“Tell me what you see.” His heart was hammering by then, but adrenaline did that.
Maddie was shaking plenty, too. “It’s dark, but there’s light coming under the door. I can see. You lost your glasses. Oh, my gosh, the back of your neck is burned.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. What can’t I see?”
“Okay. Umm, well, we’re in a room without windows. Looks like a basement. Smells like somebody’s dirty bathroom. Concrete floor. One door directly behind you. Simple hollow core with four-square molding. But no doorknob on this side. A wooden workbench to my right. It’s full of holes.” She must’ve looked upward because her voice shifted slightly away from him. “High ceiling. One large vent over the door. Two screws.”
“Now you’re talking. How big’s that vent? On the ceiling or in the wall?”
“The ceiling. Maybe two by two.”
That was something he could work with. “Could you fit through the opening if I helped you reach it?” He already knew she could. The moment they’d collided in that explosion, he’d gotten an armful of delicate femininity that just might save their lives tonight. Or today or whenever the hell it was.
“Yes,” she said with determination. “I’m small enough. But I don’t get it. Why would loan sharks kidnap us? They won’t get their money that way.”
“That’s not who’s after us, and this isn’t about your ex. Lucy Shade planned this. I heard her and some Irish dipshit talking. This was supposed to be a publicity stunt, where we died in the fire, while her stooge rescued her from whoever allegedly blew up her jet. Then… she said…” Damn, his pounding head made remembering the exact wording difficult. Think! “… he’d set the charges wrong, that the jet exploded too early. That he’d thought kidnapping us instead of her was smarter.”
Jameson ran a quick hand over his aching head, but stopped short of rubbing his blistered skin. “Shade doesn’t know what to do with us. So let’s get you up into that vent and out of sight before they come back. I’m relying on you to be extra-quiet moving through the ductwork. This place is old. You might run into spiders or mice or—”
“They’re going to kill us, aren’t they?”
She needed to know, so he nodded. “Unless we get away. We’re supposed to be dead already. We’re just loose ends.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would kidnappers still be in a jet they intended to blow up?”
“She needed two dead bodies. That way she could claim she got away from us before the jet exploded. There’d be no one left alive to contradict her story. It’d be big news. She’d be the reporter who escaped wicked kidnappers, the next big star.”
He could hear Maddie’s heartbeat soar and the sound of her dry swallowing. “You’re not coming with me?” she asked.
Jameson came to a full stop. The tone in her question was blatantly plaintive and frightened. She’d never been in combat, much less what they’d lived through today. He could smell her fear. “Babe, I—”
What could he say? That he meant to stay behind and kill Miss Shade and her stooge to give Maddie time to get away? That he meant to die before he let anything happen to her? That this had been, hands down, one of the best days of his life, and all because he’d met a waifish Protocol Officer who had once upon a time wanted to be a jarhead?
Jameson swallowed hard, needing her to understand. “Hope that vent cover has at least one sharp edge so I can cut those ties off your wrists. But I’ve…” He cleared his throat. “I’ve never met anyone like you before, Maddie. You’re brave, but you don’t know it. And you’re strong, you just don’t believe in yourself yet. But once we’re out of here, I’d like to take you out for coffee or… or something. Whatever you want. I’d just like to get to know you better. Right now is your time to shine, Maddie. My shoulders are too wide to fit through a narrow vent. Get out of here, while I create a distraction. Get help.”
The air shifted as she came closer and raised both arms.
He knew what she meant to do. Jameson ducked and let her settle her joined arms around the back of his head, avoiding his burns. She needed something from him before she manned up, and he intended to give it to her.
Especially when she asked, “Do you ever kiss on a first date?”
He licked his lips, so damned hopeful. “Haven’t had any dates lately, but yeah, I’d like to.”
“This isn’t exactly what I’d call a date, but…” She came to him as soft as a sigh, her lips sweet and tender, her kiss a breath of life he hadn’t realized how much he’d hungered for until now. Something warm and wonderful unfurled in his chest. Felt a lot like coming home from Iraq had.
There in the dark, Jameson canted his head and kissed Maddie with all his heart. He wrapped her tight inside his arms and held onto the best thing he’d come across in a long, damned time. She was lush, warm, and soft, returning every last lick and fervent kiss, as if she felt the same things he was feeling.
Lives would be changed tonight. People would die. But God, please not her. She tasted like minty toothpaste and hairspray and smoke, like an American woman who enjoyed what his mouth was doing to hers. As precarious as their situation was, it should’ve been a quick kiss. But he got lost in the warmth of being wanted and held by a gentle woman. Her mouth was sweet and slick, her tongue a luscious treat after tasting ash and dirt. Made a man feel wanted. Felt perfect.
There was no pulling away from her. The