Page 18 of Deadly Designs

Aja Blue scrounged through the pile, picking outseveral items.

“What about your important papers and things?”

She shot to her feet and dropped the clothes she’drecovered. “Oh, fish sticks. I forgot.” She rushed to a now-emptybookcase and ran her hand along the back. It slid to the side toreveal a steel door. She punched in a combination, and it opened.Christian followed her inside.

“Did you have this put in?”

She looked at him in confusion. “What?”

“The safe room.”

“Oh, no. It came with the condo. The previous ownerwas a security freak, so he added a panic room.”

“Nice.” He liked hidden rooms. He planned onincluding one in the house he would build inside the COBRASecurities compound, even though it was one of the most secureareas on the planet. It would be a fun hiding place for kids in thefuture.

Christian jerked to a halt. Why was he suddenlythinking about children? He’d never given it much thought. If theyhappened, great. And why did they all have thick mahogany hair andcrystal-blue eyes?

He shook his head to clear the thoughts and glancedaround. Several awards sat on a shelf. He stepped closer to seethey were Emmys from Aja Blue’s previous career, and his eyeswidened. Damn. They were legit. She’d framed her college degreesand pictures of herself with celebrities and presidents. Thedisplay reinforced the fact that she was so out of his league. Whatwas he thinking, having carnal thoughts about the beauty besidehim? She was a superstar. He wasn’t.

The good news was that nothing had been touched. Thepanic room had done its job, keeping any perpetrators frombreaching the perimeter.

Aja Blue crouched down and lifted a portion of thefloor to reveal a safe. She entered the combination and opened thehatch. With an audible sigh, she said, “Everything is there. Thankgoodness.” She stared at him, and those lovely eyes sucked him in.Her lips were moving, but he had no idea what they were saying. Theonly thought in his head was telling him to taste them again.

“Christian?”

Blinking out of his trance, he said, “What?”

“Should I leave it all here or take it with us?”

Focus, Zamora. He was letting his hormones getthe better of him, and that was unacceptable. Aja Blue was indanger, and she’d asked for his help. He would not fail her.

“It should be safe here. I doubt that whoever brokein would return to the crime scene. They didn’t find the room thefirst time, so there’s no reason to believe they would tryagain.”

Her hair ruffled with the breath she blew out.“True.”

Aja Blue closed the safe and arranged the floor backinto place to disguise it. Even if an intruder managed to getinside the safe room, they likely could not find the hiddenvault.

“What do we do now?”

“I’ve got a place for us to stay tonight. I want toreview everything that’s happened, and then we’ll decide on thenext move. We need to figure out why someone has targeted you.”

Aja Blue gathered the things she wanted to take withher. Christian had her don a sweatshirt and pull the hood over herluxurious hair. When they reached his SUV, he had her climb intothe back seat. “In case someone is watching the building,” heexplained. “Also, I need your cell phone.”

“My phone?” She clutched it to her chest. “Why?”

“They can be tracked.”

“But my whole life is on there.”

“I’ll have a secure one here tomorrow that you canuse. Any calls made to your phone will ring there.”

She looked conflicted. Finally, she nodded and handedit to him. “Okay.”

He turned it off and removed the SIM card to be safe.He found a rubber band in the glove box and secured them togetherbefore stashing them in the compartment and closing the hatch. Thenhe checked the instructions to the place BeBe had booked for him touse and shook his head. He expected a chain motel. No, she’d founda secure house and had it stocked with food.

“Is there an alternate exit to this garage besidesthe one in front?”

“Yes.”

---