Ethan felt as if he were in a dream as he walked through the night and toward the welcoming golden light, arm in arm with Destiny. One night he’d been slogging through the desert sand with a bunch of men who hadn’t bathed in days, the next he was escorting the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen on what sure as hell felt like a date.

She glanced up at the moon, and he took the opportunity to drink her in. Her short box braids tumbled back as she tipped up her face, extending her neck like a swan. The moonlight shone on her flawless dark skin and luscious full lips, and sparkled in her beautiful eyes. Everything about her was irresistibly sexy, from the impressive strength of her grip to the swell of muscle in her shoulders to her curvy thighs to cleavage that kept threatening to make him walk into a wall.

But there was so much more to her than looks. She was funny and playful and tough, easy to talk to and comfortable to be with. First dates always were a little too tense to be completely enjoyable, with the unspoken undercurrents of “does she like me?” and “do I like her?” But Ethan felt none of that. He was somehow both excited and relaxed, filled with happy anticipation and the pure enjoyment of the present moment. Everything about Destiny just felt so right.

They stepped into the restaurant. Ethan loved odd, out-of-the-way places. Little local secrets. And Aunt Lizzie’s Back Porch was obviously that: an old-fashioned barbecue joint with rough slab tables, wooden benches, sawdust scattered across the floor, and the scent of smoked meat and sweet peaches filling the air. And open 24 hours, too, or at least extremely late. Just right for a man who got called to deploy at an hour’s notice, and always seemed to return in the middle of the night. It was so exactly his kind of place that Ellie and Catalina must never have heard of it, or they’d have taken him there for sure.

The same brilliant smile that had caught his eye in the airport lit up Destiny’s gorgeous face. “Nice, huh?”

“I can’t commit till I taste the food,” Ethan replied. “Who knows, it might be the Five Fingers of Death.”

“Never thought I’d hear a Marine with such a sweet mouth,” came the dry voice of an old woman behind him. “Or maybe you’re too young. I was a nurse in Vietnam, and what we actually called them was the Five Dicks of Death. When I came home, I promised myself that I’d never again put anything in my mouth that wasn’t delicious. And that’s why I opened this restaurant.”

Ethan felt a hot blush creep over his face. “I’m so sorry, ma’am.”

“Aunt Lizzie,” she corrected him.

“Sorry, Aunt Lizzie. I didn’t see you. I was just kidding my—” My friend? Too soon. Besides, he was hoping to be more than friends. “—Destiny here. Food that smells this good has got to be amazing.”

To his relief, neither Aunt Lizzie nor Destiny looked annoyed at him. Destiny was rolling her eyes at him, but in an amused way.

Aunt Lizzie gestured them to a table. “Guess you’ll find out. And welcome home.”

“Thank you, Aunt Lizzie,” he said, sitting down. “It’s good to be back.”

The menu was written on a blackboard. They both gave it a glance, then ordered.

As Aunt Lizzie walked away, Destiny kicked him under the table. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I? Bring you to the best barbecue restaurant in Santa Martina, you stroll right up to the owner and say she serves the Five Fingers of Death.”

“Five Dicks of Death,” Ethan corrected. “Don’t be shy, I’m a Marine.”

Destiny kicked him again. “I’ll have you know, I’m a nice old-fashioned girl.”

“A nice old-fashioned girl with an M16.”

“You wouldn’t catch me dead with one of those. They don’t go with anything I wear. Nowadays I carry a modular Sig Sauer. Fits right into my purse.”

It was like a game or a dance, that easy push-pull flow of teasing between them. Like their wrists were tied together, so any time one tugged, the other moved. And once that image occurred to him, he couldn’t help picturing it: a red ribbon binding his wrist to hers, with more ribbons trailing over her luscious naked body as they lay in bed together, teasing each other with the silken fabric…

Destiny snapped her fingers. “Now who’s falling asleep? I said, what do you do in your spare time other than dancing at clubs and getting pranked with terrible hot dog stands?”

Jolted out of his fantasy, Ethan said, “Basketball. Hiking. Rock climbing.”

“Good stuff,” Destiny said. “Just what you’d expect from a Recon Marine. And all of it requires a whole lot of room. What do you do to kill time when you’re in your tent?”

“Play video games.”

“Ah-ha! I knew there was something like that. And it’s not just to kill time, right? You really love them, right?”

Caught out, Ethan admitted, “Yeah.”

“I knew it. Nerd,” Destiny said with satisfaction.

“It takes one to know one. What’s your nerdy passion, nerd girl? A secret addiction to the Twilight books?”

“No way. They got werewolves all wrong, and there’s no such thing as vampires.”

If she knew that, she’d read them. All of them, from the sound of it. So his guess that she liked books was on the money. “Then what’s your favorite thing to read?”

“History.” She tossed her braids. “Not nerdy at all.”

Ethan grinned as he saw the gleam in her eyes. It was the sure sign of a nerd thinking of their obsession. “Favorite time and place?”

“Oh, I’ve got lots. But let me tell you, there was incredibly cool stuff happening in Asia and Africa when Europeans were huddled in the dark gnawing on turnips and not bathing.”

“Tell me one cool fact from one of your favorite periods.”

“In India in the 1600s, there was a king named Shivaji who rebelled against the emperor. The emperor captured him and his teenage son and held them prisoner. But Shivaji was very popular, and the emperor was afraid that his people would rise up if he treated their leader badly. So instead of throwing them in a dungeon, he kept them under house arrest in a house befitting a king, but under heavy guard.

Shivaji pretended to be sick, and asked the emperor for permission to make donations to temples so the priests would pray for his recovery. The emperor was a little suspicious, so he gave him permission but doubled the guard on his house. Shivaji ordered two gigantic fruit baskets delivered to the house every day, so he could inspect them and make sure all the fruit was perfect, then sent them on to the temples.

At first the guards searched every basket, when they went in and when they went out. But they were enormous baskets and it was a giant pain to have to take out hundreds of mangoes and then put them back in. Twice. And if they bruised any fruit, Shivaji would complain to the emperor that the guards were disrespecting the priests and trying to sabotage his recovery. Finally the guards couldn’t take it anymore and just started waving them through.”

Ethan started to laugh, seeing where this was going.

Triumphantly, Destiny concluded, “And of course, Shivaji and his son were in the next two fruit baskets. Buried under a layer of perfect, unbruised mangoes.”

“Awesome story,” Ethan said. “History nerd.”

Aunt Lizzie came over with an enormous platter and a pitcher of iced tea. “Here you go.”

Steam rose up from the plates. Ethan applied himself to the food. The pulled pork was just the right balance of sweet and spicy, the ribs were smoky and juicy, the coleslaw was crisp and creamy, and the cornbread to mop up the sauce was sweet and crumbly and fresh out of the oven.

They didn’t do much talking as they ate, but that was fine with him. Getting some food in his stomach made him feel more present, as if eating here in the US was what made him really believe that he was home again. It always took him a while to feel that in his bones as well as know it in his mind. The first few nights back, he’d wake up uncertain of where he was.

If Destiny was beside me, I’d always know, he thought.

Though that was hardly the main reason why he’d want to wake up next to her. She was gorgeous and sexy, funny and quick-witted, and they had so much in common and got along so well. He’d had so much fun talking to her, and it was weirdly hot to watch her eating, putting her meal away with none of the self-consciousness that lots of women had when they ate in front of a man, and yet so neatly that she had yet to get a single speck of sauce on her sparkly dress. But there was something else about her that he liked which was harder to identify. Something about her felt like… coming home.

Yeah. Definitely looking forward to that dance date.

Ethan didn’t want to get ahead of himself. But he couldn’t help hoping that they’d do more than just dance, and that it’d be more than just one night.

Being a Recon Marine made it hard to have anything last beyond a quick fling. He was gone most of the time, usually on almost no notice. When he left, he couldn’t say when he’d come back, and when he did return, he couldn’t say where he’d been or what he’d done. He had buddies in the Marines. And he had his sister, of course. But other than them, he didn’t have any close relationships, let alone a serious girlfriend. What woman would be willing to put up with a man who was never around and couldn’t talk about his life?

Destiny might, he thought. She’s a vet herself. She’d understand.

But once he imagined an actual relationship with her, he couldn’t imagine spending most of his life away from her.

A voice from deep down inside of him said quietly, You won’t be a Marine forever.

Another, much louder voice snapped, Once a Marine, always a Marine!

Both were true. He’d always be a Marine at heart. But he couldn’t keep deploying into combat forever. All else aside, eventually he’d be too old for it. And his term of service was coming up in two years. He’d have to decide then whether or not to re-enlist.

Maybe he shouldn’t. There were plenty of civilian jobs that might suit him. He might enjoy being a bodyguard, like Destiny. He could talk to her about it—hell, he could talk to her boss Hal, see if there might be room in the agency for him some time in the future. If she knew he’d come home to her forever when his two years were up, would she wait for him? He had a feeling she would.

Now you’re really getting ahead of yourself, he thought. You haven’t even gone on that first date yet.

But he didn’t feel like he was rushing. He felt calm and ready and brimming with excited anticipation, like he did every time he got that call to move out. Like he only had one life, and this was his chance to live it to the fullest. Only this time, maybe it was also his chance to share it, and find a connection like he’d never imagined he could have.

Aunt Lizzie served their peach cobbler with a glance and a wink at him, like she could read his mind.

“Everything was fantastic,” he told her. “It was… The Five Pigs of Deliciousness.”

Aunt Lizzie walked away, chuckling to herself. Destiny pulled a face at him. “Weirdo.”

Raising his voice so Aunt Lizzie could hear—that woman obviously had ears like an elephant—Ethan said, “I mean, the Five Hogs of Heaven.”

“Super-weirdo,” Destiny said. “Thought you jarheads got down to business. Why are you sitting there babbling nonsense when the world’s best peach cobbler is right in front of you?”

She leaned over the table, giving him a heart-stopping view of her generous cleavage, grabbed his fork, stuck it in his dish of peach cobbler, and offered him a bite. Feeling a little dazed, both by the view and by the gesture, Ethan opened his mouth and let her feed him the bite. The streusel topping was crisp and buttery, the peaches soft and sweet. Maybe it was the world’s greatest peach cobbler. But he suspected that he’d have thought the Five Dicks of Death were the greatest thing ever if Destiny was the one putting them in his mouth.

He took her fork and held a bite of cobbler to her lips. They parted, making him think how soft they’d feel if he felt them moving against his, and he slipped it into her mouth. She closed her eyes in bliss as she chewed. He couldn’t help imagining how she might react to other sorts of bliss. Destiny seemed to be a woman who lived life to the absolute fullest, enjoying its pleasures and facing its hardships without a flinch.

She opened her eyes—her big, beautiful, deep brown eyes—and Ethan knew what she wanted. What he wanted. It wasn’t too soon. It was exactly the right time.

He leaned across the table and kissed her. Her mouth was hot and tasted like peaches, and she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him a little closer in. Her soft little hands were deceptively strong, and he loved knowing that she wanted him even nearer. He could feel her passion in her tight grip, in the exploring flicker of her tongue, in the way she sighed into his mouth.

A rush of heat swept through his body, and he suddenly found himself picturing the back seat of Destiny’s car. It was big enough for both of them, and they’d have plenty of privacy if they parked in the woods…

A sharp noise made them break apart, startled. It was Aunt Lizzie, banging a spoon on the table. “All the world loves a lover. But not on top of my tables, if you please.”

They both leaned back hurriedly. Destiny’s skin was too dark to show a blush, but if she felt anywhere near what Ethan did, she’d be fiery red right now. He was pretty sure he was. They mumbled their apologies, and Aunt Lizzie departed with a stifled snicker.

Ethan and Destiny looked at each other. Her lips looked fuller than ever, her braids were tumbling into her face, and her skin glowed with a light mist of sweat. She looked like they’d actually made love, not just kissed for a few seconds. Or maybe it had been a lot longer than a few seconds. Who knew how long Aunt Lizzie had been standing there trying to get their attention?

“You look like a maraschino cherry,” Destiny said.

“Good enough to eat?”

“I guess I set that up. Let me re-phrase: you look like a five-alarm fire.”

“Smoking hot?”

She kicked his ankle. “Shut up and finish your cobbler.”

They finished theirs in record time, paid and said goodbye to Aunt Lizzie, and headed outside. The cool of the night made Ethan even more conscious of how hot he felt. His heart was pounding. He reached out for Destiny’s hand, and was rewarded by a grip that he already felt like he knew by heart: small and strong, soft and warm.

“How about we find a nice stretch of deserted woods to park the car?” he suggested.

“Yeah.” Her voice was husky, almost a purr. He’d never heard a woman sound like that before, and it set him on fire inside. “Yeah, let’s do that. Not here, though. I don’t know this area, and we might end up accidentally parked in Aunt Lizzie’s backyard. Let’s get a bit farther out of town. There’s a bunch of dirt roads going nowhere that would be perfect.”

She took the wheel, driving with one hand on his thigh. It felt like a hot coal, burning through his camo pants. He put his hand on her thigh, feeling her bare skin and soft curves. Ethan hoped he wasn’t distracting her as much as her hand was distracting him, because if he was, she’d go off the road.

“You want me to move it?” he asked.

“Nah.” There was that purr again. It made him so hard, he didn’t know how he was going to be able to stand the entire fifteen minutes or whatever he’d have to wait before she pulled over. “Nah, you leave your hand right where it is. You put it in my space, so it belongs to me now.”

Ethan barely stopped himself from blurting out that all of him could belong to her, if she’d take him.

Too soon, he told himself.

That other voice inside him, the one that had pointed out that he couldn’t be a Recon Marine forever, said, Yeah. Wait a couple days. Or at least till tomorrow.

She got back on the freeway and drove until the fields yielded to forests. Ethan breathed in the pine-scented air. Only twenty-four hours ago, he’d been humping a sixty-pound rucksack through Afghanistan, hot and dirty and exhausted but unable to relax in case he missed the signs of an ambush. He’d been so focused on the danger, he’d actually forgotten that he was going to go home the next day. Now he was driving through the woods, with the taste of peaches still in his mouth, to make love to the most incredible woman he’d ever met. And after that… who knew?

All it takes is an instant for your life to change forever, he thought. One gunshot. One look into a pair of brown eyes…

A movement in the rear-view mirror jolted him out of his musings and into full combat-readiness. A gun barrel had just poked out from the passenger window of the car behind him.

“Duck!” Ethan’s hand slapped against his hip, instinctively reaching for his gun. Only then did he remember that was in his duffel bag in the trunk of the car.

At the same moment, Destiny yanked her hand off his thigh and swerved the car off the freeway, flinging him into the side of the car. “Get down!”

The familiar crack of a rifle sounded, and an equally familiar zing of metal told him that the car had been hit. To his immense relief, Destiny was unharmed. She floored the car along the rough mountain road she’d pulled on to. Ethan twisted around, with difficulty due to the jolting from the rough road, and saw that the shooter’s car had followed them off the freeway.

Another rifle shot. This one missed.

Destiny had said she had a Sig Sauer in her purse. He rummaged inside, found and loaded the gun, and hit the button to roll down the passenger window.

“You drive,” he said. “I’ll shoot.”

“Sounds good.” Destiny whipped the car around a hairpin curve.

Ethan hoped the other car would go off the road, but it too had a skilled driver, and stayed on their tail. He leaned out the window, trying to steady his hand enough to hit something while the car was jolting over rocks or into ruts every few seconds. He fired, mentally crossing his fingers, and felt a rush of primal satisfaction when he saw the other car’s windshield explode.

But the car kept coming at them. Just as he took aim to fire again, he heard another shot, followed almost instantaneously by a second bang. Their enemy had blown out their tire.

Destiny didn’t panic as the car began to skid toward the cliff. Nor did she yank on the steering wheel, which would have made it worse. Instead, she took her foot off the gas and steered into the skid, obviously meaning to gently guide the car away from the edge once she had it under control. Even in the midst of the danger, Ethan couldn’t help admiring her cool under fire.

But she was faced with an impossible task. There wasn’t time to regain control of the car. It fishtailed, hit a rut, and skidded over the edge.

“Brace!” Ethan shouted as the car tumbled through the air.

An instant later, it landed with a tremendous crash, shattering the windshield. The force of the impact made him lose his grip on the Sig Sauer, which went flying through the broken windshield. Ice-cold water flooded in as the car began to slowly sink down. In the second it took him to realize that they must have fallen into a river or lake, the water inside the car was up to his ankles and rising.

He turned to Destiny. A fear colder than the freezing water gripped him when he saw her slumped over the steering wheel. If she’d been shot…

He felt for her pulse, and was tremendously relieved to find it strong beneath his fingers. Ethan lifted her gently, and saw blood dripping from a cut at her temple, and a matching smear of blood on the steering wheel. She must have hit her head in the crash.

The water was up to his thighs now. There was no time to waste. He unsnapped her seatbelt and his own, climbed on to the hood of the car, and lifted her into his arms. Her lower body was soaking wet and cold, but the rest of her was still warm.

He crouched atop the hood, looking and listening. By the bright light of the moon, he saw that they were in the middle of a lake in the woods, with trees obscuring the road they’d skidded off. As far as he could tell, they were as impossible to see from above as their enemies were to see from below. But the fall had been short, so it might not be hard for them to climb down.

Ethan desperately wished for a weapon, but the Sig Sauer was at the bottom of the lake and his own gun was in the locked trunk of a car that was sinking fast. He could retrieve his gun or get Destiny to safety, but not both. At least, not both before the car sank. Ethan took the keys out of the ignition and stuffed them in his pocket. He’d get her to shore, then dive for his gun. He looked for her purse in the hope of finding her cell phone, but it looked like her purse had also been thrown through the windshield when they’d crashed.

Carefully, he draped her across his shoulders. With his left arm, he held her arms and legs across his chest. Then he slipped into the icy water and began to swim, keeping himself more-or-less upright so she’d stay as dry as possible. She probably already had a concussion. It would be bad if she got hypothermia on top of it.

Ethan reached the shore, shivering. Maybe he should be worried about hypothermia. Well, if it came to that, he could make a fire by rubbing twigs together. Maybe. His wilderness survival training, not to mention his actual wilderness survival experience, had taught him that you could generally hike to somewhere with matches in the time it would take to light a fire without them.

He hurried into the woods until he was far enough in that he was sure he couldn’t be seen from either shore or above, then laid Destiny down on a bed of moss and checked her again. The dappled moonlight showed him that the cut on her temple had stopped bleeding, and when he put his ear to her chest, he could hear that she was breathing steadily.

Relieved, he straightened up and considered his options. Scoop her up and start hiking? Leave her here, run back to the lake, dive for his duffel bag, and cross his fingers he got it out before the enemies returned?

It was only then that he realized that he didn’t even know who the enemies were. He’d fallen back into combat mode so easily that it only now struck him how weird the whole thing was. They weren’t in a war zone, and gangs didn’t hang out in the middle of nowhere. He and Destiny didn’t have anything valuable, so far as he knew, except maybe the car. But carjackers wouldn’t shoot out the tires. Ethan didn’t have any personal enemies, at least none who’d try to murder him rather than punching him in the face, and he couldn’t imagine that Destiny did either.

But she was a bodyguard. She might have made some impersonal, work-related enemies. And then there were the gangsters Ellie was going to testify against. She’d told him they’d all been arrested, but had they really? Murdering the brother of a witness seemed like the sort of thing that could happen with organized crime, to send a message about the price of testifying.

Destiny’s eyelashes fluttered. She put a hand to her head, then struggled to sit up. “Owww.”

Ethan lifted her gently, letting her lean against his chest. Softly, he said, “Take it easy. The car went into a lake.”

Destiny also spoke quietly as she asked, “The people shooting at us—where are they?”

“No idea. Gone, I hope, but I’m not counting on that. Any idea who they are?”

She shook her head, then winced. “Might be the same gangsters who went after your sister. But we’ve got other enemies. Where’s my Sig Sauer?”

“At the bottom of the lake. Sorry. I could dive for it. But I think it’d be easier to get my gun. It’s in my duffel bag. Which is also at the bottom of the lake, but in the trunk of your car, so it’d be easier to find.”

“And my purse?”

“Also at the bottom of the lake.”

Her eyes widened in alarm, and her hand flew to the neckline of her low-cut dress. She felt around her left breast, then pulled out a packet of pills sealed in plastic. Destiny peered at them, shook them, and looked relieved when she saw that they were still dry.

“What are those?” Ethan asked.

From her expression, it was obviously some private medical thing. Before he could withdraw the question, she said, “Female problems. You don’t want to know.” She stuck the pills back into her dress—into her bra cup, he realized belatedly—then felt up her right breast.

“Ah-ha!” Destiny pulled out a tiny black thing, fiddled with it, then stuffed it back into her dress and grinned at him. “It’s a mini-pager. Waterproof. I just sent an alarm to the entire agency. We should get some backup in…” She glanced upward, and an odd expression crossed her face. Then she shrugged, apparently trying not to laugh. “Possibly very soon.”

That made him feel a lot better. Dismissing whatever in-joke she’d decided not to tell him—it was probably something about one of her teammates that would take way too long to explain, and then not be funny unless you already knew him—he said, “What’s the soonest ETA, and what’s the latest?”

“Soonest…” She again glanced up. “Twenty minutes, maybe. Latest, probably not more than forty-five. Hmm. That’s not so good.”

Forty-five minutes—twenty minutes—even two minutes—was a very long time when the enemy was armed and you weren’t.

“I’d better try to get my gun,” Ethan said. “Do you want to stay here, or come with me? I’m honestly not sure which would be safer.”

“Come with. I’ll keep watch from the shadows while you dive.” Destiny looked down at herself, let out a soft groan of dismay, then said, “Well, it’s pretty much ruined anyway.”

Working quickly, she scooped up handfuls of mud and smeared them across her sequined dress, then over her silver shoes. Ethan watched in disbelief for a moment, then realized that it was camouflage. Otherwise she’d stand out like a woman-shaped glitter ball. He grabbed a palmful of mud and applied it to the hard-to-reach parts of her back.

“Thanks,” she said. “I guess. That was my favorite dancing dress. ‘Was’ being the operative word.”

“I’ll buy you a new one,” he offered.

She rolled her eyes at him. “How much do you think a dress like this costs?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. It was your favorite and I helped destroy it. I’ll work some overtime if I have to.”

She snickered. “Okay, then. We’re going shopping when we get back. Maybe you can get a makeover while we’re at it.”

He helped her up, and was glad to find that she was much steadier on her feet than he’d expected. The cut on her head had stopped bleeding, and was smaller than he’d initially thought.

Destiny looked down at herself and sighed. “You plotted this entire thing as the lead-up to a mudpuppy joke, didn’t you?”

“I plotted it because I thought it’d be hot,” he said. “Mud is the new wet T-shirt.”

She nailed him with a handful of mud, straight to the chest. “There. Now we’re both hot.”

As they walked through the woods, he noticed that she could move as silently and stealthily as he could. Not only that, but she made herself blend in with the shadows until he felt like if he looked away for a single second, he wouldn’t be able to spot her when he looked back. That wasn’t a skill he’d known they taught to military police, or to bodyguards for that matter. Maybe she’d done a whole lot of extra training on her own time and dime. Or maybe she was just that good. And she was doing it injured, and in high heels and a mud-plastered dancing dress.

He felt certain that he could trust her the same way he trusted his own men—that no matter what was thrown at them, she’d have his back just as much as he’d have hers. It wasn’t something he’d ever expected to feel about a woman he was also dying to get naked with. And despite her mud-plastered dress, Destiny was still ridiculously sexy.

She’s what I’ve always wanted, he thought. I never knew till now.

At the edge of the woods, they stopped and surveyed the lake. The car had sunk beneath the water, and everything looked peaceful in the moonlight. But if their enemies were lying in wait rather than gone, Ethan would be completely exposed once he left the woods to dive for his gun. And there wouldn’t be anything Destiny could do to help, as she was unarmed herself.

But he wasn’t afraid. Instead, he was filled with a cool, calm readiness. He gestured to her to stay where she was, concealed in the shadows. Then he ran out, moving as quietly as he could, and plunged into the lake.

Diving into freezing water was always a shock. But it was the sort of shock he was used to. He’d expected to have to feel around for the car, but though it was night, the water was clear and the car was cherry red. He could see it at the bottom of the lake, glowing like a coal in the refracted moonlight.

Ethan swam down to the trunk, keys in hand. This was the tricky part. If the trunk was watertight, the water pressure would keep it closed whether it was unlocked or not. But if it had filled with water, then the pressure would be equal inside and out, and he should be able to open it. He guessed. This wasn’t exactly something he’d tried before. Carefully, he inserted the key in the lock and turned it. Nothing seemed to happen, but he put the keys back in his pocket, wedged the heels of his hands beneath the trunk, and shoved it upward with all his strength.

The trunk didn’t budge. Frustrated, Ethan gave it another shove, pushing until his shoulders burned and black spots danced before his eyes. But he might as well be trying to lift the entire car. There was no way he could get to his gun.

He turned his face upward. His exertion had burned through a lot of his oxygen, and his chest hurt. As he started to kick off the bottom, he was startled by the splash of something falling into the lake. It was one of Destiny’s dancing shoes. Ethan froze as he watched it sink toward him, the mud coming off in clouds and leaving it shiny and clean.

She was warning him not to surface—and in a way that would have given away her location to any watching enemies.

He swam away as fast as he could. A second later, he heard gunshots, along with the splashes of bullets striking the water. They were shooting at him. Good. That meant they weren’t shooting at her. The pain in his chest became an agony, but he swam on until he reached one of the clusters of reeds that edged the lake. Once he was concealed within it, moving very slowly to avoid making ripples, he lifted his face out of the water.

What he saw filled him with a protective fury. Two men stood in the clearing by the lake, both armed with pistols. One was scanning the lake, clearly trying to spot Ethan. And the other was stalking toward the part of the woods where Destiny had concealed herself.

Ethan longed to stop the man going after her before he got anywhere near her. But neither of the enemies were close to him. He’d be seen the instant he stood up from the reeds, and he’d be shot down before he could do anything. He forced himself to take a deep breath and think. Destiny had undoubtedly moved from her original position; she was a veteran and a working bodyguard, and he’d seen how stealthily she could move through the woods. Even injured, unarmed, and missing one shoe, she was perfectly capable of concealing herself. If they both stayed hidden, they could sit it out until her team arrived.

The man at the shore ruined that idea by firing into the clump of reeds closest to him. He systematically raked that area with fire, then started in on another clump. Ethan readied himself to dive again. This time he’d hunt for Destiny’s Sig Sauer, which had to be somewhere at the bottom of the lake. It wasn’t much of a chance, but it was the best he had.

A terrifying roar shattered the night. Ethan was hard to startle, but he barely stopped himself from jumping out of his skin. It was some big cat, and close. A cougar? Could they roar like that? It wasn’t as if Santa Martina had lions…

The enemy at the lakeside stopped shooting. “What the fuck was that?”

The other man, who was near the edge of the woods, took a step back. “Must be a mountain lion.”

The roar sounded again, making the enemies twitch nervously.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” said the one who’d been shooting at the reeds.

“No!” the other snapped. “She’s from Protection, Inc., and they’re why Mr. Nagle is in jail right now. We’re taking her dow—”

A tiger leaped out of the woods and took him down.

Ethan’s jaw dropped. But he only let his shock stop him for an instant. As the other enemy started to swing his gun toward the tiger, Ethan charged him. The man heard him coming, looked round, and froze for a fateful second, caught between the man and the tiger. In that instant, Ethan punched him in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

The other enemy lay still between the big cat’s massive paws. Ethan didn’t see any blood. It seemed like both their enemies were unconscious, not dead.

The tiger stepped away from its prey. For such a huge beast, it moved with a strange daintiness. Ethan stayed still, his heart pounding. His enemy’s gun was right there at his feet, but he didn’t want to bet that he could stoop and grab it before the tiger could leap. Besides, he had no desire to harm the beast that had just saved his life. It was a magnificent creature, with its soft-looking fur and deadly grace. He’d always loved wild things; he’d hunted for food, but never for sport.

If he didn’t attack it, probably it wouldn’t attack him. Maybe it had been scared by all the shooting and had acted in self-defense. Or maybe it had cubs it was protecting.

Ethan and the tiger looked at each other. His pulse throbbed in his ears, but from excitement and awe rather than fear. He’d never been so close to a big cat before, not even at the zoo…

…of course. It must have escaped from a zoo. No wonder it didn’t seem afraid of him. Very slowly, Ethan held out his hand. The tiger cocked its head as if it was trying to figure out what he was doing, but it didn’t seem frightened or angry. He made the clicking sound that his sister’s best friend, Catalina, used to talk to her housecats.

The tiger padded up to him and nudged his hand with its head. Barely able to believe this was really happening, Ethan scratched it behind the ears. Its fur was incredibly thick and soft.

“You beauty,” he murmured. “I wish you were mine…”

The soft fur melted away from under his hand. Incredulous, Ethan stared into Destiny’s merry brown eyes.

And a whole lot else. She was completely nude, and standing so close that he could feel her body heat. Between that and the tiger, his brain went into a total shutdown.

“You can let go of my ear now,” she said.

“You’re the tiger!” he blurted out.

“Yup.”

“And you’re naked!”

She looked down at herself. “Whoops. Better give me your shirt.”

Ethan had been half-sure he was dreaming, but as he automatically moved to obey, the sensation of slimy cold cloth dragging over his face convinced him that no matter how bizarre the situation, he was awake and it was real.

He started to offer her the wet shirt, then thought better of it. “Take one of theirs instead. At least they’re dry.” He indicated the nearest unconscious enemy.

Destiny pulled a face. “Not quite. Got some tiger drool on it. My tiger’s drool, but still. I’ll take the other.”

Dazed, Ethan watched her pad over to the enemy he’d knocked out and start stripping off his shirt. Her nude body was every bit as lushly tempting as he’d imagined—no, it was ten times more tempting. A hundred times. A thousand. The perfect globes of her breasts, the sweet roundness of her belly with its dimpled button, the delicious sway of her thighs, her absolutely spectacular ass that he was getting a truly incredible view of right now—

She twisted around and snapped her fingers. “Get busy, jarhead. These guys could wake up any second.”

His face burning, Ethan started ripping up his own shirt, which was a lost cause anyway. He tied up the first enemy, then came over to help Destiny with the one who was now shirtless. To his regret, she’d already pulled on the shirt, which came almost down to her knees. But he comforted himself with the recollection that they’d been planning to duck into the woods to make love anyway. He’d see her naked again. Maybe even later tonight.

She rifled through the men’s pockets while Ethan made sure they were securely bound, extracting their wallets and cell phones. He peered over her shoulder as she looked through their contact lists.

“Ah-ha!” Destiny indicated a number labeled ‘Mr. N.’ “I was right: they’re from the same organized crime ring that attacked my boss and your sister. That’s the private phone line for Wallace Nagle, the Godfather of Santa Martina. At least, it was. He’s in jail now, so I guess his phone is sitting in some FBI evidence lockbox. Let me call Hal and tell him what’s happened.”

She dialed a number. “Hal? First off, I’m fine and so is Ethan. But we still need a pickup. My car’s at the bottom of a lake, along with my Sig Sauer, one of my shoes, and all of Ethan’s stuff. And my dress is a pile of shreds and spangles.” She paused while Hal said something. “Yeah: he knows. I’ll explain it all to him while you cancel the cavalry.”

She turned to Ethan. “Let’s go talk somewhere out of earshot.”

“Sure.” They collected the gangsters’ weapons, and then he followed her along the shore of the lake until they reached a flat rock, far enough to escape prying ears but where they could still see the gangsters. Destiny plonked down on top of it, and he followed suit. There was a brief silence while they looked into each other’s eyes.

So beautiful, Ethan thought. The tiger had the same soft brown eyes as the woman, though much bigger. The tiger was the woman; the woman was the tiger. He’d seen and even felt for himself that it was true, but it was still hard to believe.

Wryly, Destiny said, “Would you believe that the whole time I’ve been a shifter, which is my entire life, this is the first time I’ve ever had to explain it to a person who’s never even heard of shifters before?”

Only then did Ethan realize what a sacrifice she’d made to save him. She obviously could have simply fled in her tiger form and kept her secret, but instead she’d come back for him. “Is anything bad going to happen because you let me find out? You’re not going to get court-martialed or something like that, are you?”

Her laugh echoed across the still water. “No. There’s no underground shifter government. We just keep it a secret for obvious reasons. Also, because there’s a lot of rumors floating around that the actual government, or parts of it, knows about shifters and would love to find out what makes us tick. Like, by keeping us locked up in a lab and experimenting on us.”

“I’ll never tell a soul,” Ethan said immediately. “But Hal knows? Did you tell him? Or is he a tiger shifter too?”

“Guess I might as well spill the beans on everyone,” she said with a grin. “Hal’s a shifter, yeah, but he’s a grizzly bear. Ellie already knows. They were going to tell you when you arrived. Break it to you gently.”

Now that the shock was wearing off, his mind worked quickly. “And the rest of your team?”

“Rafa’s a lion, Shane’s a panther, Nick’s a wolf, Fiona’s a snow leopard, and Lucas is a dragon.”

“What?” Suspicious that he was pulling her leg, he was about to say, “He is not,” when he remembered how Destiny had glanced upward as she’d estimated how long it would take for her teammates to arrive. “Lucas could fly here in about twenty minutes, huh?”

“Yup. You’re quick on the uptake. I thought you’d be way more disbelieving. And way more weirded out. Though maybe you’re just having a delayed reaction and will freak out later.” Though her tone was light, her gaze dropped down as if she was genuinely uncertain how he’d respond. Her hands were flat on the stone, but the tendons stood out. He wondered if she thought he might suddenly recoil from her.

“Hey.” Ethan laid his hand over hers. She twitched slightly, but he kept it where it was. “Destiny, I can’t pretend this hasn’t been the biggest shock of my life. And to be honest, I’ll probably wake up in the middle of the night tonight and think, ‘Did that really happen?’ But I know it did. And I’m not scared or horrified or whatever it is you’re imagining. I’m just… surprised.”

She looked up then, and the moon shone in her beautiful eyes. “You sure?”

“Positive, nerd girl.” As he’d hoped, she made a face at him, and he felt some of the tension leave her hand. “You’re a gorgeous, fierce woman, and you’re a gorgeous, fierce tiger. Any man lucky enough to get with you will never sleep cold at night.”

She snickered. “He wouldn’t anyway.”

They sat in silence for a while, with her soft hand warm under his. A feeling of utter contentment filled his heart. He had no need to rush anything. If he and Destiny didn’t do anything that night but hold hands, that was fine. He and this brave, bewitching, literally magical woman had all the time in the world.

A shout made them both start. “Destiny? Ethan?”

She jumped up and waved. “Over here, Hal!”

An enormous man holding a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other stepped out of the woods. Ellie followed him.

Ethan ran to meet his sister, sweeping her off her feet in a hug. She threw her arms around him and held him tight. He’d never admitted it to anyone, not even to her, but by far the hardest part of being a Marine was how little he got to see Ellie, and how much he missed her when he was gone.

“Hey,” he said, setting her down. “Hear you went and got engaged to a grizzly bear.”

“He’s only furry sometimes,” she said, smiling. Despite the stress she’d been under, she looked happy and relaxed. It seemed like love agreed with her.

Ethan took a good long look at Hal the bear. Ellie might like him, but Ethan was going to make up his own mind. Still, he had to admit that the first impression was positive. Hal clearly knew how to use the gun he held, which indicated competence. Destiny respected him, which did as well. But most importantly, there was no mistaking the love in Hal’s gaze when he looked at Ellie. That man would live and die for her, and lay down the world at her feet. That was good enough for Ethan.

Ellie and Ethan started to catch up with each other while Hal and Destiny conferred about the gangsters and her car. Hal called the police to come pick up the gangsters and take them to jail, and made another call to get her car winched out of the lake. They waited for the police to arrive, and then they all climbed into Hal’s car to drive to the cabin.

Destiny squeezed into the back seat with Ethan. He nearly put his arm around her, then decided that he shouldn’t without knowing if she wanted her boss to know. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about Ellie knowing. It was all so fresh and new, he wanted to keep it between the two of them for now. With an inward start of surprise, he realized that the most they’d ever done was kiss, and that only once. How strange. It felt like they’d come so much farther than that already.

He didn’t dare look her in the eyes, or he’d give it away for sure. It was killing him to keep his hands off her. But a delicious warmth kindled within him at her presence.

Soon, he thought. Maybe not tonight. But soon.