Lana woke up first, awareness gradually pushing through her sleep-fogged brain. The warm arm resting across her waist, the steady breathing beside her and the hard—her eyes popped open and she jerked around. She came face-to-face with Mark and was acutely aware of their naked bodies, a tiny prick of embarrassment washing over her. Then his eyes opened and a sweet, familiar smile covered his lips as he looked at her.

“Good morning, beautiful.” He leaned forward and lightly kissed her, one hand palming her ass possessively.

“G-good morning,” she whispered. “I, um, I…”

“You should stop thinking about whatever’s making you stammer and cuddle with me.”

“I should?” She blinked.

“Yes.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her across his chest and running his hands along the swell of her ass. “It’s still early, so there’s no reason to rush around.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

“After last night, you’re still feeling uncomfortable?” He pressed a light kiss on the side of her face.

“After last night, you should know me well enough to know my gut reaction is always discomfort.”

“Then I guess I have to make it my goal to get you past that. With me, at least.”

She smiled against his chest, inhaling his deliciously masculine scent and allowing herself to soak up his warmth. She didn’t want to feel awkward with him. This was Mark, and she’d waited her whole life for a guy like him. Maybe she’d been waiting just for him, specifically, because last night had shown her they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. She’d liked him before; she was head-over-heels crazy about him now.

“We have to get back to Eagle Rock soon,” she said reluctantly. “I’ve got a ton of work to do.”

“It’s not even seven yet, babe. Relax.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes and for the first time in a long time, she didn’t think about anything. Not work, not the decision on whether or not to move, nothing. The only thing she was capable of was feeling. Feeling Mark. His strength, his tenderness, his incredible patience with her. How on earth had she gone nearly 30 years without knowing what it felt like to be with Mark? More than that, how was someone so beautiful, both inside and out, still available?

“Why are you single?” she blurted out, raising her head to look into his eyes.

The beginnings of a smile made his lips twitch. “Because I hadn’t met you yet,” he answered lightly.

“But you’re so nice,” she protested. “And hot. I mean, seriously hot.”

He chuckled. “I could say the same about you.”

“I embarrass myself in front of men regularly.” She shrugged. “And while it doesn’t seem to bother you, there are a lot of guys who don’t like that I’m taller than them, so it’s different for me.”

“Then those weren’t the right guys for you.”

“And you are.” She wasn’t sure whether she was asking a question or making a statement, but it probably fell somewhere in between.

“Seems that way,” he agreed.

“Mark, I haven’t had a boyfriend since…forever.”

“It’s been a while for me, too, but I think we got this, babe. Don’t think so much. Just enjoy.” He shifted out from their embrace and abruptly flipped her over. He looked down at her with that same look he’d had last night and she melted a little, unable to break his gaze or resist the heat building inside of her.

“There’s that passionate woman from last night,” he whispered, dropping light kisses along her jaw. “Keep looking at me just like that, baby, and then I want to hear you screaming my name again.”

By the time they’d made love twice, showered and had breakfast, it was after nine and they drove back to Eagle Rock with their hands linked between them. Lana wasn’t used to having a man drive her anywhere unless she was in a taxi, but she didn’t mind with Mark. She could already picture herself falling in love with him. He was so easy-going and tender, even when he was intense, and she was beginning to crave it. Everything was so damn easy with him. Easier than she’d imagined when he’d just been Erin’s hot friend. Much easier than she’d thought after running into him at the airport in Las Vegas. Too damn easy. And life had taught her that nothing good was ever this easy.

“Do you and Aaron have plans for the rest of the week?” Mark asked as they drove. “I need to make sure the two of you and the house always have coverage.”

“This is kind of ridiculous,” Lana murmured. “Not being cautious, but the whole thing. What kind of person does this shit? If my husband was divorcing me because we couldn’t work it out, it would never cross my mind to throw a bomb in his window.”

“It’s baffling to me too,” Mark said. “When a relationship ends, you walk away, no matter how much it hurts.”

“If he cheated, I could see putting his golf clubs out with the trash or something like that, but that’s just stuff—I could never hurt someone physically.”

“I hear you.” He was nodding though he was looking straight ahead. “I think people stay in toxic relationships for far too long and then, when one or both of them finally realize they need out, they don’t know what to do with each other.”

“Sometimes I’m glad I’m single,” she said softly, turning and looking out the window to her right.

“That’s a big part of why I’m single too. I can’t have drama in my life while being in the military. That kind of distraction could get me killed.”

Lana was quiet for a minute but then she turned to him. “I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I would never distract you with drama. Naughty emails, maybe, but no drama.”

He grinned. “Naughty emails aren’t the kind of thing that would distract me during a mission… Those would give me the motivation to get home safe and sound.”

They walked into the house holding hands and Aaron looked up from the couch with a grin. “Oh, thank god you two hooked up. I was going to have to get hardcore if you didn’t figure it out.”

“We were sick to death of watching you dance around each other,” Swede added, coming in from the kitchen.

Lana’s face turned bright red and she disappeared up the stairs, muttering something about needing her laptop.

“Thanks a lot,” Mark chuckled, shaking his head. “You better not have scared her off after I finally got her to like me.”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Aaron said firmly. “You two have it bad.”

“It’s all new,” Mark said easily, going towards the kitchen to get his own cup of coffee. Hopefully, the conversation would move on to something else when he got back. He hadn’t made a secret of the fact he liked Lana, but he hadn’t realized they were all onto him.

“Hey.” Montana was at the table and glanced up. “Have a good night with your girl?”

Mark wanted to protest that she wasn’t actually his girl, but merely nodded instead. “Yup.”

“Okay, back to business. Joyce Ferrar arrived in Bozeman a week ago. She stayed in town a couple of days and has been off the radar since Tuesday, when she confronted Lana at Macy’s.”

“What about that little motel on the outskirts of town?” Mark asked. “Could she be paying cash, staying off the grid by not using her credit cards?”

“Already checked. They only have one guest right now, and it’s a sixty-year-old man.”

“So we’ve got nothin’.”

“I didn’t say that. She used her credit cards in Bozeman yesterday at a beauty salon.”

“Changing her looks?” Mark met his eyes and Montana shrugged.

“Not sure. I’m sending in one of the guys to talk to people there, see what we can find out.”

“In the meantime, we just sit here waiting for her or someone she hires to go after Aaron or Lana.”

“Aaron and Lana go about their business and we watch their backs to make sure nothing happens.”

Mark poured a cup of coffee, listening as Montana talked about protection strategies and the software he’d been using to track her credit card use. Since Lana and Aaron were going to be working for a few hours, he would do the same. He leaned over Montana’s shoulder to study the program on his computer. Hopefully, they would find Joyce’s location and stop her before she tried anything else. It bothered him that she’d been able to get Lana alone at the department store, because it told him she was more dangerous than they thought. If she’d been following them, she knew Lana wasn’t alone and still had threatened her. In his world, that was someone who cared less about getting caught than accomplishing her mission, and those kinds of people scared him.

The next week flew past. Lana and Aaron planned for several appearances, drafting of press releases and other things Mark didn’t quite follow. After the work day was over they would all eat dinner together before Aaron would go up to his room, giving Mark and Lana a little privacy. Technically, Mark was working, but protecting the house and its occupants while one of the other guys slept in the spare room wasn’t a problem. He and Lana would go up to bed when whoever was on duty got up to take over for him. They hadn’t been intimate again because she was far too shy to allow herself to lose control with others in the house, but it didn’t bother him. Sleeping next to her, holding her, was enough; he was content having her in his arms and in his life. It had been so long since he’d been that comfortable with a woman, he didn’t want to think about how quickly their time together would come to an end.

Seventeen out of his thirty days off were already gone and he was leaving on day twenty-nine so he would have a day at home to get back into his routine. Worse than that, Lana and Aaron weren’t on a set schedule, so one or both of them could decide to leave at any time. They had a couple of events coming up at the skating rink and a children’s hospital, but those were next week and something told him Lana was itching to get out of Montana. She was a city girl through and through, making it unlikely that she would be happy living here in Eagle Rock. If he wanted her, he would have to think twice about the opportunity here, leaving the military, and pretty much everything else in his life. Since they’d only really been together a week, it was early to be thinking about those kinds of things, but he’d been waiting for a chance with her for a long time. Letting her go now that she was within reach wasn’t an option either.

“Hey, you ride?” Montana was asking him as they went over the day’s plans in Aaron’s kitchen, like they did every day.

“Ride?” Mark frowned.

“Horses.”

“Oh, not really. I mean, I’ve been on a dozen donkeys in the Middle East and done a few of those horseback-ride-at-sunset-type dates, but nothing like what you guys do.”

“You up for it? You can’t live in Eagle Rock and not ride.”

Mark shrugged. “I’m up for anything.”

“Lana?” Montana asked.

“Not me,” she murmured, not looking up from her computer.

“That’s what you said about skiing,” Mark pointed out, “and you had fun.”

“I did.” Lana glanced up. “But that was different. On a tiny little hill like that, what’s the worst thing that could’ve happened to me? Broken arm or leg? Maybe some bruised ribs? But on the back of a two-thousand-pound animal—that could go wrong in all kinds of ways. As clumsy as I am? No thanks. They’re majestic, beautiful and smart. I loved feeding and petting them the other day with Allie and I’ll happily hang out and watch you guys, but riding a horse isn’t a skill I’ll ever need.”

Mark mentally winced but decided not to push it. “You’re right, babe.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “You should never do anything that makes you that uncomfortable.”

She gave him a sweet smile before going back to whatever she was doing online.

“We could all go,” Aaron said lightly. “We barely leave the house, so a day on the ranch would be kind of cool. You can stay inside, Lana…”

She nodded absently. “Sure. Whatever you guys want to do.”

“All right, let’s get going then.” Montana got to his feet.

Lana closed her laptop and immediately headed up to her room. Mark watched her for a moment before following, wondering about her odd behavior. She’d been quiet and her reaction to the horseback riding idea had been strange even for her.

“I’ll just be a minute,” she said, pulling a pair of jeans out of the closet.

“What’s going on?” he asked softly, leaning against the wall.

She shrugged. “Just work stuff.”

“Lana.”

She met his gaze and took a deep breath. “Kate needs me to stay in New York.”

“What?”

“We had a conference call yesterday with a couple of our bigger clients and then she and I talked early this morning. It’s not feasible for me to become a partner if I’m going to be out West. The only way it works is if I’m on the East Coast.”

Mark thought carefully about what to say, though his gut churned with disappointment. “But isn’t that your home anyway?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I’m ready for a change. Like I said before, I’ll never own a house in New York. I give up a lot to live in the greatest city in the world, and even though I love Manhattan, I don’t think I can stay forever.”

“So what happens with your job?”

“I don’t know.” She sank onto the bed, letting out a dejected little sigh. “I love working with Kate, but I think it’s time to get out of New York, explore the world a little. And honestly, if I’m ever going to have a family, it’s expensive as hell to raise kids there.”

Mark sat beside her, taking one of her hands in his. “You could find another job in PR, though, right?”

“Yeah, but I’d be working for someone else, and probably not making what I’d make as Kate’s partner.”

“That would balance out with cost of living, don’t you think?”

“Depending on where I lived, probably.”

She looked so miserable Mark couldn’t help but pull her close. “It’s going to be okay,” he said against her ear. “Whatever you decide will be what’s right for you.”

“I thought becoming Kate’s partner was what was right… Now I don’t know. I really never considered getting another job.”

“Then maybe it’s time. You can learn new ways of doing things, new skills, and work with different clients. Change isn’t a bad thing.”

“No, but I thought Kate and I would make this work even if I left New York. Our clients have different ideas, though, so now I have to choose between the job I love and my need to get out of New York.”

“I think maybe a day at Hank and Sadie’s ranch, with fresh air and horses and other stuff you’re not fond of, might be just the ticket.”

She chuckled. “I don’t know about that, but since we’re going anyway, it’ll be a good distraction.”