Page 28 of South of Justice

She twisted, fast, but not fast enough. His body pressed into hers, one arm braced across her chest, the other wrapping her gun hand. Her Colt clattered to the floorboards.

She sucked in a sharp breath.

“Easy,” he said, voice low, urgent. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

His grip wasn’t crushing, but it was firm. Unrelenting.

She pushed back, but his body was like a wall. Tall, hard-muscled through his shirt.

“Take your hands off me.”

“Only if you stop pointing guns at me.”

His breath was at her ear. His heartbeat, steady. Unshaken.

The cabin was too small. Too quiet. She could smell the sweat on him, the faint trace of something under it, gun oil, maybe. Her body was responding in ways she hadn’t prepared for. Not here. Not now.

“How?” she hissed. “The zip ties?—”

“Plastic weakens in heat. It gets brittle. A little leverage, it pops.”

Damn it.

Her pulse thudded. She was breathing too fast.

“Are you going to kill me?”

He didn’t answer immediately. His grip loosened just enough to let her turn.

They were face to face now. Inches apart. His eyes were bright blue, guarded but not cold.

“No,” he said. “I came here to talk.”

She could strike. Knee to the groin. Elbow to the jaw. But she didn’t.

He released her slowly. She didn’t move.

He bent and retrieved her gun but didn’t raise it. They stood in silence, tension snapping between them like electricity.

Lucía stepped back, reclaiming the space. Her hand brushed the edge of the table, grounding her. “Then talk.”

His eyes flicked to the burner phone on the floor, still dark. “They sent me to find you. I didn’t know why. Not at first. But now I think we have the same enemy.”

Her hands trembled slightly. Not from fear. From adrenaline. From proximity.

“You think I’m just going to believe that?”

“No,” he said. “But you don’t have a lot of options left.”

She stared at him. He was right. She hated that. “Sit down. Over there.”

He did.

She dropped into the opposite chair, the air between them still humming.

“You have five minutes,” she said.

“That’s all I need.”