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“Fine. Forty-eight hours,” I said. “But not a second longer. I’ll be bugging the shit out of Ollie until I hear something.”

“Fair enough,” he said, and patted the seat behind him. “Let’s get you back to work.”

Staring at the bike again, my fear returned. I’d never even sat on a motorcycle, much less ridden on one. Maybe it would be easier to just take the bus or something.

“Cameron? Get on the damn bike,” Nate said wryly.

“What if I just had you follow me in a cab or—hey, what are you doing? Let go of me!”

Moving as swiftly as a dancer, he got off his bike and scooped me up, setting me on the back in one smooth motion.

His movements, so precise and graceful, stunned me.

He’d lifted me like I weighed nothing. It sent a confused little thrill through my stomach—a much more pleasant sensation from the nausea I’d been experiencing.

As he swung his leg over the bike and revved the engine, I quickly put on the helmet. He pulled away slowly, and I searched for something to hold on to before he got up to speed.

“What do I hold? How do I stay safe on this thing?!” I shouted.

He reached back and grabbed my hand, then pulled it around his waist.

I wrapped my other arm around him and pressed against his back, feeling more secure but still terrified.

Once we were out of the hospital parking lot, Nate gunned the engine.

The bike rocketed down the highway, and I screamed.

I tightened my grip on Nate and squeezed my eyes shut as the wind cascaded around me like the raging waters of a river.

Nate’s body shuddered beneath my arms in what could only be a chuckle.

The buzz of the engine grew louder, and I felt us going even faster.

I wanted to keep my eyes shut, but my innate curiosity finally got the best of me, and I opened them.

My scream of terror turned into a laugh of delight.

My fear slowly ebbed away as I realized how expertly Nate handled the bike.

He bobbed and weaved through traffic in a way that should have been crazy, but nothing had ever felt as liberating. I imagined this was what birds felt like when they flew across the sky, untethered and free.

The CN Tower stood out in the distance, a sharp needle in the Toronto skyline.

Nate cruised along the Humber River, and the smell of the water reminded me of a stream that had run through Zamora when I’d been a child.

Begrudgingly, I had to admit, this was the most fun I’d had in a really long time.

Resting my head against Nate’s back, I watched the world race past. His body heat seeped into my chest and stomach, staving off the chill of the wind.

All too soon, the buildings grew closer, rising up and becoming more familiar. Eventually, he slowed and pulled into a parking spot half a block from my office. My breathing was heavy and rapid, as though I’d just run a race… or had the best sex of my life.

My cheeks heated. Part of me wondered if I should tell Nate I’d broken up with Rick. I quickly shook that thought away, a little intimidated by where it might lead.

Taking off the helmet, I handed it over to Nate. “Uh, thanks for the ride. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

He gave that smirk again, the one that made it seem like he knew more than he should. “Yeah. I could tell. Come on, I’ll walk you inside.”

“No, I’m good. It’s right over there,” I said, pointing to the front door a few hundred feet down the sidewalk.

“I don’t mind walking you in.”

“You think I’m going to get attacked? Is that what this is?” I asked incredulously, waving my hand around. “It’s broad daylight, and there are people all around. I think I’ll be fine. I can see the building, for God’s sake.”

“Still better if I walked you in,” he said, sounding somehow both bored and assertive.

It had been a little over two hours since I’d broken up with Rick.

No one knew yet. I didn’t need my coworkers to start questioning whether I was banging some guy on the side.

Rick visited me regularly at the office, and everyone knew him.

Now that I thought about it, he’d come around a lot.

Of course, my relationship status was none of their damn business, but I preferred to keep my personal and professional life separate.

I sighed, wondering how to say the next part without sounding like a weirdo.

“Okay, look, you and Ollie made quite a stir when you showed up at the office earlier. I don’t want them all to get the wrong idea if the big, hunky biker dude comes walking in with me.

Most of my coworkers know my boyfriend.”

I cringed inwardly. God, I’d basically just said Nate was some playboy who made a habit of stealing women from their boyfriends. It made me sound conceited and uppity. I hated it.

“What do you mean?” Nate asked, and if I weren’t mistaken, there was a mischievous glint in his eye. “Are you saying I’m—what was the word you used?— hunky ?”

Shit. “It would look weird, that’s all. You know what I mean?”

Nate sighed, shaking his head, and gave me what I thought was a mock-confused look. “I really don’t. You’ll need to elaborate.”

“Ugh.” I groaned, throwing my head back to look at the sky. “You’re really good-looking, okay? I don’t need everyone in the office to think I’m fooling around with someone else.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who said we were fooling around?”

I scoffed. “Okay, see, now I know you’re being a dick on purpose.”

“Such a dirty mouth on you,” Nate said. He looked me up and down, and I got the distinct feeling he was wondering what other dirty things I could do.

The thought was like a slap in my face, and I got off the bike so fast that I nearly tripped on the curb. He caught my arm, his fingers sliding against my bicep, sending another warm jolt through me.

“I need to get going,” I said.

“Right. You’ve got work to do.”

The flirty gleam in his eye and playful tone had vanished, almost as though he’d realized what he was doing and decided to pull it back.

Why did I feel a little disappointed? Did I want him to keep flirting with me?

That was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard in my life, yet the thought wouldn’t wholly vanish, no matter how hard I tried to shove it aside.

Nate pulled his helmet off the back of the bike before pointing toward my office. “You better hurry. Bossman might get mad. Oh, sorry, or boss lady . I don’t want to sound like a chauvinist,” he said, resting his helmet on his lap.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said.

“No problem.”

For a few seconds, when we were looking at each other, an unnatural force seemed to want to shove us together. As though there were hands on my back urging me to hug him or kiss him goodbye. The thought sent a warm shiver between my legs.

“’Kay, bye,” I blurted and spun on my heel, hurrying away before the psychotic part of my brain took over and forced me to do something I most definitely did not want to do.

As I strode down the sidewalk, I could sense Nate’s eyes on my back. Heat tickled down my spine. The street was nearly empty, so his view of me wasn’t blocked. I suppressed a shudder, and I couldn’t tell if it was one of horror or delight.

That confusion alone put me into a bad mood as I crossed the street. My bad mood increased when my nausea and headache returned with a vengeance. The medicine had only lasted for the duration of the bike ride.

With a massive struggle of willpower, I forced myself not to look back at Nate.

Even without looking at him, I was still thinking about him, and a weird, oily sense of guilt oozed across my mind.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I’d been having some fairly inappropriate thoughts.

Was it okay to have those sorts of thoughts so soon after breaking up with someone?

I pictured Rick’s face, and the shame slammed into me. It shouldn’t have struck me so hard, but it did.

As those thoughts bounced around in my head, my phone rang.

Rick’s name flashed across the screen. Great.

More guilt. I contemplated ignoring him, but I couldn’t completely ghost him.

He’d want to talk things out, maybe apologize and try to win me back.

Did I even want that? Not really, but if I didn’t answer, he’d just keep on calling until I went crazy.

“Rick, this isn’t a good time,” I said as I answered.

“Cam!” He was nearly shouting into the phone, his voice verging on panic. “Please don’t hang up.”

“I’m sorry, Rick, but I told you earlier, this is over. We’re too different. I don’t really think there’s anything more to talk about. You made it very clear how your family views me.”

“No, no, no, that’s not true. Please. I was a dumbass, I swear. An idiot. I don’t care what they think. Hell, you can wear torn jeans and shave your head for the gala for all I care. Seriously, Cameron. Give me another chance.”

The office doors were just ahead, beyond the alleyway that separated The Chronicle building from an apartment complex. I wanted to be off the phone by the time I got to the door. He needed to understand this was final.

“Rick, you’re a great guy, but this is never going to work. It probably never would have worked. We?—”

The shout of surprise burst from my lips before I realized what was happening.

Something had grabbed me around my middle and was dragging me into the alleyway.

I tumbled sideways and fell, smacking my head on the pavement.

Stars burst across my vision, and a groggy sleepiness swarmed my head, making it hard to focus.

Somehow, I was still holding my phone. Rick’s voice was shouting from the speaker as I skidded across the ground.

“Cam? Cameron, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t answer; I could barely understand what was going on, much less articulate it.

The phone finally fell from my hand when a heavy weight crashed onto me.

Hot, fetid breath washed over my face, and a sense of déjà vu slammed into me.

I recalled the attack in the garage last week, but this time I was too dazed to fight back.

The body on top of me disappeared almost as soon as it appeared, and the sound of something hitting the wall echoed through the alley.

The earth spun as I rolled over. Nate stood above me, lips peeled back in a grimace.

He stared across the alley at the man who’d attacked me.

It was the man in the photo Ollie had shown me earlier.

The same man who had attacked me in the parking garage.

Somehow, he looked even dirtier and scragglier than he had the night he’d jumped me and Lesley.

Once I’d regained my equilibrium, I crawled behind Nate, pressing my back into the building behind me.

Nate took a step toward the man, and I couldn’t be sure, but it almost sounded like he was growling at him.

Like a deep, rumbling, dog-like growl. I’d never heard a man make such a sound, and even in my dazed state, I was impressed by its volume and intimidating resonance.

“Fucker,” the guy hissed. He sounded more animal than human as he growled back at Nate. An actual growl, like he was a dog or something.

An instant later, he lunged at Nate. I opened my mouth to shout, to warn Nate, but he needed no help from me.

He slid aside with the speed of an athlete, dodging the attacker, then slammed his fist into the man’s jaw.

Blood burst from the man’s mouth, but he wasn’t fazed.

He whirled and leaped onto Nate, grabbing his jacket and dragging him to the ground.

Nate brought his elbows down on the man’s wrists, breaking the hold.

He rolled aside, then kicked the attacker in the side.

As my vision cleared, I was shocked at Nate’s speed and agility.

It was almost otherworldly. The same could be said about the attacker.

They both let out strange animalistic noises as they fought.

Snarls, growls, and angry rumbling sounds deep in their throats.

Nate evaded another attack, diving under the man’s outstretched hands. Grabbing the guy around the middle, Nate ran him into the wall of the building. He grunted as he hit the unyielding brick and hammered his fists onto Nate’s back.

Nate cursed and tossed the man over his shoulder like a rag doll.

My God, how strong was Nate? In a display that would have looked like CGI from a movie had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, the attacker managed to flip and right himself in midair, landing on his feet.

For a moment, it felt like I was watching a scene from some sort of sci-fi movie.

Nate moved so fast, his roundhouse kick to the guy’s chest was little more than a blur.

The man tumbled out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk.

He rolled to a stop in the street, and a taxi had to slam on its brakes to keep from hitting him.

Several pedestrians screamed in surprise.

When he stood, and they saw the madness evident in his eyes, the screams became more frantic.

A man called out for the police. The guy looked around at the gathering crowd, then back into the alley, his eyes locking on mine.

He peeled his lips back and snarled, then sprinted away down the street.

Safe, I sagged against the wall, and Nate turned to me. “Are you okay?” He knelt and took me in his arms.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled.

“All right,” Nate said. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

On the pavement, Rick’s voice was still calling out from the tiny speaker. “Cameron? Who the hell is that? Who’s with you?”