Page 5 of When He Protects

Esme pulled back. “Go save the day, hero.”

His breath heaved out.

“I’ll be in this exact spot.”

A curt nod. And then he rushed through the passageway. Once on the other side, he shoved the shelf back into place. There was probably some switch to make it glide seamlessly into position, but he didn’t have time to find that damn thing. So he used brute force, and it worked just fine.

Then he got a good look at the new space. Sure enough, he was in the billiard room. Esme had been right. Eyes narrowing, he headed for the wall and pulled down a wooden cue. He tested the weight. Weapon obtained.

Tyler strode for the door. The unlocked door. He curled his fingers around the knob and slowly pulled the door open. One inch. Two. He peered through that opening and saw some of the rich and glittering guests on the floor. Sobbing. He edged from the billiard room with the cue in his hand.

The wealthy guests had been subdued. Zip ties bound their hands. Their jewelry was missing—it was easy to note that the diamond necklaces were all gone. One woman glanced Tyler’s way, and her mouth parted in surprise.

He put his fingers to his lips.

Her eyes flared wider. Right then, one of the bastards in a black mask rounded the corner. He saw Tyler and?—

Tyler slammed the cue into the side of his head before the guy could call out a warning. The perp sank like a stone.

One down…about five more to go.His hand tightened on the cue. And Tyler went towork.

The hero had goneoff to save the day. Esme Laurent peered down at the carpet. A rather boring, abstract design. She looked back up at the now closed secret passageway. She did need to remember this exact spot, after all. A promise was a promise. She liked to keep her promises. Just good form, that. It would be highly rude to go around making promises that she never intended to keep. Who would ever trust her if she did something like that?

Satisfied that she could, in fact, return to this precise position, Esme gave a decisive nod. She kicked off her shoes. Ran for the balcony doors. Esme threw the doors open and hurried onto the narrow balcony.

She would have to be fast. Faster than she anticipated because she definitely suspected the big, dangerous Tyler would be taking out the robbers in record time.

Esme climbed onto the narrow ledge.Five inches wide.She hadn’t guessed when she told Tyler that figure. She knew exactly how wide the ledge was because Esme believed in doing her research. Being prepared like the good Girl Scout she’d never been. Moving forward, she extended her hands out to help keep her balance. She absolutely refused to look down. Because, unfortunately, she did have a vague fear of heights. Annoying. Bothersome. But, that was life.

She’d learned long ago that it was best to ignore her fears and to just focus on what was immediately in front of her.

And a long, narrow walk was currently waiting.

Good thing she’d trained as a gymnast until she was fifteen. She’d spent countless hours on balance beams that had been narrower than this ledge. And if she pretended just right, Esme could imagine that she was walking across one of those old balance beams again.

And not walking across a ledge on the second story.A fall probably wouldn’t kill her. She knew all about landing techniques that could minimize damage. However, a fall from this height would still hurt like hell. Esme didn’t particularly enjoy pain. Not her kink.

But she did enjoy a good dose of revenge every now and then. Some people just deserved what they had coming to them.

A drop of rain hit her cheek. For a moment, she froze.No, no, no.Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled.

She needed to hurry.Do not dare rain on me.She had too much to do. No time to waste.

Esme made it to the end of the ledge and went to work.

It was good that her big, true-blue hero was currently busy with the thugs in the masks. That gave her plenty of time…to do a little thievery of her own.

Some people really are trouble. You should have listened to me, Tyler, when I tried to warn you. I am the worst trouble you will ever meet.

She was also the best thief he’d ever meet, but Tyler wouldn’t know that ever-so-important fact about her. Too bad they hadn’t been given more time to play.

She’d never tempted one of the good guys before, and Tyler? He hadgoodwritten all over him.

Meanwhile, Esme always excelled at being bad.

Chapter Two

“You’re supposedto be locked up!” The man in the black mask stumbled back when Tyler barreled toward him.“Iput you in the damn room myself!”

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