Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(48)

“It’s fine,” he told her.

“Is everyone ready?” the perky staff member asked from the doorway.

Everyone nodded, and she led them down a hallway to an open area with three doors. She gave them the speech about how they were completely safe and someone would be watching over the rooms to make sure no one panicked, and to help if they got stuck on a clue. Then she wished them good luck, and the three groups split up.

“This is exciting and scary at the same time,” Chloe said.

“That’s what I told Lowell,” Harlow agreed.

“It’s stupid,” Jasper mumbled.

“Behave, Jas,” Julia scolded her son.

The door behind them shut, and they found themselves in a small room, almost too small to fit them all. There was a briefcase on the floor by another door and nothing else. Chloe tried the doorknob, and of course, it was locked.

And thus started the night. Eventually, they figured out that the flashlight in the briefcase was also a black light, and they used it to find a code written on the wall that would unlock a secret compartment in the briefcase. Inside was a key that opened the door, and that led into a larger room filled with boxes and other miscellaneous stuff.

Black and Ro stood back and let the ladies and Jasper do most of the work. They found blocks of wood seemingly with gibberish on them, holes to look through to find more clues, and eventually three more keys, which were needed to unlock a large box at the back of the room.

There was one point when the ladies were stumped and getting frustrated. Black caught Jasper’s eye and gestured to a toolbox on the floor. The kid looked confused for a moment, but quickly knelt down and inspected the toolbox, and it only took him a moment to find the small map tucked away under the various wrenches and screwdrivers.

His mom, Chloe, and Harlow were ecstatic that he’d found the clue they needed to proceed, and it was easy to see how proud Jasper was of himself.

In the end, it took them forty-nine and a half minutes to find all the clues and solve the mystery. Jasper was the one who input the code into the combination lock that opened the heavy door and let them out.

It turned out they were the second group to exit. Arrow, Morgan, Loretta, Edward, Ann, and Sue had beaten them by a full five minutes. They took great glee in pretending they were bored out of their minds and had been waiting on them forever.

Gray, Allye, Carrie, Violet, Lacie, and Ball weren’t far behind Black and the others, escaping in fifty-two minutes.

They took a huge group picture together, and then each team used the props the business provided to take silly pictures relating to the mysteries they’d each solved.

Overall, the outing was a huge hit, and Black was relieved to see Harlow relaxed and happy. “You ready to go?” he asked softly after she’d said her goodbyes.

She bit her lip and watched the others head back to their cars. “You think they’ll be safe going back to the shelter?”

“Of course. Ball is headed over to escort them all inside, and you know Meat is already there. Edward is staying the night with Loretta as well. They’ll be fine.”

She looked at him then. “Thank you for being so awesome with Jasper. Don’t think I didn’t see you giving him a few clues. He loved being able to solve some of the things we couldn’t.”

“He’s a good kid,” Black said with a shrug.

“You weren’t too bored tonight, were you?”

“Bored? No way, baby. Watching you do that little victory dance when you figured out that if you shone the black light into that one box, you could read the clue was worth just about any amount of money.”

She blushed and lightheartedly punched him on the arm. “Shut up.”

In retaliation, Black spun her and wrapped an arm around her chest. He used his free hand to tickle her side. “Did you just tell me to shut up?”

“Stop! Oh my God, let me go, Lowell!”

He continued tickling her for a beat, but quickly realized he was only torturing himself, not her. Her ass bucked against his dick, and he could feel her tits brushing his arm as she writhed in his grasp. Praying he could keep himself in check, he let go and stepped back.

She turned to him—and Black almost lost his breath. She was absolutely breathtaking. Her blonde hair was in disarray around her head, the purple ends brushing against her breasts. The cotton blouse she was wearing wasn’t fancy, but he could see her nipples were hard under the material. She was smiling huge, and it lit up her face.

“You don’t fight fair,” she complained.

Somehow, Black managed to speak normally. “No one ever does,” he said seriously.

She sobered at his words. “That stinks.”

Sorry he’d ruined her good mood, Black tried to salvage it. “You hit like a girl,” he teased.

“That’s because I am one.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” The words popped out before he could stop them.

Harlow stared at him for a long moment, the air electric with the chemistry arcing between them. Finally, she said, “I never pictured you like this.”

“Like what?”

She waved her hand toward him. “Relaxed. Chilled. All smiley. Even in high school, you were pretty intense.”

“I’m not usually like this,” he told her honestly. “I think you bring it out in me.”