“You’ll still help me, won’t you?” Maria whispered as Lisa locked the exam room door. “The way we talked about?”

“Are you sure? There’s no going back. I have to break some rules to do this.”

“I don’t want you to get into trouble for me.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m going to switch your identity with someone else’s, just temporarily. I have another patient who just got released. For the next hour, your name is Margaret Whipple and you had a bad reaction to plastic surgery.”

Lisa grabbed a wheelchair from the hallway and settled Maria into it. She spent a heart-thumping few minutes bandaging her head with layers of gauze. They didn’t want any of the other hospital personnel to recognize her.

She took Mrs. Whipple’s clipboard and hid Maria’s behind a sharps disposal container.

“Don’t look up,” she warned Maria. “Look like you’re out of it from the meds. Kind of slump over and stare at your lap.” She draped an extra blanket over her and wheeled her out of the room.

They took a circuitous back route, passing an orderly, a janitor, and two family members who had gotten lost. Lisa ignored them all, not wanting to interact with anyone who might remember her. Then, about a hundred yards from the red exit sign, she spotted a familiar looking figure. Senator Ruiz.

Maria drew in a sharp breath and flinched backwards. “He’s not supposed to be here. He said he had business.”

“Shh. Head down,” Lisa hissed.

When she was sure that Maria had a grip on herself, Lisa rolled the wheelchair forward. She schooled her expression into that of bored nurse who couldn’t wait for her shift to end. Senator Ruiz carried a rolled-up newspaper in one hand as he walked briskly down the aisle. He didn’t give them a second glance. In fact, he seemed more focused on someone behind them.

One of the hospital administrators passed her from behind, veering around her as if she were nothing but a roadblock. She wanted to protest, but bit her tongue instead so she didn’t draw attention to herself.

The administrator kept going. She recognized him as Dan Block, the one she and the other nurses called “Blockhead.”

“Excuse me,” Block muttered as he passed Senator Ruiz.

The senator grunted but gave no other response.

What a couple of jackasses, thought Lisa. But she kept her gaze fixed ahead of her, toward the door that led to the back exit.

Dan Block hurried around the corner out of sight. What the heck was he doing back here? And why did he too have a rolled-up newspaper in one hand?

Oh my God.

In the tower, Lisa jumped up so suddenly that the rolling chair went flying.

Senator Ruiz had passed something to Dan Block inside the newspaper.

Money? A bribe? She remembered the way all her notes about Maria’s case were ignored. What if the senator had been bribing someone at the hospital to erase any record of Maria’s injuries? What if he’d been bribing Dan Block?

She remembered Will Knight’s Google search at the cafe. The new hospital wing sponsored by Senator Ruiz. Was that part of the payoff? And hadn’t Merry found a news article about suspicions of bribery at the hospital?

She paced back and forth in the morning sunlight, all the puzzle pieces colliding in her head. Maria had made her peace with Ruiz. They’d divorced, she was living in Mexico, he was sponsoring the domestic violence bill. He was funding a new hospital wing.

So what did Ruiz want with Lisa? He didn’t know who she was. He hadn’t even noticed her that day. She was sure of it.

Then a puzzle piece fell into place as adrenaline flooded her system like rocket fuel.

Dan Block knew her. He probably hadn’t thought twice about passing her in that hallway—until he’d realized that she was gone, along with Maria Ruiz.

Ruiz wasn’t after her. Blockhead was.

It explained so much. It would probably be pretty easy for Block to find out where she was. The hospital had all her contact information, work history, social security number. She was no expert when it came to staying off the radar.

She summoned up what she knew about Dan Block. Married…four kids…two in college…that was about it. No master criminal, but definitely someone who might be susceptible to bribery.

Strangely enough, a sense of relief came over her. A bumbling hospital manager was behind all of this, not a well-connected vengeful ex-husband. She could solve this. Put an end to it once and for all.

“Hey, sunshine.” Finn’s voice resonated in her ear.

She spun around and flung her arms around him. His solid body felt so perfect against hers.

“Hi Finn.” She beamed up at him, feeling light and bright and happy.

“Wow, hi to you too.”

“Are you a parking ticket?” she asked him.

He cocked his head. Even his frown made her weak in the knees.

She winked at him. “You have fine written all over you.”

After one stunned moment, he burst out laughing. “I see what you’re up to. You’re turning the tables on the master. Trying to out-pick-up the pick-up king.”

“Worked, didn’t it? Here you are. Right where I want you.” She breathed deep, filling her lungs with the scent of him. Still warm from sleep, a little sweaty from the crazy night they’d had, even so, he smelled wonderful to her. “Thank you for bringing me here. It was exactly what I needed.”

“I know.” His tender smile felt like everything she’d ever want or need. “You’re easy to please. No trips to Paris, no diamond earrings. Just a night in a lookout tower and you’re happy.”

For a moment, she basked in it—the tranquility of the tower, the presence of Finn. Utter perfection.

He brushed a thumb across her cheek. “Why were you dancing around just now?”

“I remembered something. Something that explains what’s been going on here.” She filled him in on the details of her discovery.

“You know what this means, right? I’m not being chased by Senator Ruiz. It’s just a guy at the hospital we know as Blockhead. I refuse to run and hide from that idiot. All I have to do is tell the police what I saw, and he’ll have no more reason to go after me. I can put all this craziness behind me.”

He listened closely, but instead of the relief she’d expected to see, a worried frown creased his forehead. “But you didn’t really see anything. Just a newspaper changing hands.”

“True. But I have some files I took from the hospital. They prove that records in the computer system were being altered.” With a jolt, she remembered the guesthouse break-in. “They might be gone. But I have a backup. Two backups, actually. I always keep one on me, one in my car, and then I always kept the files in my safe in the motorhome.”

Finn was looking more and more worried. “Maybe they were looking for those files.”

“Maybe. I need to call Will right away.” She pulled out her cell phone, ready to dial. Then her stomach plummeted. She knew what she had to do, and it wasn’t report her vague suspicions to Will Knight.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have to go back to Houston.”

He stared at her, a muscle ticking in his jaw, emotions clashing in a silent war. She could imagine the forces tugging in opposite directions. He knew that she was right. On the other hand, watching her go would be hard for him.

“I’ll come with you,” he said eventually. “I’ll be your bodyguard while you bust a senator and a hospital bigwig for bribery.”

“No.” She put a hand on his bare chest. “Absolutely not. You have a job here, a job you fought for. You’re staying here, Finn. I’ll go straight to the Houston DA that Will knows. He’s already looking into shenanigans at the hospital. I won’t be in any danger.”

He turned away, sliding away from the touch of her hand. She ached to put her arms around him, tell him that she loved him, that she wasn’t going away for good—but was that true? Once she got back to Houston, maybe all this would seem like a dream. An enchanted dream.

“This thing with us, Finn…”

“Yeah?” His voice held a wary edge as he turned back to face her. She couldn’t read his expression. Was he angry? Resigned?

“It’s been amazing. Like something out of a fantasy.”

He laughed abruptly, and again she couldn’t read the emotion behind that laugh. “You have interesting fantasies. A fire, a shooting, a publicity-mad actress…none of those things would show up in any of my fantasies.”

“You know what I mean. It’s not real life. It’s this strange, out-of-the-ordinary thing. Like,” she glanced around the airy space, “like this room. Above the trees, away from regular life completely.”

He stepped closer, eyes darkening. “What exactly are you trying to say? Spit it out, Lisa. I’m a grown man, I can take it.”

Oh God—he thought she was dumping him. Was she? No—yes—no—she didn’t know what she was doing. “This is all new to me, Finn,” she burst out. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I feel things for you that I’ve never— But I don’t know what it means.”

He caught her hands in his. “Do you have to know? Can’t it just be?”

“I’m afraid. Afraid of what will happen once I go back to Houston. Gravity will take over. I’ll definitely have to stay for my mother’s anniversary party, there’s no getting out of that. All of this might feel like a weird, amazing dream.”

He ran his hands down her back. Her spine arched under his touch. She always responded to him, no matter when or where or what else was going on. He smoothed his hands down her hips, touching his fingertips to the skin on the back of her legs. It was the most sensitive spot on her body, which he knew perfectly well. “If you’re afraid you’ll forget about me, don’t you worry. I’ll remember for both of us.”

Her breath caught and tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Finn…”

“Besides, there’s an article in the tabloids with photographic evidence and many inaccurate details. Those tabloids last forever, you know, like cockroaches. You’ll be in some dentist’s office and pick one up and it will all come back to you.”

A spurt of laughter escaped her. Did he know about the tabloid she’d filched from the Moon Glow? She’d never tell.

Finn continued. “This is a good thing, Lisa. You can finally put an end to this craziness. And I don’t think you’re going to forget. I think you’ll remember Finn Abrams the Animal, that annoying-yet-charming guy who just wouldn’t leave you alone.”

She gave a shaky laugh. The slow circles he traced on the backs of her legs felt like sweet fire. “I’m glad you didn’t leave me alone. I’m just starting to get used to you.”

He tilted her head and claimed her mouth in a fierce, demanding kiss that shook her down to her toes. “Good. I want you to be used to me. I want you to go back to Houston and tell your story to the DA. Then tell your family that you love them, but you don’t belong there anymore. Then I want you to swing by your apartment and pack up all the possessions you’ve been missing. Then I want you to hop on the next plane back and text me the flight number so I can meet you at the airport.” He hauled her into his arms and swung her onto the counter that occupied the middle of the room. “But that’s just me. What do you want, my queen?”

“You.” She gazed into the fiery warmth of his dark gaze and felt she could do exactly that forever. “I want you. Right here, right now.”

“No one can look in, right?”

“Just the birds and the bees.”

“Not worried about them.” He slid his hands under her t-shirt.

“Maybe the bird-watchers, too.”

“They’re scientists, right? They’re familiar with mating rituals.”

She laughed breathlessly as he parted her legs and ran his hands up her sensitive inner thighs. They started to tremble right away. The sensation was so exquisite her eyes half closed. He made an appreciative sound—a growl really—deep in his chest. “Make love to me, you sexy beast,” she murmured. “That’s what I want.

He was already doing just that, with his hands, his tongue, and his incredibly talented instincts.