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Authors: Susan Andersen
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handily into the cargo space.
She picked up her tote, then hurried to open the driver’s door on the SUV. It took her what felt like forever to locate the hood latch, but finally she released it, then quickly eased the door closed to kill the light. She turned...and literally bounced off Finn’s chest as he strode toward the hood.
He caught her by the upper arms and steadied her, then set her aside. “We have to get the hell out of here,” he said. “Joaquin’s gonna be out any minute.”
“Did you disable the car?”
“I slashed a couple tires, but I’m going to grab the distributor cap and cut the radiator hose as well.”
“I thought having possession of these babies might help slow him down, too.” She dangled the keys she’d found in a section of the console between the front seats.
For just a second he stared at them as if hypnotized. “Damn. If I knew the keys were in the car, we’d have taken this rig instead of the rental.” But he apparently shook off the regret that sounded in his voice with a brisk roll of his shoulders and leaned into the engine compartment.
In practically the same movement he straightened back up, a car part hanging from his fist. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
They dived into the car and Finn had just fired it up and put it in gear when Senora Guerrero’s front door opened with a crash. Joaquin stormed out, his gun swinging around to take aim at them.
“Duck!” Finn snapped, then leaned over the steering wheel himself to provide a smaller target.
She bent below the window just as he stomped on the gas. She heard the report of a gun, but not the sound of the bullet hitting anything. A nervous laugh escaped her and she slowly sat up as Finn shot out of range between the few buildings that constituted the village center. “He missed. Oh, thank God. He
missed
, Finn!”
“What the
hell
did you think you were doing?” Darkness, not lightened appreciably by the thick blanket of stars, enclosed the countryside as they left the meager lights of the township in their rearview mirror.
She blinked...and realized her mouth was opening and closing like a trout’s. She snapped it shut, only to open it again and croak in genuine bewilderment, “What?”
“With Mister Handsy—what the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Excuse me?” She hauled herself upright in her seat and swung to face him, outrage muscling aside the icy terror that the past several minutes had wrapped around the scant dregs of her courage. “You asked me to distract him, to put myself in
danger
—then believe you have the right to critique the way I handled it?” She glared at him. “What did you
think
was going to happen? That I’d pull out a deck of cards and challenge him to a game of Go Fish?”
He took his attention off the road to pin her with cold eyes. “I didn’t think you’d invite him to stargaze, then suck off your finger like it was his di—”
Rage such as she hadn’t felt since she was thirteen going on fourteen exploded in her brain, red-hot and out of control. Her usual fail-safes—not engaging, taking deep breaths, hell, taking a
moment
to prevent herself from acting before thinking—went up in smoke and she launched herself at him, fists swinging.
“What the
fu—
?” He fought the car as it swerved across the dirt road.
The vehicle’s wild rocking barely even registered as Mags landed blows in any undefended spot she could find. “You dare say that to me, you pimping son of a shit?” she demanded, further enraged when she became conscious of the tears welling in her eyes. With sheer determination she willed them away.
Damned
if she would let him see he’d made her cry. “That man had his filthy hands, his
mouth
on me and you
dare
accuse me of tacitly offering him a blow job?”
She didn’t realize the car had rolled to a stop at the side of the road until Finn’s strong arms wrapped around her, pinning hers to her side.
“Stop that,” he
She picked up her tote, then hurried to open the driver’s door on the SUV. It took her what felt like forever to locate the hood latch, but finally she released it, then quickly eased the door closed to kill the light. She turned...and literally bounced off Finn’s chest as he strode toward the hood.
He caught her by the upper arms and steadied her, then set her aside. “We have to get the hell out of here,” he said. “Joaquin’s gonna be out any minute.”
“Did you disable the car?”
“I slashed a couple tires, but I’m going to grab the distributor cap and cut the radiator hose as well.”
“I thought having possession of these babies might help slow him down, too.” She dangled the keys she’d found in a section of the console between the front seats.
For just a second he stared at them as if hypnotized. “Damn. If I knew the keys were in the car, we’d have taken this rig instead of the rental.” But he apparently shook off the regret that sounded in his voice with a brisk roll of his shoulders and leaned into the engine compartment.
In practically the same movement he straightened back up, a car part hanging from his fist. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
They dived into the car and Finn had just fired it up and put it in gear when Senora Guerrero’s front door opened with a crash. Joaquin stormed out, his gun swinging around to take aim at them.
“Duck!” Finn snapped, then leaned over the steering wheel himself to provide a smaller target.
She bent below the window just as he stomped on the gas. She heard the report of a gun, but not the sound of the bullet hitting anything. A nervous laugh escaped her and she slowly sat up as Finn shot out of range between the few buildings that constituted the village center. “He missed. Oh, thank God. He
missed
, Finn!”
“What the
hell
did you think you were doing?” Darkness, not lightened appreciably by the thick blanket of stars, enclosed the countryside as they left the meager lights of the township in their rearview mirror.
She blinked...and realized her mouth was opening and closing like a trout’s. She snapped it shut, only to open it again and croak in genuine bewilderment, “What?”
“With Mister Handsy—what the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Excuse me?” She hauled herself upright in her seat and swung to face him, outrage muscling aside the icy terror that the past several minutes had wrapped around the scant dregs of her courage. “You asked me to distract him, to put myself in
danger
—then believe you have the right to critique the way I handled it?” She glared at him. “What did you
think
was going to happen? That I’d pull out a deck of cards and challenge him to a game of Go Fish?”
He took his attention off the road to pin her with cold eyes. “I didn’t think you’d invite him to stargaze, then suck off your finger like it was his di—”
Rage such as she hadn’t felt since she was thirteen going on fourteen exploded in her brain, red-hot and out of control. Her usual fail-safes—not engaging, taking deep breaths, hell, taking a
moment
to prevent herself from acting before thinking—went up in smoke and she launched herself at him, fists swinging.
“What the
fu—
?” He fought the car as it swerved across the dirt road.
The vehicle’s wild rocking barely even registered as Mags landed blows in any undefended spot she could find. “You dare say that to me, you pimping son of a shit?” she demanded, further enraged when she became conscious of the tears welling in her eyes. With sheer determination she willed them away.
Damned
if she would let him see he’d made her cry. “That man had his filthy hands, his
mouth
on me and you
dare
accuse me of tacitly offering him a blow job?”
She didn’t realize the car had rolled to a stop at the side of the road until Finn’s strong arms wrapped around her, pinning hers to her side.
“Stop that,” he
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