Page 13 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part One
She gnawed her bottom lip. “This isn’t sex.”
I grinned again. “It’s going to feel like it.” I leaned forward until my lips just brushed hers. “Say it, Viva.”
She didn’t sound like she was even breathing as she whispered, “Fine. You can kiss me. Enthusiastically.”
I smirked at her snark. The girl obviously didn’t know that the chase was the best part of this. And she was a juicy gazelle.
I pressed my lips to hers, running my hand up the back of her neck to bury my fingers in her riotous hair. Then I kissed her hard. A bruising kiss, that's what they’d call it in romance novels. The type that makes you pant and your lips get all pink and swollen, and you look thoroughly fucked. We hadn’t got to that last part yet, but soon.
She let out a small moan as she kissed me back, angling her mouth so she could suck my lip between her teeth and bite down. I hissed and pulled away a little, chuckling deep in my chest.
When she stumbled out of the closet two minutes later, she looked thoroughly debauched. I was patting myself on the back for a job well done, ignoring my own thundering heart that threatened to beat out of my chest.
Chapter7
Otto
Electric cars made subversive getaways much easier. They idled silently, or the battery turned off, or something. I wasn’t a car guy. But the Tesla we hired did its job perfectly as we waited outside Hendrick’s rehab at the asscrack of dawn. I was glad we’d decided to hang around. Despite seeming really good, there’d been something about him the other day that had compelled us to stay. In fucking Tampa.
I was pretty sure Sampson had drunk every fancy ass country club out of top shelf whiskey, and fucked every single waitress while he was at it. And it had only been three days. He was asleep in the passenger seat. Sam didn’t do early mornings, but had still insisted we be exactly on time.
The Pixies played softly from the speakers and I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat. I watched the front doors, the lights still on the lowest setting in there, no one ready to get out of bed quite just yet.
I was watching those doors so hard, that when someone knocked on the passenger door, I jumped so hard my seat belt locked around my neck and I made a choking sound. Sampson, however, just opened a single eye like a sleeping dragon.
Outside the window was Hendrick’s grinning face. Fucker.
I unlocked the doors, and he opened the rear passenger one. I really hadn’t expected Aviva to climb in though. I don’t know why; it fit with Hendrick’s usual method of act first, think later. But she didn’t seem like that kind of girl—the type who’d be taken in by Hendrick’s innate charm.
I popped the trunk and climbed out to help Hendrick load the bags. “The fuck, man? Is this why we’re leaving so goddamn early? Are we abducting her?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Does she look unwilling? Besides, she’s twenty-one. I checked. It isn’t kidnapping.”
I took several fortifying breaths. “I thought you said she was here for a court-mandated period of time.”
“Runs out today for good behavior.”
Deep breaths, Otto. Deep fucking breaths.“Then why are we sneaking out of here at dawn like you just fucked the preacher's daughter?”
He snorted and slammed the boot closed. “I’m cutting off your romance novels, you sappy bastard.” He walked around the driver’s side with me, still muttering. “Look, her parents were coming to pick her up at lunchtime anyway. She just has other plans. I’m giving her a ride.”
I narrowed my eyes. “A ride to where, exactly?”
He grinned, opening the rear door. “To Europe.”
With that, he ducked into the backseat, leaving me gaping after him. What the actual fuck was going on right now? Opening my door, I climbed in, and looked over my shoulder at Aviva. She was as pretty as I remembered, although maybe her hair was just a little more chaotic this morning, her grin a little more manic.
“Are you being held hostage? Blink twice if you are.”
She laughed, a soft sound that seemed almost too throaty. “No, I’m here voluntarily.”
Sampson grunted something under his breath and then gave me a pointed look. “You can interrogate her later. We have a plane to catch and civilization to return to.”
We rode to the airport in silence, returning the car to the valet, and checking our bags ourselves to skip the unnecessary human interaction. When we made it to the first class lounge, Sampson dived on the breakfast buffet like it was an actual lifeline. I directed Aviva toward a comfortable set of couches, and Hendrick flopped onto an armchair sideways.
“Fuck, it’s early. Why did we get flights this early?”
“Because you said you wanted to leave at the first sign of dawn, remember?” I looked at the girl beside us. “If I’d known you were stealing a girl, I would have been a gentleman and booked a flight at a more respectable time.”
