Bianca opened the door and jumped out before he could stop her, heading toward the sprawling house.
Adam shot out of the truck, caught her around the waist, and lifted her straight off the ground before setting her firmly back in the passenger seat.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Stay.” He shut the door, counted to five, then opened it again and held out his hand. “You wait until I help you out.”
She blinked at him. “I’m not a dog.”
“No, you’re not,” he snarled. “Someone has been leaving you creepy notes. Another person shot at your car, and you just walked out of a house where a man pointed a shotgun at your head.” His voice dropped another notch. “You stay in the fucking truck until I make sure it’s safe and let you out. Got it?”
She stared at him for a second. It wasn’t agreement, but she took his hand and stepped down from the truck, making it halfway to the house before spinning around to face him. “How dare you?” she demanded.
Adam planted his feet and put his hands on his hips. “How dare I what?”
“Seriously?” Bianca stared at him like he’d just grown another head. God help him, she was gorgeous. The scarlet sweater clung to every curve she owned, blazing against the dark yard like a warning sign he had no intention of obeying. Her jeans molded to her hips and long legs before disappearing into black boots smudged with mud from Billy’s driveway. Her eyes flashed with fury, bright and dangerous, and that wild mass of hair spilled over her shoulders in thick waves that caught the porch light and turned the strands into flickers of fire. Even furious, even ready to take his head off, she looked like the kind of woman a man could get lost in—and right now, he was on board with that plan.
“Go on,” he snapped.
“Act like some caveman,” she snapped. “I’m mad at you, remember?”
His temper fought with the arousal slashing through him. “I am equally angry with you,” he said through gritted teeth. “You know that group is unhinged,” he continued. “I told you that, and yet you went out there anyway.”
“You didn’t give me a choice.” Bianca threw her hands into the air and paced beside his driveway, her boots scraping the dirt. The night air smelled of pine and cold earth while the wind tugged at her hair, sending dark strands across her shoulders as she glared at him. She looked stunning.
Adam dragged a hand down his face. “You had a choice,” he said. “You could have waited.”
“For what?” she shot back. “For the movie crew to arrive and find out we don’t have a location?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “Or for me to go with you.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re the reason I had to go in the first place.”
He took a step closer, apparently not making himself clear. “You drove to the house of a man who already threatened you.”
“He didn’t threaten me until after we got there,” she snapped.
“That doesn’t make it better.”
They stood there for a long moment, both breathing hard. Somewhere down the road a truck passed in the distance, its headlights sliding briefly across the trees before disappearing again.
“Go inside. We can finish fighting there,” he said, not liking the darkening trees around them. He’d probably sense if a predator were near, human or animal, but right now, he was seeing red.
“Fine.” She stomped toward the house, yanking open the door.
Adam followed her inside, his temper wide awake and ready to rumble.
CHAPTER 18
Bianca shoved the door open and stormed into the house before the anger boiling inside her had a chance to spill over into reckless action. The living room lights were already on, casting a warm gold across the wide space and the dark wood floors. It should have felt comforting.
It didn’t.
She spun around the second she heard the door close, grabbed the nearest pillow from the sofa, and hurled it straight at his head.
He knocked it aside easily. “Feel better?”
“No.” Her chest rose and fell quickly as she glared at him. Which was a mistake. Because he looked infuriatingly good standing there.