Should have stuck with your avoid-Jared-Westin plan.

When she closed her eyes, the shock on his face played over and over again. I’ll bet that man has never been thrown out of a bedroom, certainly not after showing off his moves. His muscles had muscles. His scruff. His chest hair. His hands. She shook her head, but the images kept coming. Jared was… substantial, in every conceivable way.

Her X-rated thoughts were knocked clear across the bathroom by another round of aches in her chest. And she had a substantial thing for him. No one else should touch him, kiss him, or do him. She’d just found out that she didn’t have one jealous bone in her body, but rather, her entire skeletal system simmered with jealousy.

Jared wasn’t a one-girl guy, and she didn’t desire to be that pathetic lady trying to change a man.

“I hate you, Jared Westin,” she said to the empty bathroom. Shut up. Playing pretend all alone was a bad habit. The only time she’d ever felt like this was when she’d almost lost GUNS. Other than her sister, that gun range was the closest thing she had to a significant relationship. It’d been there her whole life. Her dad had lost it in a poker game, the thieving bastard. And her lying mother had never been strong enough, or around enough, to tell him to get his ass in line.

It was a miracle Sugar had rescued GUNS. Really, it was a miracle neither she nor Jenny had morphed into their mother.

So GUNS was her home-life substitute. Her safety and security. After she used Titan to help her exact revenge on Kip, she would go back to her comfort zone.

The bath water had cooled. Sugar got out, dried off for the second time that day, and slipped on designer pajamas. The pink, silky fabric was freshly laundered and smelled like flowers. She made another mental note to thank Nicola.

Her doorbell rang. Hotel rooms have doorbells? Only in Titan land.

Sugar padded to the door and checked the peephole. Nicola. She threw the door open. “Asal!”

The little girl jumped into her arms.

Nicola smiled. “Hey, girl.”

Asal planted a wet kiss on Sugar’s cheek and wrapped her arms around her neck.

“Hey, Nic.” She hugged Asal back. “Hi, you. I missed ya.”

Nicola walked into the foyer. “This little girl’s had a lot to say. Some things about the hellhole you guys pulled her out of, but mostly about you. Think she thinks you’re some kind of angel.”

Sugar laughed. “Hardly.”

“Yup, that’s what I said. She keeps insisting, though. The UN attaché might think you’re a hallucination or an imaginary friend.”

Sugar set her down, then patted her head.

Asal said something to Nicola, who nodded. “Asal’s English is pretty good, considering. But she’s been working on this for you.”

The little girl beamed. “Thank you, Sugar. You saved me.”