“Did you hear that?” she asked, all arousal siphoned away.

“I’ve got it. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Time for his game face. He would fight and maim, whatever the hell it took to end up in that motel room alone with her.

A vehicle moved to the far side of the lot and idle. “That’s our guy. Just relax and stay with me.”

“I can’t relax. I don’t know what to do.”

“Yes, you do.”

Her eyes darted toward the night sky, panicked, and her muscles morphed into cement slabs.

“You handled yourself just fine earlier.” He watched their enemy over her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. It’s in you to pull this off. “You were a fighter. Just do what you did before.”

“Tell me what’s going on, Colby.”

“You want a line by line?” Knowledge was control. That made sense. He fingered the tear in the fabric at the top of her shirt, playing his part as a distracted drunk. The shirt was toast very soon.

She nodded. His ears strained to hear an engine cut off.

“Two guys. They see us.”

She tensed again.

“Come on, girl. Relax with me. They can’t know we see them.”

His hands ran down her back, massaging her not-so-imaginary knots. Her tense muscles began to relax, melting all over again.

“There you go. We’re going to walk around the corner soon and disappear from their line of sight after they get out of their car. I need you to play it up. Remember. I’m seducing you. You’re caving. When we round the corner, I’ll have to let you go to take care of this.”

“Don’t get hurt.” She locked eyes with him, complete seriousness clouding her face.

Really? She didn’t mean to lob insults, right? He choked out a harsh laugh and shook his head. “Mia, I’m taking offense to that, so you know. You need to say something like go get ‘em, killer or my, your muscles are big.”

She moved her palms over his arms. “My your muscles are so big.”

Her nervous laughter electrified him, making him want to prove she was protected. Nothing would harm her. Ever.

“Now you’re getting the idea.”

“Just don’t forget you’re not invincible.” Her smile faltered. “Okay?”

What was up with the challenges? Her timing wasn’t spectacular. He’d have to bring that up when a better moment presented itself.

“I’m a lot of things, doll. But worried about getting hurt ain’t one of them. Now, if you don’t mind, feed me macho shit or shut that pretty trap of yours.”

Crazy woman. Worrying about him. Questioning him.

“All right, here we go.” He pushed them from the wall. “Time to convince our audience we’re headed to bed.”

She took a step back, pulling from him, batting at his bicep. He mirrored her dance, tugged on her shirt, and tried to close the distance toward the corner of the motel.

It wasn’t a hard role to play. He wanted in that motel room more than he’d ever wanted a woman in a bed.