His grip curled around her arm and he gently, but insistently, pulled her against him. “You’re too on their radar and we’re going to get you off.” He kissed her, fast and hard. “End of story.” He released her. “Now get in the truck.”

She glowered at him, furious. She didn’t like being ordered around. She didn’t like him playing protector when she knew he was one of them, able and willing to slice her throat if he gave her reason. He’d all but said so in the truck earlier. And she was going to give him reason to do it when he discovered her identity. Time was everything for all kinds of reasons. What would he do if she headed back to the building besides follow?

“Don’t do it,” he said softly, telling her he’d read her mind. “You won’t like how I respond.”

Kara studied him, considering the threat, her breathing labored when it should be controlled, her anger barely contained. She wasn’t afraid of him. No. That wasn’t true. She was afraid of him, and how irrational he made her act. And she was afraid of dying before she did what she’d come here to do. “I don’t need a bodyguard, and that’s not what you were hired to be. Mendez hired you to solve the theft problem.”

“Says the woman who had a gun pointed at her head tonight and needed a bodyguard.”

Her fingers curled by her sides. “I was trying to find you. I was afraid something had happened to you.” Her stomach knotted all over again with that confession. One minute she was thinking he was a killer, and the next trying to protect him. She was conflicted, screwed up beyond reason, over this man.

He arched a brow. “Were you now?”

“Yes. You were gone too long.” She grimaced and played the same cards he had in the truck. “Nothing can happen to you. I might need you.”

“You might need me?”

His eyes heated and damn it, so did her skin. “To get this theft issue under control.”

“So you thought I needed a bodyguard?” His eyes twinkled with mischief. He was way too amused by the direction of this conversation.

Kara grimaced. She wasn’t winning the battle to go back inside so she’d pick one she had a shot at. “That’s it. This conversation is over. Let’s go back to my place and see who can cuff who first. As angry you’re making me, I’m betting I get the upper hand.” She turned and headed to the truck.