It had taken them an hour to outsmart whoever was following them. Finally, Kara entered the elevator of the hotel they’d rented a room in earlier in the day. Blake followed her inside. Kara leaned against the wall, taking off her shoes, while Blake punched in their floor and leaned against the opposite wall. Their eyes locked and held, and suddenly, the elevator shrank, and the kiss in the car, the unspoken words and mixed emotions between them that they’d let simmer while running from the cartel, flamed back to life. But neither of them spoke, and she wondered if he was as afraid as she was that they’d end up fighting over the next step in the investigation. And they would. They both knew they would. Before that happened, she wanted to make sure he knew she regretted her reactions tonight.

The elevator dinged and they made their way to their room, and still they didn’t speak. Blake swiped the key and pushed open the door and Kara bit her bottom lip, hesitating with the sudden realization that Kyle was probably still here. They weren’t going to be alone at all, and a fight was definitely about to ensue. She glanced at Blake and he nodded. “Yes. He’s still here.”

She inhaled and let it out. Blake arched a brow when she still didn’t move. “Afraid to face the music?” he asked.

“That about sums it up.”

“Once it’s over, it’s over,” he reminded her.

“Right,” Kara said. “And getting it over with sounds good.” She headed into the room and dropped her shoes by the door. A few more steps inside and she just about swallowed her tongue at the sight of Royce sitting at the hotel desk, his big, burly body making it look like it was meant for a toddler. Luke lounged at a small round wooden table, his MacBook open on top. This was so not good. She needed to be her best to fight this much Walker-bred testosterone, and she wasn’t.

Kara stopped beside the nightstand, not sure what to say or do. Blake stepped to her side, shrugged out of his jacket, and tossed it on the bed. “Where’s Kyle?” he asked.

“Next door,” Royce said, abandoning a surveillance setup Kara assumed to be of the hotel, and rolled his chair around to face her, motioning to the open adjoining room.

Luke snorted. “He prefers privacy while heaving up his guts.”

Kara cringed. “I guess he’s pretty sick?”

Luke surprised her by looking amused rather than angry. “Let’s just say that he won’t live this down anytime soon, but he’ll live.”

“Interestingly enough,” Royce said, fixing a hard stare on Blake, “so did Alvarez.”