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He pulled away and smiled down at her. “Either we stop or take this back to my ranch?”
She blinked, her mind muddled. “What?”
“Probably not a good idea in a bank lobby,” he said with sexy grin.
Heat crept up her neck. “I think you have a point.”
They walked past the blood-red upholstered chairs to the teller’s window. The teller, Helen, whom Haylee had known since she was a kid, cashed Haylee’s check, counted out the bills, and slid it to her with a smile.
Haylee took deep, even breaths to try to cool down, yet her body remained heated, and she wished she was alone with Tyson. Their time this weekend hadn’t been nearly enough.
Haylee stepped away as Tyson took his turn with the teller, and she caught the smell of the bank’s industrial cleaners. She looked out the big picture window as she waited for him. A van had pulled up in front of the bank’s door, and she heard the sound of the vehicle’s door sliding open.
“All done here.” A big hand rested on her shoulder, and she looked up at Tyson and smiled as air rushed in again from the revolving door, chilling her skin.
“I’m ready.” She tipped her head to the side. “What do you say to—”
“Everyone down on the floor,” a male voice shouted behind them.
Her heart jumped into her throat as Tyson took her to the floor, his arm draped protectively over her.
Haylee’s mind stuttered, not fully able to process what was happening. A bank robbery? Here?
Footsteps echoed on the marble, and her pulse throbbed faster. Tyson held her tighter, and she knew at that moment that he would put himself in danger to protect her. Icy cold spread over her skin at that thought.
A man stepped in front of them, a gun pointed at her head. Haylee swallowed hard and shuddered as she took in his menacing frame. He was stout and muscular, and the stocking over his face couldn’t disguise his thick beard. His jeans were rumpled and dirty.
Haylee stiffened—she’d never been so scared in her life. She didn’t know what any of these men were capable of, but if they were willing to risk anything for this heist, they might be okay with murder, too.
He waved the gun in their faces, and she smelled his bad body odor as he shouted like a snarling wolf. “Get over there and put your backs against the wall.”
Tyson took Haylee by her arm and led her to the wall. Her knees buckled from fear, Tyson barely keeping her from falling. He helped her sit and settled next to her. He focused on the three men robbing the bank with a hard glint in his eyes.
Haylee watched in horror, and her stomach cramped as the robber ordered the other man and three women against the wall.
A second robber, who wasn’t as burly as the first, marched the three tellers into the lobby and pushed them against the wall, yelling at them to sit down.
He turned back to the first robber and spoke in a strange tone, like he was trying to disguise his voice. “He’s got the manager opening the safe.”
The first robber told the second one, “Tie them up. We’re going to get into the safe.”
The second robber gave a nod, and an odd feeling passed through Haylee as the man reached them. Something about how he moved, and his solid, athletic build seemed familiar. Even with the stocking over his face, she was certain she knew him, but she wasn’t sure of exactly who he was.
He tossed a pair of zip ties to Haylee, and she caught them before they could hit her in the face. He spoke deeper, like he was trying even harder to keep them from knowing who he was.
The robber gestured to Tyson with his gun. “Cuff him and then yourself.”
The moment he’d spoken again, even though he’d tried to keep her from recognizing him, she knew exactly who it was—Clint Taylor.
She wasn’t sure if she should be afraid or just pissed. On the one hand, she didn’t think he was the murdering type, but on the other, he might want to shoot Tyson out of jealousy and kill her to keep his identity a secret.
“Hurry up,” Clint said in an angry but still disguised tone. “I’ll kill you both if you don’t do what I say.” Even from where she sat, she caught his reek of stale cigarettes and beer that made her want to gag. He must have spent the night drinking and smoking.
In the past, Haylee had wondered what she’d ever seen in Clint. Now, she had no idea how she had missed an element of the man willing to do something so vile.
She turned to Tyson, her hands shaking from adrenaline. Her body was cold from her soaked clothing as well as fear.
Tyson mouthed, “It will be okay.”
