Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(84)

She’d dreamed of him dead so often. After those nightmares, she’d closed her eyes, hating the fact that he was still miles from her, despising the fact that she couldn’t touch him and assure herself that he was still somewhere out there. Their breakup had been like a death, killing something deep in her soul that she’d thought gone forever. Touching him now felt like a reawakening. Holland knew from experience that the love she gave to him could be filled with such beauty and pleasure. It could also cause immeasurable pain.

She shoved the thought aside. She would have time to decide her future later. For now, all she wanted was to revel in how right it felt to be pressed against him, open to his touch.

He deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding along her lower lip and begging for entry. She parted her lips for him. Yes, the case would eventually end and she would be alone again. But for a few weeks, she could be his lover, gorge herself on the pleasure he could give her.

She let her hands slide along the strong muscles of his back, and he groaned against her mouth. He pressed deeper, letting her feel every bit of his passion. He’d never held back or pretended with her. He’d always let her know how much power she had over his body.

“God, I’ve missed you, sweetheart. I’ve missed everything about you. I want to touch you everywhere, remind myself of just how beautiful you are.” He whispered the words across her skin. “I want to taste you again. You can’t possibly taste as good as I remember.”

Her body moved with his instinctively, as though they’d never been apart. He slid his hands down to cup her backside. She arched closer.

“Let me take you to bed,” he offered. “I swear everything will make sense in the morning. You’ll see.”

She wasn’t sure about that, but she also knew she didn’t have the fortitude to turn him down.

Holland peered up at him, fearing she’d regret this. But she no longer cared. She nestled her body against his and nodded.

“Down!” another voice screamed. “Shooter! Three o’clock.”

Her eyes widened as a shot cracked through the air.





FOURTEEN




Dax moved the minute he heard the voice. Down! Shooter! Three o’clock.

On his right.

He tightened his arms around Holland and shoved her down, to his left, just as the bullet whizzed past them.

Someone was shooting at them from the rooftop across the street, and he’d gotten caught without his gun. Since realizing that his dad’s death had been part of a larger plot, he hadn’t been without a weapon of some kind on his body. He was always ready to defend not only himself, but his friends and family. But when he was with Holland, he forgot about everything but her.

“Are you all right?” He covered her body with his.

Dax had tried to take the brunt of the fall, but he was sure she was scraped up.

She nodded. “But we need to get inside. We don’t have much cover here.”

He’d rolled her to the back of the balcony where it would be harder for the gunman to spot them, but she was right.

Another volley of gunfire sounded, and he turned them again, exposing his back and using his body to protect her. Dax tensed, waiting for the feeling of the bullet piercing him.

“We need to move,” she whispered. “I hear two types of fire. One is from a handgun and the other a rifle. I think whoever has the handgun is giving us some cover. But we need to get inside and now.”

She was right. There were definitely two shooters, and one had tipped them off. Good to know they didn’t have two armed bastards with murder on their minds after them.

He rose to his knees. “You stay close to the wall. We’ll move as quickly as we can. When you get inside, stay down and away from the windows.”

“My gun is on the bar. I can get to it with minimal exposure. You find your phone and call the police,” she said calmly.

His girl was good under fire. “I don’t think getting the cops here will be a problem.”

Tourists screamed on the streets below as they realized people were exchanging gunfire. The Quarter would be a chaotic mess in minutes, making it very simple for the assassin to slip into the crowd and fade away.

Dax crept across the rest of the balcony and let Holland in first. He could still hear screaming and intermittent gunfire, but now the sweet sound of sirens joined the mix.

He shoved the balcony door open and forced his way through. By the time it slammed behind him Holland had already retrieved her SIG and was easing toward the front door.

“I don’t think that’s a great idea, sweetheart.” He knew she wanted to get out there and search for the person who’d shot at them, but they had no idea who they were looking for.

Holland paused at the door, glaring. “You can’t expect me to sit on my hands. I need to figure out where the asshole was perched. He might have left something behind.”

“I think we should figure out who warned us first.” The voice had been deep but he would bet anything it had come from a woman. “Besides, the police are on their way. We’ll have to give a statement.”

Suddenly, he heard a crashing sound. Glass shattered all around them. Dax whipped around to the balcony windows. As the curtains caught fire, horror dawned. Someone had tossed a Molotov cocktail through the window.

“The files,” Holland said, her eyes widening.