“You need anything else out of there?” Archer pointed to her suitcase.

“No.”

“Then I think we’re going to have to go out the back way.” He lifted his chin toward the rickety fire escape outside the window. At least it had that.

She nodded.

They hadn’t made it there before the door splintered and two guys toppled in over the tipped furniture.

“Get the window open!” he shouted. No use for subtlety now. “I’ll take care of them.”

She thought that was an odd call given that she was holding a gun, but there wasn’t any time to sit there and bicker. So she yanked on the window.

Painted shut, of course.

Waverly wrapped one of her discarded shirts around her fist and the pistol, then smashed the window as she’d been taught. She knocked out the remaining glass as best she could, then turned back to Archer. He had a mean right hook, she noted, as if this were just another training maneuver.

Shaking off shards of glass and the shirt covering her weapon, she leveled it at the intruders.

“Stop!” she shouted. “Or I will shoot.”

They hesitated long enough for Archer to sprint to the window and dive out, testing the rusty fire escape. Fortunately, it held. He stuck his hand through the opening a moment later and helped her climb through with only minor scratches.

When they hit the street level, they ran around to the front of the hotel, screaming for Captain Alex’s officer to get his ass in gear. To his credit, he didn’t ask questions, simply kept up as they made their way to the rental car Archer had left in the lot across the street.

He drove. She sat shotgun, her pistol ready yet held out of sight as they tore down the street toward the airport.

“Guys?” The officer tried a few times to buckle his seatbelt then gave up as Archer flew around corners like he was driving that Lamborghini Banks had promised him.

“Did you see two men come inside just now? One about my height, the other six inches shorter? Both on the bruiser side of the spectrum?”

“Uh…maybe?” the officer, Ted, stammered.

What was up with that?

Was he in on whatever had almost happened? Or had he been sleeping on the job?

Archer looked at her, shooting her a look that clearly said stay alert.

Yep. No problem there.

She probably had enough adrenaline in her system between the orgasms he’d given her and the scare the bad guys had given her to keep her awake for a week. Her fingers drummed on her knee.

After ten miles, winding through dense city streets, Archer slowed. There hadn’t been a single sign of the guys from the hotel or any other pursuit, so they started to relax. At least she calmed down from, say, a nine-point-five on the Oh Shit scale to a solid seven.

Bad luck? Could be. Nothing to completely freak out about. Right?

Waverly laughed internally at that. How fucked up did your life have to be that after having your afterglow snuffed out by muggers you thought hey, that wasn’t so awful?

“What’s funny about this?” Archer threw up one hand while the other guided the car proficiently through traffic. He was a great driver.

That had her squirming in her seat.

He peered at her weapon, shaking his head.

“Are you intimated by the size of my gun, Archer?” She spared a glance at him, lifting one brow dramatically.

“Only when you aim it at me.” Now he was laughing, too. “You know this is not normal right? You’re not supposed to enjoy yourself when you’re being chased by thugs.”

“Eh. I’ve lived through worse.”

He slid his free hand to her and squeezed her thigh before returning it to the wheel. Then he addressed the bewildered and slightly green officer in the backseat. “Hey, Ted. Get Banks on the phone. Tell him you’re going to need a ride home in a second chopper since ours is a two-seater. You’ll have to take it to Aruba, and we’ll send a tender in for you, since Waverly will be on our pad. Make sure he has something ready for her to eat as soon as we land. Also, I need him to settle up Waverly’s hotel bill and pay for some damage.”

The guy nodded and took care of the details.

Waverly almost mentioned that she could make two trips to transport Archer and then Ted, but she figured it was for the best if she didn’t. Obviously that was where Archer was going with this, too.

But was he concerned for her or did he want her to himself when they got back?

She figured she knew the answer to that when he only stopped long enough to clean out the mini bags of peanuts from a vending machine in the crew lounge at the private airport before hustling her out onto the launch pad. “Let’s get you the hell away from here.”

When they were safely tucked into his helicopter, she paused to toss back a few handfuls of the snack he’d given her. With her mouth full of nuts, she said, “Mmm, salty. Probably not the kind you imagined me eating when you asked about sky head, huh?”

Though he laughed, he was still tense, so she tried again.

“Feel free to show me how you handle your stick while I play with this one.” She winked at him as she fired up the engines.

It might have sounded flippant, but if she didn’t joke, she might freak out. What the hell was happening? Who would have thought active duty would have been less dramatic than retirement?

“Definitely no distractions today. Take us home, please, Waverly.”

Once they were airborne, she took a moment to appreciate the view. It never failed to amaze her. Archer had the sea. This was her world, and she loved it every bit as much.

“How mad is Miguel going to be that you got to fly with me before he did?” she asked over the headset as they picked up speed, flying directly toward the ever-changing coordinates sent to her by the Divemaster’s systems.

Landing on a moving target was always an exciting challenge. One she was more than capable of executing even in her current condition.

“He’ll probably get over it by the time we turn fifty.” Archer didn’t seem too disturbed.

Miles of gorgeous blue water streaked beneath them as they raced back to the Divemaster. Lost in the familiar rhythm of flying and the gorgeous landscape they zipped through, Waverly felt like their trip had just begun when her instruments told her the Divemaster would be in sight any moment.

Archer finally broke the silence. “I’ve never seen something up top come close to being as beautiful as what I see underwater.” When she glanced over, he wasn’t looking at the spectacular scenery or the megayacht where he did good while having fun.

He was staring at her.