Dance With Me - By Hayden Braeburn Page 0,17

planes of his chest. “You are more than fine.” She pulled his head down to catch his lips with a kiss. “I just want to keep you that way.”

“My only worry is you.” He kissed her then, slow and smooth. “Now, let go of me so I can get to work without stripping you first.”

She laughed as she released him. “I wouldn't mind being stripped.”

“Later, babe,” he promised with a naughty grin and a swat to her luscious ass. “Later.”

~*~

Dylan watched Everett leave the property in a slick silver Audi coupe. Nice wheels. He rubbed the back of his neck. Not the type of vehicle one would associate with a family man. Katerina, the former champion dancer and current studio owner, according to his cursory internet search, was well guarded by two men. One, like himself, was very obviously former military; the other Dylan couldn't pin. If he had to guess, he'd say a fighter of some sort, in touch with his movements. Martial arts, maybe. Either way, he had no intention of crossing swords with her keepers.

Sean knew someone was watching the house, but he couldn't tell from where, exactly. He scanned the woods again as he thought. Whoever was out there was skilled, so he knew it wasn't Priscilla. There was no comfort in that; money could buy help of any and all kinds. As he made his way around the property he radioed Alec to alert him to the surveillance. Watching wasn't shooting, at least not yet.

~*~

Priscilla waited in Mason's office at Tyler Central Banking. She had walked in earlier, telling his secretary her assistant had called last week to make an appointment. Of course, when the plump, redheaded secretary couldn't find her on his calendar, Priscilla had pitched a fit and made her feel very small, fall all over herself, and let her in his office to wait. She laughed quietly, fingering the hypodermic syringe in her pocket. She'd had to pay the dental tech a pretty penny to obtain the sedative, but she was promised it wouldn't knock Mason out completely—just make him more amenable to taking orders. Twilight sedation, he'd called it. She didn't care what it was called, just that it worked. There was no way she could carry Mason's tall, muscular body out of the bank herself, let alone without drawing notice. It had to appear like he was walking out willingly. Briefly, she thought of Dylan staking out the house. She wondered what he had found, and just how long she had until he discovered her small omission regarding her children. She shook her head. It didn't matter anyway. He was merely to distract whomever Mason had looking after the kitten while she got him out of town.

Mason stopped by Kelly's desk on his way in, but his super-efficient assistant wasn't there. He checked his watch and smiled. The woman ran like clockwork, and since it was seven forty-five, he knew she was across the street getting a double-shot vanilla latte. Chuckling at the thought, he sailed into his office, dumping his phone and keys on the desk and his jacket on the chair in the corner. It wasn't until he felt the jab in his ass that he realized he had greatly miscalculated.

Priscilla was breathing heavily. “Now, you come with me.”

“What if I don't?” he challenged. He didn't know what she'd dosed him with, but he was sure he had mere minutes to get out of the room and get help.

“Then, I kill you,” Priscilla answered as she shoved the barrel of a handgun into his ribs. “You will not yell, you will not alert anyone, and you will walk out with me.”

“Great options. What are you going to do with me once you get me wherever you're taking me?” he asked. He hated that his limbs were getting heavy, his mind muddled.

“You have always been mine, Mason,” she whispered before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You have avoided me long enough, and I won't have it.” She emphasized her last statement with another stab of the gun.

“You're...a...crazy...bitch,” Mason slurred, earning himself a hard smack in the back of head.

“You will marry me, or you will marry no one,” she vowed. She tugged at his arm. “Now, walk out there with me, and don't do anything stupid.”

His mind was swirling, his vision blurry. He didn't have much choice than to go with her and hope someone would figure things out. He just hoped Kat was safe.

~*~

Dylan knew he was