Ninety-eight.

Ninety-nine.

One hundred.

Luke flopped onto the bed, his heart racing and his breath coming fast. At this rate, he was never going to get to sleep tonight, but exercising was preferable to smashing his head against a wall or jerking off like a desperate teenager. He stared at the door that joined his room to Summer’s, picturing her snug in her bed.

Did she wear pajamas or nothing at all? He imagined her with full breasts beneath a thin cotton T-shirt, and his body jerked to life once again.

Son of a bitch.

He got down on the floor and counted off stomach crunches.

He longed to go in there and apologize to her for all of the shady things he’d said at his house, but he couldn’t do it. He said those things for a reason and that reason hadn’t changed, no matter that he didn’t like hurting her feelings. If she only knew what he really wanted, how much he liked it when her hand touched his skin…

“Cut it out, asshole.”

Zeke whined. The sound was faint through the door, but he was sure that was what he heard. He stopped moving and listened. There it was again.

Maybe she was in the shower, the dog already missing his new friend.

Traitor.

He moved to the adjoining door and placed his ear against it. The dog was whining even more than he realized, most of it too quiet to be heard from his room. He rapped on the door. “Summer?”

No answer.

He knocked again. Nothing. He opened the door, surprised to find the light off in the open bathroom and Zeke sitting by the door to the hall. “Oh, geez…” He looked around the room and sure enough it was empty. She’d gone somewhere without letting him know.

He went back to his room and threw on a shirt, holstering his Glock 18 at his waist before going in search of her. He had five bucks that said she went to get some dinner after refusing to eat with him.

Can you blame her?

He’d been glad when she refused his offer, not wanting a repeat of last night any more than he suspected she did, especially now with things so tense between them. But that didn’t make it any easier. And now, thanks to him, she’d taken off alone. No doubt, he’d find her in the corner of the lobby with a candy bar, another run-in that would do nothing to help him sleep.

He searched the floor, including the vending area, then made his way downstairs to the lobby, growing more concerned with every step. Would she leave the hotel? “Excuse me,” he said to the clerk, a gangly kid who barely looked old enough to have a job. “Did you see a woman down here in the last hour or so?”

“The woman you arrived with?”

Of course he’d noticed her. This kid was a walking hormone, and Summer was gorgeous. “Yeah.”

He shifted his weight awkwardly. “She left about twenty minutes ago.”

“Do you know where she was going? Is there someplace nearby to eat?”

“Uh, no. They seemed like they knew where they were going.”

Alarm bells jangled in his brain. “They?”

“The man.” The boy’s face reddened. “The man she was with when she left.”

It must have been Mac or one of the guys. “Did he have on camouflage pants? Like mine? Black guy or a white guy?”

“No. I mean yes, he was a white guy, but he was wearing jeans.”

The moment etched itself into his senses, fear highlighting every detail like a camera flash. “You’re sure this is the woman I was with earlier?”

“Yes, sir. I’m positive.”

“And she wasn’t alone.”

“No.”

Luke cursed colorfully. He dug his cell phone out of his pants pocket and dialed Mac. “Summer is missing. I’m in the lobby. Get down here now.”

“Uh, sir? They’re still in the parking lot.” The boy was so red now he looked like a cranberry about to explode. “I can see them on the security monitor.”

Luke walked behind the desk, a small screen showing a sedan parked near a streetlamp in the corner of the snow-covered lot. “Jesus Christ.” There was no question now.

How the hell did they find us?

The kid shifted his weight. “Is everything okay? Should I call the police?”

“Not yet.” The last thing on earth they needed was the police taking control of the situation. The stairwell door burst open, Mac and Razorback rushing out.

“She’s in a car with a man in the parking lot,” snapped Luke, already in motion. “We need to corner him so they can’t escape.”

Mac jogged next to him as they pushed out the door. “How the hell did she get away from you?”

A frigid blast hit Luke in the face, the record-low temps reminding him he hadn’t brought a jacket. “Take it easy. Don’t spook the guy,” said Luke, forcing himself to walk. “I don’t know what happened. She left her room without telling me.”

It was still snowing, the parking lot and vehicles covered in white. Razorback moved in front of them and turned toward the HERO Force van he’d driven to the hotel. “I’ll get behind his car. You two block the front.”

Luke reached the second van and handed his keys to Mac, wiping the snow off the windshield with his bare arm. “Get in the car. You drive.”

Mac started the engine and pulled out just after Razorback did, heading the opposite way around the parking lot toward the sedan. Luke grabbed a second gun from the backseat.

“It’s empty,” said Mac.

“Thanks.” He sunk low in his seat, drawing his loaded weapon and holding the nose of the gun just over the edge of the door so it couldn’t easily be seen.

Two people were in the front seat of the sedan, one of them definitely Summer. He could feel her fear and he hoped she could feel him, shoring her up. This was the worst possible situation to be in from a tactical perspective, all but begging the man in the car to take her hostage, but there was no alternative—the wide-open spaces in and around the parking lot making a surprise attack impossible.

There was only one way to do this. The hard way.

Mac pulled the van in front of the sedan, the vehicles making a T-shape, just as Razorback did the same on its back side. Luke stayed low, sliding across the seat and following Mac outside the driver’s side of the vehicle, using the van as a shield. Mac went to the hood of the van, Luke to the rear.

The sedan driver put the window down. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot!” he yelled.

“We’ve got you surrounded,” called Luke. “Let the girl go.”

“Put the guns down or I’ll kill her. I mean it. I will!”

Luke slowly bent and put the empty weapon on the asphalt, the loaded one in his hidden left hand. “It’s down. I put it down. Let her go.”

“Move that van!”

Luke kept his voice calm. “Even if we do that, you’re never going to get out of here. There are three of us and only one of you. Let her go before this gets any worse.”

Time hung suspended, fat snowflakes falling from the sky. Luke’s eyes were trained on the gun. In one swift movement, the other man aimed it at Luke through the window. Luke jumped behind the van and trained the loaded gun at the sedan. He was desperate to keep his shots away from Summer, and he hesitated.

A small flash of light exploded inside the car—the ignition of gunpowder that could only be seen if you were looking straight down the barrel. A bullet was coming straight toward him.

I’m a dead man.

Regret washed over him, not for a life half-lived, but for a life lived badly. It was his job to keep Summer safe. He wanted to be here, wanted to live more than he could remember ever wanting to be alive before.

The bullet whizzed past his head with a screeching whine, narrowly missing him, relief and determination flowing through him. Letting Luke live would be the last mistake this asshole ever made. He aimed and fired, a single shot to keep Summer safe.

The windshield shattered. Luke couldn’t see the driver and approached the vehicle with Mac, weapons drawn. Summer was screaming. Was she hurt? He opened the door. The driver’s head hung forward, blood on the seat back, splatter on Summer’s face and clothes.

She launched herself into his arms, squeezing him like an animal clinging to its mother’s fur. He didn’t care about the blood, didn’t care about anything as long as she was all right. He shushed her. “It’s okay now. You’re safe.” His fingers moved into her hair, gripping the back of her head. “I’ve got you.”

Mac met his stare several feet away, a knowing look in his eye, but Luke ignored him. Summer was okay, out of harm’s way. She was in his arms, and nothing else mattered—not Mac and whatever the hell he thought, not what Luke had said to her at the cabin. Nothing.

She released him, the cold air rushing in where her warm body had been. Sirens sounded in the distance. She hugged herself tightly, her eyes wide with worry. “Who is that guy?”

Luke’s blood ran cold. “It isn’t Walsh?”

She shook her head. He looked in the car. The dead man had longer hair than Walsh, darker skin. Luke straightened slowly, his mind spinning as his eyes met hers once more. More than one person was after her, which meant they had an unknown number of enemies.

Double fuck.

How many were there? Were they watching them right now?

“We’ll find out who he is. We’ll find the connection to Walsh. We’ll keep you safe, Summer, I promise. But you have to help us. You can’t leave a room without me no matter the reason. You have to help me protect you.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever you say.”

He put his hand behind her neck and kissed her forehead. He could feel Mac’s disapproving stare and refused to engage in that particular war. He whispered in her ear. “I’m going to hold you to that.”