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“Dharwani’s men are probably swarming all over there by now. My place then,” the guy answered.

“Lead the way.”

He snorted. “You first. Head for that building over there.” He lifted his chin, indicating where to go.

So much for making a break for it. At least he sounded American. They were marginally playing for the same team, then.

He looked American. Back in the States, she would say he looked like a California surfer with that deep tan of his. If she was lucky, he had the always-be-nice-to-girls mentality of an American, too.

Scowling, she picked up her rifle and slung its strap over her shoulder. Following his directions, she clambered across a combination dump and graveyard behind an apartment building. Such was the breakdown of humanity in this place that the dead hardly got civilized burials. She’d only been here a few days and the place was so depressing she was started to be affected by it, herself.

Her captor directed her down several blocks’ worth of back alleys and narrow side streets to an innocuous two-story, thick walled, mud building.

“Stop here,” he ordered as she approached a door leading into the building from the alley.

This was his hideout, huh? Not bad. It was close to the action but sitting in the no-man’s land between warring factions.

He reached around her with his left hand to insert a key in the door’s modern, double-action deadbolt lock. He kept his right hand on the trigger of his rifle and his eyes on her the whole time, though, giving her no opening. Cautious SOB.

Of course, if their positions had been reversed, she would’ve been no less cautious. She peered into the black maw beyond the door and couldn’t make out a thing.

“Up the stairs,” he bit out.

She was getting good and sick of that drill sergeant tone of voice of his, but he had a big damned gun pointed at her. She heard him locking the outside door behind them and accelerated, racing up the concrete stairs, forcing him to sprint up the stairs behind her.

A small landing at the top held only another locked door. She stopped just short of it. He joined her, breathing easily—show off—and she said dryly, “I assume you’ll go first so I don’t set off your booby traps?”

He took hold of her right arm above her elbow. She jerked it away, but he was ready and maintained his grip. He snapped, “Chill out. If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead.”

“I could say the same for you,” she retorted. “I had the shot first.” Not by much, but by enough. She’d just swung her rifle toward the odd movement on a nearby roof, just zoomed in her telescopic sight, just frozen in shock at the sight of another sniper when he’d swung his weapon her way and stared back at her. It was the nastiest surprise she’d had in a very long time.

He shoved her through the door and swung her around, pushing her up against the wall in one hard, fast move. He leaned in close and snarled, “I don’t appreciate having sniper rigs pointed at me a whole hell of a lot, lady.”

She glared back at him as he loomed over her. “And I don’t appreciate being chased all over a damned war zone. You forced me to expose myself a hell of a lot more than I wanted to.”

“You ran away.”

“You chased me.”

“What’s your name?” he demanded. “Who do you work for?” His hazel eyes blazed like arc welding torches, so hot they incinerated her from the inside out.

“Who says I work for anybody?” she purred.

“Don’t bullshit me.”

“Who doyouwork for?” she retorted.

“Can’t you guess?” he growled, stepping even closer to her.

“In this town, you could be working for anyone. You’re just a hired gun,” she accused. A big, hot, sexy hired gun.

His voice dropped in pitch and timbre, sliding across her skin like velvet sandpaper. “Is that what you are?”

She stared up at him, and he stared back at her. It became a silent contest of wills, and the tension stretched tighter and tighter between them.

All at once, it broke.

He surged forward, plastering his mouth against hers as she all but assaulted him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and a lustful leg around his hips. His hands grabbed her ass and lifted her against him. He slammed her back against the wall, and she moaned greedily.