It hadn’t occurred to me how difficult it would be to just sit around a hotel room all day doing nothing in particular. Especially when I’d ditched my regular phone, and I didn’t dare contact Grace using my burner. Giving away that number could mean giving up my entire family. She knew where I was, of course, but we hadn’t made a specific plan about when we’d see each other next. Why the hell hadn’t I thought of that while she was here?

I was stuck in limbo.

At least I had my computer. By the evening, I was all caught up on celebrity gossip, travel deals, and local apartment buildings that looked low-key enough that I might be able to make my move there when the current furor died down. I was just setting the laptop aside to call for room service when someone knocked on the door.

I tensed for the second it took before Grace’s soft voice carried through. “Jeremy? It’s me.”

My heart leapt with way more excitement than was really practical. I sprang off the bed and hurried to the door. When I opened it, Grace was beaming. I could tell from the sparkle in her eyes that it was more than just happiness at seeing me.

First things first. I tugged her inside, kicked the door shut, and pulled her into a kiss. A pleased sound reverberated from her chest as she kissed me back. I’d been with her last night and this morning—I shouldn’t have still felt so hungry for her. But fuck, I wanted her moaning under me all over again.

I reined in my hormones and eased back. “It’s good to see you. Everything’s okay?”

“Yeah. I—” A momentary shadow crossed her face. “Well, it’s not completely good. They broke into my house and trashed it.”

“What?” My voice cracked with anger. The emotion surged through me so suddenly I couldn’t catch the tingling that shot through my nerves alongside it. One of the pillows flew off the bed. It had smacked the window before I got my reactions under control.

Grace stared at the pillow as it dropped to the floor. She might have accepted what I was, but she had a little way to go before she was completely used to it.

“Tell me everything,” I said, schooling my voice calmer. “Are you okay? What exactly did they do?”

She took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “I’m fine. The break-in was over way before I got there. But at work, Britta told me that woman I saw in the blue sedan had come in asking questions about me. About whether I’d been hanging out with any guys around work. She mentioned that I’d brought you in to do the photos. And then when I got home, the lock on the front door was broken and the house was just a mess. Everything pulled apart and ripped open and throw around.”

She sucked in a breath. Her shoulders squared. “But I got one over on them. I called the police. When they came to take the report, I told them the truth—that two people I’d never seen before yesterday had been pestering me at work, and I’d seen one of them parked on the street as if casing places. I described Malcolm and the woman and both of the cars. If they’re cruising around looking for you, they’ll get picked up and taken in.”

The gleam in her eyes was so adorably triumphant that I could barely resist the urge to kiss her again. But I needed to know more before I let my baser desires distract me.

“Did they do any real damage in the house, Grace? I know how much it meant to you.”

“Some things are wrecked,” she said. “But nothing really important. I guess it actually helped me realize that the most important stuff no one can touch anyway.” She tapped her head. “My memories of my grandmother mean a whole lot more than the bits and pieces she left behind.”

She didn’t seem too shaken up. I exhaled in relief. “I know what you mean. And you said the woman who seems to be part of AP Enterprises too, she came by your work?”

Grace nodded. “She came in before my shift started—I have to assume on purpose. Britta talked to her some, but obviously there wasn’t much to say. Like I said, she did mention you, just that I’d hired you to do the photography, but it’s not like she knew anything incriminating. She probably described you to them, but I don’t know if they’d think the photographer is the guy they’re looking for anyway.”

And I’d said as little to Grace’s obnoxious coworker as I’d been able to get away with. “Okay. So they don’t really know any more than they did before. And now they have additional pressure to leave the city with the cops keeping an eye out for them.” I didn’t know if that would be enough to scare the Alpha Project people off, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. “That’s all good. You did great.”

She beamed at me. “I did, didn’t I? Teach them to mess with me and mine.”

The thought of her considering me hers sent a different sort of tingle through me, one with a lot more heat. I swallowed thickly—and my stomach grumbled.

“Have you had dinner yet? I was about to order room service. I could get something for you too.”

“I haven’t, but are you sure?” Grace said. “I can pay—”

I cut her off with a shake of my head. “I don’t want any paper trail leading to you here. My fam— Over the years, I’ve developed ways of making sure any real information about me stays off the grid. And I’ve accumulated a lot of savings. You can build quite the stash when the only things you usually do with your time are working and laying low hanging around wherever you happen to be living.”

“Fine, fine. You can treat me. But first...” She nudged me toward the bed and prowled after me, a sly smile crossing her face. “I’ve come fully prepared, and I know exactly how I want to celebrate my victory.”

My pulse sped up with a heady thump. “Oh, yeah?” I said, arching an eyebrow at her. I loved the shy, awkward Grace I’d gotten to know, but I wasn’t going to say no to this more confident version either.

Her voice dipped. “Yeah.” She gave me another push, so I sat down on the edge of the mattress. Tossing her purse onto one of the pillows, she straddled me. Her arms looped around my neck and the skirt she was wearing rode up on her thighs to show a tantalizing length of skin. The warm sweet smell of her filled my nose. If I’d had any inclination to argue before—not that I had—I’d have been a goner then anyway.

“Impatient, huh?” I had to tease. “I like this look on you.”

She gazed at me, our eyes completely level in this position. Hers turned briefly serious. “Every time I walk away from you, I have no idea if I’m ever going to see you again. So when I am seeing you, I’ll be damned if I’m not going to make the most of it.”

The words squeezed my heart. “Grace...”

“That wasn’t a complaint,” she said, leaning in. “I understand. I want you safe more than I... want you. But we’re together now. Take me?”

How could I deny her when she asked me like that? I was holding every fantasy I’d ever had in my arms right now.

I raised my head to meet her eager kiss, gripping her by the waist. My other hand slid up her thigh to ease that skirt even higher. My fingers teased the edge of her panties, and she rocked against me with a moan that made me even harder than I already was. She slid her hands under my shirt, tracing lines of heat up my chest. I left her thigh to tug her blouse free from the skirt, and—

Grace froze on top of me. She turned her head toward the door. “Did you hear something?”

All I could hear right now was the thrum of desire rushing alongside my pulse. But she was obviously worried. With a wince at the loss of contact, I eased her off my lap. “No. What is it?”

She stepped closer to the door. I pushed myself off the bed to follow. We stood there for a moment, heads cocked. No sound filtered through. Grace let out a breath and started to shake her head.

Then it came. A knock, a short distance down the hall. Another, a little more insistent. The door a few rooms over clicked open. Whoever had answered the knock spoke in a murmur too low for me to make out, but the guy in the hall I could hear perfectly clearly.

“Hi, I’m looking for Grace? I know she’s on this floor, but I seem to have forgotten her room number.”

The color drained from Grace’s face. She grasped my hand, and I curled my fingers around hers.

The person in the other room, obviously, had no idea about any Grace at the hotel. She must have said as much, and the door clicked shut. After a brief shuffle, the knock sounded again. A little closer this time. The guy was working his way down the hall.

It would be fine. All we had to do was not open the door, and what could he do about it? I thought that as he knocked on that other door a second time.

But then, instead of the click of a deadbolt disengaging, I caught the beep of a keycard being swiped. My stomach lurched.

He’d gotten blanket access to the rooms, somehow. He was checking all of them, one way or another. He knew we were here. And he was heading toward our door with no indication of stopping.