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bed. More windows, all shuttered. A skylight over the bed, ditto. A wall of closets. He opened and checked them all. Clothes. He could only hope some would fit.

Another bank of security monitors.

And a tiled bathroom, complete with a big glass shower stall.

The thought of a hot shower almost made him groan.

The thought of sleeping in that bed made him smile.

The thought of Alessandra in that shower and then in that bed with him almost dropped him to his knees, and what in hell was he doing, thinking of something like that when all his attention should be on his surroundings?

Anyway, that wasn’t going to happen.

They’d kissed a few times. Touched.

Crap. Who was he kidding? They’d been within a breath of having sex last night, and only the last-minute realization of what a mistake that would have been had stopped him.

It hadn’t stopped him wanting her.

He burned with wanting her.

Yeah, but you didn’t fuck around on a mission, no pun intended.

Plus, she wasn’t a woman who was into one-night stands, and that was the only thing this could ever be.

The real world was a helicopter ride away and then all this would be nothing more than a memory.

Okay. The house was secured. Time to go and get Alessandra.

Tanner retraced his steps, started down the hall towards the front door…

And saw the door slowly opening.

Shit!

He flattened himself against the wall. Raised the MP7, slid his finger alongside the trigger guard…

“Tanner?”

Alessandra stood in the doorway, the heavy pack at her feet, the SIG-SAUER clutched in both hands and extended before her. It was perfect shooting posture, except he didn’t want her ready to shoot. He wanted her safely hidden where he’d left her.

“Goddammit, Alessandra!”

“Tanner.” Her voice shook; she let the pistol slip down, one-handed, and dangle against her thigh. “I thought—I thought you were—”

“What in hell are you doing?” He was on her in a second, grabbing the pistol, securing it in his holster, his MP7 once again riding upright against his chest. “How’d you get in here?”

“I heard you say the security co—”

“I could have fucking killed you. Jesus, I almost pulled the trigger!”

“You were gone so long. I thought something had happened to you.”

“Really? You thought something had happened to me?”

He knew he was shouting. So what? He was grateful he was able to speak at all.

“Yes. I thought—”