Page 82 of Final Exit

“It’s called exaggeration. Like when a guy tells you he has a big... foot. I’m fine.”

He grinned. “I wear size thirteen shoes, in case you’re curious.”

“Not going there.” She shoved his hands down, flushing hot because he’d turned her on like a light switch the second his hands had touched her skin. And being turned on right now was more than awkward when, (a) she had an audience one rock over and (b) she was supposed to be mad at Kade. He’d had the gall to suggest that she sit on the hill while everyone else had fun in the tunnels.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, struggling to keep her voice low instead of shouting like she wanted to.

“Rescuing you.” He finally lifted himself off her and moved to the side. He looked at the other two who were eying them curiously. “Who are Bert and Ernie over there?”

“Bert and Ernie?”

“You know.Sesame Street.The eyebrows?”

“Oh, yeah. I see what you mean. The blond guy does kind of remind me of Bert.”

Blond guy in question was now glaring daggers at them.

“So who are they?” Kade asked again.

“No one. Pretend they don’t exist. In the good-guy bad-guy column it’s five against two, counting you and me. Those guys are in the decoration column.”

“Decoration?”

“Here for looks only. They haven’t contributed a single thing to helping us get out of here.”

He raked them with a scornful glance, which had Bailey smiling. Then she remembered she was mad at him and stopped smiling.

“It’s six, not five,” he corrected.

“No way. I shot one of them.”

“I saw. But I still counted six alive and kicking when I came down the side tunnel.”

“Damn.” She looked past him, in the direction he’d come from. “Side tunnel? I don’t remember one over there.”

“It’s there, just past that boulder.”

She nodded. “I thought that was where a light was burned out. It’s small, not like the other tunnels.” She raised her pistol. “If you made it to me, then we can both make it to the tunnel.”

“What about those two?”

“Screw ’em.”

He cocked a brow.

“Okay, okay,” she grumbled. “We’ll save their asses, too.”

“Hey, we can save our own asses,” one of them whispered, sounding none too happy with her.

“It speaks.” She rolled her eyes.

Kade leaned down and kissed her. It was hard, and wild, and far too short. When he pulled back she blinked up at him.

“What... what was that for?”

His expression went from smiling to serious in the space of a heartbeat. “Someone told me to never go into battle with anger between you and someone you care about. You never know what’s going to happen.”

She stared at him, then looked away. “I think anger is putting it mildly. Kade, what you did at the warehouse... what I did, the things we both said... we need to—”

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