Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 107096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
I’m not built for speed and, normally, she would have easily outrun me. But her hands were still cuffed behind her and you can’t run full speed, without using your arms, so I was slowly gaining on her. Then I saw what was ahead of us and my stomach tightened down to a cold, hard knot.
We were racing towards the edge of the roof and the dark gulf that separated us from the next building. She wasn’t slowing down. She meant to jump. Except, with the handcuffs slowing her down, she didn’t have nearly enough momentum. She wasn’t going to make it.
“Stop!” But it sounded like an order, not a warning, and she ignored it. “Stop!” This time, it came out more worried, but she still didn’t slow down. “It’s too far!” I yelled desperately.
She looked back over her shoulder and her eyes were diamond-hard. Something had hold of her. Something so important to her that she was willing to risk the jump rather than be captured. What the hell is this? Some loyalty-to-Mother-Russia bullshit?
“Stop!” I yelled, begging, now, but she didn’t even slow down. So I did the only thing I could do. Panting, gasping, I pushed my legs even harder and tried to close the gap between us.
The edge of the building rushed up to meet us. I growled in frustration, craned forward and just managed to hook her handcuff chain with my fingers. Then I hauled her back hard. She was light enough that she came right off her feet and slammed into my chest, sending us both to the floor, arms and legs tangling. But I still had all my momentum and it carried us forward, rolling over and over, straight towards the edge.
I clawed with my fingers but there was nothing to grip onto and the world was a tumbling, confusing mess. Tanya screamed, right in my ear, as she realized what was about to happen. On instinct, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close, as if that could protect her from a six-story fall.
We rolled and rolled, the concrete scraping my bare arms. I sensed the space opening up behind me, felt the wind on my back—
We stopped, hugging tight as lovers, both of us heaving for breath. I didn’t dare look behind me. I didn’t want to know how few inches of building there were left.
I pushed her hair back from her ear and grunted into it, getting the words out between pants. “Don’t...ever...do...that...again.”
I heard feet pounding across the rooftop and then the rest of the team were there, helping me to my feet. “Gotta go,” JD told me. “Cops’ll be here any minute.” He keyed his radio. “Cal, meet us downstairs. Danny, start the car.” He scowled at Tanya as I muscled her towards the fire escape. “The package is secure...again.”
Tanya glared at him over her shoulder. “You call me the package one more time and I’ll kick you in the balls, cowboy.”
6
TANYA
I could hear sirens approaching as they bundled me into a huge, black SUV. We pulled away and before we were even a block away, red and blue lights were filling the street outside my apartment building. The men all sighed in relief.
I quickly thought through my options. Escape? They’d put me in the center of the middle row, so there was a big guy either side of me, two more up front and two more in the row behind. No way was I getting out of the car, especially not with my hands cuffed behind my back.
Could I tell them what was going on? No. They worked for the CIA and even if they weren’t in on it, they had no reason to believe me.
And then I felt it. A heat bathing my skin, a gaze so intense it made me stiffen and catch my breath. I turned to my right.
The man I’d fought, the one who’d wrestled me into submission not once but three times, now, was sitting next to me. We locked eyes and, as I stared into that amber-brown fire, it was like I knew exactly what he was imagining.
His arm hooking around my waist, pulling me effortlessly along the seat and scooping me up onto his lap. One of those big hands forcing its way up under my vest top and bra to palm a breast, my nipple hardening against the palm. The other hand sliding down between my thighs, rubbing me through my jeans and panties. The soft scratchiness of his beard as he kisses his way along my throat—
I looked quickly away. God, why was I flushing like a schoolgirl? So he lusted after me. So what? That was a good thing. Lust made men easy to control.
But it wasn’t his lust that had me flustered. It was my own response, that need to be weak that he brought out in me. When I thought of his big hands on my body, I could feel my resolve melting into liquid heat.