Luke knew he was being an idiot. Charging headlong into fire was a good way to die futilely and painfully. But after the last two weeks, and especially the past couple of days, Benny was not freakin’ getting away.

Leaping over the body of Katie was a little too Rambo, but respect for the dead was best left until the living were safe. He ran up the stairs as best he could, but the beating he’d taken and the forced idleness had taken their toll on his muscles.

Dani was still right behind him. Luke had a mix of annoyance and fear for her safety, all combined with a great deal of pride for a girl who was as stupid as he was. She was a partner in many ways, and it was good for someone to have your back. Now, if she would only stay back. Well back. Where she’d be safe.

He ducked a moment when the shot rang out, but decided that he’d had enough. No more of this, no more hiding or running. He reached the top step as the shooter was trying to clear a jam, and threw himself against the door the man had braced himself behind.

The shock of getting hit with the door gave Luke a moment to bring everything he had, his weight, years of training, and weeks of pent-up rage into a single elbow blow that came down behind the man’s skull. He collapsed in a pile. Luke looked at the pistol. The jam was bad; it would take several minutes to clear it, time he didn’t have.

He dragged the body free and sent it rolling down the stairs. Luke had a quick image of Dani leaping gazelle-like over a rolling corpse, like a macabre version of Donkey Kong. He looked into the banquet hall but the sound of the helicopter grew closer, and he saw the sign indicating that there was helipad on the roof. He grabbed a steak knife and bolted without thinking.

He could hear Dani following behind, the muffled slap of bare feet.

There is an old expression that posits, “God protects drunkards, fools, and little children.” He was stone- cold sober and adult by any standard. Luke lived another day either due to foolishness or dumb luck.

He tripped. That was the essence of it. He tripped and fell. The wall exploded behind his head. Another of Benny’s men stood in a shooter’s pose at the door. Luke flung the knife at him; it sailed harmlessly butt first.

The thug ducked, protecting his face, and Luke sprang, putting all his energy into a single leap. He twisted under the man’s legs, spilling him over the stairs, and grabbed his head as the man flew. He felt the crack of the man’s neck and released him.

He grabbed the pistol, grateful for the chance to have a working, loaded gun. He dove through the door, looking for cover, when Jimmy started shooting.

Jimmy was beside Benny. Benny was crouched down behind some kind of heating or cooling unit on the other side of the helipad, and the helicopter was heading in.

He fired, subconsciously trying to keep track of the bullets left in the clip. Jimmy had him pinned down. He needed a distraction, something to put the focus off him. At least in a few minutes the wind from the helicopter would make bullets a moot point. Nothing would fly straight in the blast from that wind.

Dani burst through the door. She carried a knife and a... a bottle of freakin’ Champagne.

Jimmy turned at the motion and began firing at her. Bullets rang off the door she was hiding behind, and Luke twisted from the side of the AC unit as a ladder fell from the helicopter.

Luke fired. Twice. Jimmy fell, lying on the roof, bleeding out, but still firing. Luke ducked behind the unit again, and Benny leapt from cover to grab the ladder. He wrapped his forearms through the rope ladder, one leg tangling in a support, and held on.

The helicopter rose. Luke spun, trusting the fate that had kept him alive so far, and fired three more shots, correcting as far as he was able for the wind, begging for just one more favor—the ability to right just one more wrong.

He missed.

Jimmy lay dead on the roof, his pistol beside him. Luke and Dani both ran to the helipad; Luke leveled his pistol and fired. It was empty. Benny was a good thirty feet off the ground by now, waving cheerily, with just one finger.

He’d lost.

Benny had gotten away. Luke started after Jimmy’s gun when a Champagne bottle flew past his head like a missile. He heard the scream from Dani, the same angry scream she’d given the day they’d met when she threw two bottles of booze into the far wall of a conference room.

The Champagne bottle flew in a perfectly straight line. It hit the back of Benny’s head and shattered. Luke was shocked at the level of strength required to manage such a throw, staring wide-eyed as Benny slumped, unconscious, in the rungs of the ladder as the helicopter continued to rise.

About one-hundred feet off the ground, Benny slipped from the rungs and fell, limp and quiet to the ruined church below. His body tore through what was left of the roof of the building, and disappeared.

Luke raised his head to stare at the woman he loved, wondering how the hell he’d gotten so lucky.

Dani stood there beside him, looking like a primitive warrior: torn dress, knife in one fist, and body taut with battle-readiness. Luke felt an instant erection just looking at her like that.

“Nice throw.”

She looked at him and smiled. “I cost my father a fortune in booze practicing,” she admitted, ducking her head.

He swore she was blushing.

It was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen in his life.

The parking lot filled with flashing lights and sirens. In the reflected light of fire and police vehicles, he reached for her, or perhaps she reached for him. He dropped the empty gun; she tossed the knife away from her.

His hand found the new slit in the dress, the one that rode up past her thigh, and all the way to her hip. He felt the soft skin over the hard muscles of her thighs, his fingers cupping her buttocks. His lips took hers, his arms wrapped her up in a bear hug, and he buried his hands in her hair.

As far as he was concerned, he was never letting her go again.

He tore his lips from hers only to look into her eyes.

“I love you,” he whispered, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

“FREEZE!” someone yelled from the door.

“This must be my lucky day,” Dani murmured, and fell into his kiss, regardless of the stampeding army of law enforcement officers swarming out of the stairwell, shouting orders.

“Maybe we’re both having a good day,” Luke said, and bent his head to kiss her again.

It wasn’t until they both were handcuffed that the police were able to finally separate them.