After work, Marco turned in the opposite direction of her apartment.

Kat frowned. “Where are we going?”

“I had your car towed this afternoon. We’re going to pick it up.”

Kat opened her mouth to protest his making that decision without consulting her, but the words didn’t come. It was actually a brilliant move. Anyone who might have been watching it would probably assume it was being towed as an abandoned car.

“Thank you,” Kat said.

Marco’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “No arguing?”

“Nope.” She was nearly as surprised as he was.

“Let’s see if we can go two for two then. I want to make sure you realize that you can’t drive it yet. I figure we can park it at my parents’ house with my truck.”

Now that she did want to argue about, but she couldn’t fault his logic. Her car was old and beat-up, making it distinctive. She doubted there was another maroon compact in the same model year with a dent in the quarter panel and a rust spot the size of a Frisbee on the hood.

But she hated having Marco chauffeur her around. It discomfited her any time people did things for her. It had been the opposite her entire life. Even her job as a bartender centered upon serving others.

Yet arguing with him was pointless on many different levels.

Marco pulled up to a swanky looking building and when Kat read the sign she did a double take. She didn’t realize towing companies could be swanky, but that’s exactly what this was. With the metal wrought-iron fence and security, it looked like an expensive gated community.

This place had to charge a fortune. Why the hell wouldn’t Marco have chosen a place that was more affordable and closer to her apartment? Then she realized that’s exactly why he’d chosen this place. The tow trucks were nondescript and unmarked, so anyone watching her car would have to follow the truck to see where it went. Also, it appeared the towed vehicles were stored behind a solid brick wall, so they couldn’t be seen from the street.

So it was a genius plan, much better than her idea of waltzing up to the car while it sat in the cemetery parking lot.

Once inside the building, Marco handled the bill while she produced the necessary identification to claim her car. Then the associate escorted them out to the lot.

Her car was a sorry addition to the fleet of high-end vehicles lined up in the parking spaces. There was even a Jaguar. They’d parked her car off to the side, as if its sad and run-down state might spread to the other cars.

Whatever. Kat had saved her money and paid for the car in full, so she owned it outright. Though a newer car would be nice, she wasn’t eager for a car payment and higher insurance costs.

She stuck her key in the door and before she even opened it, she knew something wasn’t right. There had been a box of tissues on the passenger seat along with an extra cardigan, but now those items were in the backseat. She peered at them, wondering if perhaps she was remembering wrong.

Except she knew she wasn’t.

Marco noticed her distress. “Is everything okay?”

“I think someone has been in here.”

“Why?” Marco pulled her away from the car, which only served to make her more anxious.

She pointed to the sweater and tissues in the backseat. “Those were in the passenger seat before.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Positive. I put them there the morning of the funeral.”

Marco ran his fingers along the window frames, then peered at the locks. After that, he laid on the ground next to the car, inspecting underneath it. She watched wordlessly as he popped the hood and searched there as well.

“Nothing appears to have been tampered with. Check inside to see if anything is missing.”

“I don’t keep anything in there. Nothing of value, anyway. Just some mints and sunglasses.” She’d learned her lesson after her car had been broken into. It was the price for living on the south side.

“Well, that’s good.”

“Except . . .” She got into the car and opened the center console, frantically searching through the spare napkins stashed there. “Oh, shit. My badge. It’s . . . wait. Here it is.” She clasped the badge to her chest and leaned back against the headrest, closing her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was somehow get Adamo involved. Tony already had enough of a mess on his hands.

“Perhaps we should leave the car here,” Marco said.

“Is there room in your parents’ garage?” Kat asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s move it there. I don’t even want to know how much it cost to have it towed. I especially don’t want to know how much it costs to keep a car parked here.”

“You know I—”

“And I know it’s a waste of money. I know you have plenty of it, but there’s no need to throw it away on something stupid. Take the money you would have spent here and”—she waved her hand—“send it to a charity or something if you’re dying to offload some cash.”

Marco chuckled. “I’ll be sure to do that. Do you remember the way to my parents’ house?”

She nodded. “I’ll see you there.”

* * *

Marco must have called his mother en route because when they got there, they simply stowed the car and left, not bothering to step inside to let her know. Kat appreciated that. The Adamo ladies were lovely, but she was in no mood to socialize.

This week felt like one of the longest in her life, and it was only Wednesday. She still had two more days until she could spend the day on the couch in her pajamas with the remote and a bowl of popcorn. She’d earned it. Or maybe not earned it, but she definitely needed it.

She trudged up the stairs half a step behind Marco, but before she reached the second-floor landing, he put a hand out to hold her back.

“What?” When she looked at her door, she saw the what. An envelope was hanging off her front door.

Where it had been stabbed with a knife.

Her blood ran cold and for a moment, her mind turned to Leo. That was something he would do. She quickly dismissed the thought. Leo was in prison. This was a brand-new heap of shit she’d found herself in.

She’d spent years of her life scared and it had taken equally long to recover from Leo terrorizing her. It had taken hard work to reclaim her life, so dammit, this just pissed her off. Who the hell did these men think they were?

“Fuck this shit,” she muttered, striding purposefully to the door, intending to rip the letter down.

Marco put his arm in front of her to stop her. “Be careful. Someone could be in your apartment.”

She sometimes had the habit of leaping without looking, which was how she’d ended up with Leo. But this time, she knew what she was doing.

“I don’t think so,” she said, pushing past him. “If they were going to ambush me in my apartment, I doubt they’d leave a welcome note.”

“Agreed,” Marco said, “but I’d rather play it safe.”

Kat ripped the letter from the knife and wrapped her hand around the hilt, yanking on it. The damn thing was really stuck in there. Whoever had done this was strong, really strong.

“Allow me,” Marco said and she stepped aside to let him have at it. He removed the knife from the door, making it look effortless.

So perhaps Kat was wimpier than she’d thought.

“If I ask you to wait out here, will you?” Marco asked. He took one look at her expression and sighed. “Never mind.”

Kat stuck her key in the door, but despite her brave words and guise, her hands shook. When she left Leo, she’d sworn she’d never again come home to her apartment in fear of what danger awaited inside.

That reminder caused anger to surge within her and she gripped onto it. Being pissed was preferable to being scared.

She swung the door open and Marco entered first, gun drawn. She blinked at the sight of it, not having realized he even had one. He looked like he wasn’t afraid to use it, but then again, he had just been in a war zone. She stuck her hand into her purse, gripping her own gun and hoping like hell she wouldn’t be forced to shoot anyone in her apartment. Again. Her neighbors would start a petition for her eviction.

Marco moved silently into the living room, scanning the area. He ducked into the bedroom, emerging moments later.

“It’s clear.”

Well that was one good thing about having a small apartment—not many places to hide.

Kat collapsed on the coach, grateful her home had not been violated. But how had they found out where she lived? Since she’d moved back, she’d taken painstaking care to stay off the radar. She’d succeeded in staying off Leo’s radar, but he was a low-level criminal. The stakes had been raised and she was out of her league. Since these men were X’s rivals, they could have limitless resources. She’d been foolish to think they couldn’t find her.

She realized she still had the letter clutched in her hands. Looking down at it, though, she had her answer.

“My mail,” she whispered.

“What?”

“On the way to the funeral, I stopped to get my mail,” she explained. “I left it in my car.”

But it hadn’t been there just now. She normally didn’t take her mail into the car with her, so she’d forgotten all about it. Those men probably had the resources to find her, but she’d made it easy. They hadn’t even had to break into the glove box, which was locked and contained her registration, another thing she hadn’t considered until now.

“Was it anything important?” Marco asked.

She shook her head. “Junk mail.” She should have dumped it straight into the trash bin, instead of holding onto it with the intent of recycling it later.

She exhaled and looked down at the letter. Marco sat beside her as she opened it.

She quickly skimmed through it, then looked up at Marco. “They want X. He owes them money.”

“Is it signed?”

“Just with an R. What is it with these people using letters?” First X and now this R person.

“They’re using you as leverage,” Marco said grimly.

“But I don’t even know X,” Kat protested. “He didn’t even know I existed until yesterday.”

Was it only yesterday that she’d started the day by laying Gram to rest? Except she hadn’t really gotten to do that. The funeral was anything but peaceful. Tears filled her eyes. She was sure Gram had been buried as scheduled and she hadn’t been there to say her final good-byes.

“Bastards,” she muttered, turning her face away so Marco wouldn’t see her cry. She’d known Gram’s death would hit her at some point, but she’d hoped to be alone when it did. It appeared the autopilot mode she’d been working on was finally shutting down.

She choked out a sob, not able to hold it in. She felt Marco’s hand on her shoulder and leaned toward it, seeking comfort. It was all too much. She’d hit her breaking point.

Marco must have seen that as an invitation because he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her body against his chest.

She curled into his chest and the power of him made her feel safe enough to let down her walls.

Tears came hard and fast and Kat had trouble breathing from the intensity of it. It was like all the woes in her life had caught up to her, hitting her all at once.

She cried for her brother. She cried for her shitty childhood. She cried for the disaster that had been her time in Florida. But most of all she cried for Gram, that sweet woman who’d left her life way too soon. It was a cruel twist of fate that Alzheimer’s began eating at her mind almost as soon as they’d found each other.

And if Kat had learned nothing else in her life, it was that fate was a bitch, continually slapping her down when she was at her weakest.

Except now. Though she’d wanted to be alone when she broke, fate had given her this man who comforted her. A man who constantly gave and asked for nothing in return. A man she desired.

She clung to him, tilting her face toward his, wanting more than just the comfort of his arms. She wanted him to help her forget, if only for a little while.

She wanted all of him.

His gaze raked across her face as he breathed deeply. She met his gaze, willing him to understand what she needed. His eyes darkened with intensity and a need of his own.

She snaked her hand around his neck and pulled his mouth down to meet hers. That was all it took. With a groan, he plundered her mouth, tasting, giving, soothing her. Every stroke of his tongue against hers brought her one step closer to being okay again.

Her fingers found the bottom of his shirt and she yanked it up, pulling it over his head. The second it took to do that was too long, and they came back together as if they’d been starved for one another in that brief second.

She straddled him, grinding against the hard length she could feel through his jeans. His hands gripped her ass, encouraging the movement.

She stripped off her shirt and he wasted no time indulging in her flesh that was now his for the taking. His teeth nipped at her nipples through her bra and she arched her back, throwing her head back at the glorious sensation it sent coursing through her body.

Heat gathered in her core, dampening her panties as she ground even harder against him.

With a growl, Marco flipped her onto her back on the couch in one swift move. As he hovered over her, she pulled at the button on his jeans. He ran a hand down her body, caressing her breast and acquainting himself with her curves.

“You are so goddamn beautiful,” he rasped out.

His words took her breath away because in that moment she believed them.

She fumbled with the button on her own pants, the task confusing her fingers until he took over, stripping off her pants and panties in one fell swoop.

He put his hands under her hips and leaned down to lick her.

Her muscles tensed as the unexpected pleasure shot through her and she forced herself to relax, opening her legs wider for him. He suckled her clit, causing her to cry out and dig her nails into his shoulders.

Then he turned his attention lower, his tongue tasting and plunging inside her. Her body writhed against him and she squeezed her eyes shut, finally allowing herself to lose control, crying out as she broke.

She panted as aftershocks coursed through her and her body shuddered. Marco shimmied up beside her so he could hold her. She clung to him.

He stroked her hair, kissing her all over her face.

She felt worshiped.

Cupping his face with her hands, she brought his mouth to hers, tasting herself on his lips. It aroused her in a way she hadn’t expected and tension began to build in her body again. She ran her fingertips along his back, gaining satisfaction when goose bumps formed on his skin. He buried his face in her neck and she wrapped her legs around him.

His pants and boxers hung off his hips and she pushed them the rest of the way down, gasping with pleasure as his hardness pressed against her opening.

His body stilled for a split second, but she gripped his ass, holding him in place. She tilted her hips up, inviting his entrance. He pushed inside her and she bit his shoulder as she was utterly and gloriously filled completely.

He moved inside her, long and deep strokes, her wetness making them both slick. She locked her ankles around his waist and he gripped her hips, tilting her so that she opened up even more for him.

The shift made his next stroke go even deeper, and she cried out his name, holding onto him for fear she would lose herself.

He shifted once again and now his body rubbed against her clit every time he moved. The tension in her body skyrocketed and seconds later, her legs squeezed around him as her muscles quivered, taking her to the edge.

Finally she fell again, crying out his name and holding him against her.

With two more thrusts, Marco groaned, burying his face in her hair while his body achieved its release.