Ewan had never been one to sleep late, but this morning he’d woken even earlier than normal. Actually, he hadn’t really slept at all. The sex last night had been phenomenal, but it had left him wishing he’d done exactly what he’d told Nina he wasn’t doing . . . resisting.

It had taken him less than an hour to finalize the dissolution of the contract. All it needed was the signatures from him, Nina, and ProtectCorps, and she would be free to walk out of his life. This time, Ewan thought, it would truly be forever. He saved the updated document without sending it.

In the kitchen, he cracked eggs and toasted bread as the coffee brewed, knowing the scent of breakfast would lure her down. She came in through the back door, not from the hallway, surprising him. She smiled at his expression and glanced at her clothes. Instead of her usual uniform of black leggings and shirt along with a harness of equipment, she wore a pair of butt-hugging shorts and a matching tank top. He’d seen her in much less than that, but somehow the outfit was almost sexier than nakedness.

“I got up early for a run,” she said. “That smells good.”

“It’ll be ready in a minute. Sit.” He eyed her as he scooped up scrambled eggs and cheese and put it on the table in front of her. “How’d you sleep?”

“Like a baby.” Nina’s voice was serene and she didn’t look at him as she snagged a piece of toast and crunched it with a happy sigh. “Oh, real butter is so much better than fake. How about you?”

“Not like a baby,” Ewan answered.

Nina looked up at him. “Uh-huh.”

“Are we going to talk about last night, or just pretend it didn’t happen?”

“Let’s pretend,” Nina answered. “It’s probably best that way.”

It was not the answer he’d been hoping for. Ewan took the seat across from her and pushed the coffee carafe in her direction. “Right.”

“Anything special on your agenda today, boss?” Nina poured herself a mug of steaming coffee and sipped it with another of those happy sighs he hated himself for finding so attractive.

“Work. I have to go into the lab a bit later,” he added, watching her face for any signs of curiosity, but she was so good at making her expression unreadable when she wanted to. “The security system was tripped a couple of times in the night. I should go in and make sure everything’s okay.”

She nodded. “All right. I assume I’ll be going along?”

“There’s no sign that it was anything other than random vandalism. Everything else has been very quiet, no reports of anything out of the ordinary. Nobody’s actively tried to kill me in months,” Ewan said, trying for a joke.

Nina used a fingertip to wipe some glistening butter from the corner of her mouth. Her voice low, she said, “I’m glad for that.”

“Makes your job easier.” Again, the joke fell flat.

“Yes.” She frowned. “But that’s not why.”

Ewan swallowed his own coffee without tasting it. He cleared his throat. Leaned forward. “Tell me why, then, Nina. Please. Because I sure as hell don’t understand. I mean last night—”

“Last night was nothing.” She sat back in her chair.

“It wasn’t nothing. It happened.” He slammed his mug down too hard on the tabletop. Burning coffee spilled on the back of his hand. He hissed, cursing.

Nina got up from the table and drew cold water onto a dish towel and came back to wrap his hand, moving so much faster than he could have. “Careful, Ewan. Let me see.”

“I’m fine.” He protested, but when she gave him a long, steady stare, he let her pull his hand closer.

“That’s a nasty burn. You should call the doc.”

Ewan frowned. “I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be fine with a blister,” Nina said coolly. “If you want me to call, I can.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Nina.”

Her lip curled. “Oh, yes. I’m sure you are. Never mind that I was trying to help. I forgot my place. Thanks for breakfast, but I’m not hungry anymore.”

“I know that’s a lie,” Ewan bit out. His hand stung, throbbing, and he knew she was right about calling the doc. “You’re always hungry.”

“I’m not always hungry!”

“You eat more in one day than I could eat in a week!”

They were both on their feet, breathing hard, so close he could feel her heat against him and all he could think about was how good she’d felt beneath him. How much he loved it when she hurt him while they were making love, how she knew exactly where and how to do it so that it never felt like pain, but only the greatest kind of pleasure.

“This is a stupid argument!” Ewan shouted.

“Yes, I know!”

Neither of them said anything for a few seconds. He thought he caught the hint of her quirked smile, but it was so faint he couldn’t be sure. He took a step back to get out of her face, give her some distance. He took a deep breath, then another. He thought about sticking out his hand for her to shake and calling a truce. It wouldn’t be as good as kissing her, but he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t bite him . . . and not in the way he liked. Before he could do anything, Nina put a hand to her temple with a wince.

Her entire body jerked. She winced again, then grimaced. “Ah.”

Ewan reached for her at once to put a hand on her shoulder. “What, baby? Are you okay?”

She blinked rapidly. “Blank spot.”

“What? Nina, sit down. What’s going on?”

Tremors ran through her muscles, vibrations he could feel in his fingertips. She sagged forward against him, but only for a moment before both her hands came up and she pushed him away. When she stared into his face, it was entirely without recognition. It lasted no more than a heartbeat or two before she was frowning. Her gaze had cleared.

“What happened?” Ewan asked.

“Glitch in the tech.” Her voice had gone hoarse. She went to the sink and drew a glass of water. She gulped it and filled the glass again. She drank the second more slowly, finishing half before putting the glass on the counter to wipe her mouth. “It happens.”

“How often?” Concerned, Ewan crossed to her, but she put up a hand to keep him from touching her. He kept his distance.

Nina lifted her chin and looked at him dead in the eyes. “Does it matter?”

“Of course it matters. Nina, if something’s going wrong . . .” Ewan trailed off at her expression. “Baby, please let me help you. I can call the doc—”

“That won’t help. I’ve been in for my checkups and everything is fine. It’s a small glitch in the tech because it’s degrading. It needs to be updated.” She paused, then looked away, no longer meeting his gaze. “There’s nothing you can do about it, Ewan.”

He could, though. They both knew it, but this time, Nina wasn’t saying it aloud. The truth rose to his lips, but Ewan bit back the words.

He didn’t want to make promises he couldn’t keep. He’d already broken her trust once. He couldn’t do that again. Until he could be certain he was able to not only make the actual upgrades to the tech but also get the laws reversed so that using them would be legal, he wasn’t going to tell her he was working on it. If she hated him for keeping the truth from her before, he couldn’t imagine how betrayed she would feel if he convinced her there was a solution in store, only to have it fall through.

“Does it hurt you?” he asked quietly.

“There’s pain,” Nina said after a moment. “It hurts more after the physical pain goes away.”

Ewan swallowed hard against the surge of emotions closing his throat. “Last night—”

“I told you,” Nina said sharply. “It happened. We don’t have to talk about it. It was just a thing. A mistake we both knew better than to make.”

“I guess I’m not as good as you are at forgetting,” Ewan said, his words meant to sting.

If they did, Nina was hiding her reaction. “I’ve had more practice.”

Ewan thought of the contract he’d terminated. All he had to do was send the file to ProtectCorps, and Nina could and would be out of his life within minutes. At the very least, he should tell her he’d terminated it and let her make the decision.

“I need to leave for the lab in half an hour. Will you be ready?” Ewan said instead, once more making the choice to hide some truth instead of using honesty. He knew it. He didn’t care.

He wasn’t ready to let her go.

“I’m ready right now,” Nina answered.

She was answering the question he’d asked her and not his unspoken thoughts, but her reply still sent a shiver of sorrow through him. He said nothing about it but gave her a curt nod. He left the room, sensing her gaze on him the entire way, but when he looked back to confront her, she’d turned away.