She headed for the door and Blake was eager to follow, his blood pumping at the promise of the nice long chat the two of them were going to have, where clothing was most definitely optional. In fact, clothing wasn’t optional at all. He was going to strip her naked so she had no place to hide another dose of whatever she’d drugged him with last week.

It was a satisfying thought until he turned to find Mendez looking like a cat who just ate a canary. Mendez could see Blake’s interest in Kara, and he would use her against him if given the chance. And any time someone became a tool in a weapons chest, their life was on the line. No one was going to end up dead because of Blake—no one he wasn’t damn certain deserved to be dead.

“Nice piece of ass,” Blake said, making sure he was as crass as possible. This was about making Kara a body, not a person. “Sure you want her alone in a hotel room with me?”

“I’m no one’s guardian angel,” Mendez replied dryly, and the message was clear. She was part of his payment. Blake wondered how many men she’d pleased to satisfy her boss and disgust burned in his belly.

His teeth clenched. “If she loses her usefulness, I’m giving her back.”

“I’d like to think you’ll solve my problem before that happens.”

“I’ll need more than a night to solve your problem. I’m not promising I’ll need more than that with her.”

But that was a lie. He’d had a night with her and still he needed another. No matter how much Blake told himself that Kara, like everyone else the past two years, was simply a tool to get what he wanted, blood in exchange for blood, there was something about her messing with his head. Something that had taken hold of him and wouldn’t let go. And that made her a distraction he couldn’t afford, dangerous beyond a loaded gun with her finger on the trigger.

He had to get focused, put her in perspective as what she was…an enemy who could get him dead before he’d gotten the payback he was after.

Chapter Three

CHAPTER

THREE