Jack drove circles around the city until he was sure we weren’t being followed. Then, we stopped at small house in a not-so-great part of town. Jack locked me in while he ran in and grabbed two large dogs. When he came back, he let them into the backseat and gave them a command to lie down, which they immediately did. After licking my face a couple dozen times.

“Who are these handsome pups?” I turned to rub their heads, instantly happier.

Jack backed out of the driveway and then started driving in circles again. “The white one is Grumpy and the gray one is Happy.”

I glanced up at him and laughed. “You named your dogs Grumpy and Happy?”

He grinned. “No, the shelter did. They’re from the same litter of seven from a mom named Snow, hence the names. They were the last two left and no one wanted them. White Great Danes can have health problems, so people were skeptical of him. Then Happy was just… He was not a cute puppy. He had a skin thing that took forever to get rid of. My little sister found out about them and decided to get them for me for my birthday.”

I stroked their velvet fur and sighed. “They’re beautiful.”

“You like dogs?”

I nodded. “There was a stray at the clubhouse that I took care of. The brothers were assholes to it, but I kept it away from them.”

“What happened to it?”

My stomach soured and I turned back around in my seat. “Snake killed it. He said one bitch was enough to feed and take care of.”

Jack reached over and cupped the back of my neck. “One more thing to add to the list of things he deserves to suffer for.”

“So, where’s this apartment?” I didn’t want to think about Snake anymore in that moment.

“Downtown Memphis. It’s a few streets over from Beale Street, with a pretty view of the Mississippi. I haven’t been there in a while, but it’s safe. There’s security and keycard access only to the penthouse. We’ll be safe there.”

I pressed my head against the window and sighed. My breath created a bubble of fog on the glass and I absently drew a heart in it. “I’m not sure anywhere is safe.”

“You’re safe with me. And if I’m not good enough, you’ve got the boys. They’re vicious.”

I glanced back at them and laughed. They were both already asleep, on their backs. They were so large that they had to be tangled around each other in the back seat. “Looks like they could really do some damage.”

“Don’t let their goofy looks mislead you. They’re killers.”

“Where were they earlier, when Snake attacked Brent’s place?”

Jack looked over at me. “Asleep. They’re hard sleepers. I had Benson come and get them. His little sister stays with him and she loves them. They stay with her when I have to go out of town or take on a dangerous assignment.”

“Killers, eh?”

He laughed and pulled into a parking garage and parked in the middle of a cluster of cars. “Don’t get out yet.”

I waited as he got out and walked around the garage. Only after he’d checked out the place, did he come back to my side and open my door. I tried to grab my bag but he took it and easily slung it over his shoulder.

“Did breaking up with your fiancée make you more chivalrous, or am I just seeing things?”

He rolled his eyes. “You think you’re so funny. Come on.”

He opened the back door and woke Happy and Grumpy. They lumbered from the car and walked beside us, without leashes.

“Is that safe?”

“I don’t do it a lot, but I didn’t have time to get their leashes. They’re okay, though. They’ve had some pretty intense training.” He scratched their heads. “Under this goofy exterior, they’re highly trained machines.”

I watched as Grumpy burped and looked surprised by it. “Uh huh.”

I followed him inside the large building and then into an elevator, where he swiped a card. The climb to the top made me feel slightly like throwing up. I braced myself on the rail behind me and blew out a shaky breath. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been this high.”

He moved closer. “You’re okay.”

The elevator continued to climb and I continued to grow more unsteady. “This can’t be safe, right? How high is this? Are we swaying? What if a storm comes up?”

Jack pulled me into his chest and held me. “It’s safe. I wouldn’t bring you somewhere that wasn’t. It’ll take some getting used to, but you’ll be okay once we get out of the moving elevator.”

I didn’t fully believe him. Nothing felt right about being up that high. I didn’t want to appear weaker than I already did, so I just bit my tongue and held onto his shirt.

Once we were in the apartment, I felt slightly better. If I didn’t go near the windows, I could pretend that we were only a floor or so above the ground. The dogs had no problem getting comfortable. They went straight to the couches and curled up across from each other.

Jack carried my bag into a bedroom and put it at the foot of the bed. “Do you need anything?”

I shook my head and tried to move past him to get into bed but he caught my arm. I looked up at him and saw heat in his eyes. “What are you doing?”

He tugged me into his chest and lowered his mouth to mine. “Getting a moment alone with you.”

I couldn’t help but kiss him back. My body craved his. “You had a moment alone with me last night.”

“You were sad.”

“I’m sad now.”

“You’re less sad now.” He unbundled my hair and let it fall down. “Just say the word and I’ll go to my own room.”

I didn’t want to say the word. I wanted him to stay with me. Something about him called to me. I had to be sure that he wasn’t with Stacey, though, and just lying to me. “What happened with Stacey?”

He sighed and took a step back. “You’re sure we can’t have this conversation after?”

I climbed into the bed and pulled one of the many fluffy pillows onto my lap. “I’m sure.”

“I ended it. It wasn’t a real relationship, but I’d been content just letting it happen for a while now. I didn’t have a reason to call it off before you.”

My stomach did a funny little flutter, but I ignored it. “Why wasn’t it real?”

“I do business with Stacey’s dad. He introduced me to his daughter and made a big deal about us going out. One thing led to another. It got out of hand. Stacey is a nice girl, but she’s not what I want. She also has a thing for her father’s partner. Much older man with even more money than my family could ever dream of having. She was pissed that I called the relationship off, but she’ll be fine. I heard Andrew has a thing for her, too.”

“Why did you propose?”

Jack moved my bag to the bench at the end of the bed and headed toward the connected bathroom. “What are you supposed to do when you’ve been dating the same woman for two years? I just followed protocol. Stacey let me know that it was time, so I did it. We both knew it wasn’t real. She was unhappy, as it was, because I wasn’t keeping up appearances. People at her country club were starting to notice that our once a-week-dinner had become a once-every-few-months dinner.”

He stopped at the doorway and pulled his shirt over his head. “It was coming to an end, anyway, Red. Your walking into my life just helped me realize that I don’t want to pretend anymore. I’m sorry I didn’t do things in the right order, but I can’t seem to help myself when you’re around. I’m going to shower. You can join me, if you’d like.”

I watched as he moved away and blinked a few times. Jack without a shirt… I clamped my mouth shut and fell back into the mountain of pillows, feeling like I’d somehow been thoroughly seduced in a conversation about his fiancée. How the hell did that work?

My body wanted Jack. It remembered the devastating nights I spent under Snake, squeezing my eyes shut and picturing a different lover. It remembered the lonely nights in my apartment, the nights I’d let myself imagine I had a different life. A life with a man like Jack.

I sat up and blew out a rough breath. I wasn’t living a different life, but I was visiting Jack’s world. It would end eventually, but for the time being, I could let myself experience what it would be like to be with a man like Jack.

In all honesty, I didn’t even know for sure that I was going to make it away from Snake alive. There was no way I wanted to die with Snake being the last man in me.

I stood up and rushed to the bathroom. Jack stood under the spray of the rainfall showerhead, naked and hard. I bit my lip and watched as he braced his hands on the wall in front of him and let the water pour over his head and face.

Everything about the man put my dreams to shame. He was solid and strong, every inch of him. His skin was marked in places with scars, but he was hotter for it. Tan and silky looking under the water, his back called to me.

I lost any cool I had and pressed my body against his back. My clothes soaked through immediately, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my lips to the center of his back. His skin was hot to the touch and felt smooth under my kiss.

“You’re sure about this, Red?” Even as he spoke, his hands moved to mine and pressed them even more firmly into his stomach.

“Yes.” I moved my hands up his stomach and over his chest, feeling his muscles tense and release as my fingers passed by.

Jack met my touch with a barely audible gasp. He reached for me, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. I caught his hand and moved it back toward the shower wall. I wanted to touch and feel. I knew there was a possibility that it was the last time I ever experienced anything like the desire I felt with Jack. I wanted to fully experience it.

I stroked my hands over his chest, feeling his nipples pebble under my touch, and then down his sides. His body was a playground of dips and rises and I wanted to find them all.

“Red.”

I pressed kisses into his back while running my hands up his back and across his shoulders. “What is it?”

“I need you. Now.”