Hot Toy by Jennifer Crusie Read Free Book Online Page B

home.”
    He was quiet for a while. “Okay. I’ll try to help you.”
    She pulled back. “I’ll try to believe in you, then. No guarantees, of course.”
    â€œOkay, fine, I will help you,” Nolan said.
    â€œPromise me,” Trudy said, gripping his coat. “Promise me that Leroy will have this Mac tomorrow morning.”
    â€œTrudy—”
    â€œFine.” Trudy stood up, trying to keep her bags from rustling. “I’ll do it myself. Could you move? I need to get past you to the stairs.”
    â€œI promise,” Nolan said.
    She looked down at him in the dark. “Easy to say.”
    â€œI promise,” he said grimly, getting to his feet. “But now you have to do what I say.”
    â€œAnd why would I do that?” she said.
    â€œBecause you trust me.”
    â€œHa.”
    â€œThen why are you listening to me?”
    Trudy bit her lip. “I might trust you a little.”
    â€œAll the way, Tru,” Nolan said. “If I’m going to get you out of here, you have to do exactly what I say.”
    Trudy felt him close, his body warm next to hers in the darkness. If she was going to start trusting people, he might be the place to start. “You never even kissed me,” she whispered. “What was that about? You never—”
    He bent and kissed her, not gently, and she clutched at his jacket, wanting something to hold on to, putting her forehead against his shoulder when he broke the kiss because it had felt so right, everything about him felt so right.
    The radio changed to “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
    Our song, Trudy thought. “Okay. I trust you. What do we do next?”
    â€œPray,” Nolan said, sounding a little breathless. “Because we’re in a world of hurt here.”
    â€œWell, then—”
    Something moved behind him and Trudy saw one of the minions, just his face, for a second before Nolan jerked his elbow back and caught the guy across the nose. He turned and hit him again before he fell, catching him before he rolled off the platform. Trudy fumbled in her purse for her miniflash, but by the time she found it and turned it on, the guy was at Nolan’s feet, his arms tied behind his back with a belt, and Nolan was putting on the guy’s blue jacket.
    â€œTurn that off,” Nolan whispered, and Trudy did.
    â€œSo you’re a cop,” she whispered back.
    â€œHere’s the plan.”
    â€œHow you did know where to hit him?” Trudy said. “It’s dark as hell in here. How did you know?”
    â€œYou were looking at him,” Nolan whispered back. “I hit what you were looking at. We have to move now; this guy found us and the others will, too. So I’m going down there to distract them. You’re going out the door. If there’s nobody out there yet, run for the street.”
    â€œI’m not leaving you,” Trudy said, holding on to his sleeve.
    â€œTrudy, I’m safer with you out of here than I am with you in here. You’re a distraction. Now follow me until I get out into the light and they see me. Then run like hell for the door. Got it?”
    She didn’t want to leave him, that was wrong. But he was probably right, she wasn’t going to be any help at all. “Okay.”
    â€œOne more thing,” Nolan said, and kissed her, and this time it hit her hard, he was going out there to save her, and she kissed him back with everything she had.
    When she came up for air, she was dizzy. “Maybe we should stay here,” she whispered. “Hiding is good. We could do this until the backup shows.”
    â€œThey’ll come looking for this guy,” Nolan whispered back, nodding to the minion at his feet. “We’ll do this later.” He looked at her, shook his head, and kissed her again, and she relaxed into him, irrationally happy about the whole mess.
    Then he stepped back and she