Desperate Lies (Lies 2)

If she smacks off, I might kill her. And if she tricked me and I let my guard down for a single second, she’d find it and kill me. I figured it was for the best to not put either of us in that situation.

I run up the hillside, staying as low as I can to avoid any stray bullets. Our assailants don’t seem to have made it past the front of the house. At least my security measures are working.

I make it to the open glass door at the back of the house and peer inside. My team of about a dozen is assembled in the middle of the living room.

I step inside.

“What are you doing standing around? Get to your positions, now!”

“Yes, sir,” they all mumble at different times and take off.

I sigh. I really should have found a better number two to train and prepare them for these scenarios better. Especially since I’ve been spending too much of my free time with Liesel.

Phoenix looks at me with concern in her eyes. “Liesel?”

“She’s safe.”

She nods.

“I need you to go to the bunker.”

“But I can help! I know how to shoot a gun as well as half of these yahoos.”

“I know, but you are way more important to me than those yahoos. I pay them to protect us. Your job is to stay safe.”

“What about you? Are you going to hide out in the bunker with me?”

I crack my neck back and forth, my face morphing into one of terror, preparing myself for what I’m about to face.

“Don’t worry about me, Dunn. No one can touch me if they can’t find me.”

She frowns. “You’re not invincible. You know that, right, Langston?”

I narrow my eyes and grab her hips, pulling her tightly against my body. “I’ve let these bastards get a ten-minute head start, and they haven’t so much as broken the exterior perimeter. Have a little faith in me.”

“I do, but I just worry.”

I kiss her forehead. “Don’t. Go to the bunker. I’ll come to you soon.”

I step away from her, putting an arm’s length of space between us. “Go.”

I don’t have time to make sure Phoenix gets to the bunker. She’ll either listen to me or she won’t. If she doesn’t, she’ll have to deal with the consequences.

I start to walk away, but Phoenix grabs my hand at the last moment.

“Dunn, I really don’t have time—”

She yanks my arm as hard as she can, closing the space between us. Her hands come up to my cheeks, grabbing me hard. She plants a hard, wet, all-out kiss on my lips.

I kiss her back, savoring how her tongue feels in my mouth.

Liesel.

Of course, my dumb-ass brain thinks of my kiss with Liesel instead of enjoying this moment.

When Phoenix kissed me earlier, it was greatly appreciated. I needed something to distract me from my kiss with Liesel. But this kiss now—all it makes me think about is Liesel. She’s the last person I want to be thinking about right now.

I want to end the kiss. I need to deal with whatever jackasses are trying to kill us all right now. But if I stop the kiss early, it will only make her desperate to kiss me more.