Page 76 of Colombian Chemistry

“Jesus Christ,” Marcus breathed. “I had a heart attack.”

“She’s okay,” Wesley reassured him.

Other than my wounded pride and my bruised knee, I was unharmed. “I’m fine,” I said to the girls now staring at me, but also to the people in my ear. When I looked up, I had the attention of every man in the room... including the one who’d gone in Piper’s direction. He laughed with his friends at me.

“Did you seriously fall?” Piper asked, and it surprised me to hear her voice. “Well, that’s one way to make a distraction. Damn, why did I have to miss that?”

“Oh, it was epic,” Wesley said, laughing. “Seriously. I hope I can pull this footage from the security tapes once I have access. She did fantastic. It looked real.”

It was real.

“Shit,” Wesley whispered.

“What? What’s going on?” Marcus said.

Knox piped in. “Everything okay there?”

“It’s just that she caught the attention of Cruz. He’s almost to her.”

“Keep us posted. Don’t take your fucking eyes off her,” Marcus growled.

As I pushed myself off the ground and rose to standing, Cruz grabbed me by the elbow. He said something in Spanish I didn’t understand, and I answered with my best French accent.

“No hablo Español.”

“Oh, that’s right,” he said in English. “The French girl. But you do speak English, yes?”

“Yes,” I answered, keeping my French accent going.

“You are very beautiful.” He stroked my hair.

I struggled to keep from slapping his hand. Instead, I plastered a smile on my face. “Thank you.”

He pulled me against him and slid a hand down my waist, then cupped my ass.

“I think we need to spend a little time together now. I’ll teach you a few new Spanish phrases.” He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “You can scream them out for me.”

His hand slid over my ass and went under my barely existent skirt. I swallowed when he pulled it up, revealing the lacy thong Piper had put me in.

The men around the pool whistled and catcalled as they took in my exposed derriere. The one who had gone for Piper seemed more interested in my ass than her whereabouts. Cruz slapped my cheeks, and I knew things were going south quick.

“Fuck,” Wesley said. “Piper. Irene needs you.”

“What’s going on?” Marcus demanded.

“Cruz is trying to... well, she’s got his attention.”

“If he lays one fucking hand—”

“Calm down, Marcus,” Knox said. “Let’s not lose our cool. We’re almost there. Right, Piper?”

“I’m installing it now. Just a few seconds and Wesley will have control.”

“See,” Knox soothed. “Just stay with me, buddy. Wesley will let us know if we have to worry.”

Cruz slapped my ass again and then started toward my breasts. I was glad Wesley didn’t report that to Marcus because I knew he’d be racing in here guns blazing in a hot second.

The men all cheered him on. As much as it horrified me, I knew none of them would be leaving to search for Piper when I was clearly the focus of their attention now.