Ninety minutes later Kaiden stood feeling awkward in the lingerie department of a twenty-four-hour big box store. Katie didn't want to wear any of the underwear that the creeper had touched which was pretty much everything so there he stood, surrounded by panties.

In another place, under other circumstances, silk, satin and lace rubbing up on him would have been a turn on. At one in the morning, in a building that smelled of dust and must, nothing got turned on except his allergy response. He needed an antihistamine and a cup of coffee in the worst way. And maybe a sandwich. Or some fried chicken. His stomach rumbled at the thought of hot, moist fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. He had missed dinner, after all.

He caught Katie's eye over a display of animal print push up bras. His blood warmed pleasantly as she smiled at him. A hunger of a different sort clenched in his gut.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know it's late but I can't stomach the thought of anything that man touched on my skin. I want to grab a couple of things to hold me until I can get to the mall."

"Take your time. You might not be able to go home for a few days so grab what you need," Kaiden responded with more conviction than he felt. He nodded at a leopard print push-up in front of him. "That looks nice." It would look real nice on Katie. Forget about his allergy response, everything started to warm up.

"Agent James! I had no idea you had such a wild side to you!"

"I'm not all business all the time you know. And please, call me Kaiden already. I am pretty sure we have gone beyond formal. Not every woman I meet gives me a sponge bath." He winked at her as a blush formed on her cheeks.

"We probably shouldn't discuss that. Nurse-patient privilege or something." She reached for a deep emerald satin and lace set that would look like the jewel of the same tone against her creamy skin and bring out the green in her hazel eyes.

"I don't think there is any such thing. Besides, it's something I certainly enjoy thinking about."

He watched as the flush in her cheeks darkened by at least three shades. Kaiden couldn't help but wonder if Nurse Katie had ever thought about him. Of course not, you idiot, she was engaged! Still, during his stay in the hospital they had definitely shared a flirtation. Apparently it ended at flirting since she had a boyfriend the entire time. The pain meds had probably colored the experience, making it something more in his mind than it had actually been.

"All right, then it must be off-limits for a secret agent to discuss such things with a suspect."

Kaiden laughed. "There is nothing secret about this agent. You know who I am and what I do and I'm fairly certain the only thing you are guilty of is bad judgment in men."

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. The look on her face, a mix of pain, betrayal and anger, cut him like a knife.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." Stepping around the rack of lingerie, he instinctively reached for Katie. He wanted to hold her close, protect her from the pain he had caused. She moved out of his reach around another rack where she grabbed a couple more hangers of bra and panty sets. Kaiden gave her the space she obviously wanted but it killed him to. He wanted to find out what, if anything, was happening between them but needed to keep his distance.

Katie scooped up a couple of nightshirts and a few pairs of socks. The faraway look in her eyes bothered Kaiden more than it should have.

Who was he kidding anyway? He had been attracted to Katie in the hospital and that obviously hadn't gone away. Last time her job kept them apart, this time it would be his.

Remembering Cara and the nastiness of his divorce, he knew it would be wise to avoid any more relationships anyway. Cara had made it absolutely clear no other woman in the world would put up with his secrets and lies. It didn't matter that those secrets were usually a matter of national security and the lies were more like half-truths, intended to protect her from the evils of his world. Maybe things with Katie could be different. You're better off keeping your distance, man. Hell, she'd definitely be better off.

Better than what? Better than the mess she had gotten in when some smooth talking politician's son had convinced her he loved her? Yeah, she had been so much better off with a man who only wanted her access to the hospital lab.

Access to the lab. Oh man, why hadn't he thought of that before?

"Katie?" he called across another rack of sheer fabrics and lacy cups. "Do you use a keycard to access your department?"

"Of course," she replied without looking up.

"Where do you keep it?"

"I always drop it in a box on my bureau after work before I hop in the shower." Understanding suddenly lit her eyes. "Oh boy, do you think that is what the panty raider was after?"

"I think we better pay for your stuff and get back to your place and grab that before someone realizes it is still there."

Katie led the way to the front of the store and used one of the self-check-out stations. Kaiden tried hard not to look at her purchases but natural curiosity won out and his eyes wandered to the pile of satin and lace. He caught sight of that emerald green set and his gut tightened.

Don't be getting your hopes up. You will never see that anywhere but on that counter right there.

Ugh. This case might go on for a very long time.

"Are you okay?" Katie looked worried as she studied him.

"Fine. Absolutely fine. Just thinking about the case." Not entirely a lie. Thinking about Katie in that green underwear sort of had to do with the case. Yeah. Right.

"I wish I could help you get Nathan but I don't know anything more than what I already told you."

"It's all right. We will catch him one way or another. Homeland Security always gets their guy." He cracked a smile to ease her nerves but she still fumbled with the items as she rung them up and dropped them in plastic shopping bags.

"Judging by the way they crashed my door down tonight, nothing stands in their way either."

Kaiden reached to take her bags but ended up grabbing Katie's hand instead. Electric shocks stronger than any the physical therapist had used during his rehab shot up his arm. His body's primal reaction to Katie took his breath away.

She pulled her hand back and grabbed the bags. As she started to walk away, Kaiden stopped her. "I am very sorry for what you have been through tonight. It must have been very scary to be dragged out of your home like that. You can bet I'll follow up on that and it will never happen to you—or anyone like you—ever again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Agent James. Like you said, Homeland Security always gets their guy. Even if it's the wrong guy." This time when she turned to leave he let her go. He couldn't deny what she said so he quietly followed her out to the parking lot.

Vibration in the pocket of his tuxedo pants caught his attention. As he checked the text message from his brother telling him all he had missed at the wedding, the squeal of racing tires sounded from somewhere in the dark. As the sound registered in his mind, Kaiden glanced up in time to see a small car with its lights off aim straight for Katie. She walked at least thirty feet ahead of him with the car barreling down on her. Kaiden took off at a sprint, his body slamming into Katie's just as the car blew by.

They lay there, on the asphalt, him on top of her, for a full minute, not moving.

"Are you okay?" Kaiden finally asked.

She mumbled something he couldn't quite make out. Rolling to the side he made a quick assessment for blood or obvious signs of injury.

"Oh, thank God."

"I know, I have no idea where that car came from. If I hadn't gotten to you in time…"

Katie sat up rubbing her left elbow. "No, I meant, thank God I can breathe again. You were crushing my lungs!"

Kaiden laughed. "Sorry about that. You okay now?"

She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. "Everything seems to be in working order now. Thanks for saving me."

"That makes us even. Well, now that I have saved you and you have saved me that nurse—patient thing is null and void, right?"

"I didn't exactly save you, I just cleaned your wound once or twice."

They both fell silent. Kaiden wondered if she remembered those wound cleanings the same way he did. The same way other parts of him seemed to remember.

He cleared his throat and with that the memories of her touch on his skin from his mind. "We need to get back to your place and check for that ID badge."

Kaiden rose from the ground and extended a hand to Katie. As he reached down to help her up, he realized her bag of silky things had split open when they landed on the ground. Lace and satin littered the ground. His mind once again traveled to forbidden lands as Katie scooped it all back into the tattered plastic.

"I'll wash these out in the hotel," Katie said. "At least they weren't pawed by a panty thief."

Allowing Kaiden to help her to her feet, Katie held the bag close to her and started back toward the truck. She tried to hide it but Kaiden saw the slight tremor in her step. He suspected the case was more convoluted than the agency first thought.

"I wonder why that car tried to run me over?"

"It could have been an accident," Kaiden replied.

"I don't know—seems sort of strange for an accident like that to happen right after government agents kidnap me and someone trashes my underwear drawer."

"It is strange. Are you sure there isn't something you are neglecting to tell me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Relax. I am not insinuating you are involved in the case, just wondering if maybe there is something you are forgetting?"

She fell into silence. It looked like she was considering the past months with Nathan. "I don't think so. We had a totally normal relationship until I found him with Mandy."

Kaiden stopped for a red light and turned to glance at her. "Give it some thought. Maybe something will come to you."

"I told you—" Her words were cut off as something slammed into the back of Kaiden's truck.

"Not my new truck!" Kaiden yelled at the headlights in his rearview. Snapping on the hazard lights, he reached to undo his seat belt when the vehicle behind him backed up and crashed into the truck again.

Before he could react, what looked like the same car that had tried to run Katie down in the parking lot pulled around him and sped away. Kaiden jerked the truck into gear and gunned it through the red light.

"We need to find out what that dude's issue is. Hang on!"

Thankfully the streets were mostly empty. They sped after the car but whatever the other guy drove had the advantage with its little size. The car quickly disappeared in the maze of intersecting streets that filled the ocean front area of Virginia Beach.

"Damn it!" he shouted, waving a fist at the dark surrounding them.

"What is going on tonight?" Katie managed between trembling lips.

"Damned if I know. Let's get back to your place and find that badge so I can take you someplace safe."

Once he parked in the garage, they took the elevator up to her floor. When they had left the apartment earlier, a uniformed officer had been told to sit on the place until morning since her apartment had technically become a crime scene and the door no longer locked. As they walked from the elevator to the apartment, the little hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something didn't feel quite right.

Motioning Katie behind him, Kaiden reached for the back-up gun at his ankle for the second time in as many hours. Thank God he always carried, even in a tux at his cousin's wedding. The door to Katie's apartment stood open; the space beyond eerily silent.

Holding his gun in front of him, finger on the trigger, Kaiden flattened against the outside wall and listened. Silence. Either the watch officer had fallen asleep or… a moan sounded from inside the apartment.

Oh crap.

Kaiden stepped around the door frame, gun pointed, and did a sweep of the living area. Katie followed him in and started to rush toward a crumpled form by the sofa but Kaiden stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"But he's hurt…?"

"Shhh!" Kaiden whispered, with a nod toward her bedroom, "We might not be alone."

Katie nodded her understanding and stood still as Kaiden made his way through the living room and into the bedroom. After a quick search, he determined the room and adjacent bathroom were empty.

"Clear!" he called out as he returned to the living room.

Katie had dropped to her knees beside the injured officer. From the trickle of blood on his face, it looked like a nasty blow to the head had taken the young man out. The officer mumbled something Kaiden couldn't quite make out.

"Stay down for a minute while I get some ice and a couple of towels. You might have a concussion." Katie had gone all business. He had loved watching her in action during his time in the hospital. She represented the polar opposite of Cara. Katie took charge of a situation. Cara needed a man to be in charge, even though she always believed otherwise. Simple decisions were the hardest for her and if he went off the grid for a couple of days and a plumbing issue or a roof issue came up, Cara would sit and wait for him to take care of it, even if the whole damned house flooded. He imagined Katie would have been up on the roof herself or snaking a pipe for a clog. The picture made him smile.

"Why are you smiling, sir? My head hurts like hell. Nothing so funny about that," the officer grumbled.

Kaiden dropped to a knee so they were eye to eye. "I'm sorry, Officer…?"

"Reyes."

"Officer Reyes, I was not laughing at your injury. I apologize. Can you tell me anything about what happened here?"

Katie returned then with the bag of ice and a couple of towels. She wrapped one around the ice and handed it to Officer Reyes as she leaned in to inspect his wound. "Head injuries bleed a lot because of all the capillaries in the skin but this actually doesn't look too bad. A huge lump will be the worst of it as the bleeding seems to have stopped. We need to get you to the hospital though and get that brain checked out, just in case."

"I'm fine," Officer Reyes mumbled.

"I'm sure you are, but any trauma to the head can be dangerous." Katie offered the officer a smile and Kaiden felt a prick of jealousy. Quickly squashing it, he got on the phone with an emergency operator.

"There's a bus on the way. I told them it was an officer down so they will haul some ass to get here." Turning his attention back to the injured man, he repeated his question. "Officer Reyes, can you tell me what happened here?"

"I don't know, man, who the hell are you?"

Kaiden pulled his identification from his pocket. "Agent Kaiden James, Homeland Security. I was here earlier when this place was tossed the first time."

Officer Reyes squinted up at him. "Yeah, I think I remember you now. Not too many dudes show up at a crime scene in a tux. You two on a fancy date or something?" He gave Katie's flannel pajamas the once over. "Nah, I suppose not."

"So?" Kaiden prodded impatiently.

"I don't know what happened. I was sitting here on the sofa watching reruns on the game show network when someone whacked me on the back of the head. Next thing I remember is this cutie here waking me up."

Kaiden scowled at the officer.

Feeling possessive, are we?

He shook off his annoyance and moved to stand behind the sofa. From where Officer Reyes had been seated, he would have had a decent sight line to the door. If anyone had come in he would have noticed.

"Oh crap."

"What's wrong?" Katie asked.

"That means whoever hit him was watching the apartment after we all left. I cleared your room after we got the other guy. Either that or the big boss knows we caught his man and sent someone else over to do the job."

"That's academy 101, dude. You feds never get anything right." Reyes leaned his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes. "Let me know when the EMT's get here. I need a rest."

Kaiden turned to Katie, trying not to show his annoyance at the young officer. "Go check for your ID badge."

Without a word, she headed to her bedroom. A few seconds later she returned, expression grim. "Gone."

"Shit." What a mess this was turning out to be. He should have stayed at the wedding and ignored his phone.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. His muscles smoldered under the weight of that familiar touch. "It's not your fault, Kaiden. How would you know another guy would come back?"

He shrugged and she removed her hand. He instantly regretted the loss of her touch. "Officer Reyes was probably sound asleep on the sofa when that guy got the drop on him."

"Hey, man! I don't sleep on the job! That's reserved for you government guys!"

"The sofa faces the door! How in the hell did he get in here then without you noticing him?"

"Dude! A guy's gotta piss you know!"

"Hold it."

"What? Feds don't piss? Yeah, I guess that must be true since it might get on your cape."

"Gentlemen." Katie stepped in between them. "It's no one's fault. This is about me and Nathan. Neither one of you decided to fall in love with a lying, cheating jerk. You are supposed to get along—professional courtesy or something, right?"

The ding of the elevator and commotion in the hall told them the EMTs had arrived.

Saved by the bell…

Kaiden stepped forward and identified himself as they entered the apartment. It took about ten minutes to get Officer Reyes on his way to the hospital. Suddenly they were alone in the apartment and he had no idea what to do next. They couldn't stay there, in the middle of a crime scene but he had no idea how to convince Katie to leave again.