Chapter Four: Be Sure to Follow the Rules

Maureen had made the mistake of glancing down at her hands after she'd buckled her seatbelt and noticed how filthy and dirt-encrusted her fingernails were.

She was so mystified and distracted by wondering how her hands had gotten so dirty that she didn't notice the recently repainted hotel until he was signaling for a parking spot in the fairly bustling lot despite the placement of the hands on the clock.

There weren't many more choices for a large number of miles and this hotel with attached gas station made a mint with their strategic location. They could easily afford free cable and a hot breakfast with how much they raped tourists with their convenience and always having a vacancy.

"What are we doing here?" Maureen in a much more shrill tone than she would've knowingly used.

"We've got a ways to drive tomorrow, we both need sleep."

"I'm not going to stay in a room with you," Maureen breathlessly managed.

Wyatt restarted the SUV, "there's a campgrounds nearby, we'll keep cozy in here all night," he said, dropping his tone and winking.

His velvet words made her flush, Maureen's ears were close to spontaneously bursting into flames, forcing her to look away first.

Wyatt looked around the lot as conflicting emotions bombarded Maureen, he was concerned about his federally wanted status and even though the hotel was a good distance away from Agent Ellen and her immediate reach, he still buttoned up his shirt and slipped a hat down low on his head.

Maureen couldn't fight a flinch when Wyatt depressed the door-lock system and settled his hand over her closest hand.

He waited to speak until he had her complete attention, the touch of his hand brought her eyes immediately to his.

"There's a few ground rules first," he rasped.

"Ground rules?" she echoed, her voice sounding hollow.

Wyatt nodded.

Maureen tried to tug her hand free of his, stopping when he only wordlessly tightened his unbreakable grip.

"What are these rules then?" Maureen asked on a heavy resigned sigh.

Maureen would've guessed he would've had many rules ready to roll out, but he merely tightened his grip briefly before he released her hand and raised his hand to her exquisite face.

Maureen's breathing slowed until it was a nearly undetectable rate as Wyatt traced the rough pad of his fingertips along her sharp cheekbones and along the line of her jaw.

"Don't do anything to get yourself hurt," Wyatt murmured as he cupped her jaw. "Do you understand?" Wyatt asked on a low rasp as he traced the rough pad of his thumb across her lower lip.

"I can play a part," she finally said, struggling to keep eye contact with Wyatt. "I won't be a problem," Maureen added in a hushed tone as she shook her chin free of his touch.

Wyatt bit back some involuntary words that nearly spilled from between his lips, loudly clearing his throat as he hit the all-door unlock button on the black, plastic fob.

The two of them worked together like a couple that traveled together a lot. They each had the luggage stacked efficiently before he double-clicked the key fob and locked the SUV's heavy doors. Wyatt pulled his hat low on his head as he passed Maureen a fat stack of cash to check-in without having to provide a lot of identification.

Wyatt flanked her as they crossed the parking lot to check-in, he was a moving wall of muscle, eclipsing the moon.

Since it was so late and the kid behind the desk had an organic chemistry lab test in the morning, the tired student working the night shift barely even looked up at them.

The sophomore didn't even ask them what kind of room they wanted, just saw two people, and assumed they were going to sleep in the same bed.

Wyatt gestured for Maureen to take the plastic room key from the studious student and followed her to their first-floor room.

Her fatigue and exhaustion had been waiting for that moment to crash over her, she was almost grateful to see the bed and a place to sit. Any relief was quickly smothered in its sleep at the site of the single queen bed.

Maureen wanted to walk backwards from the room, right out of the doorway and back into the rental SUV, preferably behind the steering wheel, but Wyatt was behind her, closing the door and engaging the sturdy deadbolt.

She deposited her couple suitcases on the floor in front of the bed with the bright paisley comforter and made a beeline to the tiny kitchenette.

Wyatt set the remaining bags on the bed's neatly made surface as he watched her fill a squat glass with tepid water from the tap, drinking too fast and nearly choking.

Maureen counted her breaths and tried to slow her racing heart as she plucked the remote control from the counter and flipped on the television, recalling the colorful advertising in the hotel's lobby about the abundant channels offered in addition to free Wi-fi and a continental breakfast from 8am to 11am every morning.

She refilled her glass before settling on a swiveling office chair in front of a cheap particle board desk, the surface recently dusted and boasting complimentary stationary, pens and a menu for a nearby Chinese restaurant that would deliver to the hotel until the very wee hours of the night.

Maureen was aware of Wyatt's eyes lingering on her for a few moments as she looked through the channel guide and ended up settling on a late news broadcast that was halfway over.

She squeezed the bridge of her nose when she felt the weight of Wyatt's eyes recede, breathing slowly in through her nose and out of her mouth, nauseated in the wake of her anxiety, feeling sticky from the nervous sweat that had dried on her skin.

Wyatt was just as surprised when the platinum blonde news anchor began talking about Wyatt Rivers being wanted and the overdose death of the undercover agent.

There was no mention of Maureen at the time of the news report, he wondered how long until her disappearance was reported.

Wyatt stopped looking at the screen when the news anchor referred to Kat as Meredith and turned all of his attention to Maureen when the news anchor began listing off his other crimes, some truly committed and others merely alleged.

"Is all of that true?" Maureen asked as she took a few quick sips from the glass, glad to have something to do with her hands.

"I've done all of that and then some," Wyatt purred in a dangerous melody, holding her unblinking eyes as he reached for the first of her pieces of luggage, adding as he began to unzip it.

"I'm going to look through these, so there's no surprises."

Maureen shrugged and watched impassively as he began methodically looking through every nook and cranny of her luggage.

Wyatt smirked as he traced the rough pad of his fingertip over the L and V on the largest of the suitcases, surprised that for what people paid, that it didn't come filled with blood diamonds, still dripping wet.

Maureen spared him occasional glances as he pawed through her clothes, shoes, and everything else she'd packed for her trip that was just supposed to be a bunch of lectures about new innovative pharmaceutical support for the psychopathic brain and the latest in MRI technology.

Wyatt zipped up the last suitcase and stacked it by the short set of dressers before rising to his full height, his movement brought her eyes to him.

"Now you," he rasped.

"Me what?" Maureen asked as she involuntarily tightened one hand on the empty glass and the other around the plastic remote control.

"I don't want any surprises," Wyatt murmured as he began to walk around the bed towards her, his approaching enormity and vascular striation forced her to her feet but able to keep a neutral expression on her striking features.

"I'm not hiding anything," Maureen stated easily, letting her hands splay out casually to her sides as she took a small step backwards.

She couldn't hide the growing octaves spiking her tone, especially when she wasn't in her work office with a round panic button that would immediately summon security if a session went awry.

Wyatt paused, recognizing similar expressions on doctors' faces he'd seen before under prison roof, but he'd always been in handcuffs, hobbled to the point that he was a housecat with a dragon living beneath his fur.

Wyatt felt his chest tighten at how enticing the fear was as it flashed in her eyes as she continued to put as much distance between them as she could.

He tried to temper his actions; his simple goal was to search her without letting his hands linger.

His plan was doomed from the start to drown in its own after birth as Maureen's pulse climbed to the point that he could see the artery beating erratically under the smooth skin of her throat, a bird trapped in a cage.

Wyatt began to feel his anger grow with more intensity than his surging lust climbed as he ended up pulling the gun free of his waist band, not pointing it at her but close enough that it was still threatening.

"Stop pointing that near me," Maureen whispered, wishing she'd refilled that water glass with how parched her mouth had become.

Wyatt held the gun in the air for a few moments longer until replacing it in his rear waistband.

Maureen didn't feel relieved but was grateful that it wasn't pointed near her anymore.

"I'm not hiding anything," Maureen managed to say with more strength than she felt.

"Stand still," Wyatt growled as he stalked closer, Maureen continuing to put as much space between them in the small, combined kitchenette and sitting area.

"I told you I'd play this role, what more do you want Wyatt?"

Wyatt froze at the end of the tiled island, stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of his name spilling from between her lips.

"Tell me, tell me what I have to do to stay alive," she snapped.

"Who's back home that you're living for?" Wyatt asked as he resumed moving closer, forcing her to stand on the other side of a flimsy dining room table, surrounded by four lightweight chairs.

Maureen pressed her lips together, wondering if any of the rooms that shared walls with them were occupied.

Wyatt misinterpreted her silence for more than it was, thinking back to seeing the name 'Blair," in her day planner.

"Will someone miss you?" he nearly hissed as he came to a stop at the other side of the cheap table.

Wyatt had no plan to wait for her to answer, instead capitalizing on the weight of his question to grab the inexpensive table and shove it out of the way.

Maureen had time to raise her hands in a hollow effort to stop him from rushing forward and wrapping her up in his arms.

Wyatt felt a purr pass through his nervous system with how well she fit within his muscular embrace.

She could only furiously shake her head as Wyatt put his large hand over her mouth, her lips at once crushed under his warm palm.

"Don't scream," he finally rasped when she stopped struggling enough to hear him.

Maureen nodded, taking in a deep, shaky exhale when he lifted his hand from her mouth but still kept her firmly trapped within the circle of his arms.

"Why drive me all the way here to kill me?" she asked as an involuntary shudder wracked her body.

With his close hold on her, it brought their faces so much closer together.

For a moment in time, he could've been the very embodiment of the god Tane as he breathed life into his goddess.

"I'm not," Wyatt whispered, his words delivered on a hot exhale against her parted lips. "I'm not going to kill you," he added as their breath was as one.

"Then what're you planning?" she managed, her lungs unable to completely fill with his overwhelming embrace.

"I don't know," he finally admitted, relaxing his hold enough for her to breathe.