Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
He stopped at a red light. “After midnight?”
She could see the MT building up ahead. Only a couple more minutes and they would be safely in the building, and she could run away as fast as her kitten heels would carry her. All she had to do was keep her mouth shut. “Maybe she had an early call at work.”
Keeping her mouth shut wasn’t one of her talents.
“She could have left a note or given me a real name. I took my mask off, told her real things about myself. Nah, she used me. Not how I wanted to start this whole new life thing off,” he said as he eased up when the light changed, but they were stuck behind a sedan trying to turn left without an arrow. “But you know, live and learn.”
Okay, this was worse than being hurt herself. Her heart actually ached.
“I came here hoping to start over again.” He turned her way and gave her a halfhearted smile. “I’ve been kind of lost since I left the military, like I don’t know where my place in the world is. Last night I guess I felt alive again. But it wasn’t real.”
Her gut twisted. “It was real.”
“It was real for me. Not for her.”
She turned Nate’s way. Why the hell was she doing this? She was literally one block from freedom, but the stupid traffic was killing her. They were at a dead standstill for some reason.
She didn’t have to say anything. Not a damn thing. She didn’t owe him. It wasn’t like telling him would help him. He would realize he’d screwed his best friend’s sister, who he thought was useless and selfish.
So she didn’t have to confess to save his delicate masculine sensibilities. Nope.
“It was me.”
He turned her way, his eyes narrowing, and then reached out and hauled her down, shoving her torso over as the bullets began to fly.
* * * *
“It was me.”
Nate felt a deep sense of satisfaction run through him when the little brat finally admitted the truth.
It didn’t last long because when he turned her way, he realized a big SUV in the far right lane beside them had stopped in the middle of the road, and the passenger side window rolled down.
They weren’t asking for directions. They had him in a trap, closed in on all sides. He saw the barrel of a gun poke through the open window and did the only thing he could. He reached over and shoved her down, covering her body with his while he tried to keep control of the truck. The sound of glass shattering filled the air as the assassin put three bullets into his brand-new truck, and the world seemed to go chaotic as the people around him panicked.
“Stay down,” he ordered as he pulled his SIG. They needed to get to the MT building, and they needed to do it fucking now. The chaos would help, but he needed cover fire. He kept a hand on Daisy’s back so she didn’t decide to help him as he eased up and fired at the black SUV.
Nate took off, punching the gas and swerving into the oncoming lane. He narrowly avoided hitting a sedan.
The back window of the cab shattered as they fired again, and he heard the sound of tires screeching.
Had they turned so they could keep coming after them?
Nate took a deep breath and punched the gas again.
Daisy started to come up. “What was…”
He shoved her head back down. “Stay down or I swear to god, you’ll get the bloody spanking of a lifetime.”
“I was only trying to check on you,” she grumbled.
“I’m fine.” He wasn’t. He was pretty sure he’d gotten grazed. He could feel a burning sensation across his right bicep.
It likely wasn’t the only time he would be wounded in the service of his submissive.
Adrenaline pumped through his system as he swerved back into the right lane before making a hard turn onto the side street that would lead him to the MT building. Behind him he heard the sound of metal striking metal as two cars hit while trying to flee the scene of the attack.
“Call your dad,” he ordered.
He couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t follow him into the parking garage. They had protocols. He couldn’t simply race inside. There was a whole security system in place.
“Tell him we’re coming in hot, and we need the entrance gate up,” Nate explained as he narrowly avoided an accident. He had to go up on the sidewalk to get past the minivan stopped in front of a grocery store.
He glanced up and winced as the SUV started to gain on him.
“Hey, Da. How are you this morning? Did you get breakfast?”
She was going to make him insane. “Daisy!”
“Nate says I have to tell you we’re coming in hot. I don’t know what that means, but there is someone shooting at us,” she said in a shockingly calm voice. “Yeah, he pushed me down. Yes. He’s still driving, but whoever it is keeps coming. I’m not sure what he did to upset them.” She gasped. “Da, language. We do not know this has… He went into Irish. I can barely understand him, but I did hear him yelling for Uncle Ian. Oh, should I call the police?”