Did she worry about that? No, and as if his balance wasn’t precarious enough, she smacked him in the chest, making him grab for purchase on a beam that drilled no less than three splinters into his palm.
Everything she said was drowned out by the roar of adrenaline in his ears. Her pink dress had shifted again. The hem of the skirt had risen above the line of her silk stockings, and was so high on her thighs he thought maybe he caught another peek-a-boo glimpse of those heart-attack-inducing panties.
The blood roaring in his ears abruptly shifted south. Very south.
But above it all came the one thought that made his heart threaten to burst right out of his chest, the heart he hadn’t realized worked.
She was unhurt. She was alive.
So he acted without thinking-which was why he wasn’t a brain surgeon-and hauled her up on his knees to face him.
“What-”
He didn’t give her time to finish the sentence. She was alive, her lips were parted and she had a very perky nipple once again poking out of her dress. There wasn’t a man alive who could have resisted the urge, and Kyle didn’t even try. He slid his hands into her hair, his thumbs skimming along the deliciously creamy skin of her jaw as he tilted her head and covered her mouth with his.
She tasted like heaven for one glorious second before a pain exploded in his belly.
Annie pulled back both her fist and her mouth and glared at him.
“Hey,” he whispered, rubbing his gut. Being sucker punched wasn’t the typical reaction he got when he kissed a woman. In fact, usually they melted like a charm and begged for more.
“You’ve bossed me around, you’ve tricked me, you’ve scared me to death and now you…you
“Well…” Logic defied him. “Yeah.”
She yanked her dress back into place, which was probably a good thing because now he could concentrate on her face. Her eyes were filled with the fear she hadn’t yet admitted to. That really got him, that flash of vulnerability.
“I don’t care how good you kiss, you can’t just go around-” She glared at him. “Are you listening?”
Yeah. He kissed good. That was what he’d heard. He risked his life and touched her face. “I thought you were dead.”
She didn’t punch him, which he took as a good sign, but she did back away. “So that was…a happy-to-see-you kiss?”
“Something like that-” He broke off at the sound directly beneath them and he threw himself at Annie, using their momentum to take them to the far corner, just as a bullet ripped up through the plywood they’d been kneeling on.
Heart tattooing a frantic beat against his, Annie lifted her head to stare at him with horrified eyes.
“Stay here,” he mouthed, praying she’d listen as he pulled back. He crawled across the treacherous floor to the stairs, then peered over the edge.
Below, off to the right and hidden behind a box, was Jimmy, his gun hand jerking all over the place.
Kyle glanced up and nearly had a coronary. Annie had scooted toward the ledge on the far side of the loft where he’d left her. Slowly, she stood. Slowly, she lifted one leg over the edge, then the other, holding on to the wood behind her as she prepared to… Good God. She was going to jump!
Down on top of Jimmy.
And Kyle was too far away to stop her, too far away to call out to her or he’d cause Jimmy to look up. He’d shoot her. Kyle had no doubt of that. Jimmy would shoot that bright, sassy, stubborn, amazing, beautiful woman without a qualm.
“Jimmy!” he bellowed, waving his arms. “Over here.”
Dutifully distracted, Jimmy swung toward him, and with an evil grin lifted his gun.
Crying like a banshee, Annie let go of the wood and flew into the air. Pink satin whirred. Golden hair whipped her face as she jumped Jimmy.
It all seemed to happen in horrifying, terrifying slow motion.
Jimmy glanced upward. His jaw dropped. He slowly lifted his hand, the one that held the gun.
Kyle leaped over the banister, landing at a dead run and getting halfway there before Annie landed right on top of Jimmy.
The gun flew in the air.
Still in slow motion-or what felt like it-Kyle hauled Annie off of Jimmy, then reached down and flipped the thug over so he was kissing the ground. Kyle wrenched Jimmy’s hands behind his back and held him still with a knee to his back.
“This isn’t over,” Jimmy spit out.
“For now it is.” Kyle, breathless, lifted his head and pinned a furious gaze on Annie, who sat where he’d dropped her.
“Me,” she agreed, coming to a stand, tossing back her hair, putting her hands on her hips, and overall looking so damn proud of herself he felt his anger dissolving on the spot. “No need to thank me.”
His anger returned as he stared at her.
“I saved us,” she said.
Jimmy laughed and Kyle dug his knee a little harder into his back. “You want to run that by me again, Princess?”
“Princess?” Jimmy repeated.
“Shut up,” Kyle and Annie told him in unison, still staring at each other.
From the direction of the elevator came the sound of running feet. Through the smoke, several uniformed policemen appeared, all with guns drawn.
“Now they show up,” Kyle said to no one in particular.
BY THE TIME the fire was put out and Jimmy was hauled off, Kyle had a killer headache.
Annie sat not too far away from him. Someone had tossed a blanket around her shoulders. Her hair had long ago rioted wildly around her face, and yet she looked every bit the princess-chin high, eyes flashing-as he approached.
“You coming over here to thank me?” she asked, and he had to pause. She was a most remarkable woman, he’d give her that. But he didn’t want a tough-as-nails, know-it-all, irritating, sexy-as-hell woman in his life.
Annie rolled her eyes and stood. “Who asked you?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You just said you didn’t want a tough-as-nails, know-it-all, irritating, sexy-as-hell woman in your life-thank you for the compliment by the way-but I’m wondering…who asked you?”
He’d spoken out loud. Perfect. He would attribute it to the usual adrenaline rush after a close brush with death, as he was most definitely feeling an adrenaline rush.
But he was deathly afraid he felt something else as well. A rush of lust for the hot princess with the cool head. “It’s nothing personal,” he said. “All I want right now is a nice long leave of absence and a one-way plane ticket.”
“To where?”
“Anywhere.” He needed to rejuvenate, needed to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. And if a woman, or two, came along during that time and wanted to wear him out with wild sex, then great.
But he doubted a princess would fit the bill.
AND CERTAINLY no cop would fit the bill for Annie, though it had nothing to do with his profession.
In fact, his profession, and all the innate danger and excitement associated with it, was a turn-on for her.
No, it was his upcoming nuptials that stopped her. Even if just looking at him made her hormones quiver he belonged to someone else.
It was normal, she assured herself. He was a decorated, respected, intense, badass cop. She’d learned those details from his fellow officers, all of whom were as in awe of him as she was.
