The whole ride back, Brogan kept an eye on the monitor on his wrist. No action anywhere. But it was coming. He could feel it. And he’d be damned if he let anything happen to Kat. He glanced over at her, and admiration warmed his chest. They rode hard and fast, pushing the horses. Pushing themselves, yet she kept pace without issue.

“You all right?” he asked.

She turned to him, her face flushed, eyes bright, appearing, happy, alive—absolutely breathtaking. “Is it bad that I’m enjoying this?”

A smiled twitched his lips. “No.” His grandfather used to say a hard ride was good for the soul. Brogan was beginning to suspect the same could be said about Kat.

Fierce emotions washed through him. He’d do whatever the hell it took to keep her safe. The ranch finally came into view, and as he spied Hank’s truck in the driveway, relief eased away some of the tightness in his chest.

“Thanks for coming so fast,” he said, dismounting near his boss, along with Kat.

She fished the phone and battery from her backpack and handed them to Hank. “We’re hoping the call can be back-traced.”

His boss nodded. “I know someone. We’ll get right on this. In the meantime, just sit tight.”

Brogan frowned. “You don’t think we should move Kat?”

“No,” she replied before Hank had the chance. “You should use me as bait and draw the bastard out.”

“Like hell,” he growled, facing the woman he cared about. “We’re keeping you safe. End of story.”

She sighed. “But the sooner we find the guy, the sooner we can end the threat.”

“Brogan’s right, Kat,” Hank chimed in. “Your uncle hired us to protect you.”

Finally, someone speaking sense.

“Besides,” Hank said opening the door to his truck before he turned to face them. “This won’t take long. Let’s see what we’re dealing with first.”

“All right,” he reluctantly agreed.

Kat nodded, petting her horse’s withers. “When you update my uncle and godfather let them know my phone is out of commission.”

“Will do.” Hank climbed in his truck and drove out of sight.

Brogan turned to Kat, noting her mouth was as tight as her shoulders.

Ah, hell, she was pissed.

“We should take care of the horses,” she said, leading hers toward the barn. “Provided I’m allowed.”

Yeah, definitely pissed.

But he didn’t care. Keeping her safe was his immediate concern.

***

By the time Kat emerged from her shower later that afternoon, she felt better. Her anger had dissipated, along with the dirt of the ride. It was foolish to be mad at the man for caring about her, and it was too early in their “relationship” to assume he was like the other men she’d dated. He was a former SEAL, trained to carry out orders, and complete missions. And his mission was to protect her.

So of course, he’d vetoed her offer to be used as bait.

It didn’t mean he’d have a problem with her doing a similar job in her godfather’s agency. Putting her life on the line for clients—it was in her blood, just as it was in his.

Time would tell if it proposed an issue. Since she was technically his client, she couldn’t count his reactions as normal.

After drying off, she slipped into the sinfully decadent robe Sadie had supplied, her body hyperaware of the expensive silk. She’d never felt anything so delicious against her skin. Brogan instantly came to mind. The thought of brushing against his hard body sent a tremor through her…and the fact Brogan was upstairs synchronizing the new sensors didn’t help her condition. She ran a comb through her wet hair then left the bathroom in search of clothes. Too miffed to think straight earlier, she’d jumped in the shower without grabbing a clean set first.

She walked over to her closet, but her gaze was on the open door that led upstairs. Only a few steps separated her from bliss. Closing her eyes, she blew out a breath. No. She was not going to go up there. It was time to put clothes on. Not Brogan.

Damn. That thought alone made her knees weak.

The sound of feet on the stairs had her eyes snapping open and heart racing in her chest.    

“Kat? Are you there?” he asked on his way down.        

She cleared the dryness from her throat. “Yeah.” 

“Good. Hank just called.” He entered the room and stopped dead, muttering an oath when he saw her. His gaze dropped to her feet and slowly ran up her body, lingering on her nipples, which were happy to see him. And grew happier the longer he looked. He swallowed, then lifted a heated gaze to her face.

She knew he’d said something important, but her mind was quickly fogging over. She inhaled much-needed oxygen, giving her brain a moment of clarity. “What did Hank say?”

“Hank?” He blinked and shook his head as if to clear it. “Right. He said the call came from a two year old boy in LA who got hold of his mother’s phone.”  

Smiling, she breathed a smile of relief, then frowned.

“What’s wrong?” he stepped closer to brush back a strand of wet hair stuck to her cheek. “I thought you’d be happy to know your location wasn’t compromised.”

“I am.” She set her palms on his chest and spread her fingers, noting they didn’t span the width of his muscles. “I am. But I’d hoped it would’ve revealed Hector’s whereabouts.”

He tucked a finger under her chin and urged her to meet his gaze. “I have every confidence your uncle will find him and take him out.”

She smiled. “Me, too.”

“Good, because there’s a more immediate pressing matter demanding our attention.”

“What matter?”

He tipped her head to brush his mouth down her throat. “This one.”

She clutched his shoulders, crossing her eyes when his lips found the sensitive spot behind her ear. “Yeah, you’re right, that one’s going to require a lot of attention. Immediate and in-depth.”

Muttering a curse, he pressed her against the closet door and captured her mouth, kissing her long and deep, sweeping his tongue inside as if staking a claim. Need rushed through her body in a wave of heat she’d never experienced before. Shoving her hands in his hair, she held his head, meeting his demands with equal vigor.

A low, sexy sound rumbled in his chest. He gripped her hip with one hand, and ran the other down her torso, cupping her ass on his way to her thigh. Sliding his palm underneath, he lifted her leg, hooking it around his hip, before pressing his erection against her center.

She moaned. He did it again. And again. And again, still, driving her crazy with need.

Kat broke the kiss and sucked in air, surprised she hadn’t disintegrated into a pile of trembling ash. She was so close to going off, it should’ve embarrassed her, but God, it felt too good. “Brogan,” she breathed, gripping his shoulders, trying to form words to convey her euphoria.

“I know.” He set his forehead to hers, breathing just as heavy. “I tried to wait.” Warm spurts of air hit her chest. “At least until you were out of danger, but I need you too much, Kat.”

She ran her hands up his neck to cup his face, basking under the heat of his gaze. “I need you too. And I don’t want to wait.”

“Are you sure? Because, I don’t know how, but I’ll find the strength to leave your room if you tell me to go.”

“I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay.” And to prove this, she set one of the ties of her robe in his hand. “I need you. Now.”

His expression turned fierce with something primal, and her whole body quivered in anticipation. He stepped back and tugged on the ties until her robe parted. Eager to keep things moving, she shrugged out of the robe, shivering as the silk caressed her body on its way to the floor.

“God, Kat. You’re so damn beautiful.” His gaze smoldered and devoured, and she didn’t think she could take much more.

“Brogan, I swear if you don’t touch me I’m going to do it myself.”

That spurred him into action. “I’d never survive,” he muttered just before his mouth crashed down on hers, and he bent to sweep her into his arms. He crossed the room and set her on the bed, never breaking the kiss, even as he pressed her down against the mattress.

The fact she was completely naked and he was fully clothed made her feel deliciously naughty. And when he released her lips to kiss a path to her chest and sucked a nipple into his mouth, she closed her eyes, lost in the pull, willing him to continue the delicious torture.

As if reading her mind…or body, he bestowed the same treatment to her other nipple, before dipping and tasting and nipping his way down her belly, over her hips, on his way to her toes.

When she no longer felt him on her body, she opened her eyes to find him kneeling at the foot of the bed, watching her. Once he had her attention, he grasped her ankles and tugged until her butt reached the end of the mattress. Then he kissed his way up the inside of her leg, the scrape of his beard ripping a moan from her throat.

“Damn…that feels so good,” she mumbled, closing her eyes.

“Look at me, Kat,” he urged, brushing closer and closer to where she needed him most.

Forcing her eyes open, she stared into his dark, smoldering gaze and spread her legs further.

His wicked smile was one iota away from orgasm-inducing status.

“Keep your eyes on me. I want to see the pleasure I bring you. I want to watch you come.”

She sucked in a breath. “Keep up that talk and you’ll see it happen now.”

“Oh, no.” He shook his head, and the barest of scrapes teased her upper thighs. “You’re going to wait until I touch you. And taste you.”

Kat muttered a curse, then forgot her annoyance when he lowered his face and brushed his mouth over her sensitive, exposed flesh.

Then he licked her.

She cried out, and started to close her eyes, until she remembered his request. It wasn’t an order. She preferred to think of it as a request. A wicked one, and heaven help her, she loved it. And with his gaze blazing, he held her hips as he explored her with his tongue, discovering early on the exact stroke she liked, and the ones she loved.

In under a minute, he had her panting his name and clutching the covers as she raced toward the promise of bliss.

“Brogan…” she panted, and when he sucked her gently into his mouth and brushed her with his tongue, she burst apart over and over with each stroke of his tongue.

As if knowing her body, he changed the stroke and rhythm to bring her down slowly. By the time the room came back into focus, Brogan was shedding the last of his clothes.

Kat lifted up on her elbow and surveyed every blessed inch of the ripped man. And he had a lot of inches. Her good parts quivered, and she marveled at how she could be ready so soon. But the ache and the need were there, and real.

As real as the SEAL from her fantasies.

But what he’d just done was a hell of a lot better than anything in her fantasies. And she was ready to experience more reality with him.

“Kat.” His hissed breath echoed through the room. “What are you thinking?” he asked, rolling on a condom.

“That I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”

Her answer seemed to please him, if the deep growl that ripped from his chest and gleam of satisfaction in his eyes were anything to go by. She thrilled at the thought that she caused both.

It was addicting. He was addicting, and she wanted to give him as much pleasure as he had given her.

She sat up, brushing her tumble of hair from her face. “Tell me what I can do for you?”

“You’re doing it.”