Alex tackled her as the concussion of sound slammed into Piper's body with a horrible jolt. He carried her down and over the side of the bed, dragging the covers with him.
His heavy body pressed her into the floor as the sheet settled over them like a collapsing parachute. Rain showered down on the material with plinking, heavy sounds and hit the floor around them. Her heart thundered in her ears, the whooshing tempo dominating her world.
What had happened? What was going on?
A sharp high-pitched ringing assaulted her ears and she winced. Alex said something, she knew he had. His lips moved and she could feel the vibration of his words in the weight of his chest where it crushed her breasts. But she couldn't hear him. Her heart beat harder and her throat tightened.
She shook her head, her stomach tightening. He put his mouth next to her ear.
"Are you hurt?" he said, his voice a distant, hollow sound.
"I can't hear!" Naming it deepened her panic. She gave a strangled sob and struggled to get out from under him. "Alex, I can't hear!"
"No, Piper! Hold still! It's from the sound wave." He tightened his grip on her, his arms like steel bands clamped around her, trapping her, pinning her body to the floor. "There's been an explosion!"
She choked back her tears and stopped struggling. Cold fear dug into her.
"We'll have to work together to get out of here safely!" he shouted.
She grimaced and flinched away. Her ears still buzzed, but she could hear him better.
Lifting his head, he looked down at her. "We're covered in glass from the window," he added, his voice quieter.
"I...thought it was rain."
He slipped one arm carefully out from under her and even that small movement caused a shower of glass to chime onto the floor around them. "You're in shock." He stroked her hair with his hand. "It'll pass."
A new horror swept into her. "What about Danni? And Mother? And Lina! We have to see if everyone's all right."
"We can't do anything until we can safely get to a door."
She willed herself to stay calm. "Tell me what to do," she said, and her voice shook.
A flicker of pride and approval passed over his face. "The other room is probably worse than this one because of the balcony doors, but we're only ten feet from this bathroom and your closet. If we can get to it, then we can find what we need to walk out of here without slicing our feet up."
His gaze intensified. "I'm going to try and sit up so I can get this sheet off of us. When I do that, I want you to hold down the edge above your head and keep your eyes closed."
She nodded and did as he'd instructed.
"Don't move," Alex added.
She felt his body and muscles ripple and flex, then his weight was off her. The sheet tugged against her grip as he pushed up and the sound of falling glass hit around them and above her face where the sheet slanted to the ground. She grit her teeth and kept the sheet fisted in her hands. After what seemed like hours, the tugging sound and movement stopped.
"You're going to sit up nice and slow. I'll do my best to keep the edges of the sheet down. On my mark."
She tensed, ready to move. A moment later, she felt a sigh puff across her face.
"Piper?"
"Uh, huh."
"Open your eyes."
She did and found him looking down at her with one of his quirky smiles tilting up the corner of his mouth. He was on his knees, straddled across her calves, naked and magnificent, the sheet sloping away from his head like a tent.
"What?" she said, irritated to realize he was laughing at her. "You told me to keep them closed."
"You're cute."
"Screw you."
"Grab me around the waist to give yourself some leverage. I'll lean down and hold the sheet so it doesn't come up with you."
Her worry returned and Piper's mouth went dry as she gripped the taunt muscles above his hips. If the sheet fluttered loose, they'd be covered in glass.
Move slowly, stay calm, trust Alex, she told herself. That's all I have to think about.
He leaned over her, splaying his arms on either side of her head to fist his hands into the sheet much like she'd done moments before.
"Go," he said, his voice strained from the odd angle of his body.
She curled her body up and to the side, almost like she was doing a stomach crunch. Clinging to him like a monkey, she rocked up with him as he released one hand, then the other until they were both up right.
A breeze brushed against the sheet as it settled around them, followed by a light showering of glass. The smell of rotten eggs and burning rubber pinched her nose.
"What is that?" she asked, wrinkling up her face against the noxious odors. Worry clouded his eyes and her fear climbed back into her throat. "What haven't you told me?"
Alex gave her a stern look. "I need to get to my phone, and I have to take the sheet off of us to do it. You need to stay calm and not move. Can you do that?"
She nodded, and prayed that she could. If her sister or stepmom were hurt.... She had to stay strong.
Alex gently extracted himself from her arms and legs and delicately started rolling up the edge of the sheet nearest the bathroom. As the makeshift tent opened, the acrid smell of burning oil and sulfur grew stronger. Piper sneezed, jostling Alex's arm and a dusting of glittering shards filtered under the open edge.
"Sorry," she muttered.
He kept rolling the fabric, always to the outside away from them, as if trying to catch the falling glass in the material. When he reached the height of their shoulders, he had Piper duck out from under the sheet. Being free of the stuffy space under the cover felt like a significant step toward freedom.
A few twists later and he was free, too. Turning, he carefully lay the sheet down near the bed.
She looked around. A ragged, clear space, roughly three feet by five encircled them surrounded by what looked like a war zone. Her hope of freedom died.
A new wave of shock cascaded over Piper as her gaze swept from one point of destruction to another. The window had blown out across the room, her mirror was shattered, lamps were blown over, papers scattered everywhere.
Her blood chilled as her gaze traveled over the surface of her bed where she and Alex had made love just a few hours ago. Glass lay everywhere. One piece, as long as her hand, stood upright near the overturned tray, piercing the mattress like a dagger.
Between them and the partially closed door leading to the master bathroom and the living room lay a field of glittering shards. How were they ever going to get out of here?
"Well, hell," Alex muttered, staring at his clothes piled just past the border of their island.
"I don't understand what's happening," Piper whispered.
"Me either. But I intend to find out."
Alex pulled the long piece of glass out of the mattress and then edged toward the other side where his clothes lay. Reaching out, he prodded through his clothes with the point of the shard until he uncovered the pocket that held his phone.
As carefully as a surgeon, he wedged open the pocket and extracted the phone with his thumb and forefinger. He blew vigorously on the device, then sat back on his heels.
He stared at it for a moment before thumbing in a number. He put the phone to his ear. "It's Alex. Give me Ted."
Confused, Piper stared at him. "Aren't you calling 911?"
"4X225A," Alex said into the phone. "The Roseland place. She's safe." He listened for a moment, his expression turning grim. "I understand." Giving her an enigmatic look, he ended the call.
Why would Alex call Uncle Theo? And why were they always passing strange codes between them? A feeling of betrayal washed over her.
He met her gaze. "I need you to trust me. Can you do that for a little while?"
She stared at him, her instincts screaming that something was going on. He wasn't a cop. Cops didn't do breaking and entering. Was he ex-military?
His reaction to the explosion had been quick and decisive, way beyond what she'd expect from an amateur investigator.
But maybe not for a bodyguard. She wasn't sure. Piper wrapped her arms around herself. She had a terrible feeling that she wasn't going to like it when she figured out what was going on.
"Ted owns an emergency response company," he said gently. "I work with them sometimes."
Her stomach rolled. "I...thought he was a banker."
"He's an investor. Sort of the same thing."
"I think I'm going to be sick."
He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a light shake. "No, you're not. You're going to take a deep breath and be the tough, crazy woman that tried to break into a drug dealer's shed last night. And you're going to trust me."
She felt like she'd stepped into a nightmare. Piper looked at him, at his jaw set in a hard line, the gold flecks in his brown eyes glowing with determination.
Piper shivered, but the nausea eased off. "Okay," she gulped.
Alex eased away from her, but his sharp, worried gaze stayed on her face. "We need protection for our feet from the glass. Is there anything under the bed?"
She shook her head. "Just my collection."
He inched around on the balls of his feet so he could peer under the dust ruffle. Stretching out his arm, he pulled out a shoebox.
She frowned at the sleek lines of his back. "What are you doing?"
He lifted the box over the wall of crumpled sheet and set it at the edge of their tiny sanctuary. "Put those on." He dragged out another box and stood up, his stomach muscles bunching with the movement.
"Why?" she asked.
"You get the shoes, I'll use the cardboard boxes."
"We can't do that. Everything under there is limited edition."
"Put on the shoes, Piper." He unpacked one of the boxes and set the contents aside.
"They're only valuable if they're in the original packaging and haven't been worn," she explained.
He shoved the other box at her.
Bemused, Piper stared at the Louis Vuitton logo stamped on the top. "The only one of these I ever wore were the Kate Spades. They matched the clutch. The one I used to get the paint color right on my car."
She blinked, feeling a little drunk, which didn't make any sense. All she'd had that morning was coffee, right?
He gave her another concerned look, then started unpacking the shoes. Rustling around in the tissue paper, he pulled out a pair of pumps. They were bright red with bold white polka dots and a big red bow on each toe.
He wrapped his hand around her ankle and pushed one of the shoes onto her bare foot. In a daze, Piper watched him wiggle the other shoe into place.
"I look like Mini Mouse in OZ," she said. She tapped her toes together and a giggle broke out of her. Alarmed, she slapped her hand to her mouth.
"Alex, what's wrong with me?" she whispered against her fingers.
"You'll be okay." He clasped her ankles in his warm hands and leaned toward her. "I'm going to get you out of here, Piper. It's going to be all right."
He sounded so certain. But something had blown up. Her beautiful room was demolished. She didn't know if her family was safe.
Tears flooded into her eyes. "I'm sorry I got you into this," she choked out.
He gave her a tilted smile and snagged her hands. "You didn't." Pushing to his feet, he carried her up with him. "Besides, if it wasn't for you, I'd have never had this chance to wear the latest fashion in shoes."
Giving her a wink, he jammed a foot into each empty shoebox. "Shall we?" He gestured toward the bathroom.
Slipping her hands from his, she pointed to the living room. "But that's the way out."
Alex gestured at his naked body with an elegant sweep of his hands. "I'm hoping you'll have something to match the shoes."
* * *
Alex decided that it would have been better to waltz out of the house naked.
He resisted the urge to tug at the tiny gauzy skirt bouncing around his hips. At least focusing on getting him outfitted had helped Piper feel better.
"Why did you have this in your closet, again?" he asked.
"One of the more full-figured Ladies needed a costume for our annual Halloween party. When she couldn't make it, I decided to keep the outfit for next time."
"But did it have to be a fairy?" He reached over his shoulder and scratched where the wire wings kept knocking against his neck.
"Fairy princess," she said. "My clothes are too small for you. It was either that or a towel, and you know the kind of exposure those can give you."
He tightened his mouth and refrained from saying anything. He'd seen it dozens of times in the field. She was trying to cope by focusing on other things.
A band of tension sat across his shoulders. She'd probably noticed the same pattern he had. As they moved through the seemingly empty house, only the windows on the back where the garages extended were shattered.
There were a lot of ways to rig a car bomb and a lot of reasons for doing it. The more complex ones could go off when the driver hit the remote. Sometimes they killed. Sometimes they were designed as a warning.
After everything Piper had already been though, he wasn't sure how she would take discovering a member of her family had been hurt or killed. He wished he could avoid finding out, but he couldn't. If anyone had been hurt, they'd need help.
He touched Piper's arm as she headed toward the front door. "We need to check the garage," he said quietly.
A haunted fear clouded her gaze and she pressed her mouth into a tight line. Circling back toward the dining room, she took a right and went past the kitchen.
Alex trailed after her, regret burning a small, hot spot in the middle of his chest. From her expression, Piper had also figured out what had happened.
The smell of smoke thickened and her pace picked up. By the time she turned down the narrow hall that opened between the L-shape of the two garages, she was running.
Bursting through the outside door, she stumbled down the two steps on the other side and came to a stop like she'd hit an invisible wall. Alex grabbed her around the waist as her knees buckled and she slumped against him.
Piper dropped the overnight bag he'd had her pack. "Oh, no."
On the flagstone parking pad, what was left of a bright turquoise Mercedes convertible sat crumpled, charred and smoking. Patchy flames flickered here and there, both in the cab and the engine.
The roof was gone and the hood lay several yards behind it. The garage doors beside and in front of the wreckage were gouged and dented from flying debris, chunks of metal still embedded in some places.
All the color drained from her face. "Is...is there..."
He eased her down to the steps and cautiously approached the convertible. The heat coming off the destroyed car was still intense and Alex raised his arm to shield his face from it.
Getting as close as he could, he squinted past the smoke and peered into the driver's seat. "Empty," he called, a sense of relief stretching through him. He hurried back to Piper.
The dark smudges under her eyes from lack of sleep stood out harshly against the paleness of her skin. He wasn't sure if she was going to be sick, pass out, or both.
Alex squatted next to her, the stupid tights he had to wear instead of underwear binding him in ways he never wanted to experience again.
"No one was in it when it blew," he said, careful to give her plenty of clearance if she tossed up, but still stay close enough to grab her if she fainted. "Either it was set to detonate at a certain time, or the remote key triggered it. I have to look around. Make sure no one was injured."
Piper stared at the car. "Danni's suite is below mine. She might be hurt," she murmured.
"I can't leave you alone. Can you stand?" he asked.
She met his gaze, her eyes filled with dismay, but as he watched her expression harden. "They tried to hurt my family." She pushed to her feet.
Alex jumped up and grabbed hold of her upper arm when she swayed. "Easy there."
"My sister might be hurt," she said, a savage edge to her voice.
She pulled out of his grasp and marched past her smoldering car and around the back of the house. When she saw Danni sitting on the ground, leaning against a low garden wall, she took off running. Alex raced after her.
He caught up to her as she knelt beside her sister. Danni's skirt and top were smudged with dirt and her knees looked scraped. There was a cut on her forehead.
She buried her face against Piper's shoulder and burst into tears. "I'm so sorry," she said, her voice muffled. "It was blocking my car. I had the spare...key...and it...the Mercedes just...."
No remote, then. A timed event, Alex realized. But for what purpose, fear or murder?
"Piper, what time do you usually leave the house in the morning?" he asked.
She wrapped her arms around Danni and patted her back. "On Saturdays I do makeovers at the spa."
"But what time?"
"About..." Over the top of her sister's head, her eyes flared wide and frightened. "About seven."
"I was meeting Glen for coffee," Danni said. She pulled back from her sister's embrace and scrubbed the back of her hand across her face, smearing her mascara. "I'd forgotten I told the body shop...to park it by the garage." She seemed to notice him for the first time and her brows drew down in confusion. "Is there still a party?"
"We were trapped in my rooms. It's all I could find for him to wear," Piper explained.
"You're...a fairy?" Danni asked, her gaze tracking over him in bemusement.
"Princess, if you don't mind," Alex said, doing his damnedest to ignore the way the glittery skirt fluttered around whenever a breeze was vindictive enough to hit him.
His phone buzzed against the built-in bra of the costume and he fished it out. At least the oversized bustier was useful for something.
"Jensen," he said briskly.
"We're pulling onto the estate," Neil said in his ear.
Alex batted one of the obnoxious wings away from the phone. It would have to be Neil, he thought, reconsidering the advantages of being naked. "We're to the right of the hit, around back. Her sister might need medical."
"Got it. See you in two."
* * *
Feeling a little bewildered, Piper watched as two black SUVs and a white van pulled up to the house and spread out over the parking area behind the Mercedes' carcass. Men poured out, one group heading for the house, another for the garages. A second white van roared past them and kept coming, driving over a bed of flowers and across the lawn before stopping a couple yards from the garden wall.
Mother's going to have a fit when she sees what they've done to the landscaping, she thought idly.
She gasped. Taking Danni's hand, she held it tightly. "Sweetie," she said as gently as she could. "Where are Mother and Lina?"
Danni looked at her as if she'd just grown two heads. "There was a party last night."
"Yes, honey, but where are they?"
"Mother's in bed. Lina has the morning off." Danni's eyes welled with fresh tears. "Is Mother okay?"
"I'm sure she is," Piper soothed, doing her best to keep her concern out of her voice. She looked at Alex who was busy trying to bend his wings away from his head.
"Alex," she said sharply. When he looked at her, she silently mouthed, "Find out if Mother's all right."
"There's a team combing through the property." He glared at the wings. "And since only this side was affected, and she hasn't come barreling out of the house, I'd say she's still sleeping it off."
"Very diplomatic. Thank you," she gritted.
Two men in black slacks and golf shirts with an unusual insignia embroidered on the left sleeve jumped out of the back of the van and jogged toward them. The older one with a military haircut and confident bearing reached them first.
"Ma'am," he said to Danni as he knelt down and opened the duffel he carried. "Are you hurt?"
Her concerns about her stepmom would have to wait, Piper realized. Alex was most likely right, anyway. Between her earplugs, sleep mask, and getting to bed after midnight, she was probably still sound asleep.
Piper explained to the medic what Danni had told them.
He nodded. "If you'll step over to the van, please?"
"I'm not leaving my sister."
"They need room to work, Piper," Alex said.
He was right, but she still didn't like it. She gave Danni's hand a reassuring squeeze and stood up. "I'll be right over there," she told her sister.
Giving a dazed nod, Danni let the medic slip a blood pressure monitor onto her wrist. Reluctantly, Piper followed Alex.
A pretty Asian woman strode briskly around the corner of the van, her uniform the same as the men, but her air of authority pegging her as the person in charge. Her eyebrows rose in surprise at the sight of Alex and then she grinned. Her gaze moved up and down his body in a slow, teasing assessment.
"Enjoying your time off, Jensen?" she asked. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture.
"Is that really necessary?"
"Definitely." She offered her hand to Piper. "I'm Doctor Trish. I've been ordered to make sure you and Alex aren't hurt before we release you into the wild."
"I'm fine," Piper said. Glancing back, she looked to make sure Danni was okay. The first medic was checking her eyes while the other one prepared a bandage for her forehead.
"She was in shock earlier," Alex said.
"This won't take a minute, Ms. Roseland. I just need to get a few vitals."
"This is ridiculous," she started to protest when a man in his mid-thirties strode up to them.
He had the solid, broad build of a wrestler and was about four inches shorter than Alex. Fuzzy, nearly-white blonde hair covered his head like he'd buzzed it off recently, and it had only just started growing back. He wore a dark suit and tie and had a large hiker's backpack slung across his shoulders.
His light gray eyes sparkled with laughter as he stopped next to Alex and lowered the pack to the ground. "Can't wait to hear this story. Hope it involves handcuffs."
"Inappropriate, Neil," Doctor Trish said, the rote delivery of the chastisement telling Piper that she probably said it several times a day.
"You got everything?" Alex asked.
"Plus a few additions of my own. Smile for the camera!"
Alex scowled as Neil aimed his phone at him. "Definitely my new wallpaper," the shorter man said gleefully.
"Her stuff is over by the steps past the destroyed car," Alex said. "Fill the other pack with it."
"Will do, chief," Neil said cheerfully as he took another picture.
Piper looked at Alex curiously. Something about the way everyone treated him didn't fit with the 'gun for hire' impression she'd gotten from Ted. Cop, military, and now what? Boss?
"A nickname," he said, as if reading her mind. "Get going, Neil," he added absently, bending down to inspect the pack.
"Yes, sir." Neil turned to go.
"One more thing," Alex said without looking up. "Mrs. Roseland is asleep in the South wing of the mansion. Wake her up and tell her what's happened."
Alarmed, Piper took a protective step toward Neil. "Alex, do you think that's—"
"Appraise her of the damages so she can contact her insurance company," he added, his mild tone never changing.
"Will do." Neil strode off whistling, his thumbs flying over the face of his phone.
Piper watched him go. "Do you have any idea what that poor man's in for?" she asked Alex.
A smile played around his mouth.
"Ms. Roseland?" Doctor Trish said. "Let's get things wrapped up so I can see to your sister."
* * *
Ten minutes later, Piper came out and Alex stepped into the Department's emergency treatment vehicle. "Tell me you have a change of clothes in here," he said to Trish as he made his way past the stretcher and shelves of medical paraphernalia.
"Do you have any injuries?"
"Only my pride."
"In that case, we've got you covered, Agent Jensen." Doctor Trish tossed him a neatly folded stack of standard issue sweats. "Pardon the pun," she added with a snort of laughter.
He started ripping off the blasted pink tights. "I'm not living this one down, am I?"
She grinned at him and turned her back. "The day our fearless leader got caught with his princess skirt down will live in infamy."
Alex decided retreat was the better part of valor in this case. That, and he didn't have a single good comeback. He was in a fairy costume for God's sake. That didn't give a man much leeway in the macho, wiseass comment department.
He changed quickly and then fished his phone and wallet out of the dress. "Tell the team to get me intel on who built the bomb and who planted it. Names and addresses," he said, sticking his stuff in the pocket of the sweats. "I won't be able to keep Piper off the grid much longer than a day or two without raising her suspicions even higher."
Turning around, she quirked a brow up. "You think she'll last that long on the trail?"
Annoyance and the need to defend Piper drifted to the surface of his awareness like smoke from a smoldering brush fire. "She'll do okay. She's more resilient than she looks. Might have made a good agent if circumstances were different."
His second-in-command looked surprised. "You sound like you admire her."
"We've been through a lot in a short amount of time," he said, shrugging. "Circumstances like that bring out a person's true nature. In her own way, she's a good person. Strong, too."
Trish studied him for a moment, her intelligent, dark eyes sharp with worry. "It's dangerous to care about a suspect."
He pinned her with his own hard gaze. "None of the Roselands are involved. Whoever made contact with the cartel, it's not someone who lives here. Did Neil check out their grounds crew like I asked?"
She nodded. "Nothing."
Frustration settled over him. "I'd just tracked down a possible lead when he landed in jail, otherwise I'd say he was behind this. Doesn't fit his MO, though. More of a whiny, rabbity kind of predator."
"This has the Azevedo family written all over it," Trish observed, her tone dark.
"That's what worries me. Except it doesn't make any sense. Why pay attention to her at all? Unless Señor Azevedo thinks getting Piper out of the way somehow clears the field for his inside man." Alex's mind ran over that possibility for a moment.
"I'll let the team know your thoughts, maybe something will pop."
He nodded. Trish was a good doctor and an even better organizer.
"And Alex," a self-conscious smile played across her mouth, "sorry for questioning your integrity. Like you, my gut tells me the girl's not involved. But it also tells me there's something going on between the two of you. Be careful, okay?"
Her opinion and advice wasn't necessary, but he appreciated the friendship behind it. "Thanks for caring," he said, throwing a smile at her.
"I'll bring Ted up-to-date as soon as I get back to headquarters," she added as she took down two bottles of water from a shelf and tossed them to him. "Your truck should be out front by now and the Ford's already been taken care of. Try to stay in range of the phone, would you?"
He caught one in each hand. "I don't expect trouble, but if we haven't made contact by the third day, have him dispatch a retrieval team."
A distant, drawn-out scream echoed from the other side of the house and a self-satisfied smile spread over Alex's face.
"And send a bottle of Dark Island Reserve ale to Neil from me, would you?" he said, his grin deepening. "I have a feeling he's going to need it."
* * *
She should go and check on Mother, Piper told herself, but she didn't want to. Since it was her car that had been involved, the blame for the damage to the house would probably get laid at her feet. She didn't think she could cope with that at the moment.
She watched two men in olive green space suits lumber their way toward the wreckage of her car while Mother's scream of horror and outrage died away. If someone had told her she'd be standing on her lawn watching a bomb squad go over the tattered ruins of her Mercedes, she'd have told them they were delusional.
She glanced back at Danni. Her sister sat in a folding chair with a blanket around her shoulders, staring into space while she sipped from a bottle with some kind of orange drink in it. She hoped Danni would be all right.
At least she was in good hands, she thought, as a medic ambled over to check on her sister. When she'd asked Doctor Trish about the weird code Alex had used to summon them, the other woman had told her that they all worked for Uncle Theo as part of his private emergency response company.
The news that her godfather had other investments didn't surprise her. She didn't understand why he'd hidden it from them though. Then again, Dad hadn't shared all the nuances of his various businesses. Why should Uncle Theo?
She wondered if Alex was part of the company, too. If he was, why spin a bunch of crazy stories about freelancing as bodyguard and investigator? It didn't make sense.
Unless Uncle Theo thought she'd accuse him of being over protective and refuse to help. She hated to admit it, but she probably would have. The fact that Uncle Theo had lied by omission irritated her, but she understood that he'd meant well.
If Alex worked for Uncle Theo, that also explained all the yelling about the kiss and Alex's reluctance to sleep with her. She wished he hadn't lied, but he'd probably done it under orders. The idea immediately calmed her.
She was tempted to confront him, but she didn't see any reason to. It was enough that she'd figured out the truth.
Turning away from the swarm of people picking through what was left of the Mercedes, she headed back to check on Danni. As she passed the medical van, the doors opened, and Alex stepped down wearing gray sweats and carrying two bottles of water. An unfamiliar warmth brushed across her heart.
She remembered how fearlessly he'd acted when Wesley attacked her, and how calm and resourceful he was after the explosion. But when she told him that she didn't want any commitments, he'd seemed hurt and confused, even though he'd tried to hide it. He was strong and sexy and had looked adorable and embarrassed in the ridiculous fairy costume.
In every moment of their short time together, Alex had challenged and exasperated her, but he'd also made her laugh. She felt undeniably drawn to him in a way that ran deeper than just physical attraction.
With a jolt, she realized that being with him made her...happy.
Piper slammed to a stop as the realization poured over her. Panic seized her by the throat and her moment of peace evaporated.
Oh, no.
She watched him striding toward her and her distress thickened. The wrench of joy that the sight of him sent through her was not happening. She wouldn't let it happen.
She was not coming to care for him. Falling for virtual strangers was only for movies and suckers. She did not do that.
Alex stopped in front of her. "I had a friend bring my truck over. We're stopping at the ranch and then—" A frown pulled down his dark brows. "You okay? You look pale."
This was disastrous. Her nerves were as wrecked as her manicure. That was the only explanation. She would not let herself even imagine that she might be...no, she would not go there.
"Should I have one of the medics look at you?" he asked.
She struggled to focus as her panic deepened. "I can't go to the ranch with you," she said in a rush.
"That's a switch."
"I need to get away," she choked out. "Think things through."
His frown deepened. "I can't let that happen."
"You have to. It's the only way."
Alex clasped her shoulders in a warm, heavy grip. "Piper, someone may have tried to kill you. Until the authorities can determine what happened, we have to disappear."