His heart pounded hard. Because he felt like he was getting his first glimpse of the real her. Not the one he’d fallen for in Beirut, but the one who’d run from him the night he thought he’d caught her betraying their country. The one who’d been afraid for him to get too close. The one who’d admitted in that warehouse that she’d been in love with him.

And holy hell—that Eve was more dangerous to his psyche than the slick, wet, nearly naked one sitting in front of him.

“She’s alive,” he said, throat thick. “If they want you, they’ll keep her alive to get to you. As insurance. Which means this isn’t just about a list. It’s something more. Something you know too much about.”

Eve’s gaze slid back to her food, and a dazed look passed over her eyes. “I think I’ve lost my appetite.” She rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her forehead. “Any word from Miller about my sister?”

“No. None.” Zane watched her shoulders drop, and he knew by the way she sagged against the table that she had to be exhausted. Then his gaze strayed to her foot and the toilet paper wrapped around it like an ACE bandage.

“What’s wrong with your foot?”

Eve cringed and looked down. “I cut it on some broken glass this morning. It’s fine.”

He moved before he thought better of it, sweeping her out of the chair and into his arms. The scent of soap assailed his nostrils, and her heat immediately seeped into his skin, telling him this might be a bad idea, but . . . screw it. She’d be no help to him injured.

Yep, that’s why you’re doing it. Keep lying to yourself, pussy.

She pressed a warm hand against his chest. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Helping you. God, you’re a stubborn-ass woman. Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were cut?”

He set her on the bed, and she scooted back against the headboard, tugging the towel down as far as she could. Her long, shapely legs filled his line of sight, but the red-tinged makeshift bandage was all he could focus on. “Because it’s no big deal. I’m fine. I was going to put a bandage on it after I got out of the shower, but I got distracted by the food. Really, just leave it alone.”

He pulled a pocketknife from his front pocket—the same one she’d used to cut those zip ties early this morning and which he’d found before they’d left that house—and knelt on the floor near the edge of the bed. One flick and he opened a pair of tweezers from the gizmo. Gently, he tugged the toilet paper from around her foot. “Hold still.”

“Archer. Really? I’m fine.”

Three angry red cuts formed swollen bumps against the bottom of her foot. The biggest one clearly had something left inside. He ran the pad of his index finger over the largest. She tensed.

“This might hurt. Try not to move.”

Her fingers curled into the comforter as he scraped the tweezers over the wound, looking for the glass. Finding it, he pressed the tweezers against the shard and tried to get a grip on it. Her lips compressed, and she sucked in a breath, then let out a small shriek.

Frowning, he pulled the bloody shard from her foot and held it up for her to see. “This doesn’t look like nothing.”

He dropped the two-centimeter-long piece of glass on the nightstand, then went back to her foot. Eve tensed again and gripped the comforter more tightly. When she jerked her foot away, Zane clamped a hand on her shin and pulled it right back. “Hold still, I said.”

Eve’s lips turned white as she pressed them together, and her shoulders lifted, her entire body taut and ready to escape. “Oh my God,” she gasped as he searched for more glass, “are you trying to fucking kill me?”

Zane pulled out another piece of glass, this one smaller, and held it up for her. “Not kill. Not yet anyway. How on earth did you walk around all day with this in your foot?”

He tossed the second shard on the nightstand with the other piece and moved for the bag of first aid supplies they’d picked up. Eve dropped back into the pillows with heavy, deep breaths. “I had other things on my mind.”

He picked up the bag and glanced her way. She lay diagonally across the mattress, her chest rising and falling with her labored breaths, one hand over her eyes, and the towel so damn high, it just barely covered her sex.

Heat rushed right back into his groin, making his cock throb.

Clearing his throat, he focused on her bloody foot and knelt near the end of the bed again. “This part might sting.”

He poured alcohol on a sterile pad and pressed it against the wound. Eve sucked in a breath, and then every muscle in her body went rigid. Her hands gripped the comforter once more. Her head lifted an inch off the pillow as she grunted through the pain, and her legs spread, just a fraction of an inch, tugging the towel aside, just enough so he could see the pink lips of her sex.

Holy hell. She was bare. Everywhere. His erection pushed against his fly until pain shot through his lower body. She must have been bare this morning, only he’d been so overwhelmed by the feeling of her closing around him, dragging him in, he hadn’t noticed.

His skin broke out in a fine sweat, and his balls tightened, making him even harder. Clearing his throat, he looked quickly away from her pretty pink center and told himself to think of anything besides touching her there—tasting her there. He wasn’t still with her for sex. No sex. They’d gotten that out of their systems. They were here to find answers. Nothing more.

Refocusing on her foot, he swiped the alcohol swab over her wounds again. Eve tensed, moaned, and tightened her muscles once more, forcing her legs open another fraction of an inch.

And holy shit—his blood turned to a roar in his ears, and sweat slid down his spine. She was there—right there—opening for him like a flower. All he had to do was lean forward a few inches, part her with his fingers, slide his tongue down her slick, swollen slit, and feast.

“Archer?”

Her voice shook him out of his sex-induced trance, and he blinked, then realized she’d closed her legs and pulled the towel down until it covered her mound.

Heat erupted in his stomach and shot straight to his face. His gaze jerked to her foot, and he slapped on a bandage and then quickly pushed to his feet. “You’re done. I need a shower.”

A cold shower. Ice-cold shower. Maybe ten, so he could cool the fuck off.

“Zane?” she called when he reached the bathroom door. “What about your shoulder?”

His shoulder? His shoulder was the last thing on his mind. Every cell in his body was currently condensed behind his fly. “It’s fine.”

He closed the bathroom door quickly at his back, then braced his hands on the sink and dropped his head while he breathed deep and tried to settle his raging hormones.

Zane . . . Why the hell did it sound so fucking good when she called him by his first name?

Because you’re a moron. Because you’re still whipped. Because you like getting your teeth kicked in by the viper in the other room.

He looked up at his reflection, blurry from the still-damp mirror, thanks to Eve’s shower. A few bruises had formed around his temple where he’d gotten hit—he couldn’t remember which time—but it was his eyes he focused on. Dilated pupils, dark gaze, skin flushed and hot from his arousal. His flesh felt tight, like it wasn’t his own, and the raging hard-on in his pants screamed, Get the hell back out there! but he refused to listen.

His fingers turned white where he gripped the sink tight. He wasn’t going down that road with Eve again. This morning was the result of too much adrenaline and way too little sleep, but if he went out there now, it’d simply be stupidity. Clearing his name was now all that mattered. Not how tight she’d be. Or how slick he could make her. Or how fucking good she’d feel when he drove inside her. Freedom trumped sex any day of the week, and she’d be the first to throw him aside to save her own ass. The sooner he remembered that, the better off he’d be.

Disgusted with himself, he flipped on the shower, then tugged off his clothes. And as the hot water cascaded over his sore muscles, he ignored the burn in his shoulder and the ache in his leg and especially the throb in his cock. Instead, he reminded himself of all the shit he’d been through because of her. Nothing—not even the hottest sex of his life—was worth living through that kind of pain again.

And he sure as shit wasn’t listening to that little voice whispering that he might already be halfway there.

13

Eve hobbled to the sack of clothing they’d picked up and tugged on the long T-shirt she’d grabbed to sleep in. She debated putting on a bra and then figured she was only going to bed, so why bother?

She glanced toward the closed bathroom door and listened to the sound of the shower, still running. Zane had been in there for at least fifteen minutes. Her mind flashed to the heated look in his eyes when she’d realized he’d been staring at her bared sex, then to the way he’d bolted out of the room when she’d caught him. Her skin grew warm and tingly when she remembered the arousal flushing his cheeks, and a heavy weight settled right between her thighs. Then an image filled her mind, this one of him standing naked beneath the spray, the water sliding over his chiseled muscles, his hand closed around his cock, stroking the length of his erection, up, down, again and again while he thought of her . . .

Heat exploded in her hips and shot fingers of arousal straight to her breasts. Her nipples pebbled against the thin cotton of her T-shirt, and she sank to the end of the bed, swiped at the perspiration on her forehead, and pressed her thighs together.

It was official. She was an idiot. Her sister was missing, the government thought she’d turned traitor and was right now looking for her, and all she could think about was mind-numbing sex with the man on the other side of the door who still didn’t completely trust her. And what was worse—what was really knocking her off her feet—was the knowledge that if Zane had reached for her a moment ago, she wouldn’t have been able to say no.

She pressed shaking fingers against her closed eyes and breathed deep. Keep it together, Eve.

Okay, so, the reality was, if he’d wanted her, he’d have taken her. Yeah, he’d been turned on—she’d seen his erection when he’d pushed to his feet—but he’d walked out because even he knew a repeat of this morning was a bad fucking idea. Sex—now—would just be a major mistake. It wouldn’t help her find her sister, and it wouldn’t clear their names. But oh God, it would feel good . . .

Her traitorous mind skipped back to this morning. To the feel of his cock pressing inside her, stretching her, drawing a groan from her lips. To the tight slide and retreat, to the electrical current that had shot through her entire body and the exquisite feeling of coming apart around him.

She braced her hands on her knees, squeezed until pain shot through her legs, and breathed deeply. Think about Olivia. Think about Roberts. Think about anything besides going into that bathroom, stripping out of your clothes, and joining Zane in that hot, wet shower.

She needed perspective. She needed someone to slap some common sense into her. Because she’d distanced herself from her family, she’d never confided anything to Olivia, and thanks to her job, she didn’t have any close girlfriends to turn to. There was only one person who knew both her and Archer and who’d been a rock for her to lean on when she’d broken things off with Archer the first time. Only one person who could possibly save her from doing something stupid right this very minute.

Her eyes popped open, and before she could stop herself, she reached for the unregistered cell phone Zane had given her and dialed the private number.

“Dietrick.”

“Carter? It’s Juliet.”

James Dietrick sighed. “Eve, where the hell are you? I tried to call Archer earlier, but he didn’t answer.”

The sexy image of Zane pleasuring himself threatened once more, but Eve forced it back. “Is this line secure?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“I know how to cover my ass, Juliet. Where’s Sawyer?”

“He’s in the shower. They sent a wet team after us before, when he called you from Bainbridge.”

“I know. But it wasn’t us. Feds already found the house. Nice work there, by the way.”

“Who were they?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We’re running things now. Think they might have been part of a Chechen militia with ties to the terrorists who set off that bomb.”