"I have the same assassin training as you," she pointed out.

"Is this national See How High Max Harrison's Blood Pressure Will Go day?" He slammed a wadded T-shirt into his duffel bag and turned back to his dresser. It helped him avoid the sight of Bella lounging on his bed. "If the Oracle gets inside your head again, do you think you'll be able to take care of it on your own?"

He jumped at the touch of her warm hands on his shoulders, unexpected, as he hadn't heard her leave the bed. "Stop worrying about something you cannot anticipate or change." He didn't want to take comfort in her touch, but the sick, needy child in him forced his hand up to cover one of hers. "You're really going to exploit that whole I-can't-say-no-to-you thing, aren't you?"

Gently, she turned him to face her. Instead of answering, she rose on tiptoe and brushed her lips across the corner of his mouth.

"Don't." He pulled her hands away and forced them down. She smiled, her practiced, seductive smile. "I thought you said you could not tell me no."

"I can on this." He swallowed to wet his suddenly dry throat, and turned away. "I can when it's for my own good." When she moved, his suffering body felt the distance. He heard her flop down on his bed and sigh. "So, you will follow me to Boston and put yourself in danger, but you will not touch me?"

"Nothing personal. I just can't separate my emotions from my dick where you're concerned." He ducked the pillow she hurled at him.

"Do not be crude!" Her outrage couldn't cover her laughter, but even that had to fade, leaving nothing but uncomfortable silence. "Do you love me?"

Max grabbed a few more shirts and another pair of jeans and returned to the bed to cram them into his bag. He couldn't look at her, and waited as long as possible to respond. "I don't know. Maybe?"

"I told you that you did." Was that smug satisfaction in her voice?

"I said, maybe." He sounded a bit more gruff than he'd intended, and it helped rebuild a little of the wall he'd let crumble where she was concerned. "So, what's the plan?"

"We will have to take your car." She shrugged. "As for everything else, I have no plan."

Max zipped his bag shut forcefully. "Let's go to Marcus's library and go online. We'll find directions and get driving."

"At night only." She raised her hands helplessly at his sharp glance. "I do not know how to drive. My people… we do not use cars."