Page 46 of The Deputy's Secret Double

Price stopped dead in his tracks.

He wasn’t grinning but his words were just as sinister.

“Let her go or I’ll breakyou.”

Lawson must have believed him. His grip didn’t detract but it did loosen.

“Prove to your date that you can breathe,” he ordered. “Say something.”

Your date.

Lawson was referring to her as Price’s date.

Not as Lydia Ortiz.

He didn’t recognize her.

He didn’t know her.

That meant he couldn’treallyuse her.

Every fear, every hesitation that JJ had fallen prey to since the reappearance of Lawson Cole felt like it dripped down from his hand and melted into a puddle on the floor.

If he didn’t know her, then he’d already underestimated her.

JJ’s face must have given away her change in mindset. Price’s brow drew in together.

She complied with Lawson’s order and spoke to him.

It just wasn’t what either man had apparently been expecting.

“I’m actually really good at fighting.”

Price’s eyebrow rose and Lawson started to turn to face her.

JJ was already moving.

* * *

The woman droppedher body weight out of nowhere.

Lawson caught a glimpse of her smile before he had to release his hold on her neck. That glimpse lasted as long as a blink. There was no time to do anything but defend after that.

Now in a low crouch, she threw an elbow that buried deep within his side. It was a biting, sharp pain that made him stagger back into the corner of the elevator. His hand hit the panel to try and steady himself. He only had a split second to decide to use the misstep to his advantage.

He pressed one of the upper floor’s numbers along with the close-door button.

Then the woman was back on him.

He caught a punch she was throwing only to take a kick in its place. It went into his hip but not his groin. That would have spelled disaster. Especially with the deputy on the outskirts.

Lawson needed to at least keep him away from the fray.

He took the woman’s hand still in his grip and slung her against the opposite wall. It gave him a small window to deal with the approaching brawn of the deputy.

In a hit that felt movie-worthy, he connected a powerful blow against Deputy Collins’s chest. If it had connected with his head, it would have been a knockout. Instead, all it could do was literally knock the man back.

He tried to catch himself, but he hit the floor hard.