“I had…my guard…I told him to do it. He did it to save my life…” The words came out in between deep, ragged breaths as I sat in the back of Agent Mark’s car, recounting the scene at Warren Technologies.

“You were being held prisoner, Ms. Taylor,” the agent said. “The first man who died was about to shoot you. Your security guard exercised self-defense to get you both out of a hostage situation. Neither of you are going to be prosecuted, but I have to do my due diligence. And you should never have gone there without contacting me. Good thing I’ve been keeping tabs on you. Still, it took us a couple of days to catch up.”

“Li Na made me promise I wouldn’t involve the authorities.” My breath was still ragged. I wondered, in the back of my mind, if this was what it felt like to have a panic attack. “It’s just that…they’re dead…they were innocent, and now they’re dead.” Three armed guards had died during our escape from the building. Timmy and I were unharmed, but we’d left a savage wake behind us.

“Those men were hired killers. They were in our database—they were hardly innocent. They each had a record a mile long. Trust me, they knew the risks. They were paid well to assume those risks, and that was their choice.” Agent Marks paused for a beat. “Tell me about the people who were keeping you there. You think they’re the same people that killed Clive Warren?”

There was a sudden knock on the window. “Um, excuse me, my client’s done with show-and-tell for now,” a familiar voice called from outside the car. Bethany O’Donnell, my long-time attorney, opened the back door of the sedan and stuck her head in. “Jesus, Lauren. You look like shit.” She turned to Agent Marks and glared at him. “My client needs medical attention. Are you arresting her? Are you holding her?”

“No—” the agent started.

“Then let her out,” Bethany snapped. “Now.”

Agent Marks gave her a dirty look but got out and opened my door, holding his hand out for me. “I’ll be in touch. I have more questions for you,” he said in a tone much gentler than the one he’d been using on me for the past half hour.

Bethany O’Donnell had that effect on people. That was why she’d been my attorney for the past five years. She stalked around the car to us, her platinum hair swishing over her shoulder, the muscles in her calves tensed in her high heels. She nodded at the disgruntled-looking agent. “Agent Marks. It’s lovely to see you again. Please make sure you call me, not my client. I’ll be handling everything for Ms. Taylor from here on out. And if I find out you’ve been trying to contact my client directly, I’ll call your superior.” She linked her arm through mine and, without further discussion, marched me toward the lobby of Paragon.

“He’s not really breaking the law if he calls me, is he?” I asked her.

Bethany shrugged. “No. But I have to put him in his place early.” She stopped dragging me across the parking lot and looked at me, her brow creased. “Are you okay? They had you in that office for days, right?”

I nodded, swallowing hard. “I’m fine, but my security guard had to kill three men for us to get out of there.”

“That’s self-defense. Don’t worry about what those assholes made you do.” Bethany shook her head. “You need to rest. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

I shrugged wearily. “I’ve never seen three people get killed before.”

“I’m sorry.” She patted my shoulder. “But your patch launched. That’s great news. How did you manage that while you were trapped in Menlo Park?”

“I had a team I trusted. I asked them to do it.”

Bethany raised her eyebrows at me. “A team? Or a person?”

“Who’ve you been talking to?” I asked flatly. “I know you already know. That’s one of the things you taught me, remember? One of your lawyerly tricks? Never ask a question that you don’t already know the answer to.”

“You’re right—I do know the answer. It’s Gabriel Betts,” she said, smiling a little. “I would say congratulations on your launch and on your hunky new boyfriend, and console you some more about what you just went through, but I have several bones to pick with you.”

“Can’t they wait?” I asked miserably. All I wanted was to check in with my people. And then I needed a hot shower, some food, and to see Gabe. Not necessarily in that order.

My attorney’s eyebrows arched again. “Hannah filled me in. She told me you’re moving in with him, and you’re partnering with Dynamica. These are two things you should have already shared with me, so I can protect your assets.”

I rolled my eyes and made a mental note to chastise Hannah for gossiping about me. “You don’t need to protect my assets, Bethany. Gabe’s got his own money. He doesn’t need mine.”

She patted my back and started herding me to Paragon’s doors. “All right, all right. Is it so bad that I want to protect my favorite client?”

“Of course not.” I smiled at her warmly, glad she was there. I’d hired Bethany after she’d represented my sister. Hannah needed to sell off some real estate holdings from our parents’ estate, and she wanted to get on with it quickly. I’d attended the closing, which Hannah had just wanted to breeze through. But Bethany hadn’t let her get away with that. She’d made sure Hannah had understood every word of every document she was signing. A transaction that could have closed in one hour instead took three. But she hadn’t put up with my sister’s moaning and groaning, and since then I’d never seen her take any shit from anybody, including me. Bethany hadn’t attended Stanford or Harvard Law, graduating instead from the California state program. But she was brilliant and had a singular devotion to her work. Whenever I’d needed her help, she’d pulled through for me.

I could see a crowd gathered inside the doors. I took a deep breath, preparing for the onslaught of attention, concern, and cheers.

Bethany shot a quick look inside the lobby, taking in the commotion. “Are you ready for this?”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for.”

She nodded. “Okay. Congratulations on your launch.” She patted my back. “But I’m warning you, if you’re getting married, we’re doing a prenup. I don’t care how much you love the guy. Good prenups make good marriages.”

“Jesus, Bethany. You’re relentless.”

She grinned at me. “I know. That’s why you hired me.”

We went through the doors to where my entire staff was assembled—Eva, Finn, Stephanie, Leo, Dave, Eddie, Timmy, everyone. They were all clapping and cheering. There was an enormous Congratulations sign hung across the lobby. I saw Hannah and Gabe, and I ran to them, enveloping them both in a hug, vowing silently to never let them go.

* * *

“Jesus, Lauren. Our post-fake-breakup sex might be even better than our makeup sex.” Gabe reluctantly slid out of me and flopped over onto his back.

I stretched luxuriantly, my limbs loose from spending the afternoon in bed with him. “I’ll say.” A wide grin spread across my face as I blushed, thinking of some of the things we’d done. We’d spent the last few days holed up at his house, only dragging ourselves from bed to eat or check in with our respective offices.

He pulled me onto his chest and played with my hair. “You did it. I’d say I was surprised, but I’ve learned not to underestimate you.”

I snuggled against him, feeling the thrill that only the warmth of his body could give me. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

He smiled at me, his dimple on full display. He’d finally shaved his beard even though I’d loved the scratchy feel of it…against my thighs. Along with other places…

Gabe’s face turned serious. “I never would have agreed to let you go to Li Na. But when you asked me to take over the launch, I knew you were putting your full trust in me. So I put mine in you. And Timmy. Thank God for Timmy.”

“I feel so bad about Timmy. The poor guy probably never expected his cushy civilian detail to end up the way it did.”

Gabe shook his head. “Timmy did the right thing, and he knows it. Even if he wasn’t your paid guard, he would have shot those men to protect you. They were mercenaries, babe. They would have killed you both without a second thought, just to get a paycheck.”

I buried my face in his chest. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

The fact was, I couldn’t get that day out of my mind. My nights were haunted by horrible dreams about the events surrounding our escape, and the men who’d lost their lives that day. Gabe had woken me up each night since we’d been home, saying that I’d been screaming in my sleep.

He wrapped his arms around me protectively. “We’ll get through this. You’re going to be okay, Lauren. Everything’s going to be okay now.”

I nodded against his chest, wanting to believe him more than actually believing him. “Tell me about the launch again,” I said, changing the subject.

“You’re like a little kid with a favorite story. This is, like, the thousandth time I’ve told you. But, since you insist…” Gabe chuckled indulgently. “Once upon a time, I was smuggled into Paragon in a food crate bound for the cafeteria.”

“I wish I could have seen that.” I laughed, my mood lightening.

“I had to be concealed,” Gabe said. “Eddie came up with the idea. I came in on a truck and was wheeled down to the kitchen. Not the most glamorous moment of my life. Then I headed down to the lab with Eva and Finn. We followed your directions and got the launch ready. Eva said I was a natural.”

He laughed. “She didn’t know that all I’ve been doing since I met you is following your damn directions, but I didn’t bother to enlighten her.”

“How did Hannah do?” I asked.

“She was a pro. She handled all the press leading up to the launch, and when we were ready, she organized an Internet blitzkrieg. Every news outlet was running the story. How are the domestic sales?”

“Amazing. We earned back all of our investments within the first twenty-four hours. How are the international numbers?”

Gabe smiled. “Amazing. Li Na is probably cursing you and crying into a bottle somewhere.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think she’s the crying kind.”

“What’s the latest from Agent Marks?”

“He said that they’re looking into Jiàn Innovations, and that the NSA had opened an investigation. But in terms of actually prosecuting them…he said it was difficult. He said the Chinese government was notoriously uncooperative with cases like these.”

“We’ll have to see how that plays out.” Gabe was quiet for a minute, stroking my hair. “She really thought she was going to win, didn’t she?”

I sat up and studied his face, which was, for the first time in weeks, relaxed and happy. “She didn’t count on you.”

“What do you mean?”

I stared out of the bank of windows at the mountains. The sun was starting to set, casting a hazy glow over the rugged terrain. “She said my weakness was my ‘singular brilliance.’ She didn’t think that I would have been able to trust my launch to someone else. She didn’t think I was capable of that, I guess.”

I could feel Gabe watching me. “It was a big step for you. I’m honored that you trusted me.”

I turned to look at his handsome face. “I’m honored that you stuck with me through all this, and that you were there for me when I needed you. That was amazing.”

He pulled me protectively against him. “It’s called a commitment, babe. It means I’m here, and I’m never going anywhere.” A grin broke out over his face. “Except away. With you.”

“What do you mean? Are we going back into the hot tub?” I asked hopefully.

“Maybe.” He looked very interested in the idea. “But that’s not what I meant. Although I might take ten minutes out of our itinerary to have my way with you in there before we go.”

“Before we go where?” I wailed.

Gabe grinned at me. “To the island I rented. In the Caribbean. With your bikinis. And your sister. And her boyfriend. And about twenty security guards.”

“Bikinis?” I asked as if that were the most ridiculous part of what he was saying.

“That’s what I said.” The devilish grin was still on his face. “If I have to drag you there…oh, never mind. I’ll just do it anyway. You deserve it, and probably a good spanking too.”

He stood up and held me by the hips, picking me up as if I were a sack of flour—a precious one, but still—and threw me over his shoulder. He stalked out through the kitchen and toward the hot tub, carrying me. “Relaxation and bikinis, here we come.”

I’d never heard him sound quite so gleeful. Oh boy, was my sister going to hear it from me. Again.