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As soon as she got within breathing distance of hiistered and memories assailed her He still smelled like Mac--a combination of earthy male and soap, a lethal blow to her olfactory senses How could so so simple fire her up so quickly And his body heat--she could feel it even though he stood inches away
Get a grip, Lily!
Mac dropped his hands at her approach, and when he did, she grabbed the artifact and ju it at hied "I can’t believe you fell for it Turn around and face your bike Keep your hands where I can see thelare and raised the barrel of the gun a little higher "You in the‘ured that’d be just a bit too corny
Besides, while sheher ten years ago, she didn’t want to kill him
Of all people to run into and of all places Mac knew everything there was to know about thisit would be here, where it was located--night security and what to expect
Yeah, he had every expectation covered Everything except finding Lily here Goddaun in Lily’s hands, not at all afraid for his life It ht have done the cruelest thing a guy could do to a woether, but he kneithout a doubt she’d never pull that trigger
Lily wasn’t a cold blooded killer
He’d broken her heart He knew it and she knew it But she wasn’t about to fill his chest with lead as payback If she’d wanted to make him suffer for what he’d done to her, her rich daddy could have taken care of that years ago Mac could be rotting in jail right now on any nues He had been a thief John West had considerable influence in Dallas and could have pulled plenty of strings to see to it that Mac paid for what he’d done to his daughter
But the night Mac had tossed Lily out of his apartht now He’d due she’d been accepted to and fulfill her destiny He thought she’d become a lawyer or the head of her father’s business
He never thought he’d run into her again in an alley in Chicago Or that she’d pull a gun on hihten in ways they shouldn’t, broke his concentration in dangerous ways She’d been bad news ten years ago and still was Her eyes were still the brightest blue, and her hair, though shorter than it had been years ago, still shined like sable silk
"Mac, turn around and put your hands on the seat of the bike," she said again
"And if I don’t?"
She paused for a second "I’ll shoot you"
His lips curled "No you won’t"
Apparently she realized he’d called her bluff He took a step forward Her eyes widened and she turned tail and ran, but Mac was on her before she was halfway across the lawn He grabbed her and rolled onto his back, taking the i sure Lily landed on top of hi with a crash and disintegrating into several tiny pieces
Froasped
"Look what you did!" She pushed off his chest and scrambled on her hands and knees toward the broken object
Mac rose and calmly walked over to the container she hadn’t noticed had rolled out from the center of the object
"The artifact is a fake," he said "This is what’s valuable"
He held up the vial of green liquid contained within a thick plexiglass container The contents ell protected, just like he knew they’d be
Lily sat back and stared at it "What’s that?"
"It’s a virus"
She frowned "A virus?"
"Yeah Deadly virus Like open-it-breathe-it-andeveryone- dies kind of virus"
She cocked a brow "Right Does it coreen aliens, too?"
"I’m dead serious here, Lily No bullshit"
She stared wide eyed at the vial for a few seconds, then back at hireen"
He nodded "Yeah"
"Why?"
He shrugged "Hell if I know I guess because it’s toxic"
She visibly shuddered "Jesus, Mac, what are you into?"
"I’ It’s not s to theIt doesn’t belong to the museum
You’ve been had I don’t knoho hired you or what you’re doing here, but the last thing you want is this vial"
"Still thinking you knohat’s best for me, I see"
He was about to answer but she leaped forward, launching at his legs Off balance, he went down like a falling tree His back hit the ground, knocking the wind out of him