Page 23 of An Epic Voyage (The Epic Beauty Salon Files #1)

T hough Indigo knew she was playing with fire, she’d miscalculated. As soon as Griffin’s lips touched hers, she wanted nothing more than to strip off his clothes, climb on top, and have her way with him.

Instead, she caught him before he toppled over, grabbing his shoulders and easing him to the couch. Man, he was heavy with all those bulging muscles. She couldn’t resist one last stroke of his biceps.

Indigo stood, feeling supremely guilty. She didn’t want to harm him, and her stunt might well have ended any trust they’d built. With one last wistful look, she removed the thin, transparent barrier from her lips that kept the sedative from drugging her too and tossed it in the trash.

She hated to knock him out, but there was only so much time to investigate the bunker. She wasn’t sure what she would do when he woke. Good thing she was an expert at improvising.

It would be so easy to forget her assignment and lose herself in Griffin Dean.

Woo-boy , she was attracted to him. He exuded masculine appeal in looks, charm, and intelligence.

She could spend hours talking with him. Indy had never felt such a potent attraction to anyone in her life. Why did it have to happen now?

Instead of exploring their chemistry, she reluctantly left him and resumed her search.

Job first. Always.

She searched the walls and found nothing, so she moved on to the floors. Maybe he had a built-in safe beneath the surface.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Dropping the edge of the rug, Indigo gasped and spun around with her weapon aimed at Griffin. He was also holding a gun on her. Holy cow, the sedative had worn off much too quickly. She should’ve kissed him longer.

“What the hell, Indigo? You’re working with Van Houten?”

She slowly stood, keeping her gun trained on him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He wiped a hand over his mouth. “Well, let’s start with you drugging me. Then we can discuss why you’re walking around with a SIG Sauer.”

She shrugged. “A woman can never be too safe.”

“Don’t be glib. We’re the only ones down here.”

“Maybe you have nefarious intentions. I need to be able to protect myself.”

“You never thought to mention you were packing a weapon—wait a minute. I searched your bags. How did you get it? From Van Houten?”

“Drop the Van Houten nonsense. I’m not working with him or for him.”

“How did you get the gun?”

“It was in my bag.” Inside a compartment he’d never be able to find if he didn’t know about it. Still, she taunted, “You missed it, big guy.”

He ignored her insult. “What did you put in my drink?”

“Absolutely nothing,” she said with certainty.

“It was the lipstick,” he realized.

“Gloss.”

“What?”

“It was lip gloss, not lipstick.”

“Okay, I’m done playing games. You have thirty seconds to tell me what you were doing.”

“Or what?” she challenged. “You’ll shoot me?”

“Something like that.”

She glanced around. “It’s a lovely space. I was getting ideas for my own panic room. I thought I’d install it—”

“Stop right now.”

He barked the words so forcefully, Indy almost took a step back.

“I trusted you.”

She shook her head, hating that it had come to this. “That was your first mistake. Now, back up slowly.”

“I hate to tell you, but you’re not in charge here. Put your weapon down.”

“You first.”

He glared at her, and she mourned the loss of the desire she’d seen there earlier.

Ah, well, it couldn’t have gone anywhere, anyway.

“We’re obviously not going to shoot each other.

Then we’d have to live with the stench of a rotting corpse for however long it takes for the hurricane to pass. We do it at the same time.”

“Yeah, but here’s the problem. I don’t think you’ll do it. You just told me not to trust you.”

She had, hadn’t she? In the spirit of goodwill, she lowered her SIG and placed it on the table. Indy breathed a sigh of relief when he did the same. Then he reached behind him. Indigo didn’t think, she reacted, plowing into him like a charging bull.

Griffin grunted as they crashed to the floor.

Indy employed every Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, and wrestling technique in her arsenal.

Griffin was strong and obviously skilled, but she’d trained with Jackson Rushing.

They rolled around on the ground, bumping into furniture and knocking over tables.

Every time she thought she had him, he’d break the hold and take over.

Indy’s muscles screamed in protest as they grappled for a good ten, maybe fifteen, minutes.

Both were sweating and breathing heavily.

Time to go for the kill.

She employed her signature move: locking her legs around his head and squeezing him unconscious. Suddenly, she was flying through the air, landing hard on her stomach. Griffin pounced on top of her, and any trace amount of breath she had left whooshed from her lungs.

#

G riffin had no idea who Indigo Adair was, but she was expertly trained. He’d held back at first, not wanting to harm her, but she’d just come at him harder. He was going to be sore and bruised from the hits and kicks she was landing.

This could go on forever, and damn it, he didn’t trust her, but he didn’t want to injure her, either.

The way this was going, one of them was going to end up getting hurt.

When she came at him with her legs, he made his move, flipping her and diving on top.

He winced when she gasped for breath, but he hardened his heart.

While she struggled to breathe, he rolled her over, jerked her hands together, and slapped flex cuffs around her wrists.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she hissed.

Griffin ignored the litany of curses and pulled her to her feet.

“Why are you going around carrying zip ties with you? Did you plan on tying me up naked and having your way with me? See, that’s why I was carrying a gun.”

Her mocking words hit him like a bolt of lust. Now, he was imagining her blissfully nude while he secured her wrists and ankles to the bedposts.

While he was lost in the fantasy, she lifted her arms. He watched in fascinated horror as she brought them down quickly against her abdomen while simultaneously pulling them back at right angles. The cuffs popped off.

That was a trick few people knew how to master.

She stalked forward, and he prepared for round two.

A loud crash sounded, and Indigo spun around. Griffin used the distraction to knock her to the ground again and secure her hands once more. This time, he used two flex cuffs.

With a mental salute to the lamp, which had been teetering on a table they had bumped into earlier, he jerked her to her feet again. Griffin tugged her with him as he found his metal cuffs, slapping them on with the others.

“Overkill, isn’t it, rent-a-cop?” she snarked. “What, are you afraid of a little ol’ me? A tiny woman?”

He snorted. She was more capable than anyone he knew. He forced her to sit on the couch. Then he dropped onto the coffee table in front of her.

“Who are you? Who sent you here? Why were you searching the island?”

She blinked innocently at him. “Which question do you want me to answer first?”

“Take your pick,” he growled.

“You seem to think you’re the expert. Why don’t you tell me?”

#

I ndigo was fuming with fury, but mostly humiliation. Somehow, Griffin had gotten the better of her. Twice. That really stung. Now, her hands were securely bound. There was no way she was getting out of two sets of flex cuffs and metal ones. She was good, but Houdini she was not.

She had to figure a way out of this.

“You might as well tell me what I want to know. I assume you have people who would miss you. I can disappear you for a very long time.”

She pierced him with her gaze. “Did you just threaten to kill me?”

“I did not.”

“Then explain what disappearing me means.”

His mouth curved, and the dimples made an appearance. Bastard.

“I don’t have to.”

Indy gritted her teeth. How had she thought this man handsome?

He was a slimy snake. That she still wanted to get naked with him fueled her anger.

Before she realized what she was doing, she brought her foot up and kicked him in the face, knocking him off the table.

She took satisfaction in the thumping sound, followed by his pained grunt. Too bad she’d taken off her shoes.

He pushed to his feet, holding a hand over his left eye. “What was that for, Indigo?”

“Just letting you know I won’t go down without a fight.”

He mumbled something about how he should’ve tied her feet too. Mistake on his part.

If she were honest with herself, he still turned her on.

If she hadn’t been fighting for her life, their grappling would’ve been exhilarating.

His rock-hard body was every bit a weapon, as was hers.

It could’ve been foreplay, but there was no way she would tumble into bed with him now, no matter how adorable he looked with his blond hair mussed.

“What were you searching for?”

“The Holy Grail? The Ark of the Covenant? Amelia Earhart’s airplane? The lost city of Atlantis?”

Maybe it was her imagination, but she swore she saw smoke coming from his ears and nostrils.

“Damn it, Indigo, talk to me like a normal human being. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Too late. These cuffs are cutting off circulation to my hands.”

A flash of emotion crossed his face, and then it was gone. She was pretty sure it was guilt. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent—”

Oh, for the love of all things holy. “I hate to burst your bubble, Serpico. Rent-a-cops can’t Mirandize people.”

He reached into his back pocket and flipped open a badge. “They can’t, but federal agents can.”

Well, hell.