Nikki reached in the box and pulled out a long, sleek piece of hollowed out steel. There were at least two dozen in the box. "Damn. These are AR-15 parts."

"You know your weapons."

"Don't you?" Nikki replaced the piece and closed the carton.

"Of course, but drugs are your specialty."

"And it's not like you are ATF."

"True. It's a hobby then." Keegan stepped over to another box and opened it. "Nikki. Over here."

She hobbled over to where Keegan stood peering into a box of steel parts. "Whoa."

"Yeah. Your guys aren't selling drugs. They are moving weapons."

The sound of an engine broke the quiet around them. Nikki looked through the door but couldn't see anything yet. Still, the noise grew louder and louder. "Someone's coming again. We need to get out of here."

Keegan shifted the boxes so that the ones they opened were under some untouched cases. The truck pulled to a stop outside the barn. "Come on, we need to get out of here." Nikki started hobbling toward the back door.

"Go! I'll be right behind you." Keegan finished moving a couple more boxes and then, true to his word, was right behind her. The big double doors opened, bathing the interior in late evening sunlight.

"Who the hell are you?" a voice yelled. "Stop!"

Keegan yanked at the back door, pulling it open for the second time that day. As he bent to scoop Nikki up in his arms, a bullet whizzed by her head, splintering the wood of the wall in front of them. A second bullet and then a third flew past them. Nikki pulled her gun from her waist and fired several rounds over Keegan's shoulder as he ran them through the door. Footsteps pounded behind them. Keegan ran faster. Nikki fired her gun until she ran out of shots. Keegan practically flew over the ground as he made his way toward the road.

"My car is parked that way." Nikki pointed west. Keegan turned in the direction she indicated and ran for all he was worth. They burst out of the overgrown grass onto the road. Nikki grabbed for the key she had stuffed into her bra and Keegan sprinted the rest of the distance. Bullets rained in around them as their pursuer picked up speed. When they reached her car, Keegan set Nikki on her feet and she unlocked the driver's side door. As she scrambled across the seat, Keegan slid in behind the wheel. The engine had barely turned over when he threw it into gear and spun the tires. The vehicle shot forward as the back window exploded.

"Are you hit?" Keegan yelled over the racing engine and screaming tires.

"No! I'm fine! Just get us the hell out of here!" Nikki fumbled with her seat belt as Keegan took a corner on almost two wheels. He drove straight to the interstate without slowing down. Once he joined the regular traffic heading toward the beach, he finally let off the gas pedal some.

"Well, that sucked."

"No kidding. This car is almost brand new."

Keegan pulled the car off the interstate at the next exit. When they came to a stop in a convenience store parking lot, he turned the car off and rested his head against the headrest. The last time someone had shot at him like that, he had nearly lost the woman he loved. Margot had been hit and his heart had stopped beating as he watched her fall to the ground. If not for that near fatal injury he never would have known about her engagement.

He hated the fact that he had been the other man almost as much as he hated her for putting him that position. At least he would hate her if he didn't still love her. The adrenaline dump that had propelled him from the barn was wearing off. He broke out in a cold sweat. Closing his eyes against the onslaught of memories, he took several steadying breaths as the effects wore off slowly.

"Are you okay?" He felt a hand on his arm but he didn't open his eyes just yet.

"Keegan?" This time the hand squeezed gently. "Are you okay?"

Rolling his head to the side, he opened one eye and smiled at the worried woman next to him. For a split second he had forgotten he wasn't alone in the car. "I'm fine. Just needed a minute to let the adrenaline wear off."

"I'm sorry you had to carry me."

He smiled more broadly remembering the feel of her in his arms. That memory quickly replaced the ones of Margot. "It wasn't much of a hardship."

Keegan watched as a delicate flush passed over her creamy skin. Without thinking about what he was doing, Keegan reached up and ran his fingertip lightly along her the line of her jaw. "You're pretty when you blush."

Nikki looked away and he instantly felt like a fool.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

She turned back to face him with a small smile. "It's okay. I—you just surprised me. I'm not used to guys saying nice things. Thank you for the compliment."

"I can't imagine that. There must be plenty of guys vying for your attentions."

"If you count a narcissistic ex and an overprotective boss, then sure."

Keegan laughed. "I might understand a little something about both of those things."

"Aren't we a pair? Thanks for getting us out of there. Without you, I would have been a sitting duck."

"Without me, you might not have been discovered."

"Yeah, there's that. But we made it out and that's all that matters."

"Well, that was definitely more excitement than I have had in a while." Keegan sat up and turned the car back on. "I need to go back to the house and get my truck."

"Truck? I thought you had some little sportster car."

"Traded it in. Not very practical. How do you know what my car—? Oh, right, you were spying on me the other day." He pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward the interstate.

"Yeah, well, like I said I wasn't intentionally spying." She fished her cell phone out of her pocket. "I've got to call this in to my boss. I'm not so sure the DEA has jurisdiction anymore."

Keegan drove as Nikki placed her call. She was right, the weapons probably took the case out of the DEA's hands or, at the very least, gave joint jurisdiction to the ATF. Heck, Border Patrol might even get involved if the shipments were coming in through the ports. He liked the idea of working a case with the spitfire sitting beside him in the passenger's seat.

"Hey, Henry. You aren't going to believe this. No drugs."

"No drugs?" Keegan heard Nikki's boss yell through the phone. She looked over at him, an apologetic look on her face and shrugged.

"Henry, calm down and quit yelling in my ear."

"Sorry, Nik." Her boss's voice filled the car again. This time she took the phone from her ear and put it on speaker to save her hearing. "But don't tell me we just wasted hundreds of hours of man power on this case."

"Oh crap. I didn't call off the back up."

Henry groaned. "I'll call you back in a minute."

"He gets a little emotional, huh?" Keegan asked as he pulled onto the road that led to his house.

"Yeah, you could say that." The phone rang in her hand. "It's Henry." She tuned it on to speaker again. "Hello, Henry."

"The guys were still stuck in traffic. I told them to turn around. Now, if there weren't drugs then what are we dealing with? It better be something good."

"A truck load of guns and gun parts good enough?"

"How many we talking about when you say truckload?"

"A pallet of boxes," Keegan said without thinking.

"Who the hell are you? Nikki, who the hell is that with you?" Henry's bellow filled the cab of the car.

"Remember that guy I told you about?"

"Your suspect?"

Keegan laughed out loud at Henry's accusation.

"What's so funny?" Henry demanded.

Nikki held a finger up to her lips indicating he should stay quiet. Keegan nodded. They were almost to his place anyway.

"Nothing, Henry. Turns out the guy—his name is Keegan James by the way—is Border Patrol."

"Oh. Hey man, sorry."

"No worries," Keegan replied. He turned the car into the driveway, his eyes scanning the area for trespassers with big guns. Everything looked quiet. He parked Nikki's car next to his truck and turned the key to off.

"Anyway, we poked around, found a mess of guns and then got shot at by one of the thugs dealing that stuff."

"Someone shot you?"

"No, Henry, not me. My car. The back window is gone, but I haven't gotten out yet to check the rest."

"But, you're okay?" Henry's worry was obvious. A little too much so for him being her boss.

"I'm fine, I promise. I think we need to call ATF. You know anyone over there?"

"Yeah. I'll call a buddy of mine and get back to you."

"So, how long has your boss been in love with you?" Keegan turned to look at Nikki and gauge her reaction.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Her brown eyes widened and her skin flushed a deep crimson.

"Come on, you can't tell me you didn't know. Are you sleeping with him?"

Nikki reached up and slapped Keegan across the cheek. "You're an ass!"

He pressed his palm to the place her hand had made contact. The skin was hot and it stung. "Why'd you hit me? That's assault on a federal agent."

"Doesn’t count when it's a federal agent doing the hitting. Cancels out."

"Oh, is that how it works?"

"You accused me of sleeping with my boss. You sleeping with yours?"

Not anymore.

"I don't technically have a job right now."

"Border Patrol?"

"Haven't started yet. Anyway, about your boss."

"He's not in love with me. He is my dad's best friend. He just looks out for me, is all."

"If you say so. What do we do now?"

"We don't do anything. This is my case. Not yours. You aren't even technically employed, remember?"

"This is my property and someone just tried to kill me on it. I am not going to let that go with a smile and a handshake. Like it or not, Agent Nikki, I'm here to stay. We can either work together or not. It's up to you, but I've got a brother in Homeland Security that is going to want to know about this."

"You have a brother in Homeland and you are Border Patrol. Got a cousin in the FBI too?"

"Nope. I just left there after ten years though, so I have a few connections. I also have a couple of cop cousins and a mother that can work a shotgun like a sharpshooter. There is even a distant relative in the CIA, another with NCIS. Oh, and I also have a cousin at ATF. I've got all the backup I need."

She studied him for a long time with those green eyes of hers. Keegan felt waves of energy ripple over him as she stared. Blood pooled below his waist. He shifted to try to hide the evidence of what her attention was doing to his insides. Finally, a slow smile spread across her lips. Lips he definitely wanted to get to know better.

"Fine. We can work together on this."

"Good. So, what do we do now?"

"You've got all the answers, you tell me."

Nikki was feisty. Keegan was used to stuffy, suit-wearing business types. The woman in the car with him wore jeans that fit her like a second skin, a red sweater and dark brown, knee-high boots. Her hair was thick and unruly but the way the curls fell around her face was downright sexy. He resisted the urge to bury his fingers in that hair and pull her toward him.

You need to get your head in the game, man! Gun runners have taken over your property, remember?

He remembered all right. If not for the light, airy scent of Nikki's perfume, he could probably have focused on it.

"I need some air." Keegan jumped from the car and headed over to his truck.

"You all right there, Border Patrol?" Nikki came up beside him.

"Yup. Fine. Just needed to stretch and get a little fresh oxygen."

"Fresh oxygen? You sure you're okay?"

His muscles were tense, his chest tight. The heart racing inside it seemed to gain speed with every passing second. He ignored her probing stare, afraid that if he looked her in the eye all the fresh oxygen in the atmosphere wouldn't keep him from suffocating.

What the hell was going on with him?

Maybe it was a panic attack. Logan used to get them when he was young, after his dad killed his mom and he came to live with them. His cousin used to describe the feeling much the same as what he was experiencing.

No. It couldn't be. Keegan was known for his calm, cool demeanor. Even in the face of pure evil and devastation he never wavered in his stoicism. So, why was he completely losing it at the moment? A hand on his arm nearly made him jump out of his skin.

"You look strange. Should I—call someone? Maybe your matchmaker mother?"

His arm burned where her hand rested with the kind of sweet pain he could really get used to. Keegan studied the long, tanned fingers wrapped across arm and wondered what he had to do to— Wait! Did she say she was going to call his mother? Her smile told him she was kidding. Thank God.

"Um, no. I'm fine. Must be the adrenaline dump from all the excitement." Yeah, right. Never affected you before. "We need a plan."

"Not until Henry calls back. If this is ATF jurisdiction we don't want to get in a pissing match."

A pissing match. Man, he was really starting to like this woman.