Brilliant.
And stubborn as hell.
“Sorry to break it to you, big guy, but I’m not going anywhere.”
The confounding woman shrugged the leather jacket from her shoulders before taking it off and tossing it onto the bed. Beneath it was a black, fitted tank top that showcased every luscious curve of her feminine form.
Toned shoulders and arms framed a perfectly curved waist. “Snatched” was the term he’d heard someone use a while back. The scooped neckline of the skin-tight top gave him the barest of peeks at her mouthwatering cleavage, and those jeans hugged her hips in a way that made him wish he could grab ahold of her and?—
A purposeful clearing of her throat snapped him out of whatever momentary trance he’d just been under. Ignoring Shadow’s breathtaking appearance—and the fact that he’d just been caught ogling her like a horny teenage boy—he returned his focus to the assignment he’d been given.
Find her and bring her home.
“My orders were to find you and bring you back to Charlotte, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
“Well, no offense, Dig, but your orders aren’t my problem.”
Dig.
She’d used the shortened version of his team nickname a hundred times before, but hearing the sexy rasp of his name from a tiny mic nestled in his ear was far different than watching it fall from her kissable lips.
“I know what you’re doing,” he challenged.
“You don’t know anything.”
Oh, princess. That’s where you’re wrong.
“You think Senator Stanton executed your mother nearly twenty-six years ago, and you’ve come to Columbus to assassinate him.”
“I don’t think it, Digger.” Her feminine chin jutted upward with obstinance. “Iknowit was him. And while I can appreciate the fact that you’re just here following Owens’ orders?—”
“Don’t you mean yourfather’sorders?” he cut her off with a more accurate truth.
The woman’s tiny gasp filled the otherwise silent room.
“H-He…told you?” She stared up at him, eyes slightly widened with genuine surprise.
Slade’s head dipped in a curt, confirming nod. “Right after he told me you were there the night your mother was murdered and that you’d left him a note saying you were going after the man responsible.”
A flash of pain crossed over the blues of her eyes. “If you know all of that, then you understand why I have to stay.”
“I get why youwantto stay,” he corrected, not blaming her one damn bit. “But you and I both know your chances of accomplishing what you’ve set out to do are slim to fucking none. Not to mention the danger you’re putting yourself into by coming here without any sort of backup or?—”
“It doesn’t matter.” She walked around him with purpose. “I have to at least try.”
“Shadow—”
“You’re right, though.” She began pulling off the leather Boho-style bracelet she’d been wearing on her right wrist. “It is dangerous, so you should go.”
“I’m not leaving here without you.”
“Dammit, Slade…” Shadow switched to his given name as she angrily threw the bracelet on top of the dresser. “This ismyfight, not yours.”
The piece of layered jewelry missed its mark and fell over the chipped edge. The frustrated woman bent over at the waist to pick it up from the floor.
At that exact same moment, a bullet flew through the window, striking the framed mirror on the wall behind the dresser. Shards of reflective glass fell down onto the dresser with a few landing on Shadow’s hunched form.
Son of a?—
