Shit, now I was turned on.
I gave a hard yank with my teeth, and his rope came free.
“Yes!” I tried to get back up, but was pinned by my damn chair.
“Hang on.” Liam gave me a push.
My chair hit the concrete, and I dropped back into it. Liam rose, shaking his free arm while our other wrists were still handcuffed together.
“You next,” he said.
We might still be handcuffed to each other, but once I was free of the chair, we could at least get out of here.
Liam knelt in front of me. He leaned over me as he worked on the rope, one handed.
“The bastard did this up tight.”
I heard a noise. The screech of rusty metal.
There was a door opening somewhere. The sound echoed through the warehouse.
“Someone’s coming,” I hissed.
Liam rose. “Come on.” He lifted my chair off the ground.
We awkwardly hobbled across the warehouse.
Oh, God. I was handcuffed to Liam, and tied to a chair, and trying to make a run for it. Jack would die laughing.
We passed through a doorway.
“Look,” Liam said.
I saw the shadow of a forklift, and some tools and workbenches set up in the corner. It looked like some sort of workshop.
Liam rummaged through the tools, and lifted a knife.
I stilled. “If you cut me…”
“Trust me.” His teeth were white in the darkness.
I didn’t have a choice, but I suddenly realized that over the last two days, Liam Kensington had earned my trust.
“Do it.”
He sawed through the rope, and a second later I was free of the chair.
That’s when I heard shouts echo through the warehouse.
“We need to go,” he said. “Now.”
We ran together, trying to find some sort of rhythm with our cuffed hands. We found a wall and moved along it. I stepped on something with my bare foot and winced.
No time to worry about it.
“Here.” Liam stopped in front of a door.
He opened the lock, then shoved the door open.
It made a huge groan.
“Fuck.” Liam gripped my fingers. “Run!”
The cold night air hit us as we sprinted down a row of huge warehouses. Shouts echoed through the night behind us.
I had no clue exactly where we were, but the water was to our right. We reached the end, and I realized we had nowhere to go. We had warehouses to the left, water to the right, and water ahead of us.
Cursing, Liam tried the door to the closest warehouse. “Locked.”
I saw flashlight beams bouncing as people were running toward us. They were coming.
We both faced the water.
The water would be cold. Very cold.
Oh. God.
His gaze met mine. “No other option.”
I nodded and we walked to the edge. “On three.”
“Okay,” he said.
“One. Two—”
He jumped, pulling me with him.
12
Don’t Crash, Kensington
Liam
They hit the water with a splash.
Damn, it was cold.
Aspen came up sputtering.
“Shh,” Liam warned. “Take it easy.”
It was not easy to swim while handcuffed together. Shouts and flashlights sounded from the shoreline. He saw shadowy figures by the warehouse, flashlight beams arcing through the night.
“That way.” Liam pointed.
She nodded, and they moved through the water, finding a rhythm.
They swam farther away from the warehouse. The water stank. He was going to have to sacrifice another suit. It was also freezing. They needed to get out and fast.
“There,” Aspen said.
They were out of view of their captors now. Another warehouse was perched by the edge of the water. It was dark, and there was no sign of anyone around.
They pulled themselves out onto the dirt, and then stumbled up onto the concrete.
Aspen started shivering, her teeth chattering.
“How the hell…w-will we get out of h-here?” she asked. “We’ve got no phones. No m-money.”
“Come here.” He pulled her up and hugged her. “We’ll sort it out.”
She shivered harder and clung to him, burrowing closer.
“I-I need a hot shower and a shot of w-whiskey.”
“I have a shower and a bottle of Macallan. You like Macallan?”
She snorted. “Sure. I have expensive bottles of Scotch lying around all the time.”
“Come on, Chandler. Let’s move.”
A chain-link fence lay ahead of them, separating the warehouse from the street. Liam was pondering how best to climb it, when a low growl echoed behind them.
Bloody hell. He stiffened and scanned the darkness.
“Oh, shit,” Aspen muttered. A black dog appeared. A rottweiler.
It was inside the fence with them.
And it had very sharp teeth.
It growled again, its gaze locked on them.
Liam and Aspen backed up.
“Nice doggy,” Aspen said. “Move slowly.”
Liam tried to stay calm.
“Liam? You okay?”
“I don’t like dogs.”
“I’m not fond of them myself.”
“Especially not slavering Rottweilers, keen to maul us, and tear our hearts out.”
She stared at him. “Jeez, did you have a bad experience as a kid?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. With my mother’s poodle.”
He heard a snicker.
“They have fangs too,” he told her.
“Right.” She sounded like she was barely suppressing a laugh.
The rottweiler snarled.
Shit. Liam’s back hit the fence.
“On three, we’ll spin and climb,” she said.
The dog snarled again.
“Okay, screw the countdown,” she said. “Go!”
They spun and jumped. The dog leaped and Liam heard it hit the fence. He climbed fast. He and Aspen worked their way to the top. Trying to figure out how to get over the top, while handcuffed, was tricky.
“Careful,” she warned.
Liam got his leg over, and started down the other side. The metal cuff dug into his wrist. Aspen was right at the top, maneuvering.
Then Liam’s foot slipped. Shit.
He fell, his fingers losing their grip on the chain link. Cursing, he turned.
He heard Aspen cry out as his weight pulled her off the fence.
His back hit the ground on the other side of the fence with a thump.
And Aspen landed on top of him.
He found himself with a very nice pair of breasts pressed to his face.
“Oh. God.” She tried to push herself up, then slipped on top of him again. “I’m so sorry.”
A laugh welled in his chest.
She cursed and slid to the side.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Take your time.”
“Are you laughing, Kensington?”
A small chuckle escaped him. “No.”
“Liam!”
“I can think of worse things than your lovely breasts in my face.”
She tried to push up again, and Liam sat up, helping her.
She stared at him, then started laughing too.
Behind the fence, the rottweiler barked at them.
“Oh, God.” Still laughing, she leaned forward and kissed Liam.