Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

“We’ll argue about this when we’re inside. And stop biting me, woman.”

She froze. Of course they were still outside. She felt the breeze in her hair. She heard the sounds of the city. She just hadn’t been able to face it yet, and part of her still couldn’t. She didn’t want to be outside, on the ledge, inches from repeating the most terrifying experience of her life. Her shaking increased, and she held him tighter.

“I need to get you inside.” His voice was soft. She could hear an apology in it.

“I can’t.” It was stupid and illogical, but it was also the truth. She couldn’t leave his hold. She couldn’t look out into the night. She couldn’t stand on the ledge. She just couldn’t. “I really can’t.”

She shook her head hard before burrowing into his shirt, breathing in the fresh scent of air-laundered cotton along with the musky aroma of man. Not any man. This man. His scent was imprinted on her now. Even blindfolded, she would know him.

Mace.

Her arrogant, strong, sexy, lying Viking of a man.

“You don’t need to do anything,” he said. “I’ll hold you. Just like this. And thread you through the window. You don’t even have to turn, just lift your legs over the window ledge when I tell you. We can’t stay out on this ledge forever. Especially with a camera pointed straight at us.”

With his words, she heard the helicopter rotors. “Not Enforcement?”

“No. I think they would have tried to help by now if it’d been Enforcement.”

“My fall was on the news.” It wasn’t a question; there was no way footage that dramatic didn’t make it to the news. Her stomach knotted at the thought. The world was used to seeing her as the confident, put-together face of CommTECH. Now they’d always think of her as the screaming woman who almost fell to her death.

“I hate to shatter your delusions, but your fall wasn’t on the news. My heroic save was on the news.”

“Idiot.” She sniffed, and then another awful thought occurred to her. “Is the bat gone?” She couldn’t look around to see if it was still there. She couldn’t open her eyes at all.

“Flew away,” Mace said in a strange, tight voice. “Probably hunting some dinner.” He shuffled around until her back hit the window ledge. “Lift your knees up high, and we should be able to get your feet through the window.”

Keiko took a deep, shuddering breath, curled her fingers tighter into his shirt, and released her legs from his waist.

“I’m ready.” Her knees were up at her chest.

His strong arm lifted her higher, angling her back through the window.

“That’s it. You’ve done it. Put your feet down. You’re inside now.”

Slowly, she lowered her legs and felt the solid floor beneath her bare toes. A rush of unadulterated relief almost overwhelmed her, and she clung to Mace.

“You might want to open your eyes, too,” he whispered against her ear.

Until he said it, she hadn’t realized her eyes were scrunched shut. Slowly, cautiously, she opened them and looked straight into his. For a minute, there was nothing else on the planet except for the man in front of her.

Those deep blue eyes of his warmed. “See? You’re inside the building. You’re safe.”

She blinked and tore her gaze from his. The white walls of the stairwell surrounded her. She was inside. Safe.

Because of him.

“Time for me to get out of here,” he said. “You need to let go now.”

A spear of panic shot through her. “I’m not sure I can. My fingers might be welded in place.”

“Princess.” That was all he said. In that understanding, gentle tone. How could a man his size manage to sound like that? As though he could see inside her. As though he was being careful with what he found there.

Slowly, reluctantly, she pried her fingers from his shirt and placed them on his arms. Using him to steady herself, she lowered the rest of her weight to the floor. She was safe inside. The knowledge made her feel light-headed, at the same time as being very aware that Mace was still outside on the ledge.

She released him and pressed her palms to the wall beside the window. “Go. Get back inside, and be careful of the cameras when you’re sneaking to the door. I’ll open it for you.”

It was behind her. Only a few steps away. Her legs were weak, but if she had to crawl over to open it, she would. He released his hold on her and leaned back out into the night. A dark patch on his shoulder caught her attention. Blood. Her gaze flew to the jagged edges of the window frame. He’d torn himself squeezing through the broken window to put her inside, and he hadn’t once made a sound of complaint.