Page 100 of Emperor of Wrath

She flushes. “I just said I’m going to be sleeping.”

“Same question, but now I’m even more curious to hear your answer.”

She looks away and her brow worries.

“Are we…” She swallows, and when she turns back to me, her face is full of concern. “Are we safe here?”

“This house is a fortress, and I have a small army guarding it.”

“But I mean, if anyone were to slip by, and get past all your men to the house…”

“They won’t.”

“But if they did,” she insists.

I shake my head. “In the impossible situation where that occurs, this room is also impenetrable.”

“How?”

I walk over to the bedside table and push a button. There’s a click as the wall of windows all lock.

“That’s blast and bullet-proof glass,” I say. “The locks are the same as the ones the US uses in their embassies in hostile countries.”

She chews on her lip. “And the door?”

“It’s got the same lock as the glass.”

Annika raises her worried blue eyes to mine. “Show me?”

“Of course.”

I walk over to the door with her.

“Here.” I point to the lock on the inside knob. “This button locks it, and the panel back near the bedside table will secure it with steel bolt locks around all four sides. You couldn’t blow through with a tank.”

She smiles quietly, relieved, and her eyes lift to mine. “Thank you.”

It takes a lot to catch me off-guard. But when Annika stands up on her tip toes and kisses me softly on the lips?

Add that to the list.

Her lips are soft against mine, and there’s a quiet moan in the back of her throat as her hands go to my chest.

Suddenly, it all goes wrong.

I lose my footing as she leans into me, quickly. I don’t realize I’m being pushed until I step backward, past the door frame.

Shit.

I see Annika’s smug grin for just a second before the door slams and locks in my face.

Goddammit.

19

ANNIKA

The triumphant feeling I get from locking Kenzo out of his own bedroom is short lived, because I forgot the golden rule of siege warfare: have enough provisions to outlast the enemy.

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