Heart Of Atlantis

breaths. She wasn’t used to running, since she took the bike everywhere. Out of practice, out of shape. She glanced at the door.
    Out of time.
    “Miro, can I duck out the back door, and you stall these guys? They’re big, and I don’t want to cause trouble, but—”
    Miro laughed his big, booming laugh, and the floor underneath Rio’s feet actually shook. “I will snack on their bones like pretzels if they try to cause trouble. You run along, little girl, and bring me some jelly beans the next time you deliver.”
    She rose up on her tiptoes, and he leaned down so she could kiss his cheek. “I promise. No black ones.”
    Miro’s cheeks flushed a deep red. “You’re a good girl. Now go. I hear somebody coming. Time to do my Fee Fie Fo Fum routine.”
    She went.
    By the time she heard Miro’s rumbling growl thunder through the room in a warning, she was already halfway out the back door. Her ankle was throbbing, and the initial burst of adrenaline was wearing off. She didn’t know how she was going to make it all the way to Luke’s office.
    “That was a hell of a lot easier than I expected. I’m good, but even I’m not that good,” a deep, sexy voice said from behind and to the left of the door.
    A voice she’d never forgotten.
    “Hello, Luke. I was actually just coming to visit you,” she said evenly, trying not to look like somebody who needed rescuing. Even if she did.
    “There’s a funny coincidence,” he said slowly, sweeping his gaze from her head to her toes and back up again, assessing, measuring, probably finding her wanting. After all, she hadn’t been good enough for him before.
    Damn him, though, he was as gorgeous as ever. Silky black hair just a little too long, his face unshaven like a pirate’s and chiseled like a woman’s secret fantasy. He was six-feet-plus of hard muscle and lean, dangerous lines, and that frightening brain of his was always calculating his next moves at least ten steps ahead. It was why he was so good at his job—some called him the Dark Wizard of Bordertown, even though he’d always denied having any real magic.
    Some called him Sheriff, and it was rarely a compliment.
    She’d called him
hers
. She’d been wrong.
    A cacophony of shouting and crashes sounded from the bar and she hurriedly shut the door behind her. Luke glanced from the closed door to her, raising one silken eyebrow.
    “That anything to do with you?”
    She lifted her chin. “Why do you ask?”
    A corner of that dangerously seductive mouth quirked up, and he shook his head. “Still stubborn, I see.”
    She clenched her teeth against the wave of sensation that crashed through her at the sound of his husky voice. It wasn’t fair. He probably hadn’t thought of her once in the year since he’d told her they were over, and she’d thought of him almost every day.
    “Can we go to your office? I need . . . to hire you,” she said, unable to say the
other
H word. Unable to ask for
help
like a pitiful supplicant. She had money. She’d get more out of her savings account in the morning and mail Mrs. G back her cash. All she needed was to find that little girl, and then maybe get out of town.
    “Let’s go,” he said. Just like that. She remembered that about him, too; he wasn’t a man to waste words. She wondered, in spite of herself, what else about him hadn’t changed. Did he still kiss like a fallen angel? She shivered and shook her head to clear her mind of the memories. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong man.
    He stood waiting, silent and watchful. Luckily, he couldn’t read her mind, and she’d never been able to penetrate his, either. He was a strange anomaly, and she’d always found it restful. Until now, when she wanted to know what he was thinking.
    What he was thinking about
her
.
    “Let’s go,” she echoed, nodding firmly and taking a step toward him. She landed on her injured ankle and cried out, then tumbled face-forward toward the sidewalk. Strong arms scooped her up and she found herself cradled against Luke’s chest, breathing in his familiar scent of forest and spice as if the year they’d been apart had never happened.
    “This is not how I expected this to go,” he said softly, almost as if he didn’t want her to hear him. “I think I’m in trouble.”
    The door behind them smashed open, and Mountain Man stormed out, carrying an axe.
    “I think we’re both in trouble,” Rio said.

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