Page 81 of Wrecked
If she had skills at his level, she would have just gone after her half-sister on her own.
The idea of her going up against W scared him bad and amped up his need to protect her.
He now felt justified for the night he’d slowed to make sure she’d gotten out of the mansion. He also didn’t believe she was the kind of person who would harm someone like Angela. He would press her for the truth later.
When he could not see where he stepped, he slowed and had to catch her before her momentum sent her flying past him.
“What?” she snapped, breathing as if she’d just sprinted, but not out of breath.
“I’m looking for a vehicle by itself pointed toward us as an exit path to the interstate. Let your eyes adjust and tell me if you see anything.”
“I have a better idea.” She moved her hands then a light popped on with the beam pointed down from her palm.
“Where’d that come from?”
“My ring.”
“The one you found in a junk shop?” He couldn’t believe how smoothly she’d convinced him of that lie.
“No. It was made for me by the person who trained me.”
Heh. She’d surprised him again. The tiny LED put out a stream of light without giving away their location. She wisely kept it away from his face to not blind him.
He let her take the lead as she swept it back and forth until the light flicked over a motorcycle. She asked, “Could that be it?”
“Maybe, if it runs and wasn’t stuck back here just to get it out of the way.”
When he reached the nondescript bike with faded black paint, the key was in the ignition. Hell, yes. This was their ride. While she gave him enough light to search, he found a helmet hanging on the handlebars and swung it to her.
“I don’t think helmets are required here.”
He groused, “Iwant you to wear it, but how do you know the helmet laws here?”
She muttered in an annoyed tone. “I research every unfamiliar place I visit so I know everything I can from vehicle laws to airport rules to anything that might make the difference in getting out alive.”
“Sorry to sound surprised,” he admitted. “I wasn’t questioning your intelligence. I just don’t think you live here.”
That dialed back her defensive tone. “Fair enough. Should we get moving?”
“Waiting on the fire engine to leave first. That will leave the police to search for us and the shooter. Our exit shouldn’t be noticed by then.”
“Huh, good thinking. That’s why I needed you to help me. I do have training but wouldn’t have gotten away from that shooter on my own.”
A huge admission for her.
He’d rather not be running from someone trying to kill them, but they were making progress. “I disagree. You would have found a way to escape. That’s why I told you if I didn’t show up in thirty seconds to trust your instincts.”
Ambient light from her ring offered a soft glow over her face. A smile tilted her lips at his compliment. She whispered, “I wouldn’t have left you. I had your gun and could have given you cover to get inside.”
He didn’t think she could get any hotter than moving step-for-step with him and maintaining her calm, but her declaration to protect him wrapped a warm glove around his heart.
This feeling for her was new and unexpected for him.
He stepped closer and brushed his hand over her hair then leaned in to kiss that mouth. The mouth that had snarled at him in the mansion basement, that had softened when he handed her a shirt to wear, that had smiled when he’d given her the chicken dinner, and the same mouth that had just said she would not have left him to bleed out.
She clutched his shoulder, leaning into the kiss and breathing faster than she had when they’d just run.
The sound of a heavy diesel engine groaned, picking up speed as it headed for the interstate.
