Читать книгу Partners In Crime Part 3 - Alicia Scott - Страница 8

Jack Stryker felt Josie stiffen by degrees.

The hit woman drew out her fancy tranquilizer gun—it had been tucked into her utility belt at her trim waist. Her gaze swept the top of the mine, ensuring that she was not jumped from above.

Then her sharp eyes settled on the pile of boulders.

The hit woman stared and stared, and the tension rose unbearably. Quietly, soundlessly, he rocked Josie against him, trying to hold them both steady.

If the woman looked too closely. If she just saw the two footprints right before the boulders…

Josie’s fingers dug into his arm fierce enough to hurt. He didn’t make a sound.

The woman turned and stepped into the mine. In a matter of seconds, the mountain had swallowed her whole.

There was no time for indecision. Jack unfurled from Josie. He took her hand. Her cheeks were stained with fresh tears. Her lower lip bled where her teeth had taken their toll. He wiped the moisture from her cheek. He pressed his thumb against her lip.

Then, unable to help himself, he dipped his head and kissed her. Her arms tangled around him instantly. She clung to him as if he were the last bastion in a storm, and he clung to her just as hard. They kissed hard, they kissed sweet.

And it felt good to have her against him again. Good to hold her. Good to taste her.

He wanted to curl up with her in her bed right now. He wanted to drape her in red silk and roll with her on her feather mattress. He wanted to hold her a long, long time, and tell her with his touch how sorry he was that he’d ever doubted her.

And how much it had hurt him, too.

He brought his lips away gently, resting his forehead against hers because he couldn’t bear to lose all contact.

“Quietly,” he whispered, and she nodded back.

Like two thieves, they crept away from the mine, and this time, Josie stopped on her own so he could pick up another tree branch and wipe their passing from the earth.