Stop. Pull away.

The words resounded in his mind, but his body refused to co-operate. Kissing Maria was entirely the wrong thing to do. He never kissed clients. He’d protected plenty of beautiful women, some who hadn’t been too shy to let him know they wouldn’t mind some extra benefits. He let them down gently and went on his way never giving them another thought. But the vulnerability in Maria’s eyes drew him in.

The way she’d stood there and looked him in the eye telling him she would go back to her father’s place. Give in to the man she was trying to breakaway from.

No way would he let that happen.

Nor could he let the kiss go on for much longer. If it did he would let a certain part of his anatomy take control. The problem was, Maria fit in his arms like no other women ever had.

He was in trouble.

Deep, deep trouble.

With his body screaming no, but his mind yelling yes, he loosened his hold on Maria and took a step back.

“I’m sorry,” his words came out croaky so he cleared his throat. “Kissing probably wasn’t a good idea.”

The sleepy, languid look in Maria’s eyes disappeared. He mourned the loss. The looseness their kiss had given her limbs drained out and her muscles tensed beneath the scrubs she wore.

Riley immediately regretted his words. Sure it was a bad idea, but he didn’t have to say it out loud. He’d enjoyed every single second of having Maria in his arms. In other circumstances he might have taken it further. He could’ve, right now, been kissing his way down her body. Learning the areas that made her sigh, and areas that made her cry out in ecstasy.

His already hard flesh hardened even further with his x-rated thoughts.

“Can you take me to my father’s now?”

“No.”

“What do you mean no? You can’t keep me here if I don’t want to be. It’s my life to ruin any way I chose.”

Against his better judgment, his fingers curled over her shoulders. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her.

“You’re not going anywhere, Maria. I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself. Tex and I will come up with a solution to this problem. Until we do, I think it would be best if you stayed here. You’re place isn’t safe anymore.”

Having her stay in his apartment was going to test his resolve. But there was no way he was going to let her go back to her own place. The potential of her being harmed was too high.

“Look I know you and Tex were both SEALs, dealing with my father is completely different to the situations you’ve had to deal with. Whatever it is you do for a living now, it won’t help in breaking me free from my father’s clutches.”

If only Maria knew the shit he’d seen and the crap he’d dealt with in the past. Riley knew extracting her from the Mob was going to be an uphill battle. He had no idea how he would manage it, but somehow, he’d get her free so she could follow her dreams.

“You’d be surprised at some of the stuff I’ve had to do. Not just when I was deployed, but when I was stateside as well. There’s a lot of bad shit in the world, Doc. I’ve seen plenty and I’ve rescued people who thought they had no escape.”

Before she could answer his doorbell rang. Immediately he went on alert. It was getting late and he hadn’t invited anyone over to his place. How had the person got past the night doorman?

Unless the person knocking on his door was on his list of approved visitors. Still he wasn’t taking any chances.

“Go into my bedroom and don’t make a sound,” he instructed Maria. He reached down and pulled the gun from his ankle holster. He looked to see if she had followed his instructions but Maria was rooted to the spot, her eyes fixed on his Glock. “I said go.”

“Wouldn’t it be safer if I come with you to the door?”

“No. Now don’t argue.” He canted his head toward his bedroom, relief pouring through him when she started moving. For a moment there he thought he’d have to hoist her over his shoulder and take her to his room.

The doorbell rang again. This time the person pressed the buzzer longer than was strictly polite.

With all the stealth he’d learned in his training, Riley stalked to the front door. Gun raised in the ready he looked through the peephole. When he saw who was standing on the opposite side to his closed door, his shoulders released the tension that had been riding them and lowered his gun.

Unlocking the door, he pulled it open. “What the fuck, Robot? What are you doing here?”

His former SEAL team mate smiled at him, his gaze taking in the gun still at Riley’s side. “Hell of a welcome.”

Riley laughed, before bending and putting his gun back in the holster. He straightened and held the door wide open for Robot. “You can never be too careful these days. Come on in.” Robot stepped into his hallway. Riley clasped his out stretched hand and they did the whole slap-on-the-back man hug.

“Nice digs you’ve got here, Ash. Certainly beats where I’ve been the last month.”

They walked down the hallway toward his living room. Riley still surprised at seeing his friend in his apartment. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Robot showed up on his doorstep after he spoke to Tex about getting in touch with him when the team got back stateside.

“I take it Tex spoke to you?” Riley asked.

“Affirmative.”

Riley wasn’t sure what to make of Robot being here. They hadn’t spoken or emailed in over a year. He knew the team had been deployed for six months, but once their tour was over they’d remained in the US. But that didn’t mean they remained in there. No doubt they were called out to covert missions that no one knew about.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Riley asked.

“I take it I’m not in any danger? Or do you like to invite the enemy into your house and offer them drinks.”

Riley turned and saw Maria standing in the doorway. “Did I say it was safe to come out?”

“Well no because it looked like you were busy with your bromance and forgot about me.”

Robot busted out laughing. “She’s feisty this one.”

Riley shook his head. He’d been so shocked to find him standing on the other side of the door that he had forgotten about Maria hiding out in his bedroom. He walked over to where she stood and reached out to touch her arm. Immediately the air sizzled around them at the contact.

“Maria, I’d like you to meet Robot. He was on my SEAL team.”

“Robot?” Maria went over to shake his hand. “You poor thing.”

“It’s okay, Robot is his nickname.” He looked over to where Robot stood, gave him a look and when Robot nodded he continued. “His full name is Brendan Dean.”

“Good to meet you, Maria.” Robot stood and clasped Maria’s hand.

“Likewise. Which name do you prefer?”

“I’ll answer to both.”

Riley narrowed his eyes as he watched the interaction, wanting to see if Maria reacted to Robot’s touch like she did to his. He immediately shook the thought off. He wasn’t jealous. So what if they’d shared a hot kiss earlier. He’d already told himself he wasn’t going to get involved with Maria. His track record with women wasn’t the best and his job wasn’t conducive to long term relationships.

The one and only serious relationship he’d ever had, had ended during his first deployment. Nothing like receiving a Dear John letter or in this case email when you’re about to embark on a serious mission. Thank goodness Storm had been there to pull him back from stepping on a landmine that would’ve taken them both out.

He disappeared out of the room to get drinks for everyone and took the time to get his thoughts away from the past and firmly on the issue at hand—protecting Maria and finding a way to grant her the freedom she badly wanted.

When he walked back into the room Maria and Robot were laughing. Both of them looked up as he slammed the bottles on the table a little harder than he thought.

“What are you to laughing about?”

“Oh. Robot, here was telling me about how he got his nickname. I told him I wanted to see a demo of his robot dance.”

“I told her my dancing days were over,” he said as he reached for one of the beers on the table.

Maria picked up the can of soda he’d also bought in and looked up at him. “I heard Tex call you Ash while we were at his house. I guess that’s just a shortened version of your last name.”

“Pretty much.”

Maria studied him as she took a sip of her drink. “Are you disappointed you didn’t get your nickname in a unique way?”

“No. I was fine with Ash. Now how about we leave talk of nicknames and return to the task at hand?”

Marie pouted and he bit back the urge to lean forward and suck her protruding bottom lip into his mouth. Fortunately the pout quickly disappeared. “I’ve told you what I want to do, Riley. I want to go back to my father’s house.”

“And I’ve told you that’s not an option.”

“I refuse to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. Wondering when he’ll strike again. At least if I’m living under his roof I won’t have to do that.”

“And living under his roof might lead to your death.”

Her face blanched at the starkness of his words. He hadn’t sugar coated what he’d told her before. He wasn’t planning to start now.

“I’m his only child. I doubt my father really wants me to die.”

“So what do you call tonight then? You recognized Andre behind the wheel of the car. I don’t believe what happened tonight was an accident. I think it was a warning.”

“Ash is right, Maria,” Robot interjected. “It would serve you no good to go to your father’s place.”

“And how much do you know about this, Mr. Robot? You just walked in here.”

“Okay, let’s all take a breath,” Riley said. “Fighting isn’t going to help us come up with a good plan. Maria, I’m pretty sure Tex would’ve given Robot a basic rundown of what’s happened.”

“Did you tell Tex what happened?” she asked.

Riley shrugged. “I didn’t have to. He knew.”

“How?”

“It’s never wise to question how Tex has knowledge of these things. The less you know the better it is for you. But he’s been hacking into the hospital’s security cameras all week to watch you. I’m guessing he was doing the same thing tonight.”

Riley knew she wasn’t going to like hearing what he’d just said, but she had to know all that he and Tex had done this week.

“I thought it was just you watching me.”

“No, it was the both of us. I can’t follow you around the hospital can I? I’m sure you go into restricted areas. Plus I don’t really want to watch you perform surgeries. With Tex’s computer skills it made sense for him to do what he did. Trust me when I say, Tex’s ability to access security cameras around the place has saved more than one person.”

“Maria, I know I only met you a half hour ago, but you have to trust what Ash and Tex are saying and doing. Plus now that the team is stateside, we’ll be more than happy to provide support where we can. I’ll talk to the Commander and clear it with him should the need for action arise.”

“I don’t believe this.” Maria covered her face with her hands. “I can’t let you do this. I can’t let you all put yourselves in danger, just to save me.”

Riley looked over at Robot, he never expected their help, but he couldn’t deny having the guys at his back should he need them was a welcome thought.

He squatted down in front of Maria, pulling her hands away from her face. He held them tightly, waiting until she looked at him. “Doc, they’re SEALs, danger is their middle name. Besides I don’t imagine things are going to get to the stage where we have to call in the big guns. But knowing I have my former team at my back if I need them is a big help.”

“I hardly think the US Military wants to get involved with the mafia,” Maria commented drily. “If you think they’re going to be useful then fine, but I’m not happy with all of this.”

Riley couldn’t help but agree with her comments. Anything the team did would have to be on the down low and on their free time. But as Robot said, their Commander was a good guy he’d clear them to help out where they can, especially if a woman was involved. Commander Prince had lost his niece when she’d been kidnapped and killed by her biological father. If he asked the Commander if the team could assist with keeping Maria safe, Riley had no doubt his former leader would allow the team to do whatever was needed to help.

“Well I think I should leave.” Robot stood. “Ash, if you need us you have my email. But also let Tex know he can get in touch with us if you can’t.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it, man.” Riley fixed his gaze on Maria. “Don’t move. I’m going to see Robot out then we can talk some more and eat.”

“As if I could leave. For all I know the doorman is probably an ex-SEAL or some other ex-special forces guy which makes leaving virtually impossible.”

“Surprisingly, he’s not.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, before following Robot out of the room. He lowered his voice as they reached the door. “Why don’t you speak to Italy and see if he can find out anything about Moretti. I know from my contacts that he wants his daughter back, but the reason as to why they can’t find out. Plus what happened tonight was definitely an attempt on her life. I don’t know if this Andre guy took it too far or he had orders to eliminate her.”

“Will do. Italy’s got family everywhere. I’m sure he’ll be able to find something out.”

Riley clapped Robot on the shoulder. “Thanks for coming tonight. I really appreciate it. And I’m sorry for—”

“Say no more,” Robot interrupted. “Once a team member always a team member, you know that. I know if I needed help, you’d be there no questions asked.

Riley nodded. Nothing more needed to be said. “Take care.”

Robot walked out before stopping and turning to look at him again. “By the way say hi to Storm for me. How are he and Lily?”

“They’re fine. Lily is about to have her baby so Storm’s a bit tense. But apart from that, Lily’s lingerie business is as busy as ever.”

“Good to hear. I’ll be in touch.”

Riley closed the door, pausing for a moment before heading back to the living room and Maria, a woman who was going to keep him on his toes. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he didn’t mind it. How could anyone not admire Maria? Her strength of character and determination to keep everyone around her safe appealed to him. More than it should. But he couldn’t let it. His focus had to be on protecting Maria and not repeating their kiss from earlier, no matter how tempted he was.