Escape (Billionaire Island)

I grip her shoulders and kiss her again.

9

Emily

His lips are so firm on mine, and again, I want to give in to the kiss, let him take me away and forget everything I’m dealing with.

His tongue tangles with mine as he deepens the kiss, and a raw growl emanates from his chest into mine.

How easy it would be to allow this… To fully escape the ties that bind me to LA.

To Lucifer Black.

What if Buck can’t stop him?

What if he finds me?

Buck has the Wolfes behind him, But Lucifer…

Lucifer has his father’s money—not Wolfe money by a long shot, but still enough to do as he chooses. And Lucifer has something the Buck and the Wolfes don’t have.

He’s obsessed with me.

He’ll do anything to get me back.

All my energy is required to push Scotty away. Our kiss breaks with a pop of suction.

His green-gold eyes are burning. On fire, even. They pierce me, and I swear I can feel the scorch on my flesh.

“Em…” he growls.

“I’m sorry, Scotty. I’m so sorry.” I turn and run away from him.

Or attempt to. Running on sand is difficult. I should be used to it, being from LA beach country, but I nearly stumble.

Scotty catches up to me, grabs my shoulders again, and whips me around to face him.

“Em,” he says, “you’ve got to let me help you.”

“You can’t help me.” I wipe what might turn into a tear away from my eye. “No one can.”

“You’re wrong.”

I look to the sky, dragging my fingers through my tangled hair. “God, I wish I were!”

He cups my cheek, rubbing his thumb over my bottom lip again. Just his touch sends me reeling. Such a loving touch—a touch meant to spark desire in me.

It does that and more.

“What if I stop the lothario routine,” he says. “What if I take you to my place and we talk. Just talk.”

I can’t help myself. I roll my eyes. “You’ve been coming on to me all evening, and you think I’m going to fall for the ‘let’s just talk’ line? I’m not that innocent or gullible, Scotty.”

He gazes at me, and his eyes—those gorgeous eyes—narrow slightly. Only slightly, and his lips curve downward.

Is he upset? Upset that he won’t be bedding me, most likely.

“Em,” he says, “it’s not a line. I want to help, but it’s clear that you don’t want my help. I’ll walk you back to your hut.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “Please. I don’t want to be any more of a spectacle than I’ve already made myself.” I walk off the beach and onto the boardwalk that leads to the colonists’ huts.

I don’t expect him to follow me. It’s still light out, and this place is safe anyway.

At least until Lucifer finds me.

I get to my hut and unlock the door. As I walk in, I look over my shoulder.

Scotty is ten feet away.

He did follow me. He sure was quiet about it. It was sweet, too, for him to make sure I got back safely while honoring my request not to be a spectacle.

Walking with the best-looking man on this island would definitely make me a spectacle.

Being a spectacle is not a good way to stay invisible.

Not a good way at all.

Buck taught me how to pick locks when I was sixteen. He’s six years older than I am, and he’d just returned from Navy SEAL training. I remember being surprised at how simple it was.

“Practice,” Buck said. “Practice a lot until it’s second nature to you. You never know when you might need the skill.” He gave me a lock-picking wrench before he left for his first assignment.

I no longer had the lock-picking kit. I lost it on the beach one day when I was showing it to a friend. Just as well. If I’d had it when I hooked up with Lucifer, he’d have found it when he confiscated all my stuff. Then he’d have known I could pick locks.

That’s how I escaped from Lucifer.

It was simple luck that he forgot to turn the deadbolt that day. I’d stolen a couple paperclips from a pile of documents several weeks earlier, and I’d pretty much given up hope.

Until that day.

That day when he forgot to lock the deadbolt.

I knew as soon as he left.

The soft click of the lock on the doorknob, and then the louder click of the deadbolt.

Only the soft click that day.

The lock I could easily pick.

I waited a few minutes. I had to make sure he was gone. But after twenty minutes passed, I didn’t dare wait any longer. I had no idea when he’d come back, and I wanted to be long gone by then.

I straightened the paperclips each into one long wire and began.

I inserted one wire into the bottom of the keyhole and applied a little pressure. The other went in at the top of the keyhole. I scrubbed the top wire back and forth while I applied more pressure. My heart jumped when the first pin clicked into place.