Page 51 of Savage Beauty

“Sloane, we’ve got company.”

I can’t think. Between Mr. Muscles and pressure…

Frock.

I lift the laptop, drive and all, shove it into my messenger bag, push the stool back under the desk, and give a hand signal. One index finger pointed out, following the agreed to rules.

CHAPTER17

Max

“Security entered front door. Hold.”

My fingers clamp around Sloane’s elbow, holding her close.

Someone from Erik’s tech team breathes heavily into the speaker relaying static.

“Rounding the corner,” a female voice says into the comm.

Sloane steps forward, and I jerk her arm and give a quick shake of my head.

“Turned onto the far hall opposite side of the building. You’re good to go,” Erik announces in the comm. I adjust the earpiece, as it’s rubbing, and respond, “Oscar Mike.” Yes, we are on the move.

With my pistol raised, on the ready, and one hand on Sloane, we exit the building, hurry through the parking lot, cross the street, and reach our car. I don’t waste any time locking the doors and starting the ignition.

“Who the hell was that?” I ask the team.

“Whoever it was wasn’t in uniform. You must have triggered an alert when you entered.”

Obviously, the team is right. There were no wires. No lights. Damn if I know what we did that triggered any kind of alert.

“Matteo and Brooks are hanging back. We’ll let you know if anyone follows. He’s still in the building. Move.”

Matteo and Brooks are the local contract guys.

“I got a laptop,” Sloane announces loudly. “They cleared out my office.”

I shoot a glare her way. We’re in the car, but she doesn’t need to freaking shout.

“What?”

The woman tries my patience.

“You don’t need to shout. They can hear you.” I take out the earpiece and hand it to her. “Here. You carry on the conversation.”

She describes what she got, and perhaps most importantly, what she didn’t find. As I drive us back to the villa, I scan our surroundings, searching for any headlights or movement.

“Ask them if they got a photo of the person coming into the building.” If he wasn’t security, maybe Sloane will recognize the person checking up on us. There’s no way someone entering that building at one a.m. is a coincidence. The guy had to be checking on us.

“They didn’t,” she answers. “They can hear you.” She gives me a meme-worthy smart-ass expression that I would caption ‘When the guy sitting next to you is a complete moron.’

I roll my eyes at the attitude she’s spinning. “When you check the tape, send us a screenshot of the guy.”

I pull into an unoccupied house two doors down from our villa. Our villa has covered parking, but just in case someone saw our vehicle and goes hunting for it, I don’t want to lead them straight to our door.

With her hand in mine, we take a side path to the beach and follow the jagged shoreline to the path leading up to our villa.

Do I need to hold her hand?

---