Sam sat in the passenger seat of the van as Mack careened around the hairpin curves leading down the side of the hill to the Port of Athinios. He craned his neck with each turn, hoping to catch a glimpse of the buildings below, but they weren’t quite close enough to see to the bottom. Dread built with each passing second. Regret formed a hard knot in the pit of his belly. He should have kept Kinsey in sight at all times.

When the van finally made it to the coastal road, they slowed, following Detective Demopolis. He’d called for backup, but Sam and his brothers refused to wait.

Isabella, who’d spent time in Syria fighting for abused women there, insisted on accompanying them. Fiona and Dierdre wanted to come, but they stayed behind to keep Mrs. D calm.

With their own small army, the Magnuses could take out whoever got in the way, even though the only weapons they carried were their Ka-Bar knives. Isabella had pepper spray and a Taser.

Sam prayed their adversaries weren’t more heavily armed.

The detective motioned for them to park far enough away from the designated location that their vehicles would be hidden by buildings. The team would go in on foot. If the kidnappers were there, they’d be surprised. If not, they’d have to start all over in their search.

In Sam’s mind, the clock was ticking. His pulse raced and his muscles tensed. They had to find Kinsey before she left the island. Once off Santorini, she’d be impossible to locate.

The men and Isabella climbed out of the van and hurried to join the detective. He told them the layout to expect, and they split up into two teams. One would go through the front gate. The other team would come around from behind and slip through the back gate.

When he flew, Sam relied heavily on communications equipment. Without it, he felt as if he was flying blind. But he wouldn’t let the handicap stop him. Kinsey could be in there. He’d move Heaven and Earth to get to her.

And when he did, he’d tell her how he felt and that he thought they would be good together, even if their relationship was long distance for much of the time. He liked her. A lot. Maybe even loved her. He sure as hell wanted to give love another chance. As long as the romance was with Kinsey. Her smiles rivaled the sunshine and made him happier than he’d been in a very long time.

He wouldn’t let this be the end.

Sam accompanied the detective and Mack through the front entrance. Someone had hooked a combination lock on the links of a heavy chain, but it wasn’t clicked shut.

Sam eased the lock free and lowered the chain quietly so that it didn’t bang against the chain-link fence. Then he slipped through the gate and into the shadow of a nearby building.

The three of them moved from one structure to the next by chasing the shadows, with Sam in the lead.

As they neared the back of the complex, Sam saw a dark vehicle parked between a stack of crushed cardboard and a stack of wooden pallets.

The back end of the vehicle had been smashed, and the bumper was missing.

Bingo. They’d found the SUV that had tried to run their van off the road.

His heart pounded against his ribs. Kinsey had to be in one of the buildings. Sam prayed the kidnappers hadn’t had time to get her onto a boat and off the island.

He tried the door on the first building they came to. The knob was securely locked. Sam pressed his ear to the wall but couldn’t hear any noises coming from within.

Mack stood on his toes at the side of the structure to peer into a small, dirty window. He dropped down, shaking his head.

Empty.

Sam gave a silent signal to Wyatt, Ronin and Isabella. They eased through the back gate and searched the building on the other side of the yard, moving through one at a time.

As Sam worked his way toward the black SUV, the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. His instinct told him he was getting closer. It also told him that a hostage rescue wasn’t going to be easy.

Lights glared from the road and a delivery truck slid stopped at the entrance to the warehouse yard. A man dropped to the ground, opened the gate and held it wide while the truck drove through.

Sam, along with the rest of their rescue team, shrank into the shadows. When the truck stopped in front of the small building nearest the SUV, the driver and another man dropped down from the cab. They walked to the rear and flung open the back.

The door of the building opened, and a woman stepped out along with the two men Sam recognized as the ones who’d been kidnapping Kinsey the first time.

Sam started forward, his fists clenched.

Detective Demopolis grabbed his arm and held him back, motioning to one of the men. “He’s armed,” the detective whispered. “And so is she.”

Sam looked closer. The woman held a handgun at her side as if to warn the newcomers she couldn’t be easily intimidated. He saw movement from the other side of the group in the open. Ronin was easing nearer.

“I have to get going.” Sam pushed past the detective’s hold. Moving in the shadows, he crept along the side of the adjacent building and waited for the moment the group in the yard wasn’t looking and made the move to cross the open space between the side of the smaller building. He circled around to the back and didn’t find another door. If he wanted to get inside, he’d have to go through the people standing there.

By the time he’d worked his way forward to the end of the building closest to the party out front, Athan and Mack joined him.

He peered around the corner, careful not to make any sudden moves that would alert the kidnappers to their presence. He looked for Ronin, Wyatt and Isabella. At first, he couldn’t see any of them. Then Ronin poked out his head from the opposite corner of the building.

They were all in place. Now was the time to make their move. Rushing them from both directions hopefully would confuse the people with weapons and give the team sufficient time to disarm them.

“I have the man with the rifle,” Mack said.

“I’ll take the woman,” Sam responded. “Ready?” He didn’t wait for Mack or the detective to respond. With a deep breath, he took off running.

Mack, the faster brother, sprinted past him and hit the man with the rifle in the side, like a football linebacker going in for the tackle.

The woman Sam targeted darted for the door to the building and ducked inside before Sam reached her.

The other man from the truck dove in behind her.

The door slammed in Sam’s face and a lock clicked in place. Sam didn’t even look back at the sounds of a fight that ensued. He reared back and kicked the door as hard as he could. It didn’t budge. The woman must have thrown a deadbolt on the other side. He kicked again, only managing to jolt the hell out of his leg.

Kinsey had to be inside. Why else would the woman have barricaded herself in the building?

Sam realized he’d have to use a lot more force than his foot could provide. He turned in time to see the detective kick the rifle out of reach of the man Mack had tackled.

Ronin had his hands full with one of the big guys who’d attacked Kinsey, while Wyatt pinned the other.

Isabella grabbed the rifle from the ground and ran for the door. “Get back!” she yelled. Then she aimed the muzzle downward at the space between the door handle and the doorframe and pulled the trigger. The doorjamb splintered.

Sam kicked at the door, but it still wouldn’t open.

Isabella aimed and fired another round. This time, the doorjamb disintegrated, and the door swung inward.

Sam and Isabella jumped to the side of the door.

Several shots were fired from within, hitting the back of the truck.

Sam waited a moment before diving through the opening and rolled to the side.

Isabella did the same, diving to the opposite side.

More shots sounded, but Sam didn’t give a rat’s ass if the woman was aiming at him. He had to find Kinsey.

The lights were turned off in the building, making it difficult to locate the man and woman who’d run inside. And Sam didn’t know if they were the only Tangos they had to be concerned with. “Kinsey!” he yelled and held his breath, praying for a response.

“Sam?”

He heard her voice call out, as if muffled by a wall or door, and his heart started to beat all over again.

Isabella moved. A click sounded, and the building was bathed in light from a row of fluorescent bulbs hung from the ceiling.

Sam spotted the woman with the gun on the opposite end of the room. She flung open a door and pointed her gun inside. “Come any closer, and I’ll shoot her,” she shouted.

Sam froze, his heart in his throat. “Don’t shoot!”

The woman smirked. “Then get out, and take your friends with you.”

Before Sam could take one step forward or backward, a long stick exploded out of the darkness of the closet where the woman stood. It connected with the hand holding the gun.

The gun went off as it was lifted into the air and smashed to the ground.

Kinsey was the first out the door, wielding what appeared to be a broom or mop handle. She used it to whack the woman in the side of the head, and then she shoved her backward.

The woman tripped and fell on her back.

Kinsey pounced, slamming the broom handle over the woman’s throat and pinning her to the ground. “Move and I’ll break your neck,” Kinsey threatened, her voice low and rough like a lion’s growl.

Several young women jumped through the door, armed with spray bottles. They cornered the man who’d followed the woman into the building and sprayed liquid in his face.

He screamed and covered his eyes.

“Kinsey, do you need help?” Sam called out.

“Not yet,” Kinsey responded from her perch straddling the woman who’d threatened to kill her. “Grab her gun.”

Sam retrieved the woman’s handgun and performed a quick search of the interior of the structure, looking for anyone hiding in the shadowy corners. When he was certain no one else would jump out and shoot them he crossed to where Kinsey held the woman pinned to the floor.

Detective Demopolis entered the building and hurried over to the man surrounded by the women with spray bottles. After he secured the man’s wrists behind his back with zip-ties, the detective crossed to Kinsey and cuffed the woman she’d subdued.

Sam helped Kinsey to her feet and wrapped her in his arms. The sense of relief that washed over him made his knees shake and his eyes burn. “God, I thought I’d never see you again.”

Shaking her head, she chuckled. “That was my intention. But I wasn’t planning on going out quite like this.”

He tipped up her head and stared down into her blue eyes. “Please, don’t leave me again.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I couldn’t stay. Not when I was the one they wanted. I couldn’t let them hurt you and your family.”

His chest swelled at her reason.

Kinsey hadn’t been thinking of herself. She’d cared enough about Sam and his family that she’d walked away to protect them.

His arms tightened around her, and he rested his cheek against her hair. “But you left. Without saying goodbye.”

“I wrote a note…”

He shook his head. “Not good enough. You didn’t give me a chance to talk you out of leaving.”

She laughed, her voice catching on a sob. “I knew if I stayed, I couldn’t walk away. And now, you’re making our separation harder than ever.”

“Then don’t walk away.” He brushed his lips across hers.

“But you said from the beginning you weren’t into commitment.” She raised her hands to lace behind his head. “You don’t know how hard it was to leave the first time. In less than two weeks, I have to do it all over again.”

His gut clenched. “No, you don’t.”

“You have a job to do. You don’t want a long-term relationship.”

“I was wrong?” He kissed her again.

“About the job or the relationship?” She asked, her eyes swimming in tears. “And please…don’t make me cry. My eyes get all ugly and red.” She sniffed.

“Darlin’, I never want to make you cry. You brought back the sunshine into my life. I want your smile and laughter. I want you to teach me more about sailing.”

She snorted. “You could hire someone to teach you how to sail.”

“I already did. And I like my instructor. In fact,” he leaned forward to whisper into her ear. “I’m falling in love with her.”

Her fingers tightened on the back of his neck. “You wouldn’t tell me that just to make me feel better, would you?”

Hope flared inside him. She hadn’t argued or rejected his comment about falling in love with her. “I’d tell you that to make me feel better. You make me feel better and more alive than I’ve felt in a long time. I don’t want to let that go. I don’t want to let you go.” Then he kissed her long and deep, sweeping past her teeth to caress her tongue and taste her very essence. She was the one he’d been waiting for. The woman who awakened him to the possibilities of happily ever after.

“And I don’t want to let you go, either.” She stared up into his eyes. “Do you think two people can fall in love this fast?”

He nodded, happiness flowing through him, making him feel like he’d won the lottery. “I do.”

She raised up on her toes and kissed him. “Then I think I’m falling in love with you.”

“Hey, you two. Get a room,” Mack said.

Reluctantly, Sam lifted his head and glanced at his brother.

“We’re cleared to leave. So, if you want a ride back to Mrs. D’s, we’re leaving.”

Sam took Kinsey’s hand firmly in his and walked out of the building and into the brightest starlight he could imagine.

“What about the other women?” Kinsey asked, glancing over her shoulder.

“They were reported missing in the past forty-eight hours,” Mack said. “The detective is arranging for their transport so they can be reunited with their families.”

“They were amazing,” Kinsey said. “We all worked together to free ourselves.”

“You’re amazing,” Sam said as he squeezed her hand. “I should have known you would get yourself out of any situation.”

“And I should have known you’d find me.” She leaned into him and let him lead her to where the van was parked a couple buildings away.

The drive up the hill from the port was slower than the mad rush down. Soon, they were back at the B&B where they shared the story of what went down with Fiona and Dierdre.

Mrs. D offered rooms to the entire Magnus family, but Wyatt, Mack and Ronin had already made reservations at another resort and spa with infinity pools and massage therapists. Mrs. D laughed and admitted she couldn’t compete with their amenities, but they were welcome to come have tea with her anytime.

The brothers promised to meet for dinner the next evening for one last reunion before all but Sam would leave the island.

Sam loved his brothers, but he couldn’t wait for them to leave so he could be alone with Kinsey in the room they shared. Once inside, with the door closed, he folded her into his arms. “Kinsey Phillips, you’re fired.”

“Fired?” She stared, her brow knitting in a confused frown.

“I don’t want you as a paid companion.”

“But how am I supposed to earn my ticket back to Virginia?”

“And about that? Why does the location have to be Virginia? Have you considered starting over in the state of Washington? Specifically, around Ft. Lewis? The area’s a lot prettier than Virginia, and you could still be near the water.”

She smiled, lighting the entire room. “Are you asking me to commit to a long-term relationship with a certain helicopter pilot?”

He took a deep breath and gladly took that huge step. “I am.”

“I don’t want you to feel trapped in a relationship that won’t make you happy.”

Sam traced a finger along her cheek and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I will never feel trapped with you. And we can take it slowly, if you like. Get to know each other better. Fall in love over a long time…like maybe a month or two.”

“Or two weeks on Santorini?”

“Or two weeks on Santorini.” He lifted her into his arms and carried her to their bed where they made crazy, passionate love.

Later that night, his cellphone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and smiled.

Colonel Cooley.

“Sir?” he answered.

“Are you still following my orders?”

“Sorry, sir, I’m on vacation and deep in a session of rest and relaxation. I can’t talk now. I’m busy following my commander’s orders. I’ll see you when I get back.”

He could hear his commander’s chuckle as he ended the call and turned off the ringer. “Now, where were we?”

Kinsey curled her hand behind his head and drew him close. “Right where we were supposed to be.” And she kissed him.