Page 74 of Ghost
“N-No.”Her head swam, but she was unscathed.
“Stay on the line with me and get to your car.I’m coming to you now.”
The elevator door rolled open and she breezed over the carpeted floor.“I’m in the lobby.”
The base of her spine tingled as she scanned the quiet area.A couple of people were walking into the building carrying boxes.No one else was around.
“I’m in the truck.What’s the address?”
She rattled off the street and number.Pausing at the glass door leading to the street, she surveyed the space outside.Several people milled on the sidewalk.More flowed out of a stopped bus.The day was gloomy.In less than an hour, they’d lose daylight.Wetting her lips and half expecting a bullet through her skull, she stepped onto the sidewalk.Cold air struck her cheeks and weaved its way into her sweater.
Her shoulders ached from the weight of her bags as she fought the urge to run to her car.
“See anyone?”Ghost barked.
“No.”She stalked to her vehicle, unlocked it, tossed her bags in the back seat, then rounded the sedan and dropped into the driver’s side.“I’m in the car.”Pressure built in her chest.
“Drive.”
She quickly punched his call into Bluetooth and began following his directions, happy to be leaving her apartment and the dead man behind her.“How far are you?”she asked.
“Five minutes out.”
Snowflakes fluttered from the sky and turned to mush on her windshield.There were more vehicles on the streets than there’d been only twenty minutes earlier, when Ghost dropped her off.“I hope we don’t get separated in traffic.”
“We’re good.Just keep heading west.You’ll see a church on your left.Pull into the parking lot behind the building.”
“Okay.”Before the words were out of her mouth, she spotted the large cross.She pulled into the lot and steered to the back.
No one followed her.“I’m here.”
“Good.Sit tight.I’ll be there in a few.”
“Don’t hang up.”Now that she didn’t have to focus on escaping, she needed to process what had happened.
“I’m right here.”His gentle promise calmed her like water on a forest fire.“Did they say anything to you?”
“Yeah.He said don’t fuck the target.”
Ghost cursed.“Hunter’s a dead man.Hang on, I’m pulling in now.I see you.”
She jerked her gaze to the rearview mirror and spotted his black truck.He whipped into the spot next to her driver’s-side door.
She hurriedly turned off the ignition, shrugged off her seatbelt, and bolted out the door.He rounded the back of his truck, all six-foot-huge of him.He wore a black-and-gray flannel with a few snaps undone and a brown beanie on his head.The menacing gray eyes she’d come to depend on locked on her as if he’d just found land after a year at sea.
She flung herself into his arms.His heat hit her chest and neck as he hugged her so tightly she lifted off the ground.
His mouth touched her neck, then her cheek.“You’re safe.”
A ragged sob tore from her lips.She hadn’t realized she’d been so scared.Not until she’d laid eyes on Ghost.
He lowered her feet to the ground and cupped his hand around her face.His intense stare held hers, fervent, dominant, and the only thing she wanted to see.“You’re staying with me until this is done.Got it?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.There was no way she’d refuse.She nodded eagerly.
“Are you hurt?”he asked again.
Her lungs spasmed with the need to cry, but she held back.Turning into a sobbing mess right now wouldn’t do her any good and would make things hella uncomfortable.“No.”
