Page 26 of Hot for Hostage

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Sadie

Sadie’s Guide toHostage-TakingBeing Taken HostageForming a Partnership with Your Hostage, Tip #8: What the world doesn’t prepare you for is the moment when your demands have been met, and you have to let your hostage go. It may be a more emotional moment than you anticipated.

When Davian pushed me behind him and made the clicky sound with his gun again, terror paralyzed me. I imagined another gunshot going off. Another wounded teenager. More blood.

So much blood.

It took all my strength to peek around Davian’s arm to see if Fessy’s crew had returned with weapons, but it was only Bear bounding across the garage with his tongue flopping about.

“Bear!” I beamed. The wave of relief that he was okay made me lightheaded, and I clutched Davian’s arm. But then I saw his gun pointing straight at Bear, and I put two and two together. “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! That’sBear.”

Heart lodged in my throat, I jumped in front of Davian and shoved his arm aside. He cursed and pulled me back—right as Bear leapt toward us.

We went down in a tangle of limbs and fur. Davian took the brunt of our fall, and I rewarded him with an accidental elbow to the stomach. He grunted in pain, and I winced under the weight of Bear—who wasted no time before excitedly licking my face.

“Sorry,” I wheezed to Davian through the slobber-kisses, all too aware of our bodies flush against each other.

If it wasn’t for the paw digging into my stomach, I would’ve enjoyed it.

Instead, I got a mouthful of fur as Bear nuzzled my face, and I wrapped my arms around him in the best hug I could manage. Thank god he was safe. Davian’s hands settled on my upper arms and held me still until he could extract himself from underneath me.

“You told me Bear was a dog,” Davian muttered, eyes narrowing into slits as he got to his feet. “Not a hellhound.”

“He’s just a big sweet puppy,” I cooed to the cuddly beast. Bear licked my face again in answer, and I didn’t even care about the slobber.

“We need to leave.” Davian reached for my arm, but Bear growled viciously, making him freeze.

I winced at Davian’s unamused look.

“He takes a little while to warm up to strangers,” I said, hoping to ease the sting of Bear’s rejection. “But he really is the biggest sweetie. You’ll see.”

Bear growled softer after I said that, which wasn’t the best timing. But when he nudged my head, I gave him another hug.

He’d earned all the cuddles he wanted after the day he’d been through.

After kissing his snout, I extracted myself from Bear’s gangly legs and got to my feet. Brushing off the front of my overalls didlittle to help my rumpled appearance, but it was just dirt and dog hair. I’d live.

I offered Davian my best smile, overcome with gratitude now that Bear was back by my side. “Thank you so much for helping us, Davian. I know I forced you, but this means everything to me.”

“If I didn’t want to help, I wouldn’t have.” His lips twisted with a hint of a smile that turned my knees to jelly, and he checked his watch. “How does a trip to Bruno’s sound? We have time to celebrate Bear’s safe return before he closes.”

“Really?” My lips parted. He wasn’t taking off running? “But you’re not my hostage anymore. You’re… You’re free.”

It hurt to say. I’d grown to enjoy the little time we’d spent together, and it really did feel like we were partners in crime-fighting.

Davian’s brows rose. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily,partner. Come on. My treat.”

I pushed down the flutter in my stomach and glanced back at the run-down office. The kid Davian had shot was still in there. “Shouldn’t we make sure Fessy gets to the hospital? He was bleeding a lot.”

Davian waved off my concern. “It’s better if we aren’t here when the cops show up. They’ll take care of him.”

A scary realization hit me. A bullet from Davian’s gun was in Fessy’s leg. Police could track stuff like that, right? They could in the TV shows. I looked up at Davian. “Will the police come after you?”

He had the nerve to smirk. “They won’t bother me. Any other questions, or should we head to Bruno’s?”

Well, if he insisted. “I can’t say no to ice cream.”

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