Facade (Billionaire in Disguise 1)

“Where the hell did you get that?” I asked.

“Shut. Up.”

“I want to know what’s going on, and I want to know now.”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Chatty Cathy. Now do as I say, and shut your mouth.”

“Mayday. Mayday. One gunman is outside. Escaped in a white van alone. Is there a fire? Is anyone there?”

“This is Scalia to anyone who can hear me. No fire, but two gunmen are still in the building. Heading for the south staircase exit.”

“Shit,” Sam said.

“What? What’s wrong with that?”

“We came down the south staircase exit,” she said.

I felt my nerves getting the best of me. This was serious. Someone was coming after me. With gunmen at a fucking innocent award event. If I didn’t believe this was serious before, I did now. There were multiple gunmen on a site I was at, no doubt trying to shoot at me. I popped the top off the whiskey I had grabbed and began guzzling it, trying to calm my nerves.

“Are you serious? Put that shit down.”

“No,” I said.

“I can feel you shaking. I know you’re scared. But I can’t get you out of here if you’re drunk.”

“They’re coming for us. This is serious. Holy shit, why didn’t I take this seriously?”

“Get a grip, Steele. I can’t get you out of here drunk,” she said.

But still, I kept chugging.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt a hand smack the whiskey bottle to the floor. I felt a pair of hands grab my suit, pulling my body forward. A pair of lips descended onto mine as my hands fell to the fabric of Sam’s dress.

Holy shit. Sam was kissing me.

Her lips moved softly along mine, which was shocking, given her dominant and curt nature. I felt her chest heaving against mine, her bosom caressing my muscles as my hands wrapped around her. I pressed her back to the door as my whiskey-infested tongue swiped against her lips, begging for entrance so I could taste more of her and so I could drink up this shockingly soft side of her.

But her hand pushed me away as I heard her cock her gun.

“When the hell did you grab that?” I asked.

“Good thing no one pays you to be observant,” she said.

“I can hear your grin.”

“Good. Because it’s there. Now, here’s how we’re going to get out of here. To the left of us is the northbound staircase. We’re going to go down to the third floor. We’re going to exit on the third floor and shoot straight across to the nearest window. There are outside fire exit staircases, but they only go up to the third floor. Getting out of this building gives me a chance to assess how bad this is. If it’s safe, we can make our way to a cab. If it’s not safe, we can stick to the back roads until we get a few blocks away from this place. The gunmen have a white van as a getaway. He’s going to be using the main streets to circle the block until the gunmen can get out of this building.”

I heard footsteps echoing down the hallway, and Sam’s hand clamped down over my mouth. I was trembling. I could see the outline of her body as the red lights continued to flash in the hallway. Her eyes were piercing and her body was still. I couldn’t even hear her breathing. She held her compact gun up to the side of her face as the steps continued down the staircase, fading from our ears before she dropped her hand.

“On my count,” Sam said.

I was impressed, wholly impressed with her. Everything about her was planned. The walkie-talkie. The way she was going to get me out of here. Even that kiss. That kiss had served as a way to relax me and keep me from freaking out because she knew those men were going to be coming down those steps.

That was annoying. Her kiss had been too soft and too enjoyable to be nothing but a part of her grand scheme to save my life.

She quickly opened the door and looked both ways. She took my hand and tugged me out into the hallway as we ran through the red-drenched corridors of the building. We eased our way into the staircase and ran all the way down to the third floor, where we busted through and came to a door across the hall. Sam reared her foot back and thrust it into the door, barreling it open with one swift kick before she looked back at me.

“Come on. The window opens easier than that.”