.”

      “I managed to fight him off.” Her body was stiff.

      “He wasn’t done, baby.” Again, the endearment slipped out. “If I’d been a few minutes later, he could have killed you.”

      She turned away from him.

      “I would have found your body crumpled on the ground, just like his.” That infuriated him. And...scared him.

      He wasn’t supposed to be afraid. Delta Force members didn’t show fear. They went straight into battle, and they never backed down.

      But when he’d heard her cry out, when he’d stood in that alleyway...

      Fear and fury had burned through him.

      He went to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Carefully, he turned her to face him. “I don’t want you hurt.”

      “You shouldn’t care about me,” she told him. “I’m not who—”

      He kissed her. Maybe he shouldn’t have. Maybe he should have played the gentleman longer, but he needed to taste her. Needed to see if the passion between them would flare as hot and bright as he’d thought.

      It did.

      Her mouth opened beneath his. Her hands rose and curled over his shoulders. Elizabeth pressed her body to his, and she kissed him back—not with hesitation, but with hot, fierce need.

      Just like that...just like that...an explosion seemed to go off inside him. His arms locked around her waist as he pulled her closer. Her breasts pushed against him, her nipples tight, even as his arousal pressed against her. He’d tried to hold back with her, all of those damn trips to the library, books he’d read again and again...

      There was no holding back now.

      She was trying to leave, trying to walk straight into danger and death, and he couldn’t let that happen. Not when he needed her so much.

      His tongue thrust into her mouth. She tasted sweet, a light, heady flavor that just made him want more. Her lips slid over his, caressing and tempting, and he wanted to push her back onto that bed. He wanted to strip her. He wanted Elizabeth to stop being afraid and to only think of him.

      But...she was pushing against his chest.

      He lifted his head. The drumming of his heartbeat pounded in his ears as he stared down at her. “I knew it would be like that,” he growled.

      “I was afraid it would be,” she told him. Her lips were red from his kiss. Her dark eyes gleamed.

      Afraid of their desire? Why was that a bad thing?

      “I have to stop this guy,” Elizabeth said. “I can’t be some kind of sitting duck for him.”

      No, he wouldn’t let her be. “You gave me twenty-four hours.”

      She nodded. Her hands were still on his shoulders. His hands were still enjoying her curves.

      “Then stick to your word,” he said, trying to keep the desperate edge out of what he was saying. “Give me the rest of my time. You think you’ll find out what’s happening by going home—back to your past? I say you’ll find the truth right here in town. And I’ll help you.”

      Her brows rose. “How?”

      “By taking you on a little bit of B and E.”

      “Breaking and entering?” Her fingers tightened on him. “That’s not exactly law-abiding.”

      No, it wasn’t. “Since we’ll be breaking into a dead man’s home, I don’t think he’s going to press charges.”

      Her breath whispered out. “You think we’ll find something we can use at Steve’s place?”

      He nodded. “So what do you say? You going to stick to your word and not run away from me?”

      “I just want you safe.”

      “I will be.” And you will be. No matter what he had to do, she would be safe.

      * * *

      IT WASN’T HER first B and E. Not really. Long ago, she’d broken into a cabin with her boyfriend. Their car had broken down on a lonely Colorado road. The snow had rolled in, and they’d needed some shelter for the night.

      She hadn’t known they’d find death out there. She hadn’t realized only one of them would ever walk out of that cabin.

      “You ready?” Mac asked her.

      Elizabeth forced herself to nod. This wasn’t some abandoned cabin. This was a house in Austin. They were in the middle of a neighborhood. Totally safe.

      Right?

      He did something to the lock. She saw the flash of a pick—the guy had come prepared—and there was a faint click. Then Mac was heading inside the house, turning on lights and quickly shutting the door behind them.

      It was eerie being in a dead man’s home. Everything just looked...frozen. There was a coffee mug near the sink. A folded newspaper was on the kitchen table. A shirt was thrown over the back of the couch.

      “You didn’t know he was in town?” Mac asked her.

      She shook her head. “That’s weird, right? That he was here...that I was here...” A coincidence? Or something more?

      “I did some checking on him,” Mac said as he began to open desk drawers. She noticed that he’d put on gloves. “Apparently, he’d written a few books in the past few years.”

      She stood in front of Steve’s bookshelf. Elizabeth scanned the titles. “A Knife in the Dark. Murder in the Suburbs.” Elizabeth glanced back at him. “S.R. Yeldon... I know these titles. They’re all true-crime books.”

      Mac moved to a new drawer. “Right. The guy made his living by taking cold cases and solving them.” He exhaled on a long sigh. “Something I admire. Wish I could have met him.”

      Her heart beat a bit faster. “He must have been working on a story about Nate.” That was the only thing that made sense.

      “The cops confiscated his computer, so we won’t have access to that.” He headed into the bedroom and she quickly followed. “But I’m betting he kept some kind of notes. Some backup...something.”

      He opened the closet door. She crept closer to him. He was really confident on this whole break-in thing. “What happens if the cops find us here?”

      “We’ll get arrested.”

      Her