Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(18)

It was far past time to work on herself.

She walked through the bistro to the street and around to her building, putting in her code to open the door. At least the new people had decent taste, if that couch was any indication.

She would wait until they had time to settle in and then she would introduce herself. She was going to be a good neighbor. And maybe she could make some friends. Maybe it would be a couple of fun-loving career women she could drink wine with after a long hard day of busting the glass ceiling.

Maybe they would know some nice male hookers.

She needed to get her mind off sex.

She glanced back at the entryway. A tall man with dark hair was talking to the movers. He frowned down at the couch and reached over, coming back with a pile of dog hair.

She covered her mouth before she could laugh.

He glanced up and his eyes widened.

Nope. She wasn’t taking the fall for this one. She turned back and hurried toward the old elevator that always creaked and moaned as though it would give out at any moment. It was “vintage,” as the homeowners’ association would say. She caught sight of a man in a leather jacket entering the elevator and then the doors started their slow slide closed.

“Could you hold the elevator, please?”

A big hand came out and the doors opened again. She rushed in and turned to press the button for seven, but it was already lit. She looked up and into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She literally had to catch her breath. She’d heard the expression, and it was meaningful when it came to running hard or walking up a flight of steps, but she wasn’t out of breath because of anything physical. He was the single most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life.

She turned her head to look at the metal doors.

“What floor do you need?”

And he was Scottish. That accent was sexy as hell and straight out of her every Outlander fantasy. She’d only read it because it had a surprising amount of medical knowledge in it. Herbs. She’d learned a lot about herbs. And that she thought Scottish men were sexy. She’d worked with a doctor a couple of years ago, much older than she was, and it hadn’t mattered because that accent had sent her heart skittering every time he opened his mouth.

“Do you just like to ride up and down the lifts, lass?”

She glanced up. They were already at three. “I’m going to seven, too.”

“Lucky me. I was worried this thing wouldn’t make it to two different floors,” he said with a chuckle. “We’ve got much better odds this way.”

Where the hell had he come from? Obviously Scotland, but that wasn’t the point. The dude belonged on a movie screen. Whoa. There was another possible reason. “You wouldn’t happen to be a stripper?”

Cathy had said she’d sent a surprise. He would be a total surprise.

“Excuse me?” The hot guy with the gold and red hair turned to her, his full lips easing down into a frown that should have intimidated her but kind of made her hot. “Did you ask if I’m a stripper?”

Her big mouth got her in trouble. She’d never learned to moderate. She often said whatever came into her head when she was flustered. Her father told her it was charming, but then she’d never asked her dad if he was planning on taking his clothes off for cash. “Sorry. I haven’t seen you around here before and my friend told me she was sending me a surprise. She’s a little on the perverse side, so a stripper could have been in the mix.” She looked up at the glowing light that indicated what floor they were on. The elevator was moving slower than usual. Four. Three more to go. “You’re insanely attractive so I thought movie star or stripper.”

“Am I now?” His deep voice had gone from irritated to amused.

“Oh, I think you know you’re insanely attractive.” She’d stroked his ego enough.

Only another thirty seconds or so and she could run off the elevator and be in her apartment, and maybe instead of going over those accounting reports while listening to the news and eating her chicken sandwich, she would binge watch some Outlander. That might be fun.

“A man likes to hear it, you know,” he replied, standing right beside her. If he moved a little, his arm would brush against hers. Not his shoulder. He had a good half a foot on her. And she bet he worked out. A lot.

“Well, you’re very nice to look at. If you wanted to make it as a stripper, I think you could,” she said primly.

One more floor and she could stop making an idiot of herself.

“Nah, I’m shite at dancing,” he admitted. “I’ll stick to what I’m good at.”

“And what’s that?” She couldn’t seem to stop talking.

“Shooting things. I’m an assassin.”

She turned to him, her eyes open wide, and that was the moment the elevator shook and came to a stop. Right between floors six and seven.

And she was left stuck with a criminal.





Chapter Three





Oh, he liked the fact that he’d put that look on her face. She was far too flirty, but he got the idea she viewed him as amusing and nothing else. A pretty face. It oddly rankled. Odd because he’d never minded that before. A woman wanted a good time, he was her man. Something about the lovely doctor treating him like he was a lightweight bothered him.

Thought he was a stripper, did she?