Adam’s Outlaw Page 9

  “You’re nice.” That definitely was Adam speaking. “You’re making me want to kiss you, Toni Gresham.”

  “But you shouldn’t. Kissing me isn’t part of my construction schedule. You understand it’s a matter of time and motion, efficiency.”

  “Kissing you isn’t part of my schedule either. But I think we’re going to have to do it, or neither of us is ever going to get on with business.”

  “You’re very bossy, Adam Ware. And sometimes you’re even right.” She closed her eyes as she lowered her head, feeling the warmth of his breath on her face. He felt good. Touching him felt good. When his arms tightened around her, her mind roared with the singing of a wild wind. It was more than she could bear. Who kissed whom was unimportant. It was the kiss that took shape and grew into more than either had expected.

  Wonder turned into tenderness, which changed swiftly into desire as she felt his tongue make a passionate assault inside her mouth. The hands cradling her bottom lifted her possessively, bringing her closer to those lips as his mouth left hers, branded her forehead, slipped down her cheek, and lingered at the hollow of her neck.

  “Ah, Toni, outlaw of the jungle, what are you doing to me? I’m consorting with a criminal, totally losing control. If you were mine, I’d lock you in your room.”

  If you were mine. The words ran through her mind like some elusive scent that teased and disappeared. She gazed down into his eyes, running her fingers through the damply curling strands of his hair, feeling the rough stubble of beard on his cheeks, and thrilling to the knowledge that she could fire this fierce dark man with the same kind of desire that surged through her body.

  She wanted to lay her head on his chest and feel the strength of his arms around her. She needed his strength, and that need surprised her. Always a loner, she’d never felt that way before. And she couldn’t allow herself to. Even the thought of belonging to anyone was wrong. She belonged only to herself.

  Adam’s lips moved down to the top of her breasts and she moaned softly, closing her eyes, for fear of revealing what she was feeling.

  “Adam, this isn’t right.”

  “It feels right to me, but if you think we need more practice …” His lips grazed her nipples. “A good law officer prides himself in doing his duty for ladies, old and young. Got any streets you want to cross?”

  “I think I’ve already crossed it, Adam.” She pulled back and lay atop him for a long, still second, eyes open and mind desperately trying to put aside the lovely illusion of his touch. “Why do you keep sidetracking me? I know what you’re up to,” she said with pain in her voice. “You’re trying to make me forget what I’m doing here.”

  “Forget? Not a chance. I want you to remember this. I want you to go through what I have for the last two days. I want you to think about this, and me, instead of all those other people.”

  “What makes you think I haven’t, Adam Ware? You’re an unwanted intrusion that I don’t have time for. I know you don’t approve of me. Why didn’t you go someplace else and do your duty?”

  “You’re not altogether a duty, Toni. Truth is, I don’t know what you are.”

  “I’m just me, Toni Gresham, engineer, teacher, and compassionate person.”

  He brushed her hair back from her face, then smoothed down her T-shirt and tugged at the bottoms of her cutoff blue jeans. “All I know is that we have to get out of here and discuss this.”

  “No way. We discuss it now, while I have you at a disadvantage. Once you get your uniform on, you’ll get all pompous again. I think I like you better this way, half-naked and needy.” She kissed him again.

  He allowed her to kiss him for a second before pulling away. “Needy? Is that the only way I’ll get your attention? You’re the most stubborn, unrealistic, out-and-out troublemaker that I’ve ever come in contact with.”

  Every time Toni breathed, Adam became more aware of every inch of contact between their bodies. He was holding on to his control with all the concentration he possessed. Even still, he couldn’t call back a slight upward arch. Nor could he ignore the responding flood of heat that erupted outward from the source of the fire.

  He swore softly. “Never before have I met a woman so intent on wreaking pure havoc. I don’t know what I’m doing—lying here under a sink in a dilapidated old building, necking with an outlaw.”

  “Lordy, I don’t know either,” came Annie’s voice. “And I’m not getting down there to find out. But if you two don’t want an audience, you’d better put your hormones on hold. A car just pulled up down the road, cut off its lights, and stopped. It’s getting dark and the truck’s not back yet. What do you say to Fred and me walking on over to Marietta Street to catch a bus?”

  Adam raised up, bumped his head on the repaired pipe, cursed, and shimmied out from beneath the cabinet, bringing a flamed-faced Toni with him. She jumped to her feet and pulled down her shirt as Annie struggled to control the grin on her face.

  “Don’t you dare leave me here alone with this man, Annie.”

  “Listen, Toni, there are some things that don’t need an audience. Besides, somebody has to wait for the truck to get back.”

  “But Annie, you don’t understand. I couldn’t get the pipes together. Adam had to help me. No, what I mean is … Ah, tweedledee, tweedledum! Just forget it.”

  “Honey, it’s been thirty years since I’ve heard an excuse that good. Even my late husband wasn’t as creative. You don’t have to explain. Believe you me, I know what you mean.” She gave Adam a broad wink over Toni’s shoulder and left the tiny bathroom.

  Toni whirled around. “Now see what you did. You gave Annie the wrong impression. Why, we weren’t …”

  “Not yet. But I think it was obvious to Annie that parts of us know others very well. And the doing was mutual, my little outlaw. We have to cool down and talk.”

  “Put your clothes on, Kojak. There’s nothing to cool down.” She spun back-around and called, “Wait a minute, Annie.”

  “Speak for yourself, Gresham,” Adam said, “but that damp shirt of yours doesn’t hide any more than my trousers.”

  Toni looked down at her taut nipples and groaned. The man was an out-and-out sex machine. And she responded every time he touched her.

  “I don’t know why you’re in such a snit because there’s a car in the woods,” she said. “Probably some teenagers looking for a place to park.”

  “People don’t park in cars anymore, outlaw. They don’t have to. Except for a few renegades who find vacant buildings with sinks to hide under.” He was searching for his shirt in the shadows. Darkness was almost complete and he knew they had to hurry.

  “Well, maybe it’s your ghost driving the car,” Toni said. “Annie, you wait for me.” She opened the door and stepped into the corridor. “No more being on the streets for you.” She marched after Dead Fred and Omni Annie, placing herself squarely between them. “You’re going to stay at my house, Annie.”

  “Nope, I think not. Your little teacup is nice, but it isn’t for me. I like being my own boss. There’s a concert over at the Omni tonight and my regular folks will be looking for me. I’m an Atlanta institution, you know.”

  “But—but, Fred, Annie …”

  Adam came up behind her, sliding his shirt on. “Let them go, Toni. That’s the problem with helping people. I learned it a long time ago, before I ever became a police officer. You have to accept what is and deal with it. You can’t make people change just because you want them to. You’re just fooling yourself.”

  “But you can’t stop trying,” Toni protested. “You just can’t. You have to believe in people. If only one person benefits, you’ve done—”

  “Quiet, outlaw, you’re disturbing the ghosts.”

  Toni glanced around the building. The light was almost gone now. Darkness cloaked the prison like black fog. She shivered. She would never admit it to the others, but the thought of staying in the building alone was terrifying. Truthfully, she’d intended from the beginning to
convince Fred and Annie to stay. Now they were leaving and it looked as if she’d be with the last man on earth she wanted to be alone with.

  “I have to go with Annie,” she said in a strained voice as she made a move toward the courtyard.

  “No!” Adam grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the large open room. His whispered “no” said clearly that he would tolerate no defiance this time.

  “How dare you, Adam Ware. What do you think you’re doing?”

  “One more word and I’ll put a muzzle on you. For once in your life follow orders. I don’t know who’s out there, but I have a reasonably good idea. I tried to tell you that spending the night here was dangerous. Now you may have to stay.”

  “Stay here? With you?” Toni was beginning to realize he was serious. “Sure, and maybe whales take up writing poetry and join a commune. Out of my way, Kojak.”

  “Don’t fight me on this, Toni. It’s out of our hands. That’s what I came to tell you. There’s a drug sweep on for tonight. The Mad Dog Squad is putting this place under surveillance. I suspect that car may be the first team.”

  “Drug sweep? Oh, great. Just the kind of publicity I need. What about Annie and Fred?”

  “Everybody on the street knows Annie and Fred are clean. If the squad even see them, they’ll figure Annie was just hanging out in here and let them go.”

  “Going sounds like a good idea to me too. I think I’ve changed my mind about staying here tonight. Can’t we slip out the back door? I’ll come back for my sleeping bag and camping gear later.”

  Already the building was taking on sinister angles in the darkness. The windows that had sparkled so in the bright sunlight now looked like giant dark eyes, glaring at her.

  “No,” Adam said. “If the car in the woods doesn’t belong to the boys, then it must be a deal going down. Annie and Fred might look legit, but an officer in dress blues could blow everything.” He sighed in resignation. “This was your idea. We’ll just stay here until I figure out what’s going on.”

  “Wonderful. How long?” This time she didn’t try to hide the shiver that washed over her.

  “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you from the bad guys.” He paused. “But I don’t know about the spooks.”

  The old building creaked and groaned, filling the silence with little unidentified noises. Still, Adam figured he’d be able to hear any intruder.

  “I wish you’d stop talking about ghosts,” Toni said crossly. “There aren’t any such things.”

  “Maybe not. Now follow me, very quietly. If there is anyone out there, I want to see him before he sees us. The story goes that the ghost is a young woman who walks the halls at night, crying and moaning.”

  “And I’ll bet I know who made that one up,” she said, unconsciously chewing on her upper lip. “How do you plan to get us home?”

  “I thought you’d just whistle for your flying teacup. Move it, Toni.”

  “Oh, you read the fairy tale.” She couldn’t conceal the unexpected surge of joy at his statement.

  “Yep. Stopped by the library in the Boys’ Club this afternoon and looked up this Baba Yaga character. There’s just one little problem.”

  “Oh, what’s that?” She stepped up behind him, peering outside with him through a gaping hole in the wall. His arm’s encircling her waist seemed as natural as her leaning into the curve of his shoulder.

  “Baba Yaga’s vehicle wasn’t a teacup at all,” he whispered in her ear as he stared into the dark clump of woods surrounding the building. “It was a mortar and pestle, with long, skinny chicken legs.” He couldn’t see any movement. He’d wait until the last sliver of light was gone, then he’d reconnoiter. In the meantime, he had to keep her distracted. “Why’d you change it to a teacup? Witches don’t live in teacups.”

  She could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart as he held her. “Adam Ware, in spite of what you may think, I’m not a witch. If I were, I’d turn you into a frog.”

  “Do witches kiss frogs and turn them into princes?”

  “How do I know? I’ve never met one.”

  “Sure you have. Ribbet! Ribbet!”

  Then he heard it, the sound of furtive footsteps and a whispered voice, just beyond the wall.

  “Are you in there? Come on out, slow and easy. I have a gun on you.”

  Seven

  Adam didn’t turn into a prince. But then he wasn’t a frog. If he had been, Toni decided this would have been the time to croak.

  He pressed his finger against her lips, and she obeyed his unspoken order, for once not questioning the man. The courtyard was not yet totally dark, though inside, the prison was like black ink. There were no streetlights and the moon wasn’t up. The eerie quiet lifted goose bumps on Toni’s arms. Somebody on the other side of that wall had a gun.

  More footsteps. Someone else had walked from the other direction.

  “I’m over here. You got …” The voice became muffled. The two men walked away. There was a brief scuffle, an angry exchange of words, then silence.

  After a long moment Adam let out a deep breath. He took a step back and drew Toni with him. “Let’s go to your little bathroom. That seems to be the darkest section of the building, with no holes in the wall and no windows. That’s where we wait.”

  “Wait? You’ve got to be kidding. For what?”

  “I don’t know, yet.”

  “Why not just go out and identify yourself to the mad dogs? Then we can get out of here.”

  Because, he wanted to say, it isn’t safe. I’m not sure whoever’s in the car is one of us. It’s too early for the surveillance team and I don’t know who those two men were. If something else was going down, he didn’t want Toni in the middle of it. He’d already seen an example of her vigilante group in action. His chest still twinged from the imprint of her lethal foot.

  What he said was, “No, we might stumble into something and mess it up. It’s best if we wait.” He led the way into the small room and closed the door. The room went black. Toni gave out a small yelp.

  “What’s wrong, outlaw?”

  “It’s very dark, isn’t it?”

  “Are you afraid?”

  “Of course not!”

  She was. He could feel her fear and automatically put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. “Slide down the wall and we’ll sit on the floor and talk.”

  She didn’t fight his suggestion. He felt her silent sigh as her body molded against his and they dropped to the floor. “You’ve probably ruined your clothes.”

  “You can buy me some new ones. You’re a woman of means.” Her skin was damp. He caught the faint clean scent of wildflowers.

  “How do you know that?” She tried to keep some distance between them, then gave up the idea as she took another breath. She was afraid of the dark. There was no defending, explaining, or pretending that she wasn’t. As a child her grandfather had told her fairy tales to take away her fear. After he’d died she’d continued to reach for those stories as her own kind of invisible protection.

  Here in this wretched place the only one she could think of was “Little Red Riding Hood.” She was afraid the Big Bad Wolf was already in the room with her, and she didn’t even have a night-light.

  Any idea Adam might have had about leaving Toni while he reconnoitered was quickly discarded as he realized her trembling was growing rather than diminishing. He’d had enough experience with terror to know that the second he left her, she’d probably start screaming. He’d have to wait. In the meantime he’d keep her mind off what was happening.

  “I know you’re an engineer,” he said, “but why’d you decide to build a teacup?”

  “Teacup? Oh, you mean my house.” Toni’s first inclination was to pass it off as architectural license. But she didn’t. He’d been honest with her about the drug sweep and deserved an honest answer in return. If she could articulate reasons she’d never examined before.

  “When I was a little girl, I was alone
a lot after my grandfather died. I had imaginary playmates and read fairy tales. It wasn’t that my mother and father didn’t love me. They did, I guess. We just never talked. They raised me as they were raised—nannies, private schools, camps, vacations abroad. You know the routine.”

  “Well, not exactly. Where I come from the kids were packed off to stay with whoever was laid off or too old to work. I read biographies and played sports. Same scenario, I guess. Different reason.”

  “I never thought of it that way, but you may be right. Still, we both turned out okay, didn’t we?” Except, she decided privately, that she’d bet money Adam hadn’t stayed with anybody. He’d probably been totally self-sufficient at five years of age.

  Her eyes were adjusting, and she could separate out the cabinet and the sink from the darkness. Nobody understood her motivation, but the elderly people she helped felt they had been abandoned, too, in a different way. And she understood their fears. Helping them was like being with her grandfather. He’d understand.

  She was certain Adam had never been afraid of anything, not even as a child. His being alone hadn’t seemed to have left any permanent scars. But then maybe it had. Maybe he, too, had found a way to give some of the love he’d been deprived of. He’d just done it in another way. Perhaps there wasn’t such a big difference between repairing a broken window or a leaky faucet and fighting crime.

  This housing project had been her opportunity to make a real difference. Then Kojak had to come along and muddy the water. He didn’t approve of her methods. She wasn’t sure he even approved of her. He just liked kissing her. She had to put a stop to that. His arms weren’t any different from any other man’s. Neither were his lips. But his enslave-the-recipient and keep-her-in-line kind of law enforcement was very effective.