James should’ve known. She hadn’t seemed like the type to sit back and just wait for things to happen, but somehow he thought she would at least sleep before she tried to escape.

He was in his computer room, reading over the brief update about the Melody Murray and Adam Smith situation, when the perimeter motion sensor went off.

Thanks to the various wildlife that would visit from time to time, the motion sensors going off wasn’t all that rare. But he wasn’t the type to take chances. Every time the sensors went off, he would check the picture that would be automatically sent to his email and phone. And this time, the blurry shape on his computer screen wasn’t a coyote. It was unmistakably human. An unmistakably tiny human who had no business running into the desert in the middle of the night.

James cursed under his breath as he grabbed his phone and Glock before he ran out.

He knew which sensors she’d set off, which gave him a good idea of the direction. If she’d gone from the house, she was most likely walking in a straight line, headed toward the highway. Where he lived, there wasn’t a defined road, but she knew which direction they’d come from.

But she had to know that she would never make it to the nearest town. She didn’t know anything about the terrain or even which direction to go once she reached the highway. If the sun didn’t get to her, some of the less friendly neighbors wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of the hundred-pound lost girl.

He kicked into a slow jog. He didn’t want to run and burn up any extra energy, but he wanted to make sure he could catch up to her.

The terrain blurred around him as he kept his focus on catching up to Willa. He had brought her all the way out here to keep her safe, and she was going to throw all that away because he wasn’t falling over himself to worship at her feet like everyone else around her.

His annoyance grew with every step he took. He hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours and now he was out in the middle of the damn night chasing after a spoiled, selfish pain in his ass and the second he found her, he was going to—

There she was. Her slumped shoulders and bowed head were highlighted in the moonlight. He adjusted his gait so his steps were silent on the rocky ground as he closed the distance between them. He almost made it without her noticing, but when his foot hit a branch, it was just enough noise to have her glancing over her shoulder. If she was sane and/or logical, she’d stop and admit defeat. But the crazy woman looked at him with a flash of terror and then started to run.

He bit out a curse and kicked up his speed. Why would she run? He could outrun her any day of the week, if not because of his diligent workout routine, because his legs were a hell of a lot longer than hers.

The other advantage he had was that he ran on this terrain almost every day. Willa wasn’t used to the grooves and bumps, and after only a few yards, her ankle twisted beneath her. She fell on her hands and knees, giving James plenty of time to catch up to her.

As soon as she fell, she didn’t try to get up. At first he thought she had hurt herself, but he couldn’t see any body language saying “pain.” There was a tension in her shoulders and back that was more like... anger.

“Come on. Let’s get back.” He stood over her.

She was quiet and didn’t look at him or make any motion to move.

“If you want me to carry you, I can. And trust me, neither of us is going to want that.”

“What does it matter?” she asked finally.

“I told you. You’re going to give me dirt on your father.”

“Yeah, I got that part. But I came to you to keep me alive and you can’t stand me. So how am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to believe that you’re going to do a damn thing for me? The second you get what you want, I’m on my own anyway. So just let me go now. I’d rather take my chances with the vultures than with you.”

James clenched his jaw. He didn’t know what bothered him more: the fact that she still wasn’t doing what he wanted her to do or the fact that she was completely right. So he didn’t try to defend himself. Instead, he crouched down next to her and met her dark eyes. “Willa, I don’t have any comfort to give you. But one way or another, you’re coming back with me. Over my shoulder or at my side. Your decision.”

“What did I do?” she asked, still not moving. “Why can’t you stand me?”

James sighed. “Fine. I’ll carry you.” He reached for her, but she finally jumped back and turned back toward the house.

“Neanderthal,” she muttered under her breath as she started to walk.

James hung back and allowed her to head a few feet in front of him. She obviously didn’t want to be around him, so he was going to give her that few feet of space.

But he still kept close.

“Would you stop lurking, please?”

He caught up with her and walked alongside her. “I thought you didn’t want to be around me.”

“Yes, because having you three feet behind me is so much better.”

He knew nothing he could say would really help the situation, but he forced himself to try to make things marginally better. “I’m sorry I’m not the best company,” he bit out.

“If only there was something you could do to become more accommodating....” She squinched her face. “Actually, no. I like this asshole version of you. I like knowing that there is no hidden nice guy lurking underneath the surface. Makes things easier.”

James didn’t say anything. He already did the best apology he was capable of and he was still convinced he was right. He wasn’t there to be her friend; he was there to babysit her until they could make their move against Jadon.

They were halfway back to the house before the silence must’ve gotten to her. “Why aren’t you sleeping? Aren’t you tired? Or are you just a robot who doesn’t sleep?”

The exhaustion was tugging at him intensely, but he was trained to work through it. Though he would need to catch a few hours if he wanted to be useful in the next few days. “I am tired,” he said. “You should be sleeping too.”

She scoffed. “I wish.”

“Is the bed a problem?” He didn’t have any thousand-thread count sheets or anything, but they got the job done. Maybe she needed the luxuries to sleep?

“Never mind.” She sighed.

Normally he’d be more than happy to let that slide, but if she wasn’t sleeping, he’d have to worry about her running off again. “Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?” There. Now he was being the nice host she wanted.

“Unless you know a way to stop nightmares, I think I’m SOL.”

Nightmares? He wanted to ask what the nightmares were about, but he thought better of it. They weren’t at the point where they were sharing any personal details, which was where he wanted things to stay. Besides, he knew more than most that no matter how rich someone was, it didn’t keep their life from being nightmare-worthy. Sure, his past would’ve been a hell of a lot easier with an influx of cash, but he hadn’t had those problems in a long, long time.

“How much are you getting for this?”

“What?” It was as if she knew what he was thinking about.

“You said you were getting paid for this. So how much does my protection cost?”

“I’m technically getting nothing.”

She stopped and looked over at him. “Why am I a freebie? You don’t like me.”

He sighed. He didn’t want to reward her for fishing for compliments, but he didn’t want her to keep thinking that. “I don’t hate you.”

She raised a skeptical brow. “Okay. You don’t hate me, but you don’t like me. Which is fine, because I don’t like you either. We can agree to mutual dislike. But that still doesn’t explain why you’re helping me.”

“I’m with you right now because I made a mistake.”

“And I’m your penance?”

“Because of me, Melody’s mother died.”

Willa’s mouth dropped open and she averted her gaze. She obviously didn’t know what to say and he kept going before she started to nervously try to fill the silence. “I was working a job for Melody’s mother. A simple recovery mission. I was too late and while I was distracted, Isobel Murray was shot and killed.” The Murray women—Jennifer, Melody, and Toni—had never blamed him for what had happened, but it had been as if he were right back in Afghanistan. Not only had he been there as the three sisters had to stoically take in the news of their mother’s murder, but he was the one who offered to go back into the building and remove the body.

It was only a few days later, during the small, covert funeral, that he had promised to himself that he would make sure that the man responsible for this, Jonathan Sterling, would pay.

Sterling had gone into hiding after learning that the Murray women and Scott Hart had it out for him, but he couldn’t stay in hiding forever. And Jadon Belli, Willa’s father, happened to be one of the only people in the world who could locate Sterling.

“I—” Willa bit her lip, not finishing whatever she was about to say. Then she shook her head and started to walk quickly back to the house. This time when he let her have a few feet in front of him, she didn’t protest. She seemed to have had enough talking for one night and he was more than happy with that.

Because in a few days, she would be out of his hair forever and he could go back to his life before there were any women to mess it up.