Hunt jabbed the call button. Immediately, the elevator doors dinged open. He glanced around before stepping inside, holding open the doors.
His head popped out again, his brows arched.
Layla said, just as I was thinking it.
he said.
Griffin stood so close to me, I could feel his body heat. His eyes flicked in every direction.
Foreboding churned low in my belly. Magnum wouldn’t hesitate to demand the ultimate of sacrifices from us.
From me.
Brady said.
Certain only that there was no easy decision, no guaranteed right one, I strode into the elevator. The others followed, and Hunt pressed the close door button to expedite the process.
My heartbeat thumped while the elevator whisked us upward. In seconds, we arrived.
The doors slid apart with a hushedswoosh. My entire body felt like it was electrified.
Guns clutched in steady double-fisted grips, Hollywood 101 style, Brady and Griffin emerged first. They scoped each direction before waving the rest of us out.
Layla and I exited with Hunt close behind us, once again guarding our backs.
The overhead lights in Magnum’s expansive office were off, but a long window wall bordered one side of it, illuminating plenty. We stalked past his hot tub. With the jets off, it was quiet, heat wafting off the water.
I clutched my gun and studied the door through which a masseuse had once exited. Pulled shut. No one behind the large, elegant desk either. I glanced down the empty wide hallway beyond the single exit door.
Aclicksnicked behind me. I whirled toward it. Saw nothing. Stalked forward a few steps until I spotted an alcove over my right shoulder, farthest from the window wall, that was decorated as a reading nook.
From a free-standing lamp, shaded by a translucent wool shade, warm light pooled in a downward circle. Magnum sat beneath it in a sexy black leather Eames chair that I instantly wanted, architectural design tramp that I was. In the back corner of the vast room, the chair was partially obscured by a frond tree.
Magnum was relaxed, lounging, in tan pants with crisp, iron creases and a light, perfectly draping sweater with the sleeves pushed up. The ankle of one leg hooked over the knee of the other. A foot sheathed in a tan loafer casually tapped the air.
A psycho bajillionaire with nothing better to do than wait around for us to arrive.
My skin tingled in apprehension.
This was no ordinary psycho…
“Just the one of you today?” Griffin asked him.
Magnum smiled affably, like we were happy friends.
My whole body flushed, maybe with adrenaline, maybe with a sensation too akin to fear.
Magnum rapped the fingers of one hand sequentially along his upraised knee.Truuuum. Truuuum. Truuuum. Truuuum.
Beneath the glow of the lamp, he appeared handsome, perhaps a little bit wholesome, even.
Did appearances ever count for a whole lotta nothing…
His friendly smile widened. “It’s just me for now.” He chuckled as if to himself. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“I’d sayyouare,” Brady said.
Truuuum,truuuum,truuuumwent his smooth, manicured fingers.
