One side of the split screen showed actual footage, which Alexa was deleting in real time. On the other side was the looped feed she had created to hide Xander’s entry and exit from Reza’s room.

Alexa and Jake had only been in the hotel suite’s bedroom for fifteen minutes, but that was all the time she had needed to get things going. A simple hack into surveillance was easy for her. But working in the same room with Jake after the crazy tension that had smoked them out of the living room after she’d confronted Jason—well, that wasn’t so easy.

She peered over at Jake, whose brows furrowed as he scrolled through the images in the @Anarchy file. He was sitting by the window with the laptop resting on his jeaned thighs.

She inhaled a small breath as her attention swept over his shoulder and to the window. Her hotel was across the street, and her mind wandered to her time with Jake earlier. To the slow, sensual licks of his tongue. To the way their bodies had locked together during sex as if they were tethered together—bound forever. And would that be so bad?

No, eternal bliss sounded pretty bloody good right now.

She glanced above the gleaming building across the way, admiring the soft pink and blue streaks layering the sky like cotton candy. It made her hungry for a time when life was much more straightforward. When she was in primary school, and her greatest problem was when she and her sister liked the same boy.

“We got word from Alpha team. Looks like Reza is heading back to the hotel.” Randall’s voice quickly diverted her attention back to the mission.

“Shit. Did you hear that?” Alexa pressed a hand to her ear, not wanting to miss Xander’s response.

“I’ll be done in less than a minute. There’s plenty of time—no worries, love,” Xander said, his smooth voice filling her ear.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “He’s about done,” she told Randall.

Of course, the hard part would be tonight, when Jason uploaded the malware into Reza’s computer. She still couldn’t fathom why they were trusting him with something so critical, but she also didn’t know if she had the finesse for the job. And it was too important to depend on a prayer. She’d uploaded malware dozens of times, but @Anarchy was a group like none other they’d faced, and they would have to make sure Reza wouldn’t detect any changes in his computer, which wasn’t easy for even the most brilliant of minds.

“How are you holding up?” Alexa spoke to Jake for the first time since they’d come into the room together.

But before Jake could answer, she blurted, “Shit!” Alexa pulled the screen closer to get a better look and then zoomed in on the tall, built man who was striding down the hall.

“Xander, you’ve got a problem,” she rasped. “Boris Gregov just stepped out of the bloody lift on Reza’s floor.”

“Are you kidding?” Xander answered. “Fuck.”

How had Gregov gotten right under their noses without anyone noticing?

“Do I have time to go out the door?” Xander asked, and Alexa’s heart hammered in her chest, pulsing in her ears.

“I don’t know if he has his own room, but I doubt he has a key to Reza’s, yeah? Maybe Reza is on his way to meet him, and he’s going to wait outside the room.”

“Which means I can’t leave. Jesus Christ,” Xander mumbled. “Where is he now?”

“He’s two doors away.”

Jake was on his feet and moving to look at the computer.

“Tell me, is Reza walking down my side of the street? If I go out to the terrace . . .”

“Where’s Reza?” Alexa raised her voice so Randall could hear her in the other room. “We have a situation.”

Randall came into the room. “Where’s the target?” Randall was talking to his team through his own earpiece. “He’s already in the lobby.”

“Okay. He won’t see you from the street, but he’ll be at his room in a few minutes. You can’t get down from the terrace, though,” Alexa quickly said.

“Jesus. There’s a knock at the door,” Xander muttered in a low voice.

Her mind raced as she pulled up the hotel information. “Give me a second.” She began tapping at the keys, her fingers working furiously. “Thank God,” she cried. “Xander, the room has a connecting door to the neighboring room. Your key is set up to access every room in the building, and the couple staying in that room aren’t scheduled to check in for two more hours.”

There was no word from Xander—he couldn’t talk with Gregov outside the room. Alexa prayed that the deadbolt on the other side of the door remained unfastened.

Jake’s hand wrapped around the back of his neck as he stared at the footage on the screen, with Randall at his side.

“It worked. Thanks, mate,” Xander said a minute later, and Alexa’s head hung with a sudden, relieved exhaustion.

“He’s okay. What’s Reza’s position?” she asked Randall.

“Location?” Randall sputtered to Alpha team.

“Never mind. I have him on camera—he’s heading down the hall.” Alexa studied the screen, her heart burning in her chest. “They’re going into the room, Xander. Give it a few minutes before you leave, and then hurry the hell back here.”

“Will do,” he answered.

“Well, that was intense.” Jake angled his head to look at Randall.

“Hey, now we know where Gregov is. You think Bekas is heading here, too? Is everything going down in Barcelona?” She squinted as her mind scrambled for answers. She highly doubted that Kemal Bekas’s master scheme would unfold in Barcelona. But she’d been wrong before.

“I don’t know. I’ll go give MI6 a call and let them know we have eyes on Gregov.” Randall left the room, and Alexa stood up and flung her arms around Jake’s waist without thinking, relief pouring through her.

Jake responded by locking his arms around her back, tugging her closer to him. He rested his chin on top of her head, holding her, and she was grateful for the few moments alone. She breathed in his cologne, relishing the warmth of his touch. The world slipped away at that moment, and she was safe.

Terrorists didn’t exist.

Her father hadn’t died of lung cancer ten years ago.

And she’d never met Jason.

“You okay?” Jake asked shortly after, and she pulled herself free of his embrace, embarrassed at how tightly she’d been holding onto his back.

“Shit. Are you okay?”

He didn’t flinch or show any signs of pain. Maybe he was getting better. Still, she shouldn’t have been so careless.

“I’m good.” He whisked a few hairs out of her face and tucked the long, dark strands behind her ear. She inhaled at his touch and shut her eyes.

When she no longer felt his presence nearby, she peeled open her eyes to find him. His back was to her, and he was looking out the window. One hand pressed against the glass as a soft glow from the bright sun shone through the window, wrapping around him like the glow of a crystal. “Did you, uh, see anything helpful?” she asked after a long silence, and then reached for his laptop.

The images he’d been viewing hit her like a train. They were pictures of Jake. One of his body sprawled out amid debris after the explosion at the mill. Another of his injuries, when the lashes on his back had been fresh.

“How can you look at these?” She set the laptop on the bed by hers and crossed the room to meet him by the window.

“It’s fine,” he said, but the slight tremble in his voice betrayed his words. “I’m alive, although my team’s not. That’s what I’m struggling to deal with.”

She understood, perhaps more than he knew, but before she could say anything Xander’s voice sounded in her ear.

“I’ve activated the listening device. Is it working?” She could tell from the slight breathiness in his voice that he was on the move—probably heading back.

“Let me ask Randall.” She touched Jake on the back for a brief moment before grabbing her computer and going out into the main room.

“Are we getting anything on audio?” she asked Randall. He was hunched behind Seth, who sported large, black headphones.

Seth shook his head as Alexa set her laptop down next to his. “It’s fuzzy. They must be blocking us.”

“But how would they know?” It was Jake. His body was rigid in the doorway as his eyes fell upon Jason.

“They probably always use an audio jammer for protection. It’ll impede all eavesdropping devices as well as Wi-Fi connections. These guys aren’t amateurs,” Alexa glibly responded. This was another reason that she wasn’t overly optimistic about Jason’s malware.

“Will the camera still work?” Jake asked.

“I doubt they’ll have the jammer on all day—just while they’re talking,” Randall answered. “But we’ll have a back-up plan in case we can’t get the combination for the safe.”

“They seem to be ahead of us at every step.” Alexa’s shoulders sagged with disappointment. “Maybe we should grab these guys while we have the chance and hope they’ll narc on Bekas.”

“You know as well as I do they’ll kill themselves before they turn on each other,” Xander said, softly closing the door behind him. Alexa had hardly heard it opening.

“We’re going to get him,” Jake insisted.

“He’s right, Alexa. We always get our guys, yeah?” Xander tossed his earpiece on the desk by Seth’s laptop.

“And what do we do if Reza doesn’t go to the casino tonight? Or if Gregov stays in the room while Reza leaves?”

“We’ll keep following these guys until we can make our move. Hopefully tonight.” Xander placed a large hand on Jake’s shoulder. “How are you holding up, mate?”

Jake was staring at Jason’s head like he was willing it to self-combust. She couldn’t help but like the feeling of being protected for once. Not that Xander and Matt didn’t look out for her, but that was different. Jake had a strength that lit a fire in her belly. She wanted to get lost in his muscular arms, to let someone else take care of her.

What would it feel like not to be this strong, tough woman for five minutes?

Just five minutes. She didn’t want to give up her own strength altogether, but five minutes would be relaxing.

Okay, so maybe ten would be a little better.

It’d be nice to enjoy a sunset every once in a while. Or have a cocktail at the beach without worrying that the world might explode.

“I’m fine,” Jake said. “I didn’t recognize the man in the images with the shooter. Sorry.”

Alexa blinked a few times, forcing herself to look away from Jake’s arms. When she swept her gaze up his chest and to his face, she found his eyes focused on hers, and her breath hitched.

“Okay. Maybe it will come to you.” Xander folded his arms. “We’ll monitor the cameras to see when Gregov leaves, and we’ll have Alpha team in place to follow him. I’ll call Beta team back to keep an eye on Reza.”

“Who is going with Jason to upload the malware?” She looked over at the man who made her blood ice cold.

“Me,” Xander answered.

Alexa went for her jacket and slipped it on. She couldn’t stomach being in the same room as Jason. “Do you need me right now?”

“No. You guys go get room service or something and stay put for now. And Alexa, be careful. We don’t want Gregov recognizing you from Munich,” Xander ordered.

“Let me know when Gregov is on the move,” Alexa said. As she went to the door, she could feel Jake at her heels.

Neither of them spoke as they left in a hurry, and then crept inside the side entrance of their hotel, and took a set of stairs to their room. Once there, Alexa dead bolted the door and faced Jake, dying to let the words fly loose. “I really am so sorry you had to meet Jason.” Her eyes wandered to Jake’s hands, which were clenched at his sides.

“What did he do to you, Alexa?”

Alexa hung her head and pressed her fingertips to her temples. She looked up when Jake’s hand swooped next to her, his palm pressing against the wall. His eyes were dark, and a swirl of pain showed in the lines of his face. “Tell me, Alexa. Give me permission to put this guy six feet under after this is all over. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”

And he could, too, couldn’t he? The prominent veins in his forearm attested to that.

But she didn’t want to think about Jason or her past. Right now, she just wanted to lose herself in Jake’s arms, to use those hands for passion, instead of anger.

She wanted to will away the evil in the world and bury him deep inside her until she was screaming his name.

Jake had so many sides: humor, strength, conviction. Love?

And rules, she couldn’t forget. The man outside the hospital room back in London—the dark-haired guy with blue eyes—he’d said Jake was a rule follower.

Maybe Jake wasn’t being serious about killing Jason. Or maybe he truly had forgotten who he was. It was crazy to think that he’d gone from a man unable to kill a spider to a man telling her he wanted to murder her ex-boyfriend. Was he changing for her? Or was he trying to adapt to this new world he’d woken up within, where he remembered fragments of his past as he tried to negotiate the present?

“Jake?” His name was like a hiss from her lips as she lifted her chest and rolled her shoulders back.

The back of his hand caressed her cheek, and the desire in his eyes seemed as strong as her own. She glanced down between them and saw his hardened length pressing against his jeans. “Maybe I can tell you about Jason after . . .?”

He arched a brow as his hand slipped down her throat and to the leather collar of her jacket. “After what?”

She roped her hands up to his neck and brought her face close to his. “After this.” Her lips found his, and he groaned against her mouth. His hand gently tugged at her hair as he moved a few steps back.

She gasped as Jake swept her into his arms. “Put me down. You’re injured.” Her palms went to his chest, but he only looked at her with gleaming, brown eyes.

He ignored her protests, nipping at her lip with his teeth as he carried her into the bedroom. She wanted to holler at him for being so completely daft, but she could barely remember words under the heat of his stare.

He gently set her on the bed, and he went for the button on his jeans. He stood there for a moment, the button undone, the zipper still up—just studying her with hooded eyes.

She wanted to cry out for him to come to her—she needed him, and she rolled her tongue over her lips, wetting them as he shoved off his jeans and boxers and stepped out of them.

His hard, beautifully sculpted body was on display for her, and she wanted to run her hands over the curve of his muscles and plant kisses everywhere.

Jake gripped his shaft, and his mouth tightened as he swallowed. “Your turn,” he said in a throaty voice.

She sat upright and removed her jacket, then tugged her sweater over her head. She unsnapped her bra, freeing her breasts and started for her jeans.

Jake moved on top of her in one quick movement.

And when his mouth came down over her belly button, she knew she wouldn’t be capable of surviving another day without Mr. New Year’s Eve.

But a sharp blitz of pain in her chest reminded her of how impossible that could be.