Read Online Withholding Evidence by Rachel Grant - Free Book Online Page A

dead bolt home with his free hand. He shifted her to his shoulder and climbed the stairs. Without pausing on the main floor, he crossed through the kitchen and living room, then climbed another flight. Finally, they arrived in his bedroom, and he stopped at the foot of his bed, where he slowly lowered her, her body sliding against the length of his until her feet hit the plush throw rug on the hardwood floor.
    She spared a glance for his room—noting without surprise it was spotless. Nary a dust bunny in a bedroom that could grace the cover of a Pottery Barn for Men catalog, if there were such a thing.
    His neat-freak tendencies were a decided turn-on, and she made a mental note to clean her apartment before inviting him over, because she had a feeling her habits would have the opposite effect on him.
    This was crazy fast for Trina—she never jumped into bed with a guy this quickly—but it felt right. He felt right. For whatever reason, she wanted him, and hallelujah, he wanted her too.
    She dispensed with the rest of the buttons on his shirt while he untucked her blouse and unfastened hers. Her mouth was on his in an unending hot kiss that spurred her to work faster at undressing him.
    She reached for his belt and opened the buckle, and had moved to the button on his fly when a crashing boom split the air and rocked the town house. All at once, the floor beneath them shifted. Then it cracked, and a sudden fissure split the room. Keith shoved her backward onto his bed, as behind him the floor fell away.

C HAPTER S IX

    K EITH COVERED T RINA , shielding her from the raining debris. His brain had gone straight to combat mode as he assessed threats. The front of the town house was three stories, starting with the garage, but it was built into a hillside, so the back, where his bedroom was, was only two stories above ground.
    The blast must have been to the front… What the hell was it? It had sounded like an IED, but what could have triggered it?
    More importantly, who and why?
    The bedroom was still intact—for the most part. A fissure had split the room, and the hardwood floor on the other side of the break had collapsed. The interior wall slumped. A bad sign. A structural beam on the ground floor must have gone down.
    No getting out through the bedroom door.
    He didn’t smell smoke—it must have been a quick flash. It took out the beam but hadn’t caught fire…yet.
    The gas line could have cracked. The garage would be filling with gas right now. Only a matter of time before the pilot light on the furnace would trigger a real explosion. No time to wait for rescue. He had to get Trina out of there. He ran his hands down her body, checking for injury. “You okay?”
    His words were muted, as was her affirmative response. The boom had been loud enough to ring his bell and it would be minutes or even hours before hearing would return to normal.
    He spoke directly into her ear. “We’re going out through the back window. Quickly. Before the gas furnace goes.”
    Her eyes were wide with fear but, thankfully, not panic. They could panic together when they were safely on the ground and away from the town house. He prayed to hell his neighbors were evacuating their homes now.
    He shifted his weight, slowly, carefully, just in case the room teetered on the brink of collapse. Pulling Trina with him, he crossed the short expanse of floor to the window. A narrow roof, cover for the back porch, jutted out two feet below the window. It should hold both their weight, as long as the joists hadn’t cracked.
    He swung his legs over the sill and tentatively placed his weight on the tar-paper shingles. The roof lurched. His weight could pull the whole thing down, but it might hold Trina. He straddled the sill and urged her to climb through.
    She placed a foot on the roof, and nothing shifted. Thank God.
    With his mouth next to her ear, he said, “Climb down the support post and run clear of the building. There’s a gate in the back