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J ake ignored the insistent knocking and pressed another kiss to Livvy’s mouth. She tightened her grip on him, wrapping one leg around him. He groaned and began to slide down her body. The knocking stopped. Instead, the phone began to ring.

Livvy struggled to slide up and rest against the bed’s headboard, drawing Jake with her. “Someone wants to get hold of us pretty badly,” she said, calling out, “Who is it?”

Jake stared at her. “You sure you want to find out?”

Livvy sighed. “We have to. Whoever’s out there isn’t going away.”

Jake glared at his phone, then blew out a breath. “Oh, God,” he said. “It’s room service.” He called out, “Be right there.”

He swiped a kiss down her chest, moving from between her breasts to her belly. She sucked in a sharp breath, and Jake was pretty sure she moaned. He stared at her, torn. He knew the room service person wasn’t going away, but he didn’t want to leave Livvy.

She gave him a tiny shove. “Go get the food, Jake.” Her gaze traveled down his naked body and she traced a finger from his neck to his groin. “Might want to put on a robe first, though.”

Giving Livvy one last kiss, he slid off the bed and grabbed a bathrobe from the closet at the end of the bed. Slid it on, then grabbed his wallet. Opened the door and shoved the money at the woman’s face. “Thank you,” he said, tugging the cart into the room and then closing the door. Locking it.

He left the cart near the table, tore off his robe and crawled across the bed toward Livvy.

She’d pulled the sheet over her breasts when room service had knocked, and now she slid over in the bed until she was almost at the edge. Jake stopped and stared at her. “You don’t want to pick up where we left off?” he asked.

“You want the food to get cold?” she said.

“There’s only one thing I’m hungry for, and it’s not salmon.”

Livvy smiled, but Jake could see that it was forced. “Remember keeping up our strength?” she said. “Putting more gas in our tanks?”

“I don’t think I need any more gas,” he said, picking up her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. “I don’t mind eating cold food.”

Livvy didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Let’s have dinner, Jake. Since it’s here. We can pick up where we left off afterward.” But her gaze slid away from his. And she’d edged closer to the opposite side of the bed.

“Okay,” Jake said slowly. “You want to eat in bed? Or you want to sit at that table?”

“The table, I think,” she said, holding the sheet over her breasts.

Jake studied her for a long moment, then nodded. Turned and reached into the closet and tossed her the other robe. She slid into it quickly. Pulled the tie tight around her waist, so that the robe flared out at the bottom.

“For a moment there, I thought it might be Roman Peters,” Jake said. “Updating us on Sergei and Elena’s situation.”

“Yeah, he would’ve called if he had new information,” she said. “But I’m sure he’s focusing on getting them settled in somewhere.”

Jake shrugged one shoulder. “Good. Plenty of time for him to update us on how they’re doing. But I don’t want Sergei asking questions about our relationship.”

Livvy felt herself go pale at the description of what she and Jake had as a relationship. “Yeah,” she said, avoiding looking at Jake. She wasn’t ready to describe it as anything but sex. Hot sex? Absolutely. The best sex of her life? She swallowed. Labeling it as ‘the best’ made her feel… trapped. In a box, with no way out. She settled on, “I wouldn’t, either.”

She didn’t look at Jake, and finally he sighed. “I’m guessing sexy times are over,” he said as he slid off the bed and yanked on his pants. “You want to watch TV? Read? Just eat our food and go to sleep? Any preferences?”

“Maybe we should just eat our dinners and go back to Washington,” she said, afraid of what would happen if they spent the rest of the night in this hotel room. They’d be all over each other as soon as this… this uncomfortable, awkward moment had passed.

If she was honest with herself, this was exactly what she’d wanted for a long time. But opening herself to Jake made her feel exposed. Unnerved.

Jake jerked his head toward the window. “It’s getting dark already,” he said. “I’d rather drive during the day. Gives us a chance to make sure no one’s following us.”

“How could anyone follow us?” Livvy asked, afraid of what would happen if they spent another night in this hotel room. She and Jake had connected too… deeply. The sex they’d had? It was the best she’d ever experienced. She’d somehow known it would be, which was why she’d run to Montana when she realized where things were going with Jake. If it happened again, how would she keep her barriers up?

“They don’t know where we’re staying or what car we’re driving,” she said, grasping at straws. “We could slip out after dark and no one would know.”

Jake shook his head slowly. “My guess? They’re watching all the hotels in this area. They know we walked to that meeting, because the shooter followed us on foot into that alley. If they plant a guy in every hotel within walking distance, which wouldn’t be impossible, they’ll see us checking out. Figure out which is our car. And we’d have a fatal accident on the way home.”

“Then how will we ever get out of Brooklyn?” Livvy asked, panic a tight hand squeezing her throat.

Jake swiveled to study her. Livvy wanted to grab her clothes and slide into them, but instead she tightened the robe around her body.

“This really freaked you out, didn’t it?” he finally said.

“I’m not freaked out,” Livvy said, too forcefully. Because of course she was freaked out. The best sex of her life? What was she supposed to do with that? Get down on one knee and ask Jake to marry her?

She swallowed the lump of panic in her throat as Jake smiled at her. “Of course you are, Livvy. You have to know I can read you by now. I know exactly what’s going through your head.”

“And what would that be, Mr. Mind Reader?”

Jake leaned closer, and Livvy wanted to move away. But she forced herself to stay where she was. Jake’s breath feathered over her skin, and she couldn’t prevent the ripple of need that shivered through her.

He smiled, as if he knew exactly what she was feeling. “You’re terrified by what happened between us,” he said. “You want to pack your stuff, run out of this room and go directly to the airport. Fly back to Helena tonight. And never, ever, see me again.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she managed to say, even though he was right on the money. “I already have tickets from D.C. back to Helena.”

Jake laughed. “Wow, Williams. You’re really scrambling for a reason to get out of this hotel room.” He edged a little closer, and Livvy swore she felt sparks ping against her skin. She tugged the robe a little closer around her body.

After a long moment, Jake sighed and stood up. He’d put on his pants, but not his shirt. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him.

Jake picked up her clothes from the floor and tossed them onto the bed. Kept his back to her while he pulled on his shirt. Finally he sat down on the couch. He reached for the small cart with the two trays. Put them on the small table they’d used for breakfast, then took the cover off both meals and set the plastic domes on the cart.

Jake ate his meal, then, without looking at her, said, “I’m beat. I’m going to bed.”

Livvy’s heart shrank in her chest as she saw the hurt on Jake’s face. The disappointment. The pain.

Why was she acting this way? She wanted him as much or more as he wanted her. And the sex they’d shared had been… mind-blowing. She’d never even imagined that two people could connect the way she and Jake had done.

She was acting this way because she was terrified. It wouldn’t take much for her to go from really liking Jake to falling in love with him. And falling in love was something she’d promised herself she would never do. She’d seen her mother fall in love with a different man every couple of months. It never lasted, and then her mom had been devastated. Completely heartbroken. She’d hide in her bedroom for a month or two, then go out and find another man. A man she was also madly in love with. For a week or a month of even a handful of months.

Then the whole cycle started over again. After growing up with the ugly reality of her mother’s life, Livvy had sworn she would never be like her mom. Never make a man the center of her life, the only important thing she had.

Jake edged onto the bed, careful not to touch her or get close to her. “Talk to me, Livvy,” he said. “Tell me what happened. What went wrong for you? Because I swear you were into me as much as I was into you. Why did that change?”

Livvy swallowed the saliva that had pooled in her mouth. “Nothing happened,” she said. “I just… just need to get back to Montana. Mel probably has an assignment waiting for me.”

Jake frowned. “Did she email you that you have an assignment waiting?”

“No, she wouldn’t do that,” Livvy said. “She wouldn’t want to distract me from our job.”

“Then why do you think a job’s there waiting for you?” He tilted his head to watch her. “I thought all the Blackhawk Security operatives got ten days off between jobs.” He smiled. “I know that because a number of them have spent their ten days off with the man or woman they’d met on the job.”

“Is that what you were expecting?” Livvy demanded. “That I’d hang around D.C. with you for my ten days?”

Jake held her gaze and slowly shook his head. “I have no expectations where you’re concerned, Livvy,” he said. “I had hopes, but those were mine. Nothing that I’m expecting of you.” He smiled, and the sadness on his face made Livvy want to cry. “I thought we had this evening and this night, but clearly we don’t.”

Jake retreated to the couch and pulled out his phone. Began scrolling through it, and Livvy wanted to cry. Throw herself at Jake and apologize. Kiss him until they were tangled on the bed together again.

But if she did that, she’d be lost. She’d want to spend every moment with Jake, and that made her no better than her mother.

So she picked up her own phone and began scrolling through it. After a while, she stopped and looked up at Jake. But he was engrossed in the content of his own phone. Either that, or he was ignoring her. Protecting himself? Probably.

Jake stared at her, his eyes carefully blank. “TV?” he asked. “Or do you just want to read?”

“Sure,” she said.

“I don’t know sure,” he answered. “I know yes or no.”

Cold rippled across her body. She swallowed and said, “I guess I’ll just read.”

“Works for me.” He sprawled on the couch with his phone, not looking at her. Eventually, she went into the bathroom and got ready for bed. When she was ready, she came out and said, “You should sleep on the other bed.” Just as he’d done the night before.

He didn’t even look at her. “I’m fine. I’ll move to the bed when I’m ready to sleep.” He sucked in a breath. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

He walked into the bathroom, and when he came out, she pretended she was asleep. But she lay on the bed, aching for him, until well after Jake’s breathing had evened out and slowed.