Pick Your Poison by Roxanne St. Claire

Author:Roxanne St. Claire [Claire, Roxanne St.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
Publisher: South Street Publishing
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

For a moment, Ben’s mind went uncharacteristically blank. He just froze and not because he could now see his breath and the thermometer on the wall, which read a bone-chilling three degrees Fahrenheit.

Now what? Forget McManus and his chef partner in crime. And forget the governor’s wife who may or may not be dead right now. Ben didn’t give a shit about anything but getting Callie out of here alive.

“Don’t you have a gun?” she asked.

“It won’t shoot through the steel and insulation.”

“Can’t you blow the lock off, like in the movies?”

He snorted softly. “Guaranteed to jam the locking mechanism and…” Write our death certificate. “That wouldn’t be good.”

“Is there a vent? An escape hatch? A drain? A back door? An axe?”

As her voice rose with ideas and panic, he mentally ticked off every possibility, turning with his phone light. “All good thoughts, but…”

“We can’t just die here, Ben.”

“We won’t.” He dropped to his knees to hold her, hearing the reedy note of fear through her chattering teeth and shivering body. Already her breath was slowing, her metabolism kicking in to increase the blood flow and oxygen.

She couldn’t weigh more than a hundred and ten, and had nothing but paper-thin clothes on and bare feet in heels.

“Here,” he said, yanking open his tie to slide it out of the collar. “Wrap your hands. And take this.” He started unbuttoning his shirt.

“No, Ben, you’ll freeze without a shirt on.”

“You’ll die without it. Put the shirt on and my socks, too.”

She let him help her slide his black dress socks on her feet. Then, he put his bare feet back into his shoes before gathering up his jacket and helping her back into it.

Cuddling her into him, he took her tie-wrapped hands to his mouth, breathing on the tips of her exposed fingers, earning a soft sigh and closed eyes for the brief respite.

“We’re not going to die,” he promised her. “We’re going to get out of here alive.”

She bit her lip, as if willing herself not to quiver or cry, then nodded. “We have to think. I’ve been in a zillion flower coolers. There’s always some way out.” She squeezed her eyes shut, losing the battle against tears.

“Don’t cry,” he said. “Don’t panic. The worst thing you can do it stop thinking clearly. I have to look around.”

She grabbed him, horror in her eyes. “Don’t let me go. Don’t let me go, please. Just one more minute to get warm and then we’ll look together.”

Without arguing, he pulled her onto his lap, ignoring the agony of the freezing floor on his ass. He tucked her deep into his hips, folding his legs to envelope her more, pulling her into his chest, letting her nuzzle her cold nose into his neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Just one minute. Make me warm for just one minute.”

“Do what you have to do,” he said.

As if invited, she kissed him this time, her mouth open as she sucked on his tongue like it was life support.

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