Liam stood in the center of the room. Around him, the entire corner of the cabin was reduced to rubble. The metal roof remained in place, the section above him blackened and melted. The rain poured off in it in gray streams, splashing and sizzling on the superheated wood below.

I walked back to the porch and slowly climbed the steps. My adrenaline fading, I was exhausted a mere hour after my nap. It felt like weeks had passed since I woke in Liam’s bed sated and happy.

I kicked off the heavy boots and dropped the rubber coat in a heap on the back porch before stepping inside the living room. The stench of smoke permeated the house, but the room looked unchanged from when I’d left it earlier.

“Come here.” Liam appeared in the doorway, his arms spread wide. I ran to him and fell into his embrace, my face pressed into his filthy shirt. I didn’t care. I just wanted him to hold me.

“When will it end?” I asked, too tired to even cry.

“What do you mean?”

“All the bad things that keep happening. I try and live a good life, to help people, to be a good person. Why do these things keep to me? To people close to me?”

He stroked my hair. “Mother Nature isn’t after you, Maggie. These things just happen. We were actually lucky it happened today.”

I backed up a step and looked up at him. “What do you mean?” How could he think this was lucky?

“If we hadn’t been here, Mags, I would have lost the whole thing. Because I was here with you, yes, there’s damage, but my cabin is still standing. I can rebuild.”

I blinked back tears. Trust Liam to see the bright side. The loss of his leg, his fiancé’s defection, the fire in his cabin—none of it could dim the bright light inside him. I stared up at him in awe. What is it like to feel that confident?

“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Liam took me by the hand and led me down the smoky hallway to his room. “Into the shower with you,” he commanded. “You’ll feel better once you’re warm and dry.”

I numbly followed, letting him strip the wet clothes from my body and guide me under the warm spray. I stood there and watched as he peeled his ruined clothes from his body. Sparks had eaten holes through his shirt and the skin underneath was speckled with red, weepy blisters that peeked out through the black soot covering every square inch of him.

He joined me under the warm spray and let the water wash away the dirt and grime. Filthy gray water pooled at our feet before circling the drain and disappearing. He reached for the soap, lathered a cloth, and slowly smoothed it across my skin. Starting at my neck and working his way down my body, his touch massaged the tension away with the dirt and soot.

I raised my head to see the damage the fire had done to him. Blisters dotted his arms and chest, and his hands were raw from swinging the ax over and over in the rain. His legs were virtually unscathed, the prosthetic still shiny silver metal. A special military prototype, it was designed to survive an apocalypse.

We didn’t exchange a word as we finished our shower. Liam dried us both off and carried me to bed. The sheets smelled slightly of smoke, but they were cool and refreshing on my damp skin. Curling up in Liam’s arms, I fell asleep immediately and dreamed of singing, my song filled with love rising from the ashes.

"Yeah, Maggie is sleeping," I told Ben. I had tucked her in, warm and wet after our shower. Her silence betrayed her exhaustion.

She’d fallen asleep curled up in my arms, and I wanted nothing more than to stay there with her, breathing in her alluring scent, but I needed to solve our problems. I needed to make arrangements to protect the cabin. I still had to find her stalker. I wanted nothing between the two of us other than the choice to be together. As long as she needed my protection, I couldn’t completely trust us.

“Give me an update.” I lowered my voice as I glanced at my watch and then back at the bedroom. If Maggie needed rest, she’d get it.

“Sure, boss.” Ben ran through everything the team had discovered during surveillance of our suspect over the last twenty-four hours. “We found him living in the basement of a house his grandmother had inherited. It wasn’t on any property records. He never filed a change of ownership.”

“How did you find it?”

“We found an electric bill forwarded to his mother. We followed up on the address and discovered an apartment building. All the units are rented to long term residents—all except the basement. I put a man on it, and we found him sneaking in late last night.”

“Did you call the team and infiltrate the place to be sure?” I tapped a few keys, pulling up the specs on the building as a plan formed in my mind.

“Officially?”

“What did you find?”

“It’s our guy, boss. He hadn’t been there in a while, but the walls are papered with articles and pictures of Maggie. He had her tour schedule and photos, proving he’s been following her. How long has she been getting the letters?”

“Six months.”

“Boss, he’s been following her a lot longer than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“A lot of the articles and photographs are well over six months old. I think he’s been stalking her from the beginning.”

I swallowed, thankful we had finally figured out who the guy was. With so much evidence, we were easily going to put him away. It turned my stomach just thinking about the creep watching Maggie, following her, breaking into her bus, invading her space.

“I’ll have law enforcement raid it in the morning.” I pulled up my encrypted messenger program and sent a quick note to Ryder. He was one of my pseudo-brothers and my contact in the FBI. As the threats followed Maggie on her tour, crossing state lines, it was no longer a matter for a single local police department but for a multi-jurisdictional FBI task force. I’d already copied Ryder on all the evidence. He was just waiting for the word to pull the trigger.

Ding! A message popped up with his response almost immediately.

“Ben.” I switched back to his call. “Ryder says it’s a go. I’ll tell Maggie and pack us up here."

“Roger that, boss. I’ll alert the team.”

“Raid at Oh-six-hundred.” I ended the call, and a rare smile lit my face as I felt relief rush through me. It looked like Maggie’s nightmare would be over soon. My team had done an excellent job of tracking this guy across the U.S., piecing together tiny clues, and narrowing it down to this one suspect.

This guy had a long criminal history. His threatening letters to Maggie traced back more than six months. I stood and stretched, confident we had enough to put him away for a long time. I couldn't wait to tell Maggie the good news when she woke from her nap. Maybe I should go join her.

I slipped into the dark bedroom where Maggie lay naked and sprawled out in the center of the bed. She made little snorting sounds, barely audible but endearing nonetheless.

I hadn’t taken the time to do anything other than dry my prosthetic, replace the wet stump cover, and put on a pair of pants. It was easy to step out of them and crawl in next to Maggie’s warm form. There are definitely benefits to going commando.

“Hey,” I whispered in her ear.

“Mmmhhhh.” She rolled into my arms and snuggled against my chest. “You feel good.”

“So do you.” I kissed her forehead. “But can you wake up a minute? I want to talk to you.”

“Too comfortable,” she mumbled. “Want to stay right here.” She buried her nose in my neck, her breasts pressed against my chest, and twined one leg between mine.

“Maggie…” I tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, tracing the shell shape with one finger and enjoyed the sight of her shudder.

“Mmmmh, that’s nice.” She stretched like a cat under my care. My finger traveled from the delicate lobe of her ear to the delectable nape of her neck, then traced down to that delicious hollow where her neck joined her shoulders. “Mmmm… keep doing that.”

She arched her back, pressing one luscious breast into my hand. My fingers involuntarily closed around it, my thumb rubbing over her nipple which pebbled instantly.

“I’m not going to let you distract me.”

“You sure?” she purred, opening her green eyes and lazily rubbing one hand down my chest to pull on the waistband of my pants. “You should take these off.” She wriggled closer, closing her eyes again.

Pushing her hand away so I wouldn’t forget why I was there, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my rising desire. “We found him, Maggie.” I leaned over and placed a kiss on her collarbone. I just couldn’t resist. “We found him.” I continued, stroking the side of her breast.

Her eyes flew open. “What?” I had her full attention. “You found him?” She pushed herself up and leaned back against the headboard.

“We did. My team goes in tonight. It should all be over in the morning.” I crawled up on the bed with her and kissed my way down her shoulder.

“Oh, thank God!” She threw her arms around me. “So I can go home?”

“If everything works out, we can head back tomorrow, and you can get back on tour.”

“OOOH!” She squealed and clapper her hands. “I never thought I’d say this, but I miss my tour bus!” She kissed me and rolled on top of me. “Not that I don’t like this house—I do! It’s been amazing, but I am going absolutely stir crazy!” She reached for my waistband again. “I think we need to celebrate!”

Maybe packing up and leaving could wait a few more hours.