“Five dollars,” Dani whispered in Luke’s ear. Luke looked up from the book he was attempting to read. She doubted he could even have said what kind of novel it was. Or even if it was a novel. He’d been staring at the same page for the last half hour. As his mother was summarily uninterested in television and didn’t even own one of those ‘infernal devices,’ there had been little else to do, and they were forbidden by Luke’s father to leave.

Luke looked up at her, uncomprehending, and blinked. The light dawned in his eyes. He snapped the book shut and set it on the table. Marcus smiled behind the copy of The Golden Bough he’d settled down with in the corner.

Edwin, William, and Elaina were gathered around the dining room table, intently whispering to each other, some emphatic gestures indicating that the topic under discussion was their children. The open-concept design of the house left them in plain view; they fooled no one with their nods and smiles when it was easy to see the pointing fingers and head-shakings that they seemed to think were somehow invisible to everyone else. Luke smiled, and shook his head as he got up and took Dani’s hand, leading her through the side door and out into the warm Florida night.

Her heart pumping, they stole over the grass and found the small side door of the garage unlocked. Glory hallelujah, something was actually going right. They slipped inside, and he leaned against the side of the Cadillac. Dani nestled between his legs, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her nose to his.

“At last,” she tried to purr the words, but lost whatever sexy vibe she’d been trying to give off by giggling. So maybe she wasn’t a great seductress. He had to give her points for trying. Besides, they had a moment alone, no one else, no other talking or distractions, just the time alone.

“You know...” Luke said, holding her waist just above the hips and idly stroking her belly with his thumbs. It was all the more romantic because it was an unconscious gesture, a familiarity that showed his level of connection more than any words could have. “...the church is just down the street. We can walk down there...”

Dani pulled away, feeling as if someone had doused her in ice water. “Really? After all this time? All you can think about is that damn...”

“No.” Luke’s eyes went wide. Panicky. “I’m sorry, you’re right. You’re right.” He stood and grabbed her hands when she would have bolted. “I got obsessed.” He shook his head. “I think we’re all a little crazy right now. These past weeks...”

In the diffused glow of the streetlight filtering through the window it was hard to see details, but he sounded contrite. She balled a fist and bounced it softly off his chest. “I thought maybe you and I could have a moment. It’s been days. we were nearly married, people have been getting killed all around us, we’ve been on the run either from someone or to something. Not to mention your former boss let us go and is hunting us again...” She sighed heavily, maybe a little dramatically, but she felt a little dramatic right now. Wired and strung-out. Like she’d been in a combat zone for too long and had no idea when the bombs were going to drop. “How much more can a girl take? I need you!”

Luke held her hips and gave her a small shake with his grip. “You say the sexiest things.” He laughed, and she melted a little at the sound, realizing that, yes, he was trying. He got as focused as she did, only his focus right now was on the problem and her focus was... well... elsewhere.

Dani opened her fist and caressed his chest and down over his abs. So, he was being a jerk. I can be pissed, or I can get laid. She smiled at the thought. It wasn’t just about sex though, at the moment, that was a severe need. It was about sex with Luke. She wanted him. You’d think he could see that.

Assuming he was going to waste more time apologizing, Dani took the lead and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him down to her. She crushed her lips to his, ran her hands up the back of his shirt, and pressed herself against his crotch. Again, the thickness of him pressed against his pants, growing stiffer as she rubbed against him.

Silenced, his mouth attacked the nape of her neck, and she could hear his breath speed up, could feel the urgency in him that mirrored her own. She stood back, letting his legs wrap around her, and slipped her shirt over her head, freeing her bra. Bare-chested, she launched herself back into his arms, relishing the feel of his shirt on her nipples, the way his hands touched every inch of her back.

They fell against the car, entwined and heated, fingers exploring every inch of each other, desperate to be together, as if they’d never parted. Her hands grasped his face, held him as she covered his lips and cheeks with kisses. He cupped her left breast, playing with the hardening nipple, and she dropped a hand to rub him through the cloth of his jeans.

He unzipped her shorts, spreading the two halves wide apart, reaching under the panties and feeling the wetness of her. His touch was electric, and she nearly came just from the initial contact. Her breath caught, stopped, and restarted along with the beating of her heart.

“Oh, yes... please...”

Her murmured pleadings were lost against his mouth. She tore off his shirt and dropped her pants, standing in her underwear in the soft, ambient light. She reached for his zipper, making a show of pulling it down slowly, ever so slowly reaching in and...

The world exploded in light, with a clatter of noise, the soft whirr of a motor coming to life.

Dani screamed, and dropped to the floor as the garage door rolled up.

“Plenty of time for that later!” William called, his figure backlit by a passing car, features impossible to make out. “Family meeting. Now!”

The garage door closed, and Luke and Dani stared at each other. Luke found a whole slew of words she hadn’t heard since basic training. Her hand shook as she reached for him. Not fright, not even anger so much as pent-up frustration. Dani hurriedly yanked up her shorts, glad that she’d been at least wearing her underwear when she’d given an impromptu peepshow for the entire neighborhood. She was thinking a few choice words of her own as she refastened them. Luke tried to fit himself back into his pants, and straightened his shirt as she refastened her bra and pulled her shirt over her head.

“Luke...”

She couldn’t find the words to say. Apology felt wrong. Inwardly, she was seething. This was about more than aborted sex. Just one look told her that the gulf between them was back. She might as well have been standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. He wouldn’t even look at her.

He’s not mad at me.

It didn’t help, knowing that. She sighed, and pulled a little harder than was needed on the edge of her shirt, hearing stitches give way somewhere; one more thing that had gone wrong with this whole terrible, awful day.

Besides, the primal scream that Dani bit back would have alerted the entire populace of Florida.

Luke made a noise in the back of his throat and clenched a fist, made as if to swing it, stopping short of the driver’s side window. It wasn’t his mother he was mad at currently, though. He pulled back and let the momentum swing him around, turning it into a violent gesture of frustration, ending in a foot- stomping expression of pique that would have made an Irish step dancer proud. He stomped his foot three times and exhaled, moving his hips to settle himself back in his pants.

Then he did something so utterly romantic that he broke her heart, when he reached out and wiped a tear from Dani’s cheek she didn’t know was there.

On the other side of the door, William waited. Dani stalked past him, rage and annoyance in every step. It rolled off her; by rights the very ground under her feet should have smoked and burned.

William hung back to talk to Luke, but Dani could hear him quite clearly, which she was sure was his intention.

“You two ever do anything else? There’s a time and place for that.”

Dani turned, ready to punch William, father-in-law or no. He held up both hands in a gesture meant to be placating. “I understand. When Luke’s mother and I first were engaged, there wasn’t a flat surface we didn’t...”

“I don’t need to hear this!” Luke shouted over his father’s story.

Marcus sidled up to Luke, catching him on the front porch where he clandestinely passed Luke something. It was a five-dollar bill.

Luke gave him a pained look and followed the others into the house.

“There are no cheap, ugly statues at the church,” William announced as he shoved his way into the house, the front door banging hard into the wall with the violence of his passing.

“You broke into the church?” Elaina gasped, one hand going to her throat, her face growing pale. Angry.

“No.” William threw up his hands in disgust. “What the hell do you think I am? I had a man wake the reverend and had him open the church.” He smiled at his ex-wife. It was a nasty sort of smile. Dani found herself edging closer to Luke. “He was told that there were drugs hidden in the donated items.”

“Wait, what do you mean it wasn’t there?” Edwin demanded, jumping to his feet to face William as he realized exactly what they were talking about. That was Dad for you, always right on top of the conversation.

“It wasn’t ugly,” Luke protested, more to himself than anyone. Dani patted his arm.

“No, dear, it was only cheap,” Elaina confirmed, sinking back down into her chair and picking up the needlepoint she’d been working on.

“It was a... bird...” Luke tried to remember.

“No bird statues, no department store seconds, no birds with USB sticks shoved up their asses.” William spoke, his whole body quivering with rage. “It’s gone.”

“It is now,” Marcus said quietly, coming in last and closing the door gently. Dani gave him a hard look. He’d been outside an awfully long time.

“Meaning?” William stared at the man.

“Meaning that it’s out of our hands now. Meaning that you could have and would have taken it, and lied to us so we all go home like good little children while you continue to be ‘the authorities’. Either way, we no longer have a say in this. It’s your problem now.”

Dani bit her lip, moving back away from Luke to come alongside Marcus. To touch his arm, wishing she could ask, knowing it would have to wait. He glanced at her, his eyes sharp, giving her the tightest of head shakes, signaling her to hold her peace.

“You’re free to go, of course,” William said, without the customary smile, “but I’m not lying. It’s gone, and I don’t know where.”

In the ensuing silence Elaina set down her needlework again, knocking a small skein of blue wool across the table. It rolled halfway and stopped. “Well, there’s little enough we can do about it now. It’s late, and even if the pastor doesn’t need to sleep we do.”

“And let him run off?” Edwin glowered at William.

“Or any of you?” William replied, all smiles again.

“We’ll all stay here,” Dani said suddenly, glancing again at Marcus uneasily. “And no one leaves anyone else’s sight.”

They looked at each other, eye to eye. Assessing. Marking.

“Won’t that be fun,” Elaina said, but her heart wasn’t in it and it came off rather flat and even... nasty?

Dani blinked as she thought that over.

Yay. A sleepover.

***

LUKE WOKE DANI IN THE middle of the night. Well, not quite the middle of the night, more like almost morning.

She hadn’t been expecting it. She’d been sharing the bedroom with Luke’s mother, and though she was able to take a shower, for which she was grateful, it still left the problem of clean clothing. When the problem was realized and discussed thoroughly over pizza and beer, William was more than willing to let her, or anyone else that needed to, leave to get a fresh change. But it was decided that a shopping trip of that nature would require bringing everyone with her. There’d been a heated debate about the matter, but in the end the idea of taking a group of people into the fitting room with her over at Walmart had settled the matter. Everyone had fallen back, some glaring rather pointedly at William, whose game this had clearly become.

Not that she couldn’t take it. Dani had lived in combat fatigues for longer than this. And in less pleasant surroundings. No, she’d live. Besides, this was civilization. A quick inquiry had located the washer and dryer tucked in a corner just off the kitchen, behind a louvered sliding door. Problem solved. Mostly. For one thing, it wasn’t just her shirt that found its way into the machine, meaning there were a lot of bare-chested men sitting around in their shorts. The image wasn’t a good one. Dani had paused in the stairwell, and thought that all they needed was a proper cave and a fire to become primordial man. From the amount of posturing and testosterone in the air, it was a wonder they weren’t beating their chests and howling.

Luke was the only one acting half-civilized. He sat glancing through the newspaper, sitting on a Windsor chair with a steaming cup of coffee at one hand, and a chocolate chip cookie in the other, taken from a package unearthed from the cupboard, that was so old and stale that no one had minded giving the entire thing up when Marcus and Luke had pressed the issue.

Luke didn’t seem to know she was even there, watching him. Wishing that he’d drop that damn paper and give her a good look at those tight abs. Unless, of course, that’s why he was doing it. A sudden glance over the sports section sent Dani scampering backwards, up the stairs and out of sight, thankful there was no one upstairs to see her blush.

Then she saw the nightgown.

It was a pale blue thing. All lace and sheer panels, not the lumpen, shapeless coverall she’d been expecting when Elaina had offered it to her. Dani was somewhat taller and bustier than Elaina, and the silky fabric not only accented her breasts, but showed a great deal of leg as well. Oddly enough, the hem of the nightgown came almost to Dani’s knees, covering more than the shorts did, but between the way the cloth strained at the bust and the flow of the cloth on her legs, complete with slit halfway up her thigh, it felt... revealing.

On the other hand, were it only her and Luke, he perhaps would like this look on her. Though, maybe not one that had belonged to his mother first. He had complexes enough, and that would quite clearly be pressing the limit of what would be good for his mental health. Still, she couldn’t go out there while flaunting her... yeah... that. She turned and tried to see what she looked like from behind. Nope. Clearly not something meant to be worn in mixed company.

So, Elaina produced a thick, luxurious robe that was sweltering even in the air conditioning. Elaina said she used it on “spa days” when she took her bath and spent the rest of the day curled up with a good book. It at least hid Dani’s form enough to get from bedroom to kitchen, where she could tend the laundry.

It took a few hours to wash and dry everyone’s clothing, but it felt good to be clean again. The gentlemen took the front room, opting to sleep where they sat. Whether or not anyone so much as closed an eye downstairs remained to be seen. Elaina and Dani took the bedroom upstairs, everyone ignoring the fact that there was a perfectly good guest room next door. But then by even Elaina had entered into the spirit of things, and made enough noises about keeping Dani “where she could see her” that sharing the queen-sized bed seemed the only option. Though her reasons had very little to do with the chase for the elusive USB stick. Dani suspected she was more worried about her son having sex with his fiancée under her own roof.

As if they would. They had the garage for that.

Regardless, they wound up with an arrangement where all parties concerned could keep an eye on all other parties concerned. Definitely not a night for sound sleeping.

Except for Elaina.

Elaina slept hard, making little huffing sounds that came from her side of the bed. Dani lay awake, still in the nightgown. She had too much to think about and, tired as her body was, she wasn’t about to sleep until some things were settled in her mind.

Like what exactly she was doing here.

She’d come back to the United States to attend her brother’s graduation, not to get involved in something that could potentially destroy the world. Or at least cause scandal in every corner of it. This whole thing with Luke had been unexpected. Exciting. She’d never truly been in love before. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have put up with house arrest for weeks and falling into the middle of a Mafia turf war. But now? Why couldn’t they just leave? Let the grown-ups find the stupid USB while she and Luke went somewhere sane. Like Tahiti. Edwin and William didn’t really need them anymore. Okay, well, having Luke along might identify the bird just that much faster, but he was so vague about the details now she didn’t expect anything magical, like some sort of recognition the moment he spotted it.

But why would he need to? How many bird statues could possibly have been donated to the church? Even if they went over there in the morning, it seemed like an entire waste of time. Especially if it were actually gone. All the more reason to leave and make this someone else’s problem.

Only, there was Luke. The very definition of Boy Scout. He wasn’t about to let either father get their hands on that bird. To his way of thinking neither of them were trustworthy. She wasn’t all that sure she agreed with that. While her own father might have been a little... creative... in the truths that he told, wouldn’t he do the right thing if the entire country was at stake? Or even the world? And if William worked for the government, didn’t that make him the ideal candidate to take the thumb drive when it was found, even if he was a little... manipulative... in a spooky kind of way?

Dani rolled over, trying desperately to shift to a position that would be more conducive to sleep. The problem was Elaina was a sprawler, and was encroaching onto her side of the bed. She was clutching the edge of the mattress, wondering how much trouble she’d get in to for ‘accidentally’ kicking her fiancé’s mother.

Which, of course, was the other whole problem. She’d gotten kind of used to the idea of Luke as her fiancé. Fake or not, she really did like the idea of being with him... well... kinda long term. He made her laugh. And there were precious few people in the world who could do that. More than that, she just needed him. In ways she’d never known she could need a man. Not just in sexual ways, but in every way. The way you needed air to breathe or food to eat. He was those things to her. When he wasn’t near, she felt like she was going to suffocate. Or starve.

Like she was starving now.

She shifted again, her hand slipping between her thighs, pressing just so, to ease the violent ache that had erupted at the mere thought of him. Not that she’d be so crass as to masturbate in the same room as his mother, but she just needed the touch right then. No... she needed his touch. Now.

Close your eyes. Close your eyes and go to sleep. He’s in a room full of shirtless old men. Think about that for a minute. There is nothing sexy about that image.

Only, the image that stayed with her was him, leaning back in the chair. That damned newspaper shielding... yeah, well, he could have shown her what he was shielding. As far as she’d been concerned in that moment, they’d been the only two people in the world.

Why again wasn’t she in the guest room? With him?

She groaned, and buried her face in the pillow, freezing when Elaina made a soft noise and shifted onto her back. She began to snore.

Great. Just great.

Tired. Frustrated. It was a wonder Dani slept at all. At some point she must have dozed, for when she heard the clink of something metal hitting against the door her eyes shot open, but for a moment she couldn’t remember where she was.

There. That sound. Something rustling?

She turned her head, willing herself to see in the dim light, but the room was too dark. With a glance to the sleeping Elaina, she stole from the bed to pad over to the door. Light from the hallway shone through the crack, making it very easy to see the bit of belt that was pressed underneath the door and into the room. Whoever held it was moving it back and forth under the door. Dani smiled and looked back at the bed. Satisfied that her future mother-in-law was still sound asleep, she put a foot down on the leather. There was a slight pull at first, but when nothing further happened something else was pressed under the door.

It was a five-dollar bill.

Dani smiled and grabbed the money. Heart singing anthems and hallelujahs she silently dressed, carrying her boots and the socks that had refused to dry with the rest of her clothes, and slipped the five into her pocket. One more stolen glance showed Elaina still asleep as Dani slipped through the door.

No one was in the hallway. Of course not. For a moment she glanced toward the empty guest room, thinking again that if people would just freaking relax, they could have... okay, maybe not with her father in the next room. And his. Fine. The garage was fine.

Slipping down the stairs was easy. The hard part was crossing through a room full of men who were notorious for being light sleepers. Marcus had chosen a spot on the floor near the side door Dani had snuck out through earlier.

He rose on one elbow and regarded her balefully in the pre-dawn light. Dani knelt beside him and showed him the five-dollar bill. Marcus looked at her for a long moment, snatched the bill from her hand, and gave her an exaggerated  wink. He rolled away from the door and Dani slipped out into the night.

She padded to the garage and met Luke.

He was standing there, talking to his father.

Luke shrugged, and gritted his teeth.

“Ah, there you are,” William said as though he’d been waiting for her all night. “It’s nearly dawn.”

Dani looked from him to Luke and back again. “Did I oversleep?” Her body had just gone, not for the first time, from arousal to ice in less than three seconds flat. She could be forgiven for being just a tad snarky.

William gave her a look before turning to Luke. “I think we might start off—it’s a bit early, but it shouldn’t be too much of a wait.”

“What is he talking about?” she hissed at Luke, crossing her arms against the pre-dawn chill. T-shirt and shorts were not adequate dress for five a.m., even in Florida. “This was for the five bucks?”

“I had something else in mind,” Luke growled through clenched teeth. “He just showed up while I was waiting.”

“Coming, kids?” William called.

“Well, not now!” Dani seethed.

Luke clapped a hand over her mouth. “Yeah. We’re coming.”

She shot Luke a look. Did he seriously want to go there?

He looked at her a long moment. “Just... behave,” he muttered, pulling away his hand. “This isn’t exactly my rodeo anymore.”

She met his gaze, still frustrated, and angry as hell. “Cowboy, you’re so deep in the horseshit right now, it’s a wonder you can see the rodeo at all.”