Luke sat down on the edge of Summer’s bed. He was finally warming up after being chilled to the bone.

They’d spent more than an hour talking to police, first in the freezing cold and later in the lobby. The dead man was Jose Hernandez, a line worker at a cardboard box plant, and Mac was still down there with the cops. How Hernandez related to the cutting edge of aerospace design, Luke had no freaking clue. He’d put a call into Trace to see what he could find out.

It felt like he and Summer had been through a war, in addition to the one that was already raging within him. She was leaning against the headboard, her hair wrapped in a towel from her shower, her legs beneath the blanket, and Zeke curled against her side. If it had been hard before to push her away, now it was downright impossible.

She lifted weary eyes to his. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was going.”

“You didn’t want to eat with me because I was a jerk.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” He knew it and he damn sure blamed himself. “Tell me what happened.”

She sighed. “I was hungry. I couldn’t sleep, so I went looking for a vending machine. I saw that man down the hall when I left my room, but I didn’t think anything of it. I walked right to him.”

“You didn’t know who he was.”

“No, but I knew my life was in danger. How dumb can I be?”

“You knew your life was in danger from Walsh. Not from this guy.”

“I feel so stupid.”

He lifted his hand and deliberately placed it on her shin, the covers soft and warm from her body heat below. It was his fault she’d been avoiding him. He’d alienated the woman he needed to protect, thereby putting her in danger, when all he really wanted was to be close to her.

Just not too close.

But there was no line, and he didn’t know how to be there for her without crossing into the danger zone again. “It’s not your fault.”

“I was tired.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to be around you. I was like the chick who gets killed in the horror movie because she argues with her boyfriend and storms off into the woods.”

He smirked. “With chainsaw noises in the background.”

“And one of her friends already dead.”

God, she was funny. But he knew she was truly hurting, fear and exhaustion a noxious mix. He worked to keep himself in check, this need to touch her, to verify she was all right. To pull her against his body.

Stop it.

“You were out there a long time,” he said. “What happened in that car?”

“He wanted to know how to make Alloy 531. Somehow, he had the original formula, but I’d made changes to it that I didn’t write down. I even had to update the patent application, once the testing looked promising.”

“Could he have gotten it from there?”

“I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway.”

“What was the difference between the two formulas?”

“I adjusted the ratio of the metals based on some theoretical work I was reading. It was a lark, really, but it made a huge difference. Once I realized what I’d made, I started writing everything up on my home computer for publication in the scientific journal. I never even went back and amended the original files on the work server.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“Bingo,” said Luke. “Someone has access to your work computer. Any idea who?”

“Actually, yes. I fired the IT director about six weeks ago after I found out she’d given herself access to the user accounts of all the top executives without permission.”

“How’d you discover that?”

“Dumb luck. I got a virus on my laptop over the weekend and took it to Geeks R Us to fix it. They found the duplicate administrator logins in my history.”

“I’m willing to bet she’s working for AGL now.”

She shook her head. “Unbelievable.”

“So AGL needs you, or they have no hope of replicating this material.”

“That’s right.” Her shoulders shook and she wrapped her arms around herself. “How did he find us?”

“Razorback found a tracking device beneath the bumper of one of the vans. Someone must have attached it when they took you to your place for your things.”

His fingers pressed into the fabric, feeling her limb beneath. They’d been so close to her, watching her, and the reality was unnerving. He longed to stroke her, to touch her skin and tell her everything would be okay, that he would never push her away again.

He couldn’t do those things, couldn’t offer her any assurances. He shouldn’t even be sitting here with her now, about to make the same mistake he’d make last night all over again.

“Luke?”

He lifted his head to look at her.

“You’re touching me,” she said.

“I know. I can’t stop.”

Her lips fell into a Cupid’s bow, the moment stretching out between them. “But you said—”

“I know. I didn’t want to complicate things.”

“What’s different now?”

“Nothing. This is a bad idea. A mistake. But I can’t help myself. You almost got hurt, and it’s my fault. You didn’t want to be near me because I was pushing you away, when all I really wanted to do was pull you closer.”

She stared at his hand on her leg. “I like it when you touch me.”

He brought his other hand up, both hands now stroking her legs. She drew one leg up close to her body and leaned toward him, their mouths coming together in a kiss that had him reeling. Those full lips, so soft beneath his own, the eager way she touched him. He leaned into her, his hand cupping her jaw.

Her hands went to his shoulders, her fingers sliding up to caress his neck. He was aware she was only half-dressed, aware of the privacy they shared and the bed beneath their bodies. It would be so easy to get carried away, but he didn’t give a damn. She tasted so good, her mouth so desperate on his and her hands lighting a fire that begged to be stoked.

He grabbed hold of the towel and pulled it gently from her head, threading his fingers into her damp hair. He didn’t want to hide his feelings anymore, he wanted to act on them, wanted her against his body, her softness cradling his weight. This was the price of the truth, the reality that he wanted her no longer able to be denied.

This isn’t the truth. If you told her the truth, she wouldn’t let you near her.

She touched his chest, his sensitive stomach. “Oh my God, your body…” she whispered, leaning in to kiss his neck.

He gently shoved the dog out of the way. “Down, boy.” Zeke jumped to the floor, Luke moving beside her before the dog’s paws hit the floor. He was half on top of her, kissing that sweet mouth and savoring her small sounds of pleasure.

There was a knock at the door and they broke apart, her eyes locked with his. “I’ll kill whoever it is. Be right back.” He hopped off the bed and answered it, Razorback and Mac standing in the hallway.

Fuck.

He could only hope he didn’t look like they’d been necking.

“Can we come in?” asked Mac.

“Summer’s resting. What did you find out?”

Mac narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to see around Luke. “I’m surprised she was able to sleep.”

Luke met Mac’s curious stare with a challenging one of his own. “Anything in the sedan?”

“Negative,” said Mac. “It was a rental registered to Hernandez yesterday in Jersey City.”

“That’s where Summer lives.”

Mac nodded. “Then it’s a good thing she’s with us. Is she doing all right?”

“She’s hanging in there.”

“Good.” He shifted his weight, his eyes darting to the room behind Luke and back again. “There’s something else. Trace dug up some information on Daniels Aerospace that sheds some light on their rivalry with AGL. Twenty-eight years ago a lawsuit was filed against Summer’s father, claiming he’d stolen another scientist’s ideas and patented them as his own.”

“Pretty serious allegation for a researcher.”

“Yep. And the scientist making the allegations was John Walsh, Steven’s father.”

“There’s our motive.”

“The case was dismissed. Walsh was a patient in a mental hospital at the time and acting as his own lawyer. It got a little coverage in the national newspaper, probably because Walsh was committed and legally considered insane. Made for an interesting story.”

“Is it true, or was the guy off his rocker?”

“Trace thinks he had a pretty good case, but no one believed him because of his mental state.”

Summer spoke from close behind him. “John Walsh is a schizophrenic known to suffer from paranoid delusions.”

Luke cocked his head. “You knew about this?”

“The lawsuit? Yes. I was young at the time, but I remember it. However, I didn’t make the connection between John Walsh who accused my father and Steven Walsh, my disgruntled employee. The name is too common.”

“It explains a lot of what’s going on.”

“Only if the allegations were true, which they most certainly are not,” she said.

Mac held up one hand. “It doesn’t matter if they’re true or not. It only matters that he believes it. Trace is going to keep digging.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t need to do that. This is a waste of time.”

“Take a breath, Miss Daniels,” said Mac. “Let us do the hard work for a while. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Good night.” Luke closed the door.

“Tell me you don’t really believe that,” she said.

“I don’t know what to believe. I find it’s best to keep an open mind. You have to admit, it’s one hell of a coincidence. It makes sense as a motive, too.”

She turned and stormed back to the room. “So me telling you my father wouldn’t do such a thing is irrelevant.”

He cocked his head. “That’s not what I said.”

“No, but it’s what you meant.”

“Summer—”

“I think you should go back to your room now. It’s been a very long day and I’d like to be alone.” She opened the door adjoining their rooms and held it.

He furrowed his brow. “You’re kicking me out? Just like that?”

“I prefer to think of it as leaving my options open. Good night, Luke.”

She slammed it shut behind him.