CHAPTER THIRTY

P iper felt something hard. Warm but hard.

Her head was foggy as she tried to clear her mind and make sense of her thoughts. What day was it? Where was she? Might help to open her eyes, but she really didn’t want to. She was warm and safe.

Safe?

Fuck!

The needle. The men. She wasn’t safe. Was she kidnapped and wrapped in a warm bundle of blankets, buried in an unmarked grave?

Holy shit, I’m going to die!

No. She would just lay here and pretend she was in Oliver’s arms until she ran out of oxygen.

“Open your eyes, darlin’.” A gravelly voice spoke right at her ear.

“Nope. Pretend Oliver, I’m not falling for it,” she said, then coughed at her dry throat.

“Pretend?”

“Yes, I’m buried alive and hallucinating.”

She heard a distant snort.

“Is she always this dramatic?” a man asked.

“Yes,” Pretend Oliver answered with a sigh.

Piper began to blink and open her eyes. “I’m not in a grave?”

Oliver came into view. Real Oliver.

Or at least his chest and black t-shirt did. Then she felt her chin tilted up, and he gazed down at her. “Not today, sunshine, but I’m not saying it wasn’t a possibility.”

She closed her eyes again.

“I don’t feel very good.”

“I’ll give you some privacy,” the man’s voice said. “Alex has just arrived.”

“Okay, I’ll join y’all shortly,” Oliver said as the door closed.

“Who was that?”

“Ben.”

She tried to nod against his chest.

“You saved me.” A hand ran across her face, pushing her hair away and she opened her eyes again. “You saved me from those men.”

He nodded.

“I knew you’d be mad.” She sighed.

His brows furrowed. “I’m madder than a wet hen, Piper. You could have been killed or God knows what else.”

She tried to sit up and look at him, but she felt weak, like her limbs were made of spaghetti and ended up just flopping back down.

“Yes, I’m mad.” Oliver sighed, pulling her up against his chest as he sat up further. “I told you to go home because this story was dangerous, but you’re so damn stubborn you wouldn’t listen.”

Suddenly, moisture filled her eyes.

“What are you doing?” He gasped.

“This is called crying, you moron,” she snapped, and wiped at a tear.

“Why?”

“Because I nearly died!” she cried. “I was scared. Then I thought I heard you call my name and... I...”

“What?”

“I knew you’d save me.” She spoke quietly, staring up at his beautiful face with his wild blue eyes.

He shook his head at her, pressing those eyes shut.

“I’m not safe to be around. You need to stay out of my world, Piper.” His eyes opened and their gazes locked. “God damn it.”

Her mouth parted at the intensity between them, but there was no need for words. His lips slammed against hers and his huge body swallowed her up. If she was going to be buried alive, underneath Oliver was a happy way to die.

NINETY MINUTES LATER , she found herself in a vehicle on her way to the airport. She’d given Oliver every argument she could think of, including, you can’t tell me what to do, but aside from accusing him of kidnapping her—something she was getting rather sick of—she had decided to go with him.

Or rather, she hadn’t had a choice.

She’d resorted to glaring at him from the backseat of their SUV while he drove.

“You sure about this?” Oliver asked Kurt in the passenger seat.

“Yeah, Ben can assist Alex and follow up those...” He shot her a look. “Leads. I want to make sure you both get home. I don’t trust Tomassi. We’re better off in teams, not going it alone.”

Oli turned into the airport. “Thanks, Kurt.”

Tomassi?

“I know him,” she said.

“Who? Tomassi?” Kurt asked, turning. When she nodded, he asked, “How?”

“He rang me yesterday. Invited me to BioZen for a tour. Today. Guess I’m not going.”

Oliver shook his head and slammed the steering wheel. “Shit, Piper. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“They tracked her phone.” Kurt cursed.

“I’m right here. Hello.”

“Yup, they must have.” Oliver ignored her. “God damn it.”

“Give me your phone,” Kurt said, holding out his hand.

“No. Nooo.” She gripped her handbag, which contained her new iPhone.

“Okay, shallow grave it is then, Piper.” Oliver growled and pulled the vehicle to a stop. Her mouth fell open. “You decide.”

“Stop it. You’re just trying to scare me.” She glared at him.

“I’ll let you deal with this,” Kurt said and got out. She heard him giving people instructions and the trunk opening behind her.

“Why are you not already scared? Someone drugged you and tried to kidnap you. If I hadn’t spotted them and followed you...” He growled and angrily opened his door. Hers opened a second later and he helped her out, grabbing her laptop bag.

Piper glanced up at him. His flaming blue eyes screamed possession and all she could think was, kiss me.

He blinked and glanced away.

Maybe she had read the vibe wrong. Now she was getting on the plane his job was done. Was that it?

“I want this story. It’s important to me and I hate that these men have intimidated me.” She focused back on her job.

Oliver took her chin. “Killing you is not intimidation, darlin’. I’m going to keep you alive and get you home safely. Once we’re on that plane, I want you to tell me everything.”

Well, she most definitely wasn’t doing that.

“Okay,” she lied.

Then she turned and took in the private jet for the first time. Holy heck. It was huge. She followed Kurt up the stairs, Oliver behind her, and nearly gasped as she looked around the luxury interior.

Large leather seats in soft gray lined the space. Some were like sofas and others were single seaters. There were tables and a door, which obviously led down to another section of the plane. On the walls were a few screens, and flight attendants were busy doing preparations.

Kurt went on ahead and grabbed a soda from a wall unit she figured was a fridge. Oliver’s hand landed on the small of her back and encouraged her to keep moving.

“This is... very fancy.”

“Yup,” he replied, and placed her bag on one of the tables. “Sit anywhere and let Suzanne know if you want anything.”

Suzanne.

Right.

The woman smiled at her. “Can I get you anything before we take off? Breakfast will be served in about forty minutes.”

“Coffee?”

“Latte?”

Piper nodded, then selected a seat on the sofa so she could stretch out later. Not that the room was going to be an issue. She put her handbag down next to her and her laptop bag on the table.

“I’m going to go crash,” Kurt said, giving them a wave and disappearing through the door. “Call me if you need me.”

“Sweet dreams,” Oliver said, smirking.

“Don’t know how people can sleep during the day.” Piper said.

“Hmm.” Oliver crossed the space. She thought he was going to sit next to her when he lifted her bag. Her heart began to beat like a damn high school student. Instead, he ripped her phone out.

She gasped. “No, Oli. No!”

“Grave or iPhone?” he asked, holding it in the air as she jumped to her feet, grabbing at it.

“iPhone!” she cried.

He shook his head.

“Sit down. I’ll buy you a new one when we land. You’ll need a new number.”

“It has all my contacts and details on it,” she said, slumping back into her seat.

“We’ll sort it.”

He walked back to the door of the plane and she heard a strange crunching noise, then he returned.

“What did you do?” she asked.

How had he...? Oliver leaned in and told her to forget what she just saw.

So she did.

“Here’s your coffee, ma’am.”

Ma’am? How old do I look today? She guessed being drugged and nearly kidnapped could age a girl.

“Um, thanks.”

Twenty minutes later, they took off.