Page 18 of The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold (The Blonde Identity #2)

King

The air outside was hot and thick. It was going to rain. Vendors were packing up their stalls, and tourists were making their

way back to hotels and cruise ships, so the streets were emptier than they had been as King carried Alex down the cobblestones.

They should get a cab. Call for backup or extraction. Maybe a straitjacket or a zookeeper.

“What was that?” King looked down at the woman in his arms.

“What was what?” She had the nerve to cock an eyebrow, like she’d just pulled ahead in a race he hadn’t even realized they

were running, which was partially true. King hadn’t had a clue what was happening when she went limp, literally falling into

Lozano’s arms. King had felt his heart stop beating. It didn’t start back until he said—

“ Baby , Sterling? Baby?”

No operative had ever looked prouder. “I thought that was an excellent touch.”

They were a block away from Lozano’s shop, so King stopped and tipped Alex out of his arms, then pressed her against the side

of a building, hand on her cheek, like he was still worried. Like he cared and wasn’t contemplating murder.

A dark SUV pulled to a stop in the shade of the vines that arched over Lozano’s doors. Some hired muscle got out and opened

the back door for a man who was far older than King had been expecting. Dark hair. Dark suit. Dark glasses. The man stopped

and scanned the street, and King swore he would remember that face—he had to. They didn’t have a name, but this was better

than nothing.

“Are you feeling better, sweetheart?” he asked with exaggerated sweetness. “Proud of yourself?”

“So proud,” she said.

Lozano opened the doors and the buyer went into the shop, leaving his goons by the door. “Well, I hope you’re happy because

there goes our chance of getting into the back room.”

“We don’t need to get into the back room.” She was walking her fingers up his chest like his heart was the real safe and she

was going to crack it.

“Of course we—” King pulled back. He didn’t like the look in her eye, the cocky gleam and knowing smirk. “What...”

And then he felt her hand slip into his pocket. Something heavy but soft landed there. Something with a familiar size and

weight and... no. “Is that...”

“The ten million dollars’ worth of emeralds that Lozano had in his pocket?” she asked with mock surprise. “Oh my gosh, I think

it is! How did those get in there?” He actually thought it was an excellent question, but Alex just rolled her eyes. “Come

on... sweetheart. You had your finger down my dress; where did you think Lozano was looking? It’s a very nice dress.”

“Yeah.” King couldn’t help but huff. “I’m sure the dress was what had his attention.”

It was the first time he’d ever seen her blush.

“He was never going to take us to the back, but then I saw a bulge in his pocket—”

“I’m not going to say what I’m thinking right now.” King pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You’re just jealous.” She sounded smug. “I saw. I swooned. I swapped. I didn’t learn that at the Farm—”

“Clearly.”

“I improvised—”

He stepped closer, crowding against her. “That wasn’t improvisation. That was playing games you can’t win.”

“I already won.”

“Did we?” He honestly wasn’t sure anymore.

Maybe it was the coming storm or the eerily quiet streets, but something made the hairs on King’s arms stand up.

He glanced back to the store and the SUV and the guards.

“Because from where I’m standing, the buyer’s muscle is extremely interested in us right now.

And interested—in case you didn’t know—is bad. ”

“That’s okay.” She sidled closer, gazing up at him with wide-eyed... lust. Yes. That was the only word that described it.

“We have Lozano’s stones. And Lozano has ours—”

“Which is the last thing we want them to know!” King felt like he might snap in half with the words.

“We left because you were very concerned about your wife. Because you love me. And you cherish me. And you want me.”

His jaw ticked. “Well, how do you propose we—”

King didn’t want to kiss Alex Sterling. He’d never thought about it or considered it or woken up dreaming of such a terrible,

heinous thing.

And yet it felt inevitable when he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. When her hands gripped him tighter as the sky

opened up and the thunder struck and the world disappeared behind a curtain of hard, hot rain.

An engine revved. Headlights burst on, cutting through the storm like a spotlight on the raindrops. But when Alex tried to

pull away, King had no choice but to cup the back of her head with one hand—fingers in her hair, eyes on her lips.

“Kiss me,” he ordered. “And don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop.”

So that’s exactly what she did.

It didn’t have to change anything—mean anything. It was just another cover, another lie. And after this... Well, it was

a big world full of dark corners. If he was smart and careful and good, chances were he’d never lay eyes on Alexandra Sterling

again.