Page 75 of Destroyed With You

“I know it’s partly because you were raised in your father’s house, but I’ve always loved how wide and deep your movie IQ goes. Classics, current, even TV. All that and you’re saving the world, too.”

“Trying to, anyway,” he said. “At least a little bit of it.” He nodded toward the room in general. “That’s the reception area, right?”

She followed his line of sight to the area on the far side of the atrium-style room in which they were standing. “Looks like it. So we get behind the counter, then there should be an open area, right?”

He nodded, mentally following the map in his mind. “That leads to the back room, and then from there, the vault.”

“And we’ll see if the code Renly got for the vault room works.”

“If not, we can probably hack it.” His phone had some interesting SSA software. “But hopefully it won’t come to that. Especially since I’m not sure how we could manage that discreetly.”

“We’d have to hope that anyone nearby is otherwise engaged.” She glanced around the room, then looked back to him with a seductive smile. “That certainly seems to be the case out here.”

True enough. While he’d anticipated mingling and chatting, apparently this party didn’t go in for such nonsense. People were pairing up—and not just in twos. If the area had been full of cash registers, they could have emptied them and no one would even notice.

“Well, hi there.”

Winston turned to the voice behind him. A pert blonde with short, curly hair was standing with a tall, broad-shouldered man with commanding eyes who looked like he would have been equally comfortable in a boardroom. Winston recognized him as Matthew Holt, one of Hollywood’s power players—and a man with a dark and dangerous reputation.

Winston reached for Linda’s hand as he nodded to the couple in greeting.

“We’re going over there,” the blonde said, indicating a dark corner on the far side of the lobby. “You’re welcome to join us.”

“Oh,” Winston said, the word almost a stutter. Dammit. He should have been prepared for this…

“That’s so tempting,” Linda said, snuggling against his side. “But he just made me the most decadent promises, and I’m not a girl who likes to share.”

“Oh, but—”

“Come on, Carrie,” Holt said. “We’ll find you another temptation.” He looked Linda approvingly up and down, nodded at Winston, then took Carrie’s elbow and led her away.

“Was she asking what I think—”

“Yes,” Linda said, tugging him in the opposite direction toward the reception counter. “And you can thank me later for saving your ass. And other parts of you.”

She pulled him to a stop, then pressed up against him, her arms hooked around his neck. “Or maybe you wanted to? I mean, you said no to me, but maybe that didn’t include all women.” She lifted herself on her toes and brushed her lips over his ear. “Or did it?”

“Stop it,” he said, willing his body not to respond and failing miserably.

She made the kind of throaty noise designed to turn him on. “Well, you’re interested, at least.” She squirmed against him, making his cock wake even more. “I can tell that much.”

“Mission,” he said firmly, trying to keep his voice stern. “The staff’s about to leave. Let’s get to the back room.”

“Yes, sir.” She pulled playfully away, then took his hand.

“Wait,” he said, tugging her to a stop. “Take this.” He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out the ring he’d taken from her that very first night.

“What—”

“In case we need it,” he said, slipping it onto her finger. Neither one of them was armed. Renly had told them about the metal detectors. So if the situation got bad, that ring might be their most powerful weapon.

She held up her hand, staring at it for a moment. Then she tilted her head back and met his eyes. Maybe it was the light, but there was something about her face. Open and happy, and yet her eyes glistened with the hint of tears.

“Linda? What is it?”

“I just realized I hadn’t really been sure. Not since we walked out of that hotel room in Austin.”

“Sure about what?”