Kara trembled as she walked into the room and all the way to the ceiling-to-floor windows, aware of the bed to her right like she’d never been aware of a bed in her life. Feeling like a deer being stalked by a leopard, her chest was tight with a rush of adrenaline and emotion—fear, she realized. She didn’t often feel fear. Not until recently. Not until she’d realized how close she was to losing the only thing she had left in this world. But it wasn’t Blake that scared her tonight when it should be. It was how much she wanted him, how much she wanted him to be something other than she knew him to be. And it was that kind of thinking that tangled women up with men like him and got them killed.

The sound of the door closing behind her set her heart racing and she turned to find Blake flipping the lock. They were alone. She was locked in here with him. In Denver, she’d thought she’d never see him again when she’d decided to sleep with him. Everything had changed now.

He dropped his bag, and her briefcase, on the floor by the door, but held onto her purse. He paused by the bed to his right and unzipped it. “You do know a girl’s purse is sacred.”

“So are the next few hours of my life. I don’t intend to spend them hunched over a toilet from one of your cocktails.” He dumped the contents of her bag on the bed and Kara held her breath, waiting for what he would reveal. Her Glock .22 bounced onto the bed.

He arched a brow. “Anger issues?”

“I won’t apologize for carrying protection.”

He dug through the rest of the items in her purse and stuffed it all back inside. “I won’t ask you to apologize for the gun,” he finally surprised her by saying, and stuck the Glock back in her purse. “In fact, I’d be disappointed if you were foolish enough not to protect yourself, considering who you work for. That doesn’t mean I want to make it easy for you to use it on me.” He back-stepped to his bag and squatted down, punching in a combination on a lock connected to the zipper and then opened it. He snatched up her slim briefcase and didn’t bother to look through it before placing it inside his duffle along with her purse.

“If you want me to go over the restaurant operation, I need that,” she commented.

“I don’t. Not tonight. We have other things to deal with first.”