Raze slowly returned to wakefulness, feeling more refreshed than he had in months. A slight weight pinned him down and he frowned, instantly flashing into full-awake mode.

He lay on his back with Vinnie sprawled over him, her long hair covering his left shoulder and arm. Her nose was pressed against his jugular and her thighs bracketed his—

Shit. His full-on erection. Nestled right between her legs against very thin panties.

He ached to press inside all that wet warmth.

Her shirt had ridden up past her waist, and he tried to gently tug it down, his knuckles brushing smooth skin. His body shuddered, flaming awake. God. When was the last time he’d gotten laid? He actually couldn’t remember.

She lifted her head and blinked several times. During daylight, she was stunning with a fragility that called to everything in him. Yet half-asleep, soft and vulnerable, she held a beauty that was all female.

He watched as she awoke, her blue eyes focusing until the very second she felt him against her sex. Her mouth formed a silent o.

Any sane woman would’ve scrambled off him and ducked under the covers toward the wall.

She proved, once again, that she was nuttier than a fruitcake as she rested her chin on her arms, her gaze evenly meeting his, her body fully on top of him.

He lifted an eyebrow.

“We’d have to use a condom if we had sex, so that you wouldn’t get Scorpius,” she murmured.

He tried not to move, but his cock jumped against her as if in perfect agreement.

A red, bright red flush shot up from her chest to cover her pretty face. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Ever since the drugs, every little thought in my head pops out. Sometimes it’s not a thought even in my head. It comes from nowhere.” Tears filled her eyes. “A couple of times I’ve wondered if it’s other people’s thoughts. But it can’t be. So I—”

“Vinnie.” One word stopped her tirade.

“What?” She frowned.

I’d love to have sex with you. I’d die for a condom. Don’t fucking move or it’s over. The thoughts ran through his head like rapid fire. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about the thoughts. Let’s get breakfast.” If she rubbed against him again, he wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t toss her on her back and take his chances with Scorpius.

She blew out air, and her gaze lowered to his chin. “You don’t like me.”

“I like you fine.” Yet he had to betray her, and sleeping with her would only make things worse.

“What are you hiding?” she whispered.

His gut clenched. “What do you mean?”

She looked up. “I’m pretty good at reading people and always have been. You’re hiding something, and I wish you’d just say what it is so I can stop imagining worst-case scenarios.”

The truth was the worst-case scenario. “Sometimes the ends justify the means,” he said, wanting nothing more than to give her honesty.

She tilted her head to the side. “Are you here to betray Jax Mercury?”

“No, but he’ll probably see the situation that way,” Raze said, focusing his gaze on her. For the first time he wondered if he could really turn her over to Greyson, but it was the only way to get Maureen back. He’d taken care of his sister his entire life and he couldn’t stop now. But an overwhelming sense of responsibility for the small blonde in his arms caught him by the throat and squeezed.

Vinnie licked her lips.

He groaned.

She smiled and her eyes lit up. “You do kind of like me.”

God, she was too cute for words. Brilliant, insightful, and cute—an unthinkable combination, and one he couldn’t turn away from. Slowly, deliberately, he slid his hand down her back and flattened his palm over her firm ass, pressing her onto his aching cock. “I like you a lot,” he rumbled.

Heat sparked in her eyes and her breath caught. “I guess so.” Her thighs widened and she dropped her knees on either side of his legs.

The heat from her core washed over him with a temptation that edged on pain.

He was two seconds away from coming in his shorts. A guy had to have some pride. If there was a private shower somewhere, he’d find it and jack off until he could think again. As it was, he was out of luck, so he needed to get himself under control. “Enough, Vinnie.”

She rubbed against him, arching like a cat. “Are you sure?”

Hell no, he wasn’t sure. “Yes.” He released her and dug both hands into her hair, lifting and easily controlling her head. “Don’t trust me, and for God’s sake, don’t give yourself to me. Trust me.”

She laughed out loud. “What a contradiction you are.”

“Look who’s talking,” he said, frustration lowering his voice to a near growl.

“What makes you think I won’t tell Jax you’re going to betray him?” she asked without an ounce of coyness.

“He already knows I have an agenda and doesn’t trust me,” Raze said evenly. “I’m needed right now because his forces are down, or he’d probably just shoot me in the head and neutralize any threat.”

Vinnie sobered. “That’s just sad. Why don’t you tell me your agenda and I’ll help you? So long as nobody gets hurt.”

“You’ll know soon enough, baby.” He rolled to the side and dumped her on the bed, his entire body aching for relief. “We need food. Get dressed and we’ll head down.” He had to stop saying we. There was no we.

She grumbled but did as he said, rolling to the floor and heading for the defunct bathroom. The sound of her brushing out tangles in her thick hair filled the apartment with a domestic feel. A happy shout came from her. “You have the good toothpaste.”

“Yep. There’s water in a jug under the sink.” He drew on fresh jeans and a faded Metallica T-shirt before taking his turn in the useless bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he emerged, his shaggy hair smoothed back, she smiled. “You didn’t shave.”

“No.” He’d shaved the other day, so the shadow lining his jaw could stay for a couple more days. The room already smelled like her. Calla lilies with a hint of spice. “Thanks for letting me crash here last night. I was exhausted.”

She nodded and tugged the door open. “It’s your place.”

True, but now if felt like their place. He grabbed his gun off the top of the cupboard and tucked it into the back of his waist before following her into the hallway. They made it to the end just as Jax Mercury and Lynne Harmony stepped from the landing, plates of scrambled eggs in their hands as they headed to their apartment.

Lynne stopped and eyed Vinnie and then him. “Good morning,” she said, her green eyes twinkling.

Jax’s rough face, as usual, held no expression. “Sleep well?” he asked silkily.

Raze held his gaze and fought the urge to explain that nothing had happened. “Yes. Good morning.” He grasped Vinnie’s hand and tugged her past the couple.

“Morning,” Vinnie said as she passed. “Don’t worry. We didn’t have sex, although he had a raging erection.” She gasped and jerked free of his hold, running for the landing.

Raze continued after her, ignoring Jax’s low chuckle behind him. The woman really had to learn to censor her thoughts before they entered the world.

“We go on mission in an hour,” Jax said from behind him.

“Copy that.” Raze followed the scent of calla lilies.

Jax Mercury watched his new psychiatrist and his most dangerous soldier escape around the landing before shoving open his door with his hip.

Lynne followed behind him. “That was interesting.”

He shut the door and strode to the ratty sofa and rickety coffee table to set down his plate. A pretty green blanket stretched across the back of the sofa, while a fairly new and almost matching bedspread covered the neatly made bed. He surveyed a couple of new prints on the walls. “Have you been decorating?”

She put her plate on the table next to her father’s treasured journal and sat in a comfortable leather chair facing the sofa. “A little.”

The place had felt like home, as crappy as it was, from the first step Lynne Harmony had taken into his life. “It looks nice.” He’d grown up on the streets in a gang and then had entered the military before Scorpius infected the world, and while he’d dated plenty, he’d never had to search for flowery words. “I, ah, like it.”

Lynne smiled then, her eyes sparkling. “I’m glad.” Her blue heart glowed through her white blouse. She’d given up trying to hide the blue after he’d rescued her from her crazy ex-boyfriend.

Jax tossed plastic utensils to her before taking his seat. He glanced at a picture of his brother, Marcus, pinned near the door. “I had Byron sketch some pictures of Marcus to send out with scouts. Just in case they come across survivor encampments. To see if anybody has seen Marcus.” It was a long shot, but Jax had recently discovered that his little brother might still be alive, so he’d tried to figure out a way to find the man. Thus far, nothing had panned out.

“We’ll find him,” Lynne said softly. “I just know we will.”

“Faith is not wanting to know what’s true,” Jax murmured.

Lynne tilted her head. “Nietzsche?”

“Yep.”

“He was wrong about that one. Faith is good, and we will find your brother.” She smiled.

Her belief helped him. He concentrated on her. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” She dug into the watery eggs.

“Your wounds have healed physically, but I want to know about your mental state,” he said evenly, taking a bite of eggs. Yep. Watery without any salt. He sighed.

She lifted an eyebrow. “I’m well. Bret only had me for a few hours before you blew up his world.”

It had been a week since she’d been kidnapped by the president. Jax had saved her, but he had failed to kill the bastard. “I needed more explosives.”

She tilted her head to the side, easily reading his emotions. “It’s not your fault I was taken. You saved me, remember?”

“Everything that happens to you is on me,” he said, forcing himself to eat another bite of the eggs. Oh, an educated and cultured woman like Lynne wouldn’t completely understand his claim, but she’d support him. He was raised on the streets and understood this new life much better than she did. “You shouldn’t have been in danger.”

“Danger is everywhere,” she breathed.

“Not for you.” Jax finished the crappy breakfast. “We don’t have a clue where Atherton or his forces are, but we’ll find him.” While Jax wanted to be strategic and use Atherton, if they came face to face again, the president would bleed. No way could Jax let a threat to Lynne continue breathing.

“I know, but keep in mind that the military, what there is of it, answers to him.” She choked down more eggs. “I’m worried that he knows where we are now, you know? I think Tace is right and Bret will attack at some point.”

Oh, the bastard would definitely attack at some point. “Maybe, but we’ve shored up the perimeter for now, and Atherton needs to consolidate his forces before launching an attack. Hopefully we’ll be long gone from here when that happens, because I’d rather attack him on my terms.” Jax needed to move everyone out of inner city Los Angeles and go north to more fertile land soon. Food was becoming scarce. “We need to pick up a farmer or two.”

“We have a couple,” Lynne mused, eating more eggs. “We just need to find good land.”

“We will.” Jax studied the woman who’d stolen a heart he hadn’t realized he had. “How is the research going?” Lynne was the former head of infectious diseases at the CDC, and lately they’d raided several local labs and obtained reams of research files.

“It’s going well.” Her frown belied her words. “The last lab had some interesting theories on how to create permanent vitamin B in the body without monthly injections.”

“Good, so why are you frowning?”

“I need a lab. A good working lab.” She sat back in the chair. “The newest batch of research materials has references to the Bunker. I’m starting to think the place might actually exist.”

Jax rubbed his chin. “It kind of makes sense. I mean, the government had to have some sort of plan in case of a plague, right?” The Bunker was an almost mystical place whispered about in survival camps. A place beneath the ground with generators, labs, food, and medicine. But nobody knew its location or if it really existed.

“We have to find it. I need a lab.” She eyed the remaining scrambled eggs on her plate.

“Eat it all, Blue.” He couldn’t afford for her to get ill.

She sighed and picked up the plate to finish off the eggs. “You’re tense. I mean, more than usual. What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me.” She pushed her empty plate away. “We’re past that.”

“There are some things you don’t need to know.” She was good and kind and he didn’t want her carrying a burden that belonged to him.

She blew out air. “You’re planning something that has you tied up. So don’t do it.”

“How did you know?” Jax asked, more than ever intrigued by her ability to read people, especially him.

“We sleep together every night and see each other every day. There’s love here.” She picked at a loose string on her jeans. “If I had to guess, and apparently I do, this has something to do with Raze Shadow. You seem tense around him, but I know you like him.”

His woman was both brilliant and insightful. Usually he liked that about her, but sometimes it was a pain in the ass. He gave in and told her the truth. “I like parts of Raze, but he’s definitely a threat. His reason for being here is a bad one for us or he’d share it. I’m finished waiting for him to come clean or make a move. So he has to be neutralized.”

“That’s a lovely word for stopping his heart,” Lynne snapped.

Jax nodded.

“When?” she mumbled, her body stiffening.

“Today, scouting.” Jax kept his voice even and his face determined.

She looked him right in the eye. “Whatever his agenda, even if it’s bad, he won’t carry it out. He won’t let harm come to Vanguard. I just know it.”

“I can’t take that chance.” Heat slammed through Jax to roll into a hard pit in his gut. He loved her and he trusted her, but leadership of Vanguard belonged to him. “I have a job to do, Lynne.” That was the end of it.

Lynne ran her hand over her dad’s leather journal. She seemed to take some sort of comfort from the ramblings inside. “You’ll do the right thing today. I know you will.”

“Agreed.”