Page 42 of Devil's Claim

“Goddamn it. Just get back here.”

I glanced into the rearview mirror. Benito had been following with the other soldiers in a single vehicle, now several car lengths behind. Fuck Miami traffic.

“I plan on it. There are few loose ends to take care of,” I answered. There were a lot of unanswered questions, but for now I had to concentrate on the ones involving Christine.

My foot was depressing the brake to make a turn when she acted quickly, more than I could react to.

She ripped off her seatbelt, managing to open the car door.

“What the fuck?”

Without thinking about her safety or danger, she jumped from the car.

“What was that?” Jago asked as I slammed on the brake, watching her tumble several times.

“I gotta go.” I tossed the phone onto the dashboard, catching sight of her getting to her feet and taking off running. What the hell? Didn’t she know she could get herself killed?

Benito swerved around me, nearly colliding with an oncoming truck.

The Ferrari finally roared to a stop, which almost caused several other vehicles to crash into me. Horns were honked. Lights flashed.

And middle fingers were thrown at me.

Not that I gave a shit. At least I’d managed to pull the car to the side of the road, ripping the keys from the ignition and slamming the door before taking off running. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Benito had pulled to a stop as well.

This couldn’t be a worse situation if I’d ordered it up like the Chinese food the night before. When I managed to bring her to safety and had her secure behind her apartment door, I planned on teaching her a lesson about protecting herself.

Not only against bad men intent on doing her harm, but also about running into traffic.

She was dodging past people walking on the sidewalk, somehow already making it across one street to a row of apartment buildings. I found it difficult to keep up with her and she remained in her heels.

What the hell?

Shouting at her would only cause undue attention. When she snapped her head around, I caught a vision of her face under a streetlight. I should be furious with her. Deep down inside, I was. But she’d defied me and my authority every step of the way. She’d managed to do something no one else had ever done.

She’d gotten the jump on me.

A part of me wanted to tackle her to the ground, fucking her until she screamed out my name. The other wanted to spank her ass until she couldn’t sit down for a week. One desire wasn’t necessarily stronger than the other.

She lunged around a corner of a building and by that point, I was winded. Jesus. Whether or not my men were following me wasundetermined. At some point, she’d need to stop. Why? Because she’d left her purse in my car, her keys, identification, and credit cards inside.

The thought kept a smile on my face, but I continued following behind her. When I rounded the same corner, I realized I’d lost sight of her.

I stopped short, taking a deep breath while I scanned the area. She was nowhere to be seen. If I lost her, even for a short timeframe, I’d never hear the end of it even if I threatened the men with bodily harm.

Sighing, I glanced around the area slowly, finally looking at the ground. The marks from her heels were indented in the soft soil. I followed the trail, shaking my head the entire time. As soon as I got close to where she was hiding, she did exactly what I thought she’d do.

She took off running.

Only this time without her heels.

Another smile curled across my lips. I’d never enjoyed being with a woman so much. Even if she was mischievous as hell, annoying to the point of being cute.

I took off sprinting a few seconds later, catching her in no time.

Her shrill cry could attract a hundred people, it was so loud.

If anyone cared enough to find out who was yelling for help.