Fondness, fright, and fury return to wage their merry battle in my brain. Emotions I’ve fought to control over the past few weeks. Weeks without Rayne. Weeks without sunshine. I shake the clichéd thought away. I fasten a grip on my resolve. Sasha is wrong—nothing good can come of a relationship with this little dragon. I can’t run anymore. Time to face the music.

I can’t explain it. I’d intended to set her free . . . set us both free. Instead, I’d fucked off without a word. Left because I had to cut this fucked-up bond with Rayne. I’d kept in text touch with Kat keeping an eye on things but had otherwise been incommunicado. She’d warned me Rayne was more than pissed off with me.

My heart dances the light fandango as I watch Rayne lean her elbows on the porch railing. The late afternoon breeze ruffles her curls, and I resist the urge to run my hands through her soft black hair. Excitement jumps from her like popcorn in an air popper.

“How long are you back for?” Rayne keeps her gaze fastened on the ring of trees outlining the forest in the distance.

I say nothing and let the silence crescendo to a deafening roar.

“Did you get everything settled?” Rayne asks.

“Pretty much.” Could you be more articulate, Jay?

“So, are you going to tell me what that cop wanted, now?”

“Rayne, sit down. I need you to focus.”

She narrows her eyes at me, and I see the challenge battling her tongue to make its way out of her mouth. Her brain wins.

“You go away for more than a goddamned month without a word, walk back in, and expect me to jump when you say? Christ.” She strides over to one of the Muskoka chairs on the large wrap-around porch. “Okay, I’m sitting, and I’m focused. Spill.”

I ignore the fit of pique. I have to shore up my defenses before they break down.

“You already know that when Savannah died, I hunted down her killers. They were just the bottom of a very long food chain. Viper’s near the top.”

She nods but says nothing. Her full intensity trained on me.

“There was some question about fingerprints at one of the scenes. I waited for the Metro cops to show up and arrest me. Instead, CSIS showed up at my door.”

“The Canadian Security Intelligence Service?” Rayne breathes the name with reverence. “I used to dream of working there.”

“Well, looks like your dream just became a reality.”

Both of her eyebrows shoot up in the air, then she narrows her eyes again.

“You’re shitting me, right? My God, I know I’m the world’s most gullible person.”

She stands. I pull her back down.

“This isn’t a joke. Hear me out.”

She sits.

“CSIS and the RCMP made a deal with me. I agreed to help them when needed, and the incriminating fingerprints disappeared into the vortex. How much do you know about CSIS?”

“I know that they secretly collect data by doing a lot of surveillance. Kind of like Serpico in that Al Pacino movie.”

“What they want us to do is exactly like Serpico. They want us to go under deep cover.”

“We? Us? How the hell did I become part of this equation?” Thunderclouds cover Rayne’s pretty face just as I expect. I’ve already learned a few things about her, and one is that she doesn’t like anyone making decisions for her.

“You became part of this when you left fingerprints on a knife left at the scene. The cops were able to make a match through CPIC, the criminal records system.” I crook an eyebrow in her direction.

“Shit. I knew that would bite me in the ass one day. Those records are supposed to be expunged.” She draws her lips into a thin line.

“Tell me about it. I need to figure a way out of this. I agree with you. You should have no part in this.”

She swallows hard and wets her lips, looking down at the floorboards.

“This is embarrassing.”

I say nothing. She breathes and fidgets. Another huge sigh. “So, it’s like this. I was hanging around with one of my girlfriends when I was sixteen. Sweet sixteen and never been kissed. Brigitte was a tall, willowy blond who all the guys went apeshit over. One day, she invited me to go shopping with her, and I was over the moon with excitement. She had me carry her wallet in my purse. While we were out, she slipped a sixty-nine cent bottle of nail polish into my bag. Security stopped us on the way out.”

Rayne jumps up and starts pacing the length of the porch. “I tried to tell the security guard that I hadn’t taken the polish, but Brigitte said I did. She was white. I wasn’t. I was charged. She got to go home.”

I have to work very hard to keep my anger from showing. I keep finding out about more miserable things people have done to this young woman. I only know the tip of the gigantic iceberg, but that’s enough to make me blush for humankind.

“Were you in jail?”

“Thankfully not. I have a morbid fear of prison. No, I got a year’s probation, and they were supposed to expunge my record if I successfully fulfilled the terms of my probation. You can’t trust anyone.”

“How about I see what I can do?”

She looks skeptical. “Ooookaaaaaaay.”

I hide a smile. This is definitely something I can do for this little dragon.

“So does that mean I won’t be working for CSIS?” Her shoulders slump.

“Afraid not. This work is much too dangerous for someone without training.”

“So what do they want us to do?”

“You’re not hearing me. There is no us.” I stress the last two words.

“How about just for one minute you humor me. If we were going to do this, what would they want us to do?”

I say nothing for a beat. Her determined gaze doesn’t falter. I sigh.

“They’ll brief us early next week. This is a one-way street.” I feel the clouds of intensity swirling from me. Rayne must as well because she straightens.

“If you say yes to this, there’s no going back, which is why you won’t be doing it.” I refuse to get you killed. “I need you to understand just how dangerous this could be. You would need to train and train hard.”

I’ve got to give her credit; her intense gaze lets me know she’s taking this seriously.

“What kind of training are you talking about?”

“Self-defense, strength, endurance, stuff like that. I won’t always be there to protect you.”

“Okay.” She stares off into the distance as if awaiting reentry of a missing thought. “How dangerous?”

“Very!” A fine edge of fear slides through me. “Think of Viper as a nice guy compared to the ones you’ll meet.” I practically shudder as I think of all the ways Rayne could get hurt. I grab her hand and pull it close to me. She has to realize there is no future for us. “Rayne, don’t take this lightly. It’s no laughing matter.”

Reassurance spreads a soothing balm throughout my system as she squeezes my hand. “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop bastards like ES and Viper from hurting children ever again. If you won’t work with me, I’ll do it on my own.” She’s quiet for a moment. “What will we be doing?”

“What do you mean?” Oh God, she thinks this is a game.

“Look, if this is about the Dom-Sub thing, you can park that on the shelf. You said we’re going under deep cover, and they need a man and a woman. What’s our cover?”

I can’t help the smile that cracks the edges of my mouth. “If we were going to do this, which we are not, I’d be the badass Dom, and you’d be my Submissive.”

She stares at me, incredulous, her big brown eyes wide. “Is this a joke?”

“Nope.” More staring.

“Good bloody thing I’m in the Sub training program then, isn’t it?”

I school my features as a tingle of hope washes through me.

“It would be if you were going.” I say this in half humor, but I stare intently, waiting for her reaction. Rayne is analytical. She takes everything and turns it around in her mind, tasting it, testing for flavor. If she doesn’t like what she ingested, she spits it out. Just like that. Black and white. She can see grays if she wants, but her fallback position is “doing the right thing.” She has very specific ideas of what that might be.

“Oh, I’m going. You’re not the boss of me.”

I haven’t smiled this much since Savannah was killed. “Before I would even consider this, we’d have a lot of work to do. You must be able to protect yourself. Everyone would have to believe we’re a couple. We’d need to be smooth and very comfortable with each other if we’re going to convince anyone that we’re part of the life.”

She chews on this for a moment. She is not taking this lightly. I wait for her to ask the inevitable—at least it’s what I need to know.

“Where does that leave us?”

I return her gaze with the gravity she’s giving me. Hell, I have no idea where I’m at with this woman. I just know we’re not done yet.

“I just don’t know. I can’t make any promises. Hell, I barely know who I am.” I take a deep breath. “I—”

“Thank you for being honest.” Rayne stiffens her spine and starts to rise. I pull her back down.

“I’m not trying to be obtuse. I really don’t know how I feel. You get me, so you get that, right?”

She nods.

“I have no right to ask you to stay. I don’t do relationships.” All I know is I feel good when you’re around. You’re like the sun breaking through on a cloudy day. “I just know things are different when you’re here. Friendship is all I can offer. How about we call it friends with perks?”

“You mean friends with benefits.”

I wink. Navigated that land mine. “Nope. I mean you get the added perk of sex with me.” Now I’m grinning. “I’m very good.”

Her baby browns turn almost black with desire. “When I’m bad, I’m better.”

I tip my head back and laugh uproariously.

“So how come you don’t want to work with me?” Rayne asks.

“I never said that. I said I wouldn’t go undercover with you. Look, you’ve got to get better before we even think about what’s next. Two physiotherapists will start working with you next week. Once your leg is in shape, we’ll go back to the house, and then you can decide what you want to do.

“That doesn’t leave much time.” Rayne looks at me belligerently. “I’m going. If you don’t want to work with me, I’ll tell CSIS to give me another partner.”

I go rock hard and almost rupture myself in my jeans. She drops her eyes in her lap and twists her hands.

I check my watch. “This isn’t some kind of romantic adventure. I don’t think you understand the seriousness of this. We’ll have to continue this discussion later.” My heartbeat sprints a few steps as I see her questions bubbling behind the lust glowing from those intense eyes.

“Okay. When and where?”

“At the Masquerade. Be ready to leave by seven p.m.”

“But how—”

“Helicopter. Just like we arrived.”

“That costs too much. I can’t afford it.”

I laugh. She still doesn’t get how rich I am. I love that she doesn’t seem remotely interested in my money. I hold my right index finger in the air. “First of all, I own the helicopter. Second of all, we need it to get around. Third of all, if I decide to take you, you’ll make more than enough on this job to afford your own helicopter.” Middle and ring fingers join the index.

She looks at me stupefied. “Get out of town. Since when does the government pay that kind of money? They’re cheap bastards.”

I laugh again at her naïveté. For all her bravado, she’s seen very little of the world. She’s a scrapper who’s had to learn a few life lessons fast and hard, but she’s actually lived a rather sheltered life.

“They’ve got deep pockets when they need them. Government consultants make a shitload of money.”

“So, like, how much?”

“We each get fifty thousand going in. All expenses. Another fifty thousand if we see the job through. A quarter million if we bring down the kingpin.”

“Each?” Her voice jumps so high, it squeaks.

“Each.”

“Sweet!”