James only gave me a small smile and I realized his arms were wrapped around my waist. I watched him for a moment, wondering what those perfect full lips would feel like if I pressed mine against them, which was totally ridiculous in a situation like this, but I couldn’t help it.

“Arianna!” Brent’s shout pierced the air as I was only inches away from kissing James, and I jerked back, extracting myself out of his embrace. James blinked at me, as if he couldn’t understand what we’d just been doing. Yeah, neither could I.

Brent rushed inside, and he pulled me into a hug as soon as he saw me. “Oh, thank God you’re okay. I was worried something happened to you.”

“I’m fine.” His embrace didn’t feel anything like James’ had. Actually, I wasn’t feeling anything at all, and I wished Brent would let go of me already.

When he finally did, disappointment flashed across his face when he saw James was with me. I supposed he’d been hoping James had gotten shot. I eyed Brent for a moment as I holstered my gun, wondering if maybe that bullet that had nearly hit me had in fact been aimed at James, but then whoever had fired it was a lousy shot, so maybe that wasn’t it. I realized I could no longer hear any gunshots.

“Are the Desaltis’ men still out there? It’s them, right?” I looked at Brent.

“Yeah, it was them, but we defeated them. Most are dead and some ran away.”

“Was Romeo with them too?” I doubted their leader would come here.

“No. I didn’t see him. They were here for the drug, but we didn’t let them take it.”

“Are all of them dead or is there someone who we could interrogate?” I really wanted to know how the Desaltis had found us.

“I don’t know. Our guys are checking the bodies now.” He winced and I realized his shoulder was bleeding.

“We need to call for help.” I reached into my pocket for my phone.

“If the Desaltis come back with reinforcements...”

“We need to take care of the injured and the dead.” I started for the door, and James and Brent followed me. As I texted Meg to send our medic team and more men immediately, I glanced at Brent. “The Desaltis just suffered a great loss. There were a lot of them here, and I don’t think they’ll be able to gather a new group to attack us. Besides, they can’t know if we’ll remain here or for how long.”

“You’re right, but whoever’s coming to help us should hurry. One or two of our cars have been severely damaged, and the others have at least one or two bullet holes. We can’t go back to the city like that.”