Chapter 15 · Run Again

His teeth let go of my earlobe.

His breath stayed hot against my neck.

"Trapped forever, Lucia," he murmured. Like it was a damn bedtime story.

I didn't move. I stared right past his shoulder at the green glow of his digital watch where his arm pinned my ribs down.

1:51.

Nine minutes. Katia's guard rotation had a blind spot at the pier at two sharp. Nine minutes, and I was lying under a man who slept like a loaded gun.

His breathing finally leveled out. His chest went heavy against my shoulder blades, his fingers going slack across my stomach.

I counted to sixty. Twice.

Then I lifted his wrist off me, millimeter by millimeter.

He made a low sound in his throat. My chest locked. I froze, my pulse pounding so hard in my ears I could taste copper.

His fingers twitched, dragged across the sheet, and settled into the empty dent where my body had just been.

I rolled off the mattress onto the marble floor. Ice cold. My breath hitched.

His black dress shirt sat balled up where he'd ripped it off hours ago.