Page 7 of When He Lies
“I think…” Simone’s low voice. “I think I’ve had more than enough excitement for one night. This is, uh, a lot for me.”
Yes, he was sure it was. Having guns shoved at her. Having a prick boss who wanted to search her.
“I’d love to just go to an available guest room,” Simone continued in her soft, husky tone.
“We’ll both go to our rooms.” Ryan maintained his protective position near her. “The rooms that will be right next to each other.”
Nostrils flaring, Frederick nodded. “Of course.”
No doubt, Frederick Bradwin hated him, but he needed Ryan’s money. When you needed billions of dollars, you tended to be accommodating.
Twining his fingers with Simone’s, Ryan headed for the doors. They’d almost reached the doors when…
“Simone!” Frederick had followed them. “Simone, I need to look in your bag.”
“The fuck he does,” Ryan gritted back.
But Simone had pulled away. “He’s my boss,” she whispered. She opened her bag and hurried toward Frederick. “Here. Not much is inside.” Right when she reached him, she stumbled, one of her ankles seeming to twist in those sexy high heels that she wore. Even as Ryan reached for her, she was colliding with Frederick. Her hands slammed into Frederick’s chest. She fumbled, righting herself, and, of course, Frederick tried to grab hold of her, too.
Ryan pulled her back, his brows lowering in concern. “You okay?”
Frederick had snagged her small bag. Of course, the prick was looking into it and not checking on Simone. Typical.
“I…my ankle just twisted. I’m fine, really, I—Ryan!”
He scooped her into his arms. The better to get her the hell out of there, fast, and…hell. The better to hide the small item he’d stolen. The item currently inside one of the interior pockets in his tux.
He was such an asshole sometimes.
But an asshole who would protect her.
“This is unnecessary.” One of her arms had curled behind his neck. “It was just me being clumsy. I’m fine.”
Their eyes were inches apart. That tempting mouth of hers was so close. Sadly, their audience was close, too. Time to ditch the jerks. “Her bag,” he demanded imperiously.
Frederick shoved the bag toward them.
Simone snagged it. “This is so embarrassing.”
Probably not her best date ever. Jeez. He could do fabulous dates. Really, he could wine, and he could dine. Alas, that was not in the cards for them. At least, not that night, and, sadly, probably never. He’d be completely gone from her life soon.
She clutched the bag with her left hand while her right arm still curled around his neck. Satisfied that she had her belongings and that it was definitely time to go, he strode for the doors.
“You can’t actually take me out into the crowd this way,” she muttered. “We will draw far too much attention.”
He didn’t particularly care about attention. He did care about getting her away from the goons with guns.
Frederick beat him to the doors. “I’ll escort you to the guest rooms,” he said. “Personally.”
Figured that would be the case.
“What else could I do for my future business partner?” Frederick offered him a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
It was cute that the man actually seemed to believe they would be partners. Not gonna happen. Within the next twenty-four hours, Ryan intended to arrest the creep.
Fun point to know, Ryan wasn’t a billionaire looking to invest wads of cash. He wasn’t some bored trust fund brat who had money to burn. He was a CIA operative, working undercover. His mission was to find evidence to tie Frederick Bradwin to one of the deadliest criminal masterminds in Europe, and, thanks to his little side quest in the gallery, he now had that evidence tucked in his pocket.
The alarm had sounded when Ryan stole his prize and replaced it with a fake. A fake that would not be discovered until it was much, much too late. But now, he had to protect his pawn. Had to make sure that Simone was sheltered from the coming storm. Not just the rain and the lightning, but the absolute chaos that would come when the CIA swarmed and Frederick’s world crashed down around him.
