“Is that my dad on the phone?” I say, barreling into John’s office. He nods and hands me the phone.

“Dad, how would you like to take the kids to Disneyland for a week?” He’s been dying to take them. “I’ll make all the arrangements, and the nanny will go with you.”

“I would love that,” he replies.

“Okay, I’ll get back with you once I have it all set up. Love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, Brooky.”

I hang up and walk around the desk, sitting on John’s lap.

“What was that all about?” He plants a kiss on my lips.

“I think Zoe and I are onto something. I don’t want the kids here in case all hell breaks loose again.” I kiss him this time. “What were you talking about with my dad?”

“He’s going to pull some strings and get me a job in Knox’s prison.”

“I like the sound of that a hell of a lot better than you breaking inside.”

His fingers unbutton my blouse. “The only thing I want to break inside of right now is you.” His lips land on the soft skin of my neck. “I need something to feel normal right now to distract me from the shit storm that is about to happen.”

“I have a million other things I need to be doing right now,” I say, but push myself closer to him.

“We can make it quick.” His lips have moved to the swell of my breasts, and his cock is hard underneath me.

“Pull your jeans below your hips,” I say as I stand and remove my pants.

He lowers his pants and sits back down, reaching for the string on my purple lace panties. “Mmm…these are my favorite flavor.” He takes both his hands and places them on either side of my hips, and his teeth find the small string on the side of my panties.

“Brook, I ordered everything…Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Zoe covers her eyes. John scrambles to pull his pants back up, and I can do nothing but laugh.

“It’s not funny,” he whispers through gritted teeth.

“Oh, please, like Jake hasn’t caught us several times and I’ve seen him with morning wood tented under his Minion boxers.” I casually lean down and put my pants back on.

“That’s not the same,” he says.

“Oh, really? And why is that?” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Because…she’s…well.” He’s flustered. “My pants were down,” he finally says.

“I didn’t see a thing,” Zoe says with her hand still covering her eyes. “Except, maybe, Brooklyn is a lucky girl.” She laughs.

I laugh with her, but John is beet red. “Why are you still standing there?” he yells.

“I need Brooklyn to double-check to see if there is anything I missed. It’s all being delivered overnight.” She holds out a piece of paper in front of her.

“You can uncover your eyes now,” I tell her. John adjusts himself in his jeans and huffs past her. Zoe winks at him as he walks by. I burst out laughing again and take the paper from her.

“I really am sorry about walking in on the two of you.”

“It’s okay. We should be focused on Jake and not John’s…well, you know what I mean.” I sit in the chair that John vacated. “You work fast,” I say, flipping through the papers.

She sits on the leather chair across from the desk. “I think you’re really onto something. I just wish we didn’t have to rush and that Jake’s life wasn’t at stake. I hate for our hard work to be handed over to a man like Knox.”

“We’ll get Jake back, and then we’ll deal with the rest. At least a cure will be out there for everyone. Knox has no control over that part, and we’ll have Jake back.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Look, I’m making arrangements for the kids to go to Disneyland with my dad and the nanny for a week. Any chance I can talk you into going with them to stay out of harm’s way?”

“No way in hell. With the two of us working on this together, we will figure it out sooner, and the sooner we do, Jake will be back.”

“All right. Let me make some phone calls and purchase some airline tickets, then I’ll get the nanny to pack the kids’ bags.”

“I’m going to go back to the lab and do some more research on ultrasound waves. I’ll make a pot of coffee because it’s going to be a long night.” She stands.

“I’ll meet you there when I’m done. Keep a phone on you at all times and lock the door to the lab behind you.” She nods and leaves the office.

I spend the next hour making all the arrangements for them to leave tomorrow morning. I call my dad back and give him all the specifics. He still has personal bodyguards that travel with him, so I feel the kids will be safe.

After I get off the phone with him, I go searching for John. I find him in the living room, with his laptop on the coffee table. There is a picture of Jake covering his screen.

“You okay?” I ask, sitting next to him.

“Yeah. I was just thinking about everything he and I have been through together. He’s always been there for me, but my life has caused him nothing but trouble.”

I run my hand through his mop of hair. “Jake loves you. I think he secretly enjoys the danger as much as you do.”

“I don’t enjoy it anymore — not since you and the kids. What if he never gets to see his daughter because of me?”

“This isn’t your fault.” I wrap my arms around his neck and curl into his lap. “You gave up that life and have created a different life for all of us.”

“Yeah, but it keeps biting me in the ass.”

“I want to be the only thing biting your ass,” I tease and wiggle my hips.

“Where’s Zoe?” He looks around the room.

“She left to go to the lab.” I run my hand down his hard chest.

Lightning fast, he has me flat on the couch with his body covering mine. Our hands are moving quickly to undress each other. You’d think by the way we act, we never get to have sex. He pushes my blouse over my shoulders as my hand sinks inside his pants. His raw hunger for me is overwhelming, and it sets off an alarm in my head. Is he afraid of losing me? Or, should I be afraid of losing him? His mouth between my legs halts all thoughts other than the orgasm that is already looming over me.

His phone vibrates across the coffee table. “Fuck!” he yells and leans up.

“No, don’t answer it. Go back to what you were doing,” I pant.

He snatches it off the table and shows me my dad’s face on the screen. “That’s one way to kill the mood.” I jerk my blouse back over my shoulder.

“I have to take it. He’s calling me back about the job at the prison.”

I sit and listen as he talks to my dad and makes notes on his laptop. The scowl between his brows gets deeper and deeper, and that vein in his neck is popping out. Tension is rolling off him. He hangs up the phone and lowers his head down with his hands on either side of his face.

“Hey, you can do this, and Jake’s going to be okay.” I rub his shoulder.

“I don’t want to be his pawn anymore. What if Jake is just the tip of the iceberg and he really has something else planned for me?”

“You’re afraid of losing us again, aren’t you?”

He looks up, and I see tears filling his eyes. “I will do whatever I have to do to save Jake, but if I have to kill Knox in the meantime, then that’s what I’ll do. I can’t let him control my life again. I won’t go back to doing his dirty work.”

“I won’t let him take you again. We’ll all fight him this time. Is that what all that was about a few minutes ago? I felt like you were going to climb inside me and at the same time, it felt like goodbye. I refuse to do goodbye with you again.”

“When I wake up in the mornings…that split second before my eyes open, I think I’ve lost you.” I can see the rawness in his admission tightening around his jaw. “With all of this happening again…” He gulps down his tears.

“You feel like you are going to lose us,” I finish his words, and he nods. It breaks my heart to see him cry. He is the strongest man I know, and he’s afraid. It makes me realize just how much he truly loves his family. He would risk anything to save us, including his entire life again.