Page 9 of Fugitive Flirtation
He nods again and smiles. Gosh, that smile…
“Yeah, I’m real good at finding the shit people hide,” he observes, looking at the screen again.
“So could I hire you to help me…”
“To help you escape, nope.”
“I wasn’t gonna say that. I was going to ask if you could help me find out who framed me.”
“No need to hire me to do that,” he says, looking right into my eyes. “Figuring out this fucking mess is already part of my mission.”
I look into his eyes, and for the first time since this nightmare began, I feel a glimmer of hope. But there’s something else too, an incredible attraction that I can’t ignore.
“One way or another, we’re gonna get to the bottom of this,” he says, his voice filled with conviction. Ace leans closer, his breath warm on my skin. “You’re not alone in this, Alicia.”
My heart races. We’re so close. I know I should pull away, but I can’t seem to move. His hand comes up to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing over my lips.
“Ace,” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
He closes the distance between us, his lips brushing against mine in a soft, tentative kiss. I melt into him, my fingers tangling in his hair as the kiss deepens.
For an instant, everything else fades away. The fear, the uncertainty, the weight of the secrets I’m keeping. All that matters is the feel of his body against mine, the taste of his lips, the way he makes me feel alive.
But reality comes crashing back all too soon. I pull away, my breath coming in short gasps.
“Now that we’ve got this out of our system,let’s focus on clearing your name,” Ace says.
If he thinks one kiss got him out of my system, he couldn’t be more wrong!
That kiss made itworse.
I stand up, needing to put some distance between us.
“So what’s our next move?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.
Ace’s brow furrows. “We need to find evidence that someone set you up. And we need to do it fast, before their goons find us again.”
Before I get a chance to ask him how we’re going to do that, a metallic voice blaststhroughthe room. “Alert, perimeter breach. Alert, perimeter breach…”
7
The alarm blares through the room, its piercing tone cutting through the tension between Alicia and me. I jump to my feet, instinctively reaching for my weapon while checking the cameras.
“False alarm,” I tell Alicia while pressing the button that shuts the alarm off.
A few seconds later, the door bursts open and Ice strides in. “We’ve got a situation.”
“What’s going on?”
“Ghost has been digging into Alicia’s case.” He nods toward her. “And he’s uncovered something interesting.”
“What did he find?”Aliciaasks, hope lighting up her beautiful features.
“Look on your phone,” Brian says. “Ghost’s sent you some interesting footage.”
I do as he asks and soon enough, I’m watching security camera footage of a young man entering what seems to be the branch of a fancy bank. “Is this David Blackwell?” I askAlicia,showing her the screen. “That’s her boss’ son,” I explain to Ice.
“Yeah, it’s him, but wait…” Her voice changes. She fights tearswhen sheadds,“It’s not the right bank.”