By the time I went to the living room downstairs, there was a strange commotion among the crowd.

"He ain't gonna forgive that."

"How is that possible?"

"An infiltration at Sutherton's!"

"Ha! He better pray for his ass and never get caught."

I frowned as I moved through the gossiping crowd.

Who dared to cross the border without passports, anyway? Did they not have at least a fake pass like mine? Who was I kidding? That was Sawyer's arrangement.

Speaking of him, I hadn't contacted Sawyer in the last few hours. And I had to inform him that I still couldn't manage to get my hands on the papers. Maybe if I searched the library-

I yelped when a hand tugged at me and rushed through the darker hallways.

Flashes of flying black suit ahead of me and familiar flying dirty blond strands had me groan.

"I should have known it was you."

"Hush! Come!" Sawyer whisper-hissed as we crossed another hallway corner with flutters of feet almost colliding with us.

"There they are!" One of the guards flung their arms toward us.

I gasped with my eyes bulged out.

We were screwed! So screwed!

Sawyer did not miss a bit and swiftly pivoted us around to run back the way we had come.

I stumbled in my heels at the abrupt motion but managed to balance anyway at the last minute. Of course, it was at the expense of seconds cut from our chase as the guards gained speed behind us.

We rushed through the hallways, occasionally stumbling upon yelping couples in rather comprising positions around the corners but we had no time to even apologize. We were basically flying through from one side of the mansion to another.

At one point, we were rushing through a ground-floor balcony overlooking the backyard garden. After the last turn, we reached a dead end with a wall ahead of us.

I turned toward the railing of the stone balcony on our right to jump down when the shouts of the guards sounded closer behind our corner.

Sheer panic seized my fast-beating heart and I was about to pull Sawyer away. But that damn idiot had yanked my hand, instead.

I yelped when my back hit the darkest corner of the hallway.

But that wasn't the highlight of the sudden turn of events.

It was Sawyer crowding my space incredibly closer, almost pressing up against my fast-heaving chest.

The smell of his heady cologne mingled with sweat was the last thing I registered before warm lips crashed upon mine.

My brain froze for a solid minute as my wide gaze met a pair of cold honey-gold pools.

It took even more than thirty seconds to recognize the grunting guards screaming from the corner and the slow, soft strokes of his lips.

What the hell was he doing? This shit only worked in movies, dammit!

However, my mind seemed to be torn on whether to focus on the fast-approaching guards' boots or the scorching touch of his warm fingers against the snug curve of my waist.

The steady motion of Sawyer's lips were often snatching my attention, though. Especially, with the way a low warmth settled my belly along with wild flutters of tingling nerves.

The onslaught of sensation almost made me close my eyes. Almost.

"There they are!"

My eyes widened again and my breath hitched as I eyed in their direction.

Sawyer covered my noise with a throaty groan and tilted his head to the side, simultaneously deepening the kiss as well as hiding them from my vision.

"Wait. You sure it's them?"

"Of course! We've seen them come this way. Let's grab 'em!"

I clenched the lapel of his suit with both hands and closed my eyes shut.

We were dead.

We were so fucking dead!

A whimper of panic escaped my lips.

Sawyer took that chance to press me further into the shadows of the dark corner where even a flicker of moonlight couldn't shine.

"We're wasting our time, Dean! They're clearly busy. Let's check the gardens. Our culprits most likely have jumped through this railing."

Oh God and here I had been planning to run through the garden just seconds ago.

"But they-"

Heat coiled tighter inside me when Sawyer curled his fingers around the hair behind my neck and gave a hard tug.

A long moan escaped my lips in response and he swallowed the sound with a low hum of his.

A noise of clicking tongue. "Just come along! Boss wouldn't like it if they escaped."

"But-"

"Dean..."

Leave, Dean. Leave! There was nothing here!

A short pause.

A groan.

"Fine. Let's go."

Thank fuck!

Boots shuffled away fast, leaving us in our own little corner.

I slumped against the wall but Sawyer didn't move away. Instead, his grip on my neck tightened as he pressed further into me.

Swarming nerves were hazing my mind with the expert motion of the salacious Sales King's lips. However, I didn't lose my mind that deep in the gutter to forget about our borrowed time.

So, I frowned and bit his bottom lip hard to bring him out of his lust-clouded stupor.

But my breath hitched and my eyes bulged when he let out a sudden low groan and glued his pelvis with my stomach.

"Sawyer!" I pulled back from his lips and glowered at him despite my blazing body roaring in protest.

Our breathing turned ragged as we stared at each other. Well, the glowering part was mostly my doing.

Sawyer's cold golden eyes had a rather heated gleam in them that somehow didn't seem to stem from pure annoyance.

"Sorry..." his voice rasped as he clenched his jaw, his eyes flashing a hint of remorse before he stepped back.

Was he regreting it?

Suddenly, my heart began to pound faster as the moments of our kiss flashed before my eyes.

I should've founded relief in that gesture of his, instead I was thinking things I had no business thinking about. How could one fake kiss could frazzle my mind this far?

Bad idea, Mirasol. Very, very bad idea.

I looked away and cleared my throat. "Let's go before they catch us."

I didn't meet his gaze again as I moved away from him, not after the way my voice sounded so hoarse and breathless like I had run through countries barefoot.

We crossed the railing and rounded the mansion through the garden, sticking to the shadows and avoiding the roaming guards.

Sawyer held my hand and never left even when we reached the front yard.

The gatekeepers standing on both sides of the black iron gate eyed us with open wariness in their eyes.

"Sorry, sir, ma'am, we can't let you pass," the lady guard on the right spoke as we stopped before the gate. "There's an order for check up."

My heart jumped while I tried my hardest to keep my face neutral.

"Do we look like thieves?" Sawyer's smooth voice thrummed through my skin as he rested his hand low on my back.

The way guards looked at my ruffled hair and Sawyer's crimson-tinted, smudged corners of his lip, it shouldn't be hard to guess what we were up to.

My lips twitched into a smooth smirk.

"Relax, babe, they're just doing their job," Sawyer tensed for the barest of seconds when my hand rested over his chest as I slid closer into him. "They don't know the urgency of our matter."

"We're sorry, sir. But we can't." The burly male gatekeeper on the left set us with a firm gaze.

Sawyer gripped my hip and glared at the guard, swiftly slipping into the role.

"Should we take it to your employer directly then? I must let him know how incompetent his staffs are that they refuse to let his friends pass."

The guards were momentarily stunned at the gravel, deep voice of Sawyer.

"Sorry, sir?"

"I don't like to repeat myself. Now, move," Sawyer's cold tone sent strange tingles through my skin.

This was the voice of the Trexon Empire's former CEO.

And for some reason, my lower belly took the most hit of that effect.

"Sir, sir, wait-"

"Sir, you can't-"

The gatekeepers fumbled as Sawyer moved forward with long, firm strides. I threw them a wink and smirked over my shoulder as I matched his alpha pace in my tall heels like a worthy partner.

But my confident gait couldn't suppress the racing heart inside me as we walked out of the Sutherton Mansion.

The guards could only chase us a few steps out before another group of outgoing guests were crowding the gate and they had to deal with them.

We crossed the remaining path to the outside parking lot in grave silence. When we reached the empty area, I frowned when we didn't stop for my rented limousine.

"Sawyer, that's-"

"Not our car." His voice held a distant note as he left my back and put his hands into his jeans pockets.

The instant chill that prickled my skin after his warmth left had me frowning. But I didn't dare to ponder over it. Instead, we reached a gray VW.

Sawyer pressed the key and the car came back to life.

"Rental?" I asked, getting into the passenger seat.

"Romanov asset." He opened the driver's door and jumped in.

"Even in Vegas?" I smiled, pulling the seatbelt over my body.

Sawyer smirked at me. "Especially in Vegas."

He revved the engine and shifted gears, pulling out of the parking lot.

I finally allowed to loosen my muscles and slumped against the seat with a sigh, watching the bright flashes of Sin City blur past us.

I rested my head on the window and stared out. My mind went back to the smiles of James tonight.

Moments in his bedroom ran a notch slower than the rest. His warm eyes, crooked smirks, my name on his lips...

_Mirasol..._

"Mirasol?"

I flinched, waking up from my reverie. "Huh?"

"You okay?" Sawyer glanced at me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Just tired."

He hummed, his lips twisting with the sound.

I was suddenly back in that dark corner with Sawyer's plump lips warming my body. A farce to protect ourselves from the chase.

Speaking of...

"Thought you said you ain't coming?"

"Yeah?" He smirked. "But I think I said we were not gonna fly together or something along the line."

I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh. So what did you steal that was worth the goose chase?"

Sawyer grinned. "Guess, Doll."

I narrowed my eyes. "Sawyer..."

Sawyer motioned zipping his lips with a finger before moving the steering to the right, driving into an intersection.

I threw him a bored look and huffed. "Fine. Gambling chips."

A boisterous laughter boomed inside the car. "Oh, come on, Doll. Gimme some credit."

"Then what?"

"Sutherton's signature."

I set him a blank look before looking out the window. "And?"

Sawyer hummed. "And it's a signature on a Trexon Empire shareholder papers."

My head whipped in his direction.

"What!"

Sawyer grinned. "Oh yeah, Doll."

I still couldn't wrap my head around the whole thing.

"But... How? I didn't get anything useful from him the whole night and I was supposed to get the deal from him."

Sawyer didn't look back at me as he stopped at a red light. "You played the exact role you were supposed to play tonight, Mirasol."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It means..." Sawyer rested his head against the headrest and smiled at me. "You were the perfect distraction for me as I retrieved the contract papers my men carefully planted inside the latest dealership files two days ago. And James Sutherton was none the wiser."

Goodness! This sounded unreal. Was James that careless that he signed away papers without looking?

"How did he fall for this? This was insane, Sawyer. James Sutherton couldn't be that stupid."

"You're right. He isn't."

I furrowed my brows further. "Then?"

He sighed. "Ever heard of vanishing ink?"

I blinked, sitting straighter. "Sawyer? What the hell did you do?"

"Nothing," He gave a nonchalant shrug and smirked, moving the car forward when the light turned green. "Just asked my contact in Vegas nicely and they removed the original dealership papers and printed out another dealership papers in vanishing ink before they got couriered to him. Our dear James signed them off and did the only mistake of forgetting about them in the preparation of this party and bam. Here we are with blank legal papers ready to be rewritten by my family lawyers."

I couldn't help but stare at the smiling man with an unflinching, unblinking gaze as he drove.

If I ever thought Sawyer Ronnes was dangerous, I was wrong. He was fucking vicious with his careless smirks and ruthless ways. Devon should sleep closing his window shutters tight at night for this man before was no less than a devil on a mission. And for some strange reason, my respect for him only grew after tonight.

Sawyer Ronnes was a literal phoenix rising from the ashes. He was a man who could go to any length for the sake of his family and Trexon Empire and I was sure he wouldn't stop until he claimed back everything that was his.

And I couldn't be any luckier to share this journey with him as his partner.

I smiled and looked away, not wanting to show him the sheer pride that warmed my heart before the heat slowly curled down lower in my belly.

The memory of his warm, soft lips once again spiked up the rate of my heartbeats.

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the leather seat, breathing in the lemon air freshener and Sawyer's heady cologne that was packed in the car.

It was an attempt to forget the feeling of Sawyer's large, solid body on my clothed skin. If anything, the compact air in the car only increased the intensity of that phantom sensation tenfolds.

I could vividly recall the warmth of his hands, the gentle firmness of his lips, the raspy groans that rumbled deep from his thick throat.

I gulped hard as the coiling heat blazed my skin alive. My thighs clenched and I tilted my head away, not being able to understand the sudden flush inside me because of a simple kiss.

A kiss from Sawyer...

I clenched my jaw hard.

I was better than that. I had more control over my body as far as men were concerned. James used to excite me with his charming smiles. Devon made my belly flutter with a mere look.

But this man...

This Sawyer Ronnnes was raising a wild tornado within the depth of the sea of my inside and he was building the low pressure slowly, oh so slowly over the last couple weeks.

And this had to stop. Now. Because if I didn't control this roaring rage inside me soon, I'd get drowned for the third time. And I might not be so lucky to survive like the past times. James and Devon had already ruined me to inches shy of my life. I couldn't afford to bear the same pain, the same torture again.

Not with Sawyer of all. Because I had a feeling he wouldn't just ruin my heart given the chance. He would destroy my soul.

A sudden screech of break jerked me out of my thoughts.

I looked out to find out we were at the airport.

It took a moment to gather my wits as I took a deep breath before opening the door and getting out into the crispy night air of Sin City.

The sound of traffic, buzzing people greeted me along with the heavy smell of petrol oils, the plastic scent of suitcases, and concrete around us.

However, I didn't dare to linger when I heard the door open behind me.

Sawyer's voice filled the air as he jumped out of the car and shut the door with a soft thud. He was talking to someone on the phone about taking care of the car.

The sudden urge to put distance between us would seem baseless to outsiders - hell, even Sawyer would find it awkward - but it was my sanity and this swarm of confusing feelings inside me that I needed to sort out asap.

I couldn't afford to let his presence hinder the process at any cost.

"Mirasol."

My rushing feet abruptly halted at the raspy, deep voice behind me.

It took a sheer force of my will to not turn around and see if the prickling intensity on my neck matched the gaze of his eyes.

"There's one thing you should remember."

My lips pursed as I stared ahead, refusing to acknowledge each of the slow, heavy steps reaching closer to me.

I flinched when a warm breath faltered on the skin below my left ear.

It was hard to gulp another thick lump as I waited for him to speak or for my feet to move away.

I preferred the latter more obviously. But when did the universe grant my wishes so easily?

"If you ever need me to stop kissing you..." My whole body tensed when those rasped words tingled my ear. "Don't bite down my lips hard. It'll just make me think you want more."