Hawk caught Lana in his arms before she hit the floor.

“Take her to bed. We’re going to take the other rooms, you’ll have to share with her,” T quipped.

“Says who?” he asked.

“Says the prettiest one, moi. We can do rotations for night duty. She’s been through enough. We’ll go over everything in the morning.”

“Nothing else we can do right now,” Hank agreed. “With your team here, Swede and I will go by the sheriff’s department and see if there have been any complaints with that bike. It’s a long shot, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“Alright,” Hawk answered, hefting Lana up against his chest. That his team had rushed here after one phone call, just like before, heartened him. Not having them beside him had been more of a struggle than he cared to think about.

Thankful he had them behind him, and assured they’d watch his six, Hawk carried Lana up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once he got there, he struggled with the decision of removing her jeans and shirt before putting her in bed. Since the moment he kissed her a week ago, he’d held back. Instead of touching her the way he wanted to, he’d spent time with her and had gotten to know the woman he guarded. She had a quick smile, and an even quicker temper, but she was fast to let it go. She worked hard and didn’t take the self-defense training he gave her for granted. He laid her on her comforter, and then thought better of it. It might get cool in the night. He lifted her against him and pulled her cover and sheets down before tucking her underneath them.

“What if she gets hot?” he thought out loud.

Hawk shrugged and peeled her covers back again. He’d take her jeans off and then cover her up, that way she wouldn’t be too uncomfortable and she could rest easily. As for the house full of people, he’d find his way downstairs to go over some things, and then sit in a chair in front of her door until morning. He could catch a few Zs in any position, the military had taught him that. His decision made, he lifted her shirt and unbuttoned her pants, but the smooth expanse of her stomach caught his gaze. Unable to stop himself, he let his fingertips dance over her petal-smooth skin before he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her jeans and pulled down.

He realized he’d made a horrible mistake.

She wasn’t wearing any underwear, and the dark curls covering her sex taunted him. He jerked her pants back up on her waist and fell back until he hit the door. Thankful the wood braced him as his knees went weak, he slid down the door and sat on the floor. He hadn’t meant for that to happen. Despite his desire for her, he shouldn’t have seen her in this state, no matter the circumstances. He lowered his head between his legs and sucked in a deep breath to calm himself.

“Hawk?”

He stilled at the sound of her voice. Downstairs, SEALs roamed the place, making sure they were safe, and all he could think about was climbing into bed with her and making her his.

“Hawk,” she called, and this time he lifted his head. “What’s wrong?”

He swallowed his admission before it could even reach his tongue. No use telling her what was accidental. He wouldn’t do it again, and it may only embarrass her, but his honor cringed at the thought of not telling her the truth.

“I tried to get your jeans off so you’d be more comfortable in bed,” he blurted.

She watched him, a curious expression on her face, before understanding dawned.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“And that left you crumpled over there on the floor? I’ve seen you naked, I guess it was only fair you got a peek,” she joked.

He shook his head “Not that way. You weren’t conscious.”

“And you’re across the room in the fetal position. I’m thinking you didn’t have any ill-intentions against me. I’m sorry I passed out on you.”

“You’ve gone through a lot. It’s understandable.”

She sat up slowly and pushed her hair from her face. “What was it you asked me at the end?”

“The assailant had to be between five-foot-eleven and six-foot-four, and a hundred and eighty pounds, give or take. Do you know anyone like that?”

Lana thought for moment before she answered. “Only a few. None of the women, of course. But for the men, my trainer, Marcelus Williams, my manager, and a model I used in my dating scheme, Terry Brightmore. Oh, and my publicist, Jerry Michaels. Everyone else is on the slender side. But I don’t think any of them can do anything like this, especially Damien and Terry.”

He shook his head at her. “Stalkers are great at mimicry. Some stay to the shadows and you never see them, but many of them are right at your side and you’d never know it. We can’t leave anyone out.”

“But it seems we are getting nowhere. I mean, we’ve had this one incident, but all this time here and nothing.”

Hawk bit the inside of his cheek. She was right. Since his time here, he hadn’t been able to find out anything or get closer to finding her stalker. In fact, there hadn’t been much one way of or the other. If he didn’t know any better, and today hadn’t happened, he’d believe she didn’t have a stalker. He could guess, maybe, her stalker had to find where she was, and the time it took to find her gave her a bit of reprieve, but that didn’t make him feel better.

“I’ll find out who did it.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

He did. Hell, even Vixen … His thoughts jumped and he got to his feet. “Stay here, Lana. I need to go talk to Vixen.”

“What’s going on?”

“Just stay here for a few minutes.”

Hawk raced from the room, his mind a jumble of thoughts. He hit the stairs two at a time, and ten pairs of eyes swung his way when he got downstairs.

“What gives, Hawk?” Snake asked.

“Vixen, how did you find Lana?” Hawk asked without preamble.

“I can’t share my secrets,” she answered.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously, Hawk. I went in the database, and I can’t tell you what that database was.”

“You couldn’t find her through normal means?” Hawk asked.

“I didn’t try, but I can. Why?”

“I need to know how much work someone would have to do to get to her.”

“I see what you’re getting at. I can put my tech guy on it. He can guesstimate times, even without actually having to go through the legwork.”

“Then do it, that might give us a timeline. And I’d like to talk to Hank. They may have gotten something.”

While T got on the phone, Hawk got on his to call Hank.

“Hank, here. What can I do for you, Hawk?”

“Did you find anything out from the sheriff?”

“Funny enough, a motorbike was reported stolen from the ranch neighboring mine three days ago, but they haven’t gotten any clues as to where it could be. Based on your description of the glossy red paint, they feel this could be the same one.”

“Did you say three days ago?” Hawk asked.

“Yes. I made sure to verify the date as well. The bike was stolen from the barn, and no eye witnesses saw it. But they found it gone the next morning. They reported it the same day.”

“But the first attack didn’t happen until today.”

“Narrows your timeline down a bit, though. If it was stolen that long ago, and she’s been here just about a week and two days, then you can guess the perp made their way to Montana less than a week after her getting here. That’s quick.”

Hawk agreed. “Thank you, Hank. I’ll think on it.”

“You do that. If you need anything else, give us a holler.”

“Hooyah.”

Hawk hung up and turned to T expectantly. She kept talking into her phone and shook her head.

“There’s a change,” he whispered.

“Hold on, Sloane. What is it?” she asked, turning her attention to Hawk.

Hawk explained to her what Hank had told him, and she relayed it to Sloane. Hawk didn’t know if any of it would matter, but it was better than nothing. He didn’t want to just sit down and accept that he could do nothing. The list consisted of four names now, after one incident. Hawk didn’t want to wait until something else happened to narrow it down further. As a SEAL, he wasn’t used to this sort of work. With his team, they got a job, they focused on it, and completed the missions. He was used to bullets flying, explosions rattling his teeth, and the fight for the American way. This silent wait for something to happened didn’t sit well with him.

“Just point me toward someone I can shoot,” Hawk complained.

“Get some rest. It will take some time for T to get her information. She isn’t going the route of that super-secret database she always threatens me with. But as soon as she knows more, she’ll pass it on. You’ll be the first to know,” Cry Baby told him.

“I’m going to check the perimeter while you’re all here and make sure I don’t see anything. I ran out on her earlier to see what information I could get. Maybe I should give her some time,” Hawk said.

“Chicken shit,” Cry Baby called, but Hawk ignored him.

A SEAL didn’t run from anything, right?