“Doesn’t matter.” He had to get her to safety, because the clock was counting down. His hand twitched for his knife.

* * *

Dana stared at the veggie burger in her lap as Wolfe continued driving through the rapidly heating day. Why wouldn’t he tell her more? She’d learned a long time ago that one way to get answers was to start guessing and see if she was close. “You do know that nothing is going to happen to you, right? You are not going to die in some final battle.”

“We’ll see.” He lifted a massive shoulder. “Maybe not, and I’m certainly going to try to remain breathing, but it’s nice to be prepared.” His voice was calm and reasonable—even thoughtful.

So the person on the phone had been Rock. “Why won’t you let me help against this Rock person?” Her temper detonated. Sometimes she wanted to smack him on his hard head and just see if she could knock some sense into him. “You absolutely drive me crazy sometimes. You want to live, right? I mean, you see you have people and things and life to live for?”

He pursed his lips, taking a right turn. “Lately, yeah. At first, after I was blown up, I didn’t care if I lived or died. Then I found out about my teammate betraying us, and I wanted to live long enough to rip off his head. Now, I don’t know. It’d be nice to live.”

Nice to live? “That’s all?” Her voice rose.

“I don’t want to get your hopes up,” he said reasonably.

Yep. She might just smack him in the head for the fun of it. “At least tell me that your obvious plan of mutual destruction and personal sacrifice with this asshat has changed since you’ve made connections with the team and, well, me.” Yeah, she was beating her own head against a brick wall here, but the guy had gotten under her skin, and it wasn’t just because of multiple orgasms. There was a lot more to Clarence Wolfe than muscle, and she wanted to know more of him. Wanted him to know more of her. That was enough for now.

He pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant with a stone facade and bright lights. “My plan has changed, and now I do care if I live or die.”

Well, that was something. But apparently Wolfe wasn’t done.

“I like you, and if I’m able to kill Rock, then I’d like to ask you out.”

Ask her out? Somehow, it felt like they’d moved past that moment, but his honesty was sweet. “I don’t believe in waiting for life to happen—I’m more of a make-it-happen type of gal.” She cocked her head, studying him in the too warm morning.