Slow Burn(101)

    Griffin massaged the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like this.” He looked at me. “How the heck are you going to get free?”

    “You kept my pack, right?” said Knox. “I’ve got some of the schlafend capsules in there.”

    Griffin sighed heavily. “Maybe. Maybe it could work.”

* * *

    “Let’s go over this again,” said Griffin. He sat across the room from me at the hotel room’s desk.

    “Do we have to?” I said. I was sitting on the bed, wearing one of Griffin’s t-shirts. It was late, and, in my opinion, it was time for us to be under the covers with the lights out.

    “Yes,” said Griffin. “You keep getting things wrong.”

    “I’m trying,” I whined. “Maybe I’m distracted. I mean, there you are, sitting over there, all gorgeous and touchable, and I can’t think about anything else. I think if you came over here and helped me get that out of my system, maybe then I’d be able to concentrate on going over plans.”

    He looked me over. “Tempting, doll. Very tempting.” He raised a finger. “But this is important. You have to get this right. It could cost both of us our lives.”

    I got up on my knees. “Come on, Griffin, when have I ever been good with not doing fun stuff just because it could endanger my life? You remember when you first met me, and everything I did for coke? Well, I am about twenty zillion times more addicted to your body.”

    He smiled, shaking his head. “No. Not until we go over this a few more times.”

    I began to lift the t-shirt, slowly uncovering my thighs, then the bottom of my underwear.

    He got up and was across the room in a flash, stopping my hands. “Wait.”

    I grinned. I had him close. I kissed his nose.

    He pushed me down on the bed, pinning my legs with his legs, holding my arms over my head. He shook his head. His voice had gotten raspy. “Doll, behave yourself.”

    “Make me,” I said.

    “What do you do when we first get inside?” he said.

    I struggled against his hands. “Run.”

    “No.” He lowered his face close to mine. “Try harder.”

    “I’ll be taken away by someone who’ll want to ask me questions,” I said. “You’re giving me a capsule that will knock someone out. I crush it between my fingers and cover their mouth with it. They’ll be out in minutes.” I couldn’t remember what the capsules were called. Knox had said it, but it was hard to pronounce.

    He raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Very good. You get a reward.” He lowered his lips to mine and assaulted my mouth, wrenching a low moan from the back of my throat. He pulled away, even though I was still straining for him. “Uh-uh. That was your reward. You won’t get anything else until you get it right again.”

    I grinned. “Ooh. I like this game.”

    “Proper motivation for you?”

    “Definitely.”

    “So,” he said. “What do you do next?”

    “Find you,” I said.

    “How are you going to do that?”

    “Climb into the duct system,” I said. “Get down a floor from where they’re questioning me.”

    “Exactly right,” he said. One of his hands released my arm and snaked across my skin to cup my breast.

    I groaned. “And then we go through the ducts together to Caldwell’s office.”

    “Right,” he said, freeing my other arm and putting his hand on my other breast.

    I writhed against his touch. He teased my nipples hard.

    “Then what?” he grunted.

    “Then you kill Caldwell,” I said.

    “Right,” he said, kissing me again, rough and desperate against my mouth. “And then?”

    “Um,” I panted, struggling to remember.

    He thrust his hands under the shirt I wore and slid my underwear off. “Come on, doll, if you don’t know this, we’re both going to be disappointed.”

    “We find Knox,” I said, “who’s been taking care of French.”