Sunday. Alec’s House, Seattle, Washington.

Wyatt stared at the gray house with the small army of cars and trucks in the driveway and lined along the curb. All the other homes had maybe one vehicle visible. Not this one.

How many people were inside?

Was this Vara’s other team? Had she been working with these guys all along? Who was Vara Price, really?

They’d met through a military contact. He’d been hesitant at first. Syria was in the grips of a civil war, but there was money to be had. Vara took the right risks, she knew how to get around. It had made for a good partnership.

Had he been a fool this whole time?

What else was Vara doing?

In the end she’d used him and left their team on the ground die.

Ivan muttered and smacked the side of the tablet.

“What?” Wyatt whispered.

Ivan jabbed his finger in his ear then spat a curse and tossed the ear buds in the floorboard.

“The signal is gone,” he said.

“She wasn’t on the phone, was she?” Wyatt frowned.

“No.” Ivan glared at the front of the house. “We know where she is. When the rest of our men get here, we’ll end this.”

Wyatt was looking forward to that.

VARA WIGGLED HER TOES, listening to the whish, whish, whish against the sheets. The rain had died off, and the world seemed so quiet. She could hear the fan whirring away across the hall. A dog barked miles away. Alec’s deep breathing taunted her with the sleep that wouldn’t come to her.

Everything she’d believed was a lie.

The people she’d trusted were using her. Her friend was hunting her. Trying to kill her.

And the only person she could trust was the man who’d broken her heart and stole a piece of it. Her chest ached whenever she looked at him.

She turned her head and stared at the dark shape of Alec’s head in the darkness.

“Sleep,” he whispered.

“I thought you were.” She rolled to her side and curled her arm under her head, careful to not touch the back of her hands to the bedding. The blisters weren’t throbbing as much, and she wanted to keep it that way.

“I was.” His voice was muffled, thick with sleep. He patted her thigh.

“Go back to sleep,” she whispered.

“You first.” He squeezed her knee.

She swallowed past the ball of anxiety lodged in her throat. Sleep wasn’t her friend tonight. There was too much in her head.

Alec rolled to his side facing her and slung his arm across her waist.

“Talk to me,” he mumbled.

“That’ll just keep you awake.”

“Then keep me awake.”

“Sleep.”

“Not until you do.”

“Why do you have to argue with me?”

“You’re the one arguing.”

She blew out a frustrated breath, and he tugged her close enough to kiss the tip of her nose.

The anxiety knot eased a bit. Being around Alec made her feel protected. It wasn’t just because he’d saved her life twice now. He had this aura around him. Alec was a protector. A champion. Sure, he might needle her into snapping at him from time to time and he had an unending supply of questions, but it came from a good place.

“Should I leave?” she whispered.

“What?” He picked his head up off the pillow and stared down at her.

“I mean, am I putting your friends in danger by being here?”

“Honey, danger is our bread and butter. You’re staying put. That’s not up for discussion.”

“But what if one of you gets hurt because of me?” What if one of them died?

Alec pulled her closer until she was nestled up against his chest from knee to shoulder.

“If you make me think you’re trying to leave, I’ll tie you up. The guys won’t help you get loose, either,” he said.

“Alec, I’m being serious.”

“And so am I.” He lifted his hand to her cheek. “You’re staying here. We’re going to protect you. Everything will be fine.”

“Promise?” She knew he couldn’t tell the future, but for now she wanted to believe in a comforting lie.

“Cross my heart.” He kissed the tip of her nose again then her lips. “What else are you thinking about?”

“What comes next?” That was a topic that took up a good deal of her thoughts.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I fell into translating because I was there and I spoke the languages. With Mom, it was easy to get cleared as a contractor and up my security clearance. Then the Syria gig just sort of happened. I kind of fall into the next thing without planning.”

“Then don’t worry about it. You’ll fall into something else.”

“But what if it’s something I don’t want to do? What if my bridges are burned in that part of the world?” What if her only options took her away from the budding relationship with Alec? Would she be happy flipping burgers while she worked toward a different path? Because she wasn’t just in danger of falling into love with him again, she was in love with him again.

“One thing at a time,” he whispered.

“What’s your life plan?” she asked.

“I... I don’t have one.” He sighed. “I meant to be career Navy.”

“And now?”

“Working in the family business is out. I like it here. Better pay and benefits. We can pick our jobs if we want. It’s not bad. I’m good at it. I like the travel. I like what we do.”

“Too bad you don’t hire women.” She chuckled.

“We do. They’re just in high demand.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s about...six? Or eight women who do field work for the company, but every one of them has a personal bodyguard contract with no end date. Good, female bodyguards are in high demand and hard to find.”

“I had no idea.”

“You’ve got the skills for it if you wanted to do it. I think your talents would be wasted there though.”

“What talents?” She snorted.

“How many languages do you speak?”

Arabic. Hebrew. Some Turkish, Greek, Spanish and French. Her mother had been serious about her learning how to speak to people. Communication was a common barrier, so Vara had learned more than enough to get by if she had to get around anywhere they were stationed.

“Fine, don’t answer.” Alec stroked her back. “You got to live with people in the Middle East. You understand them in a way guys like me never will be able to. That cultural understanding, it’s valuable in a global economy like this. There’s something out there that fits you.”

“Thank you.”

“You know, one of the guys has a girlfriend who just translates things into Arabic? She does text books, mostly. Then there’s...fuck, I forget his name. He’s on Alpha Team. The pretty boy. Named after a cat. Felix. His wife runs some sort of humanitarian thing and does a lot of work with medical charities. I bet you’d be valuable to either of them. I can make some calls?”

“That would be nice.” Vara especially liked the idea of working with a humanitarian group. All of these ideas sounded promising with the added bonus of maybe, just maybe, staying in Alec’s orbit. “But maybe we hold off until someone isn’t trying to kill me?”

“Probably a good idea.” Alec squeezed her again. “Roll over.”

Vara did as he asked, twisting in his arms until she lay spooned by his body. She turned her nose into the pillow, breathing in his smell and willing herself to believe in the good they could have.

MONDAY. AEGIS GROUP Office, Seattle, Washington.

Alec pulled out a chair for Vara and held it while she sat with her coffee and bagel.

The instructions for this morning had them meeting in the central command room. The space was the second secure room in the building, the other being Zain’s personal office. From this room they could handle any number of sensitive tasks, like facial recognition and real-time digital tracking. But most of all, for this morning’s purposes, their communication feed was encrypted. Someone was joining them remotely and Alec was curious who that person might be.

Today was going to be a long day of figuring out how the hell they were going to handle this threat. Someone was after his girl and he wasn’t going to let that happen on his watch.

What was worse, there would be people out there who would think she was Djinn even once this blew over. That came with its own set of dangers they’d have to sort out.

For now, the Russian mob boss and whatever the hell the Russian intelligence community was up to was their priority. What had begun as an annoying advisory against using their phones whole on the op had grown into a threat against their everyday lives. There was no way he’d trust a hostile foreign one with unfettered access to his and millions of other people’s phone conversations. Of course that technology was now in American hands. Alec wasn’t sure he liked big brother having another way to pry into private lives.

“Morning.” Ryan nodded across the table at them and sank into a chair.

“Nice of you to join us.” Alec’s gaze flicked over the other housemates dragging in.

The meeting wasn’t mandatory. No one had to be involved in this. And yet everyone had turned out. Alec appreciated it though he knew these guys would have shown up, anyway. They’d begun this journey together while trying to save Carson, now they’d finish it for Vara. They didn’t leave jobs half done, and the finish line was so close.

“Merida. These bagels are awesome.” Ryan held his up and saluted the Office Manager striding toward their table.

Merida was a former administrator in the Navy, much like Vara’s mother. It was people like Merida who kept things running smoothly so guys like him could do the job and get the credit. Zain had poached Merida and wasn’t shy about admitting it.

“Something up?” Alec didn’t like the serious set of Merida’s face. She usually went for pleasant.

“We got a call this morning from one of your employees. He wants to talk to you,” Merida said without preamble.

“Now?” Vara blew out a breath.

“I told them it would be later.”

“Are they okay?”

“Last we heard they were.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Vara sank back in her chair.

Merida’s serious mask lifted and concern creased her face. “You know, when we first reached out to them the first thing they asked about was you. You’ve got some good people at your back.”

“They’re the best. They didn’t deserve this.”

“Morning everyone.” Zain strode into the command room followed by two familiar faces, FBI Agents Owen King and Rusty Rodgers, two reliable guys who’d been through hell and back with them already.

Owen sat next to Ryan. The two had been friends since before Alec joined the company, back when Owen was just a Seattle detective. The former cop was a good friend to have that was for damn sure. He’d come through for them on more than one occasion.

“Most of you know Owen and Rusty.” Zain nodded at the two men then turned his attention to the projector. He flicked his fingers across the screen and the image of a dark haired man with brown eyes and a heavy five o’ clock shadow gazed down on them. “This is CIA Agent Brett Jones, who I don’t believe any of you met. He was instrumental to a case we worked on a few years ago. It just so happens we’re after the same guy.”

“Morning, team.” Brett nodded his head and folded his arms, leaning toward the camera. “I’m not here in any official capacity.”

“We appreciate your help.” Zain turned toward the room. “It’s been a long night, so let me get you all up to speed. Brett, can you see the screen?”

“I can.” Brett reached forward and tapped something. “Is that Vara Price?”

“Yes, Vara is with us.” Zain glanced at her.

Alec flexed his hand around her knee. She patted him as though he was the one needing to be soothed.

“Hello, Agent Jones.” Vara’s tone was a touch frosty.

“I’d just like to say that I’m sorry about how things were handled. I’m familiar with your work. I appreciate what you’ve done.” Brett’s face scrunched up, and he seemed to struggle for words.

Alec cleared his throat. “What happened in Cairo was a shit show. Let’s fix it.”

“Agreed.” Brett jerked his head in a nod.

“Let’s get started,” Zain announced. “There’s a timeline and a list of suspects for everyone to review. What we’re here today to discuss is, what’s our next step? How do we protect Vara, our team and Jules while not getting in the way of the federal investigation?”

“What investigation?” Paxton snorted and swung in his chair.

“Is the CIA investigating Kolya?” Alec stared at the agent on the wall.

“Yes,” Brett said without hesitation. “The FBI is, too. From where I’m sitting protection isn’t your problem. Your problem is the powers that be presenting Vara Price as the target. She’s the patsy.”

Alec stared at the agent, willing him to shut up.

“I know nothing. I have nothing. I am no one, right?” Vara’s voice didn’t waver. She tipped her chin up and stared back at Brett with a beautiful, defiant air.

Alec wanted to kiss her. She was someone to him.

“Yeah.” Brett’s mouth twisted up, and he nodded. “But that’s not how other people are going to see you. A few well timed photos, gossip and you’re whoever they want you to be.”

“So how do we use all of that?” Vara crossed one leg over the other. She was so damn poised. There was a mob boss out there who wanted her dead, the CIA sliding a noose around her neck and she wasn’t even sweating.

“The powers that be want to sit back and wait for Kolya to make a move,” Brett said.

“I’m their risk free bait?” Vara smirked.

“Yes.”

“Then we show them you’re not the hacker,” Ryan said. He leaned across the table. “What’s the hacker’s name you worked with? Can you convince him to come forward?”

Alec glanced at Vara. Her lips were in a tight line.

Djinn wasn’t a man. He’d made the same mistake in assuming the gender of the hacker. Would knowing that detail matter?

“Djinn and I worked closely for a year and a half. I’m not going to betray that trust,” Vara said. “Just so everyone’s clear, I don’t know Djinn’s real name either. Djinn has helped us in the name of peace and made themselves a target in the process. I’m not going to throw Djinn under the buss to save myself.” Vara pressed her hands to the tabletop and leaned forward. “I won’t betray my contact the way I was betrayed.”

“No one wants to get Djinn killed. It would help if we could contact Djinn, get their help on this. He knows more about this package and what could be done with it than anyone,” Zain said.

“I don’t know how to make contact.” Vara shrugged.

“Guys, what’s our end goal? What do we really want to happen? What do we want to do about stopping this?” Alec glanced around the room.

“The CIA wants Kolya and Djinn. The US government has the package which means the Russians don’t,” Brett said.

“The FBI wants Kolya and Djinn, too.” It was the first time Owen had spoken since the meeting started.

“Is capturing Kolya a matter of opportunity or evidence?” Alec asked slowly. The answer to that mattered.

“Opportunity,” Brett replied.

“There’s so much evidence against the man we could put him away for multiple lifetimes,” Owen said.

Shit.

That was the answer Alec was afraid of.

“Then we set a trap.” Vara glanced at Alec, their gazes meeting for a brief moment. He’d stand by her, but he wouldn’t like this plan. “That’s what we’re getting at, right? Everyone wants Kolya. They’re all waiting for him to make a move. Why not use that? Force him to do something?”

Alec shook his head, but didn’t say anything. He’d known this was coming, that the best way to trap Kolya or his enforcers was using her.

“I don’t like it. Obviously. But I don’t have to.” He glanced at Vara glaring at him. “We need to stop reacting to what they’re throwing at us. If we can come up with a plan that keeps Vara safe that’s going to be our best bet.”

She stared back at him, but under the table she squeezed his hand.

Alec didn’t want to risk her. She was too precious to him. But this was the life she’d chosen. He couldn’t change that and she wouldn’t stand for it. The only thing he could do was be by her side while they weathered the storm.

I’m not going anywhere.

“Then what’s our plan?” Vara asked, gazing into his eyes.

“They want the package and you.” Alec didn’t care if the whole room saw them staring at each other. This was their risk. This sucked, but he’d be there with her to protect her. “We sell it off. If Kolya wants it as badly as you say he does, he’ll pay for it.”

“Stealing my thunder, Esposito?” Zain asked dryly.

“Sorry, boss.” Alec shrugged and finally glanced away.

“The agents and I talked this plan over. I didn’t want to suggest it,” Zain said slowly, addressing Vara.

“It makes sense, and it’s probably the fastest way to resolve the whole thing. What do you need me to do?” she asked.

Alec was both proud of and scared for Vara. This was a crazy, impossible risk. And she was diving in without blinking. She was so damn brave. He hated that she had to be brave that she’d gone into a dangerous way of life. But that was the Vara he’d fallen in love with. She’d be daring and ballsy back then, only less skilled.

The team launched into brainstorming the how and when of it all, exploring different avenues and their resources. Alec was damn lucky to have these guys on their side. He just hoped that having the CIA agent in on it all didn’t screw them over.

WYATT SLOWED, ALLOWING another two vehicles between him and the SUV Vara was traveling in. This close to the residence she’d stayed in, it was safe to say she was going home for the night.

They’d barely glimpsed her at all this morning and never once could Ivan or Wyatt get a clear shot.

“We should just take them all out. Tonight. While they’re sleeping.” Wyatt didn’t care how much security the house had or how skilled the men were, a surprise attack in the dead of night was a good call.

“No,” Ivan said.

“You want to keep following her around like this?” Wyatt shook his head. “Sending that guy after her on the plane was a bad move.”

“No one asked for your opinion.” Ivan frowned at his phone.

“What was the point?”

“If you need me to spell it out for you—”

“I do,” Wyatt snapped.

“She is afraid. She is making decisions out of fear,” Ivan said slowly, as though he were talking to a child.

“You don’t know Vara Price that well.” Wyatt grit his teeth and pulled the car to a stop around the corner from the house.

The SUV had stopped at the curb and several large men were now standing in the yard.

Vara was one of them. And for once she didn’t stand in the shadow of the tall, dark haired man.

“Give me the gun. Now.” Wyatt held out his hand. He could pick the men off and they could grab Vara before anyone reacted.

“No. Drive.”

“What?”

“Drive,” Ivan snarled. He pointed the gun at Wyatt.

“What the hell, man?” He stomped on the gas and sent them sailing away from the house.

“The boss says back off.”

“Why? Why the fuck do we back off after being glued to her ass for days?”

“Djinn has just listed the package for sale.” Ivan laid the gun across his thigh.

“Then why aren’t we going back there to get it?”

“We obey orders. The boss said to pull back.”

Wyatt couldn’t fucking believe this.

First, they wanted to steal the package. Then they decided she didn’t have it. Then maybe she did. Might as well kill her. But hold on, they could be wrong.

If Wyatt didn’t want to be a lifelong enemy of the Russian mob he might split, the money be damned. Nothing was worth this much yanking around.

MONDAY. ALEC’S HOUSE, Seattle, Washington.

Vara’s head hurt. Her heart hurt. Her hands hurt. Her face was okay.

She trudged through the grass toward the house, Alec’s hand warm on her back.

What mattered was that the plan was in place. She didn’t grasp all the technical aspects. Some of the banter had confused her at times. For the most part she’d kept up, but tech wasn’t her specialty. What mattered was the end result.

Dark web chatter had begun about Djinn selling off something huge.

Vara prayed Djinn would forgive her for this. It wasn’t like Vara wanted to pretend to be some internet famous hacker.

With any luck, now that the appropriate contacts had been messaged, things would happen fast. Kolya would set a meet and Vara would deliver the goods in quick order. Then it was done.

“After you?” Paxton opened the door and let her into the house first. She’d barely stepped over the threshold when he bellowed, “Silas, don’t you fucking touch that controller.”

Silas stood frozen over the coffee table, the controller in hand and eyes wide. A slow grin spread over his face.

Vara was too worn out to laugh at their antics. She strode through the arch, down the hall and into Alec’s bedroom. She needed to be away from people. She needed to breathe. This was when she’d love to take a long walk, let her mind wander, but she couldn’t risk being seen. Wyatt and his new partner were out there. The Russians could have tracked their phones here. Any number of risk factors meant she had to keep her head down.

Alec kept pace with her all the way to his room. He shut the door behind them, but didn’t speak.

She swallowed and crossed to the window, staring out on the back yard patio. Water droplets fell from the eaves and the outdoor furniture was soaked. She laced her fingers together behind her neck and inhaled, pretending she could smell the humid air, that she could feel the water on her skin.

He’d supported her today. She hadn’t expected that in the beginning. When she’d put it out there that they’d have to use her as bait she’d been prepared for him to nix the idea. Going head to head with him on what she knew was a good idea hadn’t been appealing. Instead he’d surprised her, endorsing her idea.

She didn’t know what to do with that.

Was he serious? Did he really support her?

“You have to know I don’t like this plan,” he said.

There it was.

She’d been waiting for this.

Vara turned toward him, arms crossed over her chest.

Alec held up his hand.

“Don’t. I said I don’t like this plan, not that I don’t think you can’t do it. Babe, you’re a card carrying badass. I’m never going to like putting you in danger. You’re going to have to learn to live with knowing I’m worried about you. And every now and then I’m going to fucking say it.” He glared at her, hands braced on his hips.

She blinked at him, still parsing through his words, working at half time.

Alec stalked across the room and stopped with his toes touching hers. He cupped her face and tilted her chin up.

“You aren’t going to fight me on this?” She still wasn’t entirely convinced.

“Everything in me says I should.” The corners of his mouth curved up in a grimace.

“Then why aren’t you?”

“Because my head knows better.” His fingers stroked her cheeks. “I’m going to be right there with you the whole way, understand? Where you go, I go. And if I’m not going to try to stop this, you have to listen to me bitch about not liking this. Deal?”

Vara nodded, her throat clogged with too much emotion.

She’d never had someone in her corner who didn’t want something from her. Chad’s interests weren’t her safety or wellbeing. Mom wanted her to quit. Alec, well, he was an alpha male personality. It would be in his nature to protect her even if she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

“Deal?” he said again.

“Do I get to bitch about what you do?” Her mouth was dry, her knees weak. She’d thought—hoped—the longer she was around him the more she’d be able to withstand this. But it was getting worse.

“Of  course.” He grinned.

“Deal.” She lifted up on the balls of her feet.

Alec bent and kissed her, keeping it brief and sweet.

“Do you mean it?” she blurted.

“What?”

“That you aren’t going to try to keep me locked up and safe?” Her insides twisted, wanting so badly to believe him.

“It wouldn’t work. You’d break out. You wouldn’t trust me anymore. And then I couldn’t do this.” He bent his head again and kissed her, lingering this time. “I’m going to be an idiot sometimes.”

“You sound really smart right now.” She leaned against his chest and sighed.

“Best decision I ever made was flirting with you.”

“Some might argue that was stupid. Didn’t anyone warn you about me?”

“Yeah, but you were worth it.” He ran his knuckles down her cheek. “Losing you has always been my biggest regret. And here you are again. I’m not going to fuck this up.”

Vara blinked. She swallowed. The knots were twisting tighter, into a big ball of feeling wrapped around three words.

I love you.

She’d loved him then, and she loved him now. They were different kinds of love. What they had now wasn’t the heady, intoxicating thrill of first love. This was a partnership rooted in trust.

Alec had her back. He’d been telling her since Miami that he wanted this. Her. Them. And she wouldn’t believe him. But he meant it.

Oh, God. She loved him and whatever came next she wanted him to be part of it. That meant big life changes. Decisions she didn’t know how to make.

“Vara? You okay, babe?”

She opened and closed her mouth, words escaping her.

Could they be happy? Could she live in Seattle? What would she do?

She’d figure it out.

That’s what she always did. Only difference was she’d have someone to figure it out with along the way. If this was what he really wanted.

“Hey, I thought that was behind us.” Alec’s hands slid down to her waist and his face creased.

“It is.” She splayed her hands on his chest. She loved him. God, she loved him and she’d been too scared to allow herself to see that he was offering.

“Then what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

“Just—everything’s going to be different after this.” Say it. Tell him. Get it out there so you have something else to talk about. “I—”

A heavy fist pounded on the bedroom door.

“Hey, lover boy, it’s your turn to wail on Silas’ ass,” Paxton yelled through the door.

“In a minute.” Alec rolled his eyes and pulled Vara to him. He kissed her brow. “Things will work themselves out. Come on.”

That wasn’t where she’d been going with that admission, but she was too chicken to correct him.

Alec took her by the hand and led her back into the living room.

Carson stood in the kitchen pouring out a thermos of liquid and Paxton lay sprawled on the sectional.

“Kill him.” Paxton thumbed toward the arch.

Vara had observed a limited amount of whatever the game du jour was. The guys seemed obsessed with it and rotated out going head to head. She’d never been allowed to play video games growing up, and they didn’t appeal to her now.

She waved Alec off, needing a bit of space to herself. He headed into the front room to take his turn leaving her at odds.

Maybe being alone wasn’t what she needed.

She flopped down on the chaise portion of the sectional. Paxton dropped his phone to his stomach and studied her.

“Mind if I join you?” Carson asked. “Ryan’s waiting for someone to lose.”

“Sit.” Vara patted the sofa. She’d chatted with Carson a little and was curious about the shy woman.

“I’d like to ask a nosey question,” Paxton announced.

“About?” Vara curled a leg under her and quirked a brow at the buff blond.

“Everyone says Vara Price, like I’m supposed to know who you are.” He folded his hands behind his head.

“And your question is?” She knew where this was going.

“What does everyone else know?”

As she expected Vara pulled in a deep breath and sorted through the pieces of her story to what would answer his question the easiest.

“Most people don’t know me. They know my mother, Lisa Price. She worked for top brass on base in the Middle East back in the eighties. There was some party and a local translator raped her.” Vara held up her hand. “You’ll hear people put it all kinds of ways. She was drinking too much, whatever. The whole thing caused a big stink, then Mom refused to get rid of me, she almost lost her job, but she was very good at what she did. Too valuable to lose. What you hear depends on what version of the story you believe.”

Paxton was sitting up, elbows on his knees, his hair pushed up on one side.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I had no idea,” he said.

“It’s okay.” Vara shrugged. “Mom loved me and I got to grow up seeing the world. Most people don’t make it out of their state and I’ve gotten to travel. Do things. The story is more painful for Mom to tell. I’m...used to it, I guess?”

“What happened to your bio-dad?” Carson asked.

“That’s a nicer way of saying it than sperm donor.” Vara snorted. She’d never liked that word. Donor. Like Mom wanted him or something. “Not sure, honestly. There was some stuff that happened when I was little, but what I know is that he didn’t like the terms of co-parenting Mom outlined. I know he was middle class, Iranian, educated. That’s about it.”

“That’s more than I know about my bio-dad.” Carson sipped from her water bottle and stared at the coffee table. There was a deep story there.

“I think Alec’s the only one out of us with a normal family.” Paxton dragged his hand across his jaw.

“What’s normal?” Carson shrugged and glanced from Vara to Paxton. “My family now’s pretty awesome.”

“They are.” Paxton grinned. “Your mom ever wants to make us dinner again I am so in.”

“How’d today go?” Carson turned her attention on Vara. “Ryan didn’t tell me much.”

“Because he doesn’t want you to worry, princess.” Paxton pushed to his feet and stretched.

Carson and Vara watched Paxton saunter into the front room.

“Sometimes I really want to throw hard objects at him,” Carson said for Vara’s ears alone.

“I can call him back in here?”

“No.” Carson chuckled and set her water on the table. “You doing okay?”

“All things considered? Yeah.” Vara turned her head and caught sight of Alec out of the corner of her eye.

“Ryan said you’re the reason Jules Neilson made it home,” Carson said.

“It was equal parts Alec and me. It was a team effort.”

“What’s it like, being out there with them and knowing what you’re doing?”

“It’s...scary. But you know they have your back, so you keep going and somehow it works out.” Vara shrugged. It was hard to boil down the cocktail of adrenaline, fear, hope and dread that raced through her veins during those tense times.

“I wish I could be like you.” Carson sighed and propped her chin on her hand. “I felt so useless when my family was in trouble and Ryan was doing everything he could... I hated that.”

Alec had given Vara the highlights of Carson’s story and how she and Ryan hooked up. The whole thing sounded crazy and unbelievable, but sometimes life was like that.

“From what I heard you handled yourself really well. If you want to learn self defense or something, it’s not a bad idea. My mom had me taking classes from drill sergeants early on for obvious reasons. I’m a big believer that women should learn how to protect themselves. I’ve seen it all over.”

“I should do that.”

“It sounds like I’m going to be in Seattle a while. Maybe I could help out? I bet we could convince the guys to play along.”

“Hm. I don’t know.” Carson glanced sideways at Vara. “I might enjoy hitting Alec a bit too much.”

“You, too?” Vara grinned. “He can be a pain in the ass.”

“Talking about me?” Alec braced his hands on the back of the sofa and leaned over Vara, his eyes twinkling.

She loved him and she was going to figure out how to make this work.