Seducing powerful men into telling her all of their secrets is Scarlett Ambrose's specialty. Ace Hardwood is probably no exception.
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The gorgeous, confident and charismatic Scarlett Ambrose is perfect candidate to help Terrence Burke take down the...
"What matters most is how well you walk through fire."
~ Charles Butowski
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Ace Hardwood awoke with a start, just after midnight.
At first, he was disoriented, but that only lasted for a moment.
His ears adjusted to the piercing sound of the fire alarm. He sat up in bed immediately. There were heavy footsteps outside, banging of doors and raised voices as people vacated their rooms.
It took a second – just one second – for him to gather his thoughts and he was out of bed in a flash.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he picked up his phone and wallet from his bedside table.
Then, his head whipped in the direction of the wall that separated his room from Scarlett's.
"Ambrose," he said, under his breath.
Stuffing his belongings into his pockets, he ran out of the room, throwing on a discarded t-shirt, without even donning a pair of shoes.
When he stepped out on to the landing, the sound of the fire alarm heightened. People rushed past him in the direction of the fire escape.
There were parents carrying crying babies and half-asleep toddlers. There were couples holding hands as they ran past. There were sleepy people all around him, trying to follow the crowd to safety.
He stepped to the room next to his.
Ace pounded urgently on Scarlett's closed door, outwardly completely calm. "Ambrose!" he yelled through the door.
There was no answer.
There wouldn't be.
For Scarlett wasn't in her room, but Ace did not know that.
He pounded on her door again as more people ran past him.
"Ambrose! It's about time you opened this door."
Still, nothing.
Ace rushed back into his room and out on to his balcony, cursing the fact that he didn't have a key to her room.
The white curtains in Scarlett's room billowed in the night's wind through her open French windows.
Thanking the heavens, he stepped towards her room.
"God, Ambrose," Ace mumbled, climbing on to his railing and pushing himself across on to her balcony. He hadn't even stopped to look down at the ground. He didn't even stop to notice that he had scraped himself against the wall.
