Page 6 of Hacking His Code

“I thought you meant that if the target posed a threat, tell the men thattheywould be handsomely rewarded.”

“Jesus Christ—get the bag off of her head. Take her shackles off.”

Adrenaline courses through my veins, and even though I clearly heard that I’m to be released, I can’t bring myself to trust them, and as soon as their hands drop from me, I dart blindly forward.

“She’s loose!” a man shouts.

I get five steps before running straight into and barreling over something in my way, sending me crashing downward.

A groan comes from underneath me. That something in my way was a someone.

Footsteps sound. They’re on me again, hands grabbing my arms.

“Would you like us to tie up her feet?” a voice says.

“No—let her go!”

“Even after—”

“What you’re doing is illegal. Undo the shackles, remove the hood, and leave so I can make this right.”

Hands sit me upright. Pressure is relieved from my wrists. The hood slides off, but I can’t see because I’m blinded by my hair, which got disheveled during the struggle. I shake my head, pull my hair back, and look down to see a suited man on the floor beneath me.

He’s handsome, a businessman judging from his attire. His hair is chocolate brown, tousled from the fall. His eyes are warm honey, and if I’m not mistaken, he’s jovial.

I hate him for that.

Hunter

Dark hair tumbles from the hood covering Arinessa’s face. Her newly-freed hands frantically smooth the unruly strands, tucking them behind her ear.

“You’re going to be alright,” I assure her.

“Who the hell are you? And what the fuck am I doing here?” she says frantically, falling back on her butt and shimmying away.

“You can all leave,” I say to the mercenaries as I climb to my feet.

A big one named Bruce says, “Are you sure you don’t want us to stay? She puts up quite a fight and a pretty boy like yerself—”

“Pretty?” I blink my eyes in disbelief. I work out five times a week and can bench press nearly two-hundred-fifty pounds, but I guess that might be hard to notice under the suit I’m wearing. “Trust me, I can hold my own.”

The leader, who goes by Snake, shakes his head, circles a finger in the air, and shouts, “Round it up, boys. Back to the chopper.”

After they depart, I approach Arinessa, who is shaking violently from fear. I squat low so I’m not talking down to her, and open my mouth to speak, but before I can utter a word, her leg flies up, connecting with my jaw.

Oof…

Unprepared, I fall backward, bringing a hand up to my face as she angrily charges me, and we fall to the floor.

I raise a hand in surrender. “Please—”

“You filthy pervert,” she shouts, pummeling me with her tiny fists. “You can’t get laid, so you hire muscled thugs to kidnap—”

I shield my face, allowing a couple punches in for her benefit before grabbing her wrists and setting her straight.

“Oh, I assure you—I can get laid. And even if I couldn’t, it’s certainly not something I’d look for from you.”

She narrows her eyes at me, and I realize how that sounded.