Bandit Bound: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (9 page)

Savannah laughed back. Some of her muscles relaxed a little and she leaned back in her seat slightly.

"What kind of weird are you then?" she asked, now making full eye contact with him while speaking. Her heart beat quickly with excitement.

"Maybe after I stop holding you hostage, we can get a drink and I'll tell you all about it," he joked. A coyote howled in the distance.

"It sounds like he's laughing," Savannah remarked about the animal cry.

"He must have heard my joke," Vincent said. Savannah laughed and looked down at her feet again.

"So, what's your deal?" she asked.

"You hungry?" Vincent asked back, ignoring her question.

Savannah allowed the question-dodge and consulted with her stomach.
God, I don't think I've eaten anything all day,
she thought.

"Actually, now that you mention it, yeah, I don't think I've eaten anything all day. I didn't even notice."

"Well, that makes sense, given how your day's gone. Actually, I'm sorry I didn't ask sooner," he said, seeming truly concerned with her well-being.

"It's cool, you were busy robbing banks and stuff I guess," she said and rolled her eyes.

"Tell me what you want to eat, anything you want, I'll get it here," he responded.

You,
Savannah thought.
Stop that!
She scolded herself mentally.

"It really doesn't matter, you can get whatever," she said, mentally and physically exhausted. Realizing how hungry she was and looking back on her experience made her feel extremely tired. She let out a sigh and relaxed further into her seat.

"Nuh uh, your choice. Consider it my apology for the hostage thing."

"You think you can make up for this by giving me a nice meal?" she languidly asked as she squirmed around in the couch, getting extra comfortable.

"It's a start," he answered. "What's your favorite food in the whole world?"

Savannah closed her eyes for a moment, then pulled them open with urgency. I don't want to fall asleep with this strange criminal right beside me, she thought.

"Pulled pork, done just right," she said sleepily.

"Pulled pork," he said. "Really?"

"Really," she replied.

"That's your favorite food in the whole world? Of all the cuisines, the variety, the wonders?" he asked.

Savannah nodded her head to the music in the background, appreciating one of her favorite songs.

"You asked, I answered. Besides, it's not just some shredded pork. It has to be just right."

"What's just right?"

"You wouldn't understand," Savannah said as she started to slouch to the side, her shoulder pushing against the comfortable couch.

"Alright then, I'll see what I can do. Let me get you a blanket," he said.

Savannah snapped awake.

"No, I'm fine," she said, pulling herself back up. What she didn't realize is that she just imagined that she had pulled herself back up but had instead fallen totally on her side. The exhaustion was overtaking her and she was quickly falling asleep.

"Right," Vincent said as he got up and opened a closet door.

"I can't sleep," she said quietly.

"You'll be fine, I'm just going to read a book and make you some pulled pork," he said.

Why is he being so nice to me?
She wondered.
Is he really a good guy? He can't be.

"No," she said as her eyes continued to shut.

"I refuse to be a bad host," he said proudly.

"You're not really hosting when you kidnap," Savannah said. Midway through the sentence, she fell asleep.

9

Savannah woke up to some rustling in the small kitchen of the cabin and the smell of barbecue sauce. The bright light of the kitchen hurt her eyes and she instinctively pulled a blanket over her eyes.

Wait a minute,
she thought.
Why do I have a blanket?
Her half-awake mind was still catching up with what her body was telling her. The music was turned off, but she could still hear the crickets and the frogs outside. It was still dark outside the windows.

"Vincent?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"What?" he asked with a frustrated tone.

"Okay," she said, and turned away from the light and tried to go back to sleep.

Her stomach protested the notion, letting out an audible grumble.

"Hey, what's that smell?" she asked. She received no reply.

"I said what's that smell?" she asked again, this time very loudly.

"I guess it's not just right," Vincent said, half sarcastic, half defeated. Savannah turned back around and looked at the kitchen. There were scattered cooking tools all over the counter and a frantic looking Vincent applying various spices to a pork shoulder in a bowl.

"It smells good," she said sleepily and rubbed her eyes.
God, I can't believe I slept here,
she thought.
I could have died. It does smell good, though, or at least my stomach thinks so.

"Well, dinner is served," he said, bringing a paper plate with a decent little pile of meat on it, with a plastic fork on the side.

"Thanks, I guess," Savannah said as she sat upright on the couch, looking at the meal that had been prepared for her.

"So grateful," he remarked.

"Well, it's not like I came here of my own will to have some homemade pulled pork, but it is a nice gesture for a dangerous felon," she said.

"Dangerous felon, I like that," Vincent said. "Very intimidating. You like that, too."

Savannah blushed at the truth of his statement.

"Go on, bon apetit," he said.

Savannah obliged, stabbing at the meat with her small plastic fork and spearing a decent chunk.

"See, it's supposed to fall apart into nice little shreds," she said, showing him the mostly intact chunk of meat that was on her fork. Vincent scowled at her. Savannah smiled back, and then put the food in her mouth.

Wow, this is not very good,
she thought to herself.
It just tastes like bland meat with salt and pepper.
Vincent looked on in anticipation.

"Just right?" he asked, excited for approval.

Savannah continued to chew on it, struggling to deal with the toughness of the meat.

She shook her head at him, and said, mouth full: "Nuh uh."

Vincent let out a little laugh. "Yeah right, you're just saying that. You know it's amazing." He looked at her with deep expectation. Savannah swallowed her first bite.
This is pretty terrible,
she thought. Yet she felt a tinge of sadness for Vincent, who was so overconfident in his ability yet so fragile to her feedback.

Fuck him,
she thought.
He's a bank robber. He just kidnapped me! Fuck him!

"It's really bad, actually, but thank you for trying," she said in a sort of exaggeratedly sweet way that she knew Vincent would be able to see through.

"Well, you're obviously just saying that because you're mad at me for kidnapping you and taking you hostage," he said and then paused in contemplation. "Which makes sense."

"Whatever makes you feel better, Vance," Savannah said with extra snark.

"My name's not Vance," he said. "That's just how he says Vince. He has an accent."

Savannah looked away and rolled her eyes, feeling embarrassed at the same time.

"Right," she said.

"You're not as clever as you think you are," Vincent said. He seemed to be taking a delight in her rebelliousness, though. Savannah mock-smiled at him and took another bite of the mediocre meal.

"So, am I just hanging out here for a few days? Then what? You drop me off somewhere, ransom me, kill me?" she asked in between bites.

"I don't kill innocent people," Vincent said defensively.

"Innocent people? You're a killer?" Savannah said in shock.
I didn't think he was capable of that, or that he ever would,
she thought.
But why would I think that? It's not like I know him.

"I'm not a 'killer', and I don't appreciate the accusation, especially while you're eating a meal I just made you," Vincent replied.

"Sorry, it's a little scary being captive to someone who just admitted to murder, no matter how nice he is and how much crappy pulled pork he makes you," Savannah said.

Shit, shit, stop talking, he's going to shoot you,
she thought while visibly wincing. She took the last bite of the serving she was given.

"You've really got a mouth on you, huh?" Vincent asked.

"You don't know the half of it," Savannah answered.

"I think I'd like to get to know all of it," Vincent flirted back.

Savannah looked up at him and saw him staring at her with eyes full of desire. She blushed and tried to look away, but it was like he held her eyes locked onto his with his stare.

"Oh," Savannah said, unable to come up with a witty comeback while he was looking at her with such an electrifying gaze.

He walked over to her and in a few seconds he was standing over her. She looked up from his shoes to his face, admiring the statuesque body that stood before her.

"You tired?" he asked.

"I just woke up, not really," she answered.

"You only slept a bit," he said.

"I'm fine, I think," she said, quivering. Vincent leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She let him for a few seconds, and then pulled back and turned her head away.

"Stop," she said. Her cheeks were flush and her heart was racing. Vincent put his hand on her cheek and turned her to face him once more. They looked deeply into one another's eyes.

Vincent kissed her again. This time, he pressed into her harder, slipping his tongue past her lips and entwining it with hers. His hand slid from her neck to the back of her head and pulled her into the kiss, penetrating her mouth further with his tongue. Savannah didn't resist at all.

Standing up on her feet, Savannah continued to make out with Vincent while he straightened his back and placed his hands on her hips. Pulling away for a moment, Vincent kissed her down her neck to her collarbone, sending shivers of excitement and pleasure down her body.

"Fuck," she said, unable to control herself.

She let out a soft moan at a particularly good-feeling kiss on her neck and bit her lip afterward. Vincent grunted in pleasure as a response, the two of them now speaking with their bodies and simple noises as a language.

The two of them continued to kiss and walk at the same time, in short, awkward, sensual steps, until they arrived at the couch that Savannah had just recently awoken from. Vincent held onto Savannah's shoulders and shoved her onto the couch by them, her bottom crashing onto the comfortable cushion. She looked up at him with delectable desire.

"We really shouldn't," she said unconvincingly as she smiled and bit her lip.

In the time it took her to say that, Vincent had unbuttoned his dress shirt which now hung loosely off of his muscular body. Savannah looked in awe at the perfectly carved abs and pecs, spattered with various tattoos. He leaned in and kissed her again, this time even more passionately than before as he grabbed a fistful of her hair on the back of her head. He tugged oh-so-lightly on it, causing Savannah to moan into his mouth and onto his dancing tongue.

She reached her hands out and started to feel up his body, little sparks of excitement and electrical sensation exploding all over her fingertips as she traced every little curve and outline of his defined body.

His hand responded in kind, reaching at her breast and groping it hard, then moving to the next breast and doing the same. After some feeling up of one another, Vincent grabbed the seam of her blouse and ripped it apart with a single tear. The sound of buttons clattering off of the hardwood floor was all they could hear other than their own heavy breath. The air was thick.