Page 59 of The Cinderella Secret
“Oops,” she said and shoved it back in the box. “I guess now it’s contaminated with Zhao DNA.”
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“I can’t believe you’re yelling at me!”
“I am not yelling!” he yelled.
“You’re both yelling,” said a sour voice. She looked up and saw a man in a black jacket and pants. Unlike the security guard, he was carrying a gun and it was pointed at them. “Hands up.”
Ella put her hands up.
“Put the gun down,” said Aiden. “Neither of us is a threat.”
“Neither of you is supposed to be here,” said the man coming toward them. Behind Aiden, she saw a man approach from the other direction. He was dressed the same as the first one and carried the same type of gun.
“Aiden,” she said.
“I’ll deal with this,” he snapped.
“You’re going to deal with absolutely nothing,” said the first man with the gun. He reached down and pulled Ella off the floor by the collar of her lab coat.
“Hey!” barked Aiden, stepping forward.
“No,” said Ella, but it was too late. The second man hit Aiden on the back of the head with his gun butt.
22
Aiden – Third Floor
Aiden regained consciousness with a jerk. He couldn’t remember where he was. That wasn’t a good sign. He was laying on the floor and every instinct screamed to get up. Whoever had hit him was probably going to do it again. That was usually what happened anyway.
He tried to put his hands up to cover his head but realized that his hands were trapped. Someone was holding them? No, they were tied. Why was he tied up?
“Oh, thank God. Aiden. Aiden, get up.”
Someone knew his name. Was that good or bad?
What the hell had happened to him? He opened his eyes and stared at a single foot in black spike-heeled bootie. That shoe belonged to Ella. He twisted his head and looked up Ella’s leg.
“Aiden, get up,” she said again. Her face was a blurry spot on the far side of her knees.
Was there a reason he was supposed to be mad at her?
He rolled to his side and tried to do as she asked. His attempt was only partially successful. He made it as far as sitting up and collapsed against Ella’s leg, his face pressed against her inner thigh. He closed his eyes again, feeling the world spin. Hello, concussion.
He tried to sort out what had happened and why he was tied up, but he was having to think really hard and what he really wanted to do was rest here against Ella.
“Aiden!” Ella’s tone was pleading.
So they were on opposite sides of a court case. Did that really matter? How could that matter when her skin felt so good against his cheek? She still smelled like something he couldn’t quite place. Something that reminded him of summer? Heat? Mexico?
“Your skin is really soft,” he thought and then realized that it hadn’t been a thought so much as a verbalization.
Ella sighed in exasperation. “This is not how this fantasy is supposed to go,” she muttered.
“How does it go?” he asked, trying to keep up with events. He opened his eyes and realized that he was sitting more or less between her thighs. He looked up into her big brown eyes and suddenly grasped exactly how the fantasy was supposed to go.
“Does it go like this?” he asked, tilting into her and kissing her thigh. She shivered and he leaned further in and kissed again.
