Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Fuck me. I am so in love with this woman. But it’ll be a cold day in hell when I allow her to take this hit out from under me.
I guess we’re going full Kiara on this one.
She holds my gaze for only a second, the thrill of the competition flashing wild and bright in her green eyes, before we both bolt for the apartment complex. I don’t hold back—my long strides devour the distance, and we slam into each other at the door in our rush to be first. She yelps, then laughs, her shoulder knocking hard against my ribs before she shoves through the main entrance before me and tears into the staffed lobby.
Hired guards crowd every corner, immediately launching into action as they reach for their guns, but they don’t possess even a fraction of the speed we have, and as I storm in behind my little firecracker, we open fire, sharp pops from our guns firing through the room.
The terrified staff scream and hit the floor as Kiara drops two of the guards. “You don’t stand a chance,” she calls, her shots splitting the air like snapping wood, precise and controlled as chaos erupts around us. “Might as well head back home and wait for me there. Let the real professional handle business.”
I scoff and veer for the stairs. “Sure thing, Firecracker. You handle this mess, and the real professional will take care of Alistair.”
“Fuck!”
She gasps just as I slip into the emergency exit, not bothering with the elevator, knowing she can handle the untrained security guards without even breaking a sweat.
The staff would’ve already sounded the alarms and locked the elevators down to protect their residents. That gives us minutes—maybe less—before the place is swarming with law enforcement. I don’t know about Kiara, but I pride myself on never having my ass hauled away in the back of a police cruiser, and I don’t intend to start tonight.
Sailing up the stairwell, I listen to the rhythmic crack of Kiara’s shots, each one followed by the heavy thud of a guard hitting the floor, and I can’t help but admit she’s fucking incredible. A sharper shot than me? Not a fucking chance. But she’s right up there.
I fly past the second floor and take the third two steps at a time when I hear Kiara storming in at the bottom.
“Low blow, asshole,” she calls up the stairwell.
“What’s the matter? Can’t handle the heat?”
“Fuck, I hate you.”
“I’d say you could tell me all about it later, but you’ll have your mouth full of my fat cock.”
A shot cracks through the stairwell, the bullet slicing past my face and ricocheting off the metal handrail. I skid to a halt, eyes locking on the fresh scratch gouged into the steel. I turn just as Kiara rounds the corner.
My brow arches, taking in the sight of her in those tight leather pants, done up by a corseted front, and goddamn, it’s the most mouthwatering thing I’ve ever seen. “Did you just shoot at me, Firecracker?”
She pauses mid-step, a slow smirk carving across her lips, gun steady in her hands and aimed square at my chest. She moves toward me without lowering it, and my pulse stays maddeningly calm. No matter the circumstances, she would never take that shot. Not if it meant my life. Because when it comes down to it, Kiara St. James is in love with me, too.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
“An eye for an eye, Mr. Kane,” she purrs, creeping in even closer, the thrill of the hunt getting her just as worked up as I am. “You’re not scared, are you?”
The mere thought of me being scared sends a smirk flying across my face, and as I hold her stare, I reach up and close my hand around the barrel of her gun. “The only thing I’m scared of is—”
BANG!
BANG! BANG!
“Fuck!”
The guards hover at the top, and as Kiara tries like hell to shove past me, I angle my weapon upward and pull the trigger, watching the bullet punch clean between one guard’s eyes. His body tips forward, momentum carrying him over the railing. He drops five floors, plummeting past us before slamming into the concrete below like an egg against a counter.
It isn’t pretty, and I look away. I’m not here to dwell on collateral. I’m here to do a job—the very job that Kiara St. James is determined to steal from me.
We take the next flight two at a time, rounding onto the fourth floor, dodging and weaving through a spray of wild bullets as the remaining guards scramble to regain control.
They won’t.
Finally rounding onto the top floor, we face the guards head-on, barreling toward them without hesitation, anticipating every shot before it’s fired. There are four of them, and we close the distance in a heartbeat, too near now to bother shooting. I flip my gun into the air, catch it by the barrel, and slam the butt into the closest guard’s temple, cleanly knocking him out cold, before driving straight into the second.