Summer had always been uncomfortable around good-looking men, their appearance seeming to magnify her own shortcomings. She sat at the conference room table at HERO Force headquarters, the lights too hot and her chair leaning too far back. The water in her glass moved gently side to side, a testament to the windy weather and the tall building they were in, and she ignored an answering wave of nausea that rippled through her stomach.

Five of the most physically intimidating men she’d ever seen stared at her, listening intently as she struggled through the explanation of what transpired at Daniels Aerospace last night, and she felt like she was testifying before a grand jury.

No, a military court-martial.

Her eyes rested on Mac O’Brady, the leader and the least stressful one to look at in the bunch—not because he was unattractive but because he was kind. He was older than the others, maybe fifty, with a shiny bald head.

But it was the Latino on the end who was really making her nervous. Luke Arroyo.

He hadn’t said anything since introducing himself, but the look he gave her was oddly intense, as if they shared a personal connection. She twisted her hands in her lap, one fingernail digging beneath another. She took in a shaking breath and finished her story. “That’s what I need you to do. Help me find Steven Galbraith—or whatever his name really is—get back the brancium, and keep me alive in the process.”

Luke leaned forward. “What about your father? Are you concerned for his safety?”

“No. I’m the one who saw Galbraith running from the scene, not him.”

Mac tapped his pencil on the shiny wood table. “We don’t know their motives. We’re not even completely sure who ‘they’ are. You saw your former employee, but do you know who he’s working for now?”

“I made some phone calls. According to the grapevine, he went to work for a competitor, AGL Aerospace.”

“And you think it’s the brancium they’re after. But it could be a personal attack. They might be interested in hurting your father, in addition to destroying his business.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “I hadn’t thought of that. What do you suggest we do?”

“One bodyguard on your father, another on you. Personal security comes first. Then we assemble a team to find Galbraith and the brancium while you two stay safe in the wings.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ll be looking for it, too.”

Luke’s eyes challenged hers, and she noted they were brown, nearly black, set firmly in his angular face. “Bad idea.”

“You don’t understand. It’s about the size of two nickels stacked on top of each other. We may need to search an entire office building. I know what it looks like.”

Luke shrugged. “So describe it to us.”

She could feel control of the situation slipping from her fingers, control she desperately needed to maintain. “That brancium is everything. My family, our livelihood, the future of our company. I’m not willing to sit idly by while someone else goes looking for it. That’s not what I’m hiring you for.”

Luke shook his head. “No. You’re hiring us to keep you safe, because you witnessed a murder and someone tried to kill you. Don’t let a piece of metal and a shareholder report make you forget that.”

“If I hire you, you work for me.” She lifted her chin. “I’m coming with you, or I’ll find someone else to help me.”

He shook his head. “Ridiculous. Who are you going to find? The other SEAL team down the block? No such thing, sweetheart.”

Mac cleared his throat. “Miss Daniels is part of this extended family. Even if there were somewhere else for her to turn, she wouldn’t need to. Miss Daniels, we’re happy to help in any way we can. Of course you can look for the brancium.”

“You want to give her a gun, too?” asked Luke. “Let her fly the chopper?”

Mac glared at him. “That’s enough, Wiseman.”

It couldn’t be. She tilted her head. “Wiseman?”

Luke shrugged. “Yeah.”

“My Wiseman?” She didn’t think about how that would sound, and as all eyes slowly turned to Luke, she felt her cheeks heat. Their letters had been strictly platonic, never crossing the line into something more, but there had been an intensity to the relationship that made her heart beat faster when she saw his name in her inbox. When he stopped answering her messages after Edward died, a part of her had felt dumped, for sure.

A shadow covered his eyes like a cloud blocking the sun, before one side of his mouth hitched into a smile. “Yeah.”

The intensely personal stare made sense now, the connection between them exposed. She longed to go to him and give him a hug, but something felt off and she wasn’t sure he would allow it. What had happened to their friendship? At one point, he’d held a special place in her life, albeit a small one. She turned to Mac. “I want Luke as my bodyguard.”

Mac tapped his pencil faster. “T-ball has a great deal of experience in personal security.”

“I want Luke.”

Mac looked pointedly at him.

“Sure. No problem,” said Luke.

Mac nodded. “It’s settled, then. It’s nine thirty. Miss Daniels, with your permission I’d like to lead a team to investigate the scene at the testing facility, and I’d like you to come along. We’ll also take you home so you can pack a bag, then you and Wiseman will spend the night in a hotel here in the city. You’ll be safe that way. In the meantime, we’ll see what the team can find out about AGL Aerospace and this Galbraith character.”

She squeezed her knees together. “Sounds good to me.” Her eyes went back to Luke. She had the distinct impression it sounded a lot less favorable to him, and they had nothing but time alone together to find out why.