Blue kissed her temple. “You don’t have to tell me the rest.”
Yeah, but the rest of the details poured out of her anyway, unstoppable. “I came home and found Claire in pieces. Blood everywhere. And on the television screen was playing a loop of the murder. In it, Claire screamed. She screamed so much and even begged for me to save her. Until the woman ripped out her throat. Then she quieted, and I wanted so badly for the screams to start back up because it would mean she was alive. My sweet, gentle girl alive.”
“Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Her chin trembled and tears trickled down her cheeks. “After that, I told Michael I was done with the agency, and I meant it.”
“So you’re not back on payroll once John is found?”
“No. I’m going back to the hospital.”
“Do you like it there?”
“Yes.”
“But not love?”
“I . . . don’t know anymore.”
“I think you love being an agent. You’re so good at it.”
“Thank you.” But . . . “I’m not going to risk leading a criminal to an innocent ever again.”
“You’re wiser now. You know how to avoid—”
“No.”
He sighed. “Okay, baby. Okay. Let’s backtrack a little, then. You said you want to be with me as long as we’re working on the case. What happens after?”
“Afterward you go back to your house and your life.”
“And that means we can’t see each other anymore?”
Her brows drew together in genuine confusion. “Doesn’t it?”
“No,” he said. “Not to me.” Never had he sounded more determined.
“I know this isn’t the deal with Tiffany, but one day the seduction of a target is going to be the only option open to you. And I’m not dropping the hammer of judgment on you or anything like that. I just know the kind of cases you’re given, and I’m stating what I can and cannot accept from a boyfriend.”
At first he gave no reaction. Then his grip tightened on her, almost bruising her, and she wondered what thoughts tumbled through his head.
“So . . . I called Michael,” he said, changing the subject, “and told him to put a watch on Tyson Star if at all possible.”
Disappointment hit her. She’d wanted assurances from him, she realized. “Good thinking. It’s odd that the guy wants me. I mean, he wouldn’t even meet with me when I toured Star Light. Talk about setting myself up for the perfect snatch-and-kill.”
“Didn’t want your disappearance linked with his business, I guess.”
“All right, I’ll give you that, but why does he want me?”
“I can think of two reasons. Either to please his father and help the guy nail Michael, using you as bait, or he’s taken over the empire, since Daddy is hiding in the country, and as Michael’s daughter you’re now a liability.”
Blue always seemed to home in on motive, something Evie always struggled with. She was great with gadgets but horrible with other people’s reasoning. “Well, I’m sending Tyson a personal invite to the victory party. He’d better come.”
“I have a feeling he will, since there’s no way his sister will stay away—which is why I want you to stay away. You shouldn’t make it easy for Tyson to get to you.”
“Uh, that would be a big fat no. Besides, the party is at his hotel, and if you’re right and he doesn’t want to involve his business, he won’t make a play for me while I’m there. It’s the safest place I could be.”
“Had a feeling you’d say that,” he grumbled. “We need to get some sleep—after we have sex. Papa wants some loving. But I’ll make it fast, because we’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“So kind of you.” Feeling suddenly shy, she said, “Afterward are we going to have our snugs?”
“Try to get away. I dare you.”
* * *
“Intruder. Intruder.”
Blue jolted upright, instantly alert. Evie did the same, the covers falling to her waist. Sunlight slanted through the curtains, highlighting her beauty. Her tank was bunched under her br**sts, revealing the flat plane of her stomach. She was blinking rapidly, trying to focus.
He’d been having the most erotic dream, his hands all over her body, his mouth soon following, when all of a sudden—
“Intruder. Intruder.”
That.
“Someone’s trying to break in,” she gasped. She jumped to her feet and raced out of the room before he could stop her.
Cursing, he grabbed the pyre-gun he’d shoved under his pillow. He pulled on a pair of boxer briefs that did nothing to hide the stiff morning wood he would have liked to introduce to Evie.
“Intruder” was going to pay. Severely.
He stalked into the hallway. The sunlight was brighter there, streaming through uncovered windows, filling the confined space. No sign of Evie.
Gonna spank that girl so hard. She’d left him behind like a damsel in distress.
Then she raced out of her bedroom, still in her tank and shorts. Her expression was all Why are you just standing there?
“They’re in the kitchen,” she whispered.
“?‘They’?”
“There’s two of them.”
“How do you know?”
“I checked the data stream from my room.”
Blue moved to the stairs, descended quietly. Evie stayed at his side. He wanted to lock her in a room, keeping her out of danger, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. She was a good agent—very good.
Last night, she had rescued him.
And afterward, in the dark of his room, she’d nearly broken his heart with her sorrow over Claire. Every day he fell a little deeper under her spell.
When they reached the bottom step, he motioned for her to branch to the right, go around back, and come in the kitchen through the yard entrance.
She nodded and took off.
He slunk around a corner, gaze scanning, ears listening. A woman’s voice registered.
“—please turn that thing off. It’s upsetting the baby.”
Baby?
“I’m trying, sweetheart, I swear I am, but I’ve never encountered a system quite like this one.”
A male voice.
One he recognized. Solo. Solo was here.
Running now, Blue burst into the kitchen. Solo had his back to him as he messed with the security box beside the yard entrance. The male immediately straightened, pulling a small blonde behind him with one hand and aiming a gun at Blue with the other. As soon as Blue’s identity registered, he lowered the gun.