Page 48 of Hawkeye

“Why did you go after veterans?”

“Because it was easy, dammit.” He pressed the gun deeper against her ribs. “Until you got involved and ruined everything. Nobody questioned the paperwork until you treated every object like it still belonged to someone.”

Fury shone from her eyes. “Because they did.”

“Too bad your mother will pay for you thinking like that.”

“You probably should’ve checked whether she was home.” She laughed softly and shook her head. “You won’t get anywhere near her.”

“What?” He reared back just far enough to make a difference.

“Down, baby doll.”

The line opened for less than a second. Josie's knees folded beneath her as the crew leader’s head appeared beyond the edge of hers. I fired once, and the round struck exactly where I aimed before he could drag the weapon down with her.

His grip vanished. The bastard dropped backward against the armoire and collapsed beside the hidden opening. Josie landed on her hands and knees in front of him, while the Black Crowns moved with the crack of my rifle as though it had been the command they were waiting for.

Trigger crossed the open space first, hooked one arm around Josie’s waist, and hauled her behind a stone display plinth. At the front of the gallery, Chet swung his pistol toward Smoke, but Stryker drove his forearm aside before the barrel settled. Smoke struck him across the throat, tore the weapon from his hand, and put him face down on the polished floor with a knee planted between his shoulders.

“Annex secure,” Wraith reported through the comm, his breathing rough beneath the sounds of a man groaning nearby. “Two down. One’s still useful.”

“Loading route sealed,” Nomad confirmed. “Nobody got out.”

I was already off the mezzanine. The rifle hung against my back as I took the stairs three at a time and crossed the gallery, stepping over splintered wood and scattered catalog cards without taking my eyes from the red skirt visible beyond the plinth. Trigger moved as soon as I reached them, giving me space while keeping his weapon trained on the hidden passage.

Josie pushed upright as I dropped beside her. Her lipstick was still bold against skin that had gone pale, her chest rising fast beneath the protective panels hidden by the dress. I caught her face between my palms, checked her pupils and mouth, then moved down her arms, over her ribs, and around her waist where the crew leader had locked her against him.

“The passage moved behind the armoire, and I felt him before I saw him,” she rushed out, her words tumbling over one another while my hands followed the edges of the vest beneath her dress. “He dragged me back, and the weapon was right here, but I could hear you breathing through the earpiece, so I knew you still had me, and then he threatened Mom, except he had no idea she wasn’t at home, and I saw you in the reflection when⁠—”

She abruptly broke off, as if realizing she was rambling.

“Keep talking.” I slid one hand around her side and pressed carefully over the place where the muzzle had dug into her ribs. “I need your voice while I check the rest of you.”

Her breath caught as she stared up at me. “The rest of me?”

“Every inch.”

Warm color spread across her cheeks despite the body only feet away and the brothers restraining men throughout the building. My relief turned into a brutal awareness of the woman beneath my hands and the red dress I still intended to strip from her body later.

Josie resumed explaining while I checked the back of her head, the tendons in her neck, and the arm he had trapped against her side. Her words tangled as she reached the moment his stance changed, but she kept speaking as I undid her bodice, slipped my palm beneath the side of the protective panel, and found warm, unbroken skin under her camisole. A narrow bruise was already darkening where the gun had pressed through the fabric, but there was no blood or sign that the weapon had discharged.

“I saw you in the glass,” she finished, curling both hands around my forearms. “I knew you’d see the opening.”

“I’ll always see you, baby doll.”

I pulled her hard against my chest and locked one hand around the back of her neck. Her arms went around me immediately, her face pressing beneath my jaw while the last of the ice holding my control together fractured inside my ribs. I needed the full weight of her against me, the quick beat of her heart under my palm, and every warm breath moving across my throat.

She lifted her face to say something else, but I took her mouth before the sentence formed. The kiss was filled with every violent thing I had held still while another man used her body to block my shot. Josie gripped my shirt and kissed me back with equal force, her mouth opening beneath mine while the familiar press of her breasts against my chest sent another heavy pulse through my cock.

A throat cleared somewhere behind me. I ignored it until Josie’s breathing had changed for a reason I wanted, then lifted my head and ran my thumb over the lipstick I had smeared beyond the edge of her mouth. Her eyes were bright now. The fear burned away beneath relief and the heat moving between us.

“Next sentence can wait,” I murmured.

“I had an important point.”

“You usually do.” I kissed the dark speck beside her mouth. “Tell me when I have you naked.”

Her blush deepened, but Stryker’s boots crossing the floor forced my attention back to the gallery. He held a phone sealed inside a clear evidence sleeve, and a key ring dangled from two fingers. Smoke followed him with Chet restrained and bleeding from the mouth, the polished businessman finally looking like the thief he had always been.