Page 108 of Sweet Deception

How do I get out of this now?

I know some self-defense, but two against one? I could pepper spray or tase them if I could just get under my dress, but it’s a little complicated when they’ve got my arms pinned up like this.

Bozhe moy,my deep breathing won’t help me now.

Is it finally my time to die?

I yank on my arms as panic begins to flood in.

All this time, I thought the worst thing that could happen in a situation like this was losing the girls. But if I forfeit my life, we’re all doomed.

The guards drag me away from all the festivities, down an emergency staircase, and out into a back alley.

They toss me at the brick wall.

My palms scrape against it. Better than my face, I guess. Then, just as I whirl around and find myself staring into the barrels of their guns, aboomshakes the world around us. The close-range explosion sends bricks flying off the south wall of the building. I drop to my knees, coughing through the smoke.

Ears ringing. Vision swaying. Dizziness consumes me.

Coughing and sputtering involuntarily, I roll over onto my side as a wall of gray smoke cloaks the three of us.

I can’t breathe well, and my world’s still spinning, but with the guards temporarily distracted, I reach for the Taser strapped to my thigh.

That’s when two shots ring out and the guards drop right at my feet. A second later, Darren emerges through the haze like some kind of superhero. Holy shit, it’s really him…

Am I dreaming?

Did I die?

Only when his familiar arm encircles my waist and hauls me up from the ground do I realize this is actually happening. He drags me through a service door and throws me against thenearest wall. His strength, his scent, the heat of his body so near mine…

Darren. He’s here. He came.

He’s glaring at me with all the intensity of the sun, but he’s here. I can’t believe it.

Fresh tears well up and pour down my cheeks.

Darren presses me against the wall in this darkened corridor.

“What are you doing here?” I ask in a broken voice.

“I’m going to give you one guess,” he growls, clearly pissed.

Staring deep into his eyes, I find tenderness that belies his tone and the rigidity of his muscles. “Did you…come to save me?”

“Fucking right I did.”

I’m nothing short of stunned.

Darren not only showed up when I needed him to…he also blew shit up and saved my life.

I’m starting to think this crazy, wonderful man would obliterate the whole world for me. That may not sound romantic, but it is.

He wraps me into a snug embrace. “You stupid, gorgeous,reckless woman,” he breathes against my hair as he crushes me to his chest.

My arms climb around his shoulders, squeezing him just as tightly. “Why?” I whisper. “Why do all this?”

When he pulls back, his eyes burn with an intensity that steals my breath.