DANTE’S POV The gunshot echoed, sharp and final.
She gasped, a sound I saw more than heard.
Behind her, a shape stirred, a man she hadn’t noticed.
His gun rose, aiming for her back.
He dropped before she even realized the danger, her own shot going wide, missing me by a mile.
She spun, eyes wild, checking the body.
When she turned back, I’d closed the distance.
Now, we were close, too close for either of us to miss.
I leveled my gun at her temple.
“Who the fuck are you?” She glared, silent, blood streaking her face.
I could see her weighing her options, calculating.
I glanced at her right hand holding the gun and quickly grabbed it before she got other ideas.
Tucking the gun at the back of my belt, I give her a once over.
Looking at her battered face, you could tell she’d been through a rough night.
But she was still steady, staring back at me, resolute.
Something about that got under my skin and I felt blood rush down below my belt.
Not the time to notice that.
Not with bodies cooling ten feet away and sirens somewhere in the distance.
I tried to keep my voice steady.
“You know, most people say thank you when you save their life.” She didn’t flinch.
“Most people don’t point a gun at the person they just saved.” A bitter laugh escaped me.
“You almost took my fucking head off.” She shrugged, wincing as she shifted her weight.
“You were in my way.” “Sweet mouth on you.” I exhaled, the hot heat of my breath clouding between our lips.
“What the fuck are you even—” She didn’t give me the chance to finish.
She dropped low, heel slamming into my knee.
Pain shot up my leg, and the gun slipped down.
She took that as an opportunity to run, she only took a few steps before I grabbed her and slammed her against the brick wall.
The hit knocked the fucking breath right out of her.
For two seconds, we were pinned together.
Her back flat against the wall, my chest crushing hers, our lungs fighting for air.
I could feel every line of her body pressed against mine, soft, tense, vibrating with adrenaline.
A dark, fiery flush crept up her neck and spilled across her pale cheeks as she realized how tight I held her.
Her breath hit my neck, warm and fast, and her green eyes were locked onto mine, daring me to do something.
God help me.
Every instinct told me to drag her to the floor, pull her pants down, and see how deep that defiance went.
Focus, Dante.
One quick strike to the back of her neck, and she crumpled.
I stood over her, chest heaving, excitement rushing in my veins.
I took a deep breath and wiped off the blood dripping into my right eye with my sleeve.
Sirens wailed in the distance, closer this time.
I didn’t think, I just scooped her up, her weight barely anything, and carried her toward the bike.
Fernando’s gonna kill me for this.
The thought ran through my head as I tossed her over my bike.
I couldn’t come up with a single good reason for what I was doing, only that leaving her there hadn’t been an option my body agreed to.
*** The motel room was dim, the kind of place that didn’t ask questions.
I threw her onto the stained bed.
Her auburn hair sprawled across the blanket, dark blood dried along her cheekbone.
I locked the deadbolt and pulled the greasy blinds shut.
Pulling out her gun from my waist I dumped the magazine out of the gun before tossing the piece onto the far table.
I unzipped her backpack on the table: extra socks, a few clothes, water, a cracked burner phone.
No ID.
No wallet.
Somebody looked ready to disappear.
I put my hand in my pocket to pull out my phone to call Fernando and came up empty.
The phone must have gotten lost in the fight.
I could already imagine him shouting at me about the hassle of setting me up with a new one.
A sudden blow to my head sent me sprawling on the floor.
Caught off guard, it took me a few seconds to regain my bearings.
By the time I looked up, she was off the bed, back to the wall, eyes locked on the gun.
She snatched it, flicked off the safety, and aimed at my chest.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Twice in one day.
You must really like me.” Her voice was rough but steady.
“Where the fuck am I?” “Somewhere safer than where I found you, sweetheart,” I said, pushing myself up from the floor, slow and unhurried.
“Don’t.” Her voice sharpened, gun tracking my every move.
“Stand up.
Slowly.
Hands where I can see them.” I raised my hands, palms open.
“A thank you still wouldn’t kill you.” “I didn’t ask for a fucking hero.” “Lucky for both of us, I’m a cold-blooded bastard.” I took a slow step toward her.
She eyed me, jaw clenched and her grip tightened on the gun.
“Don’t move.” “Or what?” “I’ll shoot.” “Then shoot.” She hesitated, just for a second.
I took another step.
Now we were close, close enough to see the flecks of amber in her eyes.
I swallowed hard.
She pulled the trigger.
Click.
Nothing.
Disbelief washed over her face.
I moved fast, pinning her wrists above her head, the gun falling to the floor.
She thrashed against me like a fucking wildcat, spitting curses, her hair whipping wild across her face.
But pressed together against the wall, the friction was insane.
Every time she twisted, her hips ground hard against my groin, sending a wave of electric heat straight down my spine.
“Who sent you?” I growled, crowding my body onto hers until she couldn’t move an inch.
“I don’t even know who the fuck you are!” For a moment, I almost believed her.
Almost.
Using one hand to hold both her wrists above her head, I grabbed her chin and tilted her face toward mine.
I ran my eyes over her, taking in what I hadn’t let myself notice back at the bar.
Hazel-green eyes that shifted color with her mood and the light, framed by long, thick lashes.
Fair skin, delicate bone structure, a pouty, bow-shaped mouth with a rosy tint even through the blood and bruising.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, sweetheart,” I murmured, my thumb sliding over her jaw, pressing into the soft, sensitive skin of her neck.
I felt her pulse hammering wild under my grip.
“I’ll give you that.
But a pretty face doesn’t buy you a pass.” A hot, unmistakable blush flared across her cheekbones, contrasting sharply with the pale skin and dried blood, though she tried to cover it with a glare.
She grimaced, grinding her hips violently against mine, trying to find leverage to kick me.
“Get off me, you bastard.” “Make me.” I shifted my stance, driving my knee up between her thighs, forcing her legs apart and pinning her hips flat against the wall.
Still struggling in my grip, she said, “You’re going to pay for this.” “Oh, I’m definitely going to collect.” My voice dropped lower than I meant it to.
My thumb drifted up, catching the curve of her bottom lip, tracing the smudge of blood there before shoving slightly into her mouth.
She let out a soft gasp.
“What do you think you’re doing?” “You want to fight me, or do you want to fuck me?” I rasped, leaning down until my lips brushed her ear.
I leaned my head down toward her, letting instinct take over.
Her eyes widened, and she started struggling more seriously in my grip.
“Don’t you dare,” she said, voice not so steady.
I chuckled and leaned toward her lips anyway.
Before our lips could touch, the door burst open.
The sound of a gas canister hitting the floor came first, then the gas spread fast, filling the room.
I shoved her behind me on instinct, quickly covering my nose with my left arm, and dropped low.
Three men marched into the room, guns out, sweeping the room, wearing gas masks.
I took a swing at the one closest to me.
He was ready for it, blocking most of the hit, but I caught him with my elbow anyway.
He made a pained sound, and I kicked him in the leg.
He buckled.
The two other guys advanced toward her.
She backed toward the bed, coughing, one hand covering her nose, already weak from the fight before.
From the corner of my eye, I caught one of them grabbing her.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” I roared, but my lungs seized on a breath of chemical poison.
I didn’t get to see more than that.
My own opponent came at me again, and the gas was already thick enough that fighting clean wasn’t an option anymore, every breath costing more than the last.
“Let her go,” I shouted, the words barely making it out.
Through the tears streaming down my face, I watched them drag her backward through the shattered doorway, her green eyes searching for me through the smoke before she disappeared into the dark.
My knees hit the floorboards.
The poison filled my chest, and everything went black.