NaturesBounty(20)

“What the hell,” she whispered.

Lydia reached up and yanked her bikini cups aside, spilling her breasts into view. The ridiculous move rewarded her with a brief halt in his advance, and his gun hand wavered for just a second while he stared at her tits. It was a momentary reprieve that wouldn’t have gained her a thing if not for the man coming up quietly behind him. She glanced over in time to see Nate swing the remaining half of the coffee table. The blond guy whipped around and saw it as well, exactly two seconds after it was too late to react.

The table connected with the man’s upper half and sent him reeling back into the wall, where he knocked his head hard. He slid to the floor, clearly dazed.

“The guy with the bigger weapon,” Nate said, dropping the remains of the table. He had a wild gleam in his eye when he turned to Lydia and held out his hand. A gun that he’d apparently relieved the other intruder of was in his other one.

“Come on,” he said.

“What for?”

“No time to sit around wondering how to get your security deposit back. We’re getting out of here.”

“We are?”

She took his hand and he promptly yanked her upright. He half dragged her to the window, and she pulled back when she realized what he had in mind.

“Out there?”

“They might have a guy posted on the front exit. Hurry up.”

He helped her out the window onto a fire escape that seemed rickety and utterly terrifying from the third floor. The handcuff still fastened to her wrist dangled wildly while she grabbed the ladder and started descending. Nate was right behind her, but they didn’t make it far before they heard a shout.

“They went out the fire escape!”

“Double time,” Nate called down to her.

Her limbs ached, and the threatened hangover headache was pounding in full force ahead of schedule, but she somehow made it to the ground without either landing in a gunman’s clutches or falling and breaking her neck. The drop from the bottom ladder jarred her a little, however, making her doubly grateful that Nate had also managed to get her good sneakers on before their unexpected guests had arrived.

Nate landed beside her with ease and jerked his head toward the beach. “This way. I hope you weren’t lying about being a runner.”

“Why should I come with you?”

“I’m helping you escape, obviously.”

“No, you’re not. You’re making sure you’re the one who gets the bounty for my capture.”

“We don’t have time to argue. And I have a gun now, by the way.” He pointed to his waistband, which had the gun tucked into it.

She let out a grunt of frustration. “Damn it.”

He grabbed her hand and they took off at a full jog along the boardwalk, dodging startled tourists, hippies and dog walkers who were all out for an evening stroll along the beach. Her breasts were still exposed and bouncing crazily as she ran like hell, and she frantically tried to stuff them back where they belonged while Nate pulled her along.

He suddenly veered off the boardwalk through the grass, cutting up between two buildings and heading for the street.

“Where are we going?” she asked, out of breath. Her legs burned, and so did her chest. Sure, she went for a morning jog a few times a week, but not at a dead run with no warmup.

“My car.”

They darted through evening traffic as they crossed Pacific and headed up a side street.

“Where the hell did you park, back in Colorado Springs?”

By the time they made it to a parking garage and ducked inside, her legs were ready to give out. When they finally stopped beside a blue Ford with Colorado tags, she slumped hard against the trunk and fought to catch her breath.

Nate stood by the driver’s door, constantly checking behind him while he pulled out his cell phone and started fiddling with the buttons.

She eyed him warily. “Don’t you think you should get us out of here before calling your mother to tell her you’ll be late for curfew?”

“My fucking keys are back at your place,” he said, swiping his finger across the phone screen. “They’re in the duffel bag.”

“And I’m supposed to stand around while you call a cab?”

He shot her a quick glance and then pointed the phone at the car door. The lock clicked, and he tugged the door open with a smug grin.

Lydia’s jaw fell open. “How did you do that?”

“I have an app that unlocks the door.” He fished in his pants pocket for a moment and came up with a key that he did happen to have. “Turn around and let me deal with those cuffs.”

Her brain was so fried that she didn’t stop to think why she had to turn around for him to take them off. It didn’t dawn on her until she found both wrists behind her again with the cuffs locked back in place.