The instant they were out of the building, the cool San Francisco night air whipping around her, she challenged him. “Why would you leave without seeing what they might be hiding?”

Blake cut her a sideways look and clicked the lock of the truck on the key ring. “Ignacio would have called and told them we were coming. There’s nothing to see they don’t want us to see.”

“Tomorrow there definitely won’t be anything for us to see. We didn’t give them much warning tonight, and what about getting an idea of the layout and trying to ensure a way back in when they don’t expect us?”

He stopped at the tail of the truck and turned to look at her. “And all of this is the thought process of a secretary?”

She drew back slightly. “You think a secretary can’t logically think through how to deal with a problem? We have a theft issue.”

He scrubbed his jaw and laughed. “Well played, Kara. You’re good. Fast-talking and sharp with your answers. Just not as good as me. I’m not buying your motivation.”

She ignored the remark. What else could she do? “My gut says we need to tour tonight. We’ll discover something we need to find.”

His lips compressed. “Because you overheard something you didn’t tell me about.”

“No.” Damn, her voice squeaked. She was so bad at lying to him for some unnerving reason. “Because, like I said, my gut says so.”

“Give me more than that or we aren’t going back in.”

She inhaled and forced it out. “We need to go back in.”

“Not a good enough answer.”

“Damn it, Blake—”

His grip curled around her arm and he gently, but insistently, pulled her against him. “You’re too on their radar and we’re going to get you off.” He kissed her, fast and hard. “End of story.” He released her. “Now get in the truck.”

She glowered at him, furious. She didn’t like being ordered around. She didn’t like him playing protector when she knew he was one of them, able and willing to slice her throat if he gave her reason. He’d all but said so in the truck earlier. And she was going to give him reason to do it when he discovered her identity. Time was everything for all kinds of reasons. What would he do if she headed back to the building besides follow?

“Don’t do it,” he said softly, telling her he’d read her mind. “You won’t like how I respond.”

Kara studied him, considering the threat, her breathing labored when it should be controlled, her anger barely contained. She wasn’t afraid of him. No. That wasn’t true. She was afraid of him, and how irrational he made her act. And she was afraid of dying before she did what she’d come here to do. “I don’t need a bodyguard, and that’s not what you were hired to be. Mendez hired you to solve the theft problem.”

“Says the woman who had a gun pointed at her head tonight and needed a bodyguard.”

Her fingers curled by her sides. “I was trying to find you. I was afraid something had happened to you.” Her stomach knotted all over again with that confession. One minute she was thinking he was a killer, and the next trying to protect him. She was conflicted, screwed up beyond reason, over this man.

He arched a brow. “Were you now?”

“Yes. You were gone too long.” She grimaced and played the same cards he had in the truck. “Nothing can happen to you. I might need you.”

“You might need me?”

His eyes heated and damn it, so did her skin. “To get this theft issue under control.”

“So you thought I needed a bodyguard?” His eyes twinkled with mischief. He was way too amused by the direction of this conversation.

Kara grimaced. She wasn’t winning the battle to go back inside so she’d pick one she had a shot at. “That’s it. This conversation is over. Let’s go back to my place and see who can cuff who first. As angry you’re making me, I’m betting I get the upper hand.” She turned and headed to the truck.

His deep, sexy laughter followed. It rippled down her spine and settled in low and hot in her belly. The man got to her way too easily. Oh yeah. She’d be cuffing him all right and enjoying every second of it. Then she’d slip out and find the blond girl before she ended up on some drug cartel main menu.

***

Blake followed Kara up the stairs to her apartment, locking the door behind him, his blood pumping hot, adrenaline pulsing through him. He wanted this woman. Damn it to hell, he wanted her in a bad way. Bad enough that it was time for answers. Time he knew who he was climbing into bed with.

He watched her hips sway as she headed up the stairs and followed in hot pursuit, anticipation burning through him, his c**k already thick with arousal. Her long dark hair lay like silky strands down her back and he imagined it draped over his stomach with her mouth on his shaft, caressing him into the sweet bliss of escape. The instant she stepped onto the top level landing of the apartment, he had every intention of scooping her up and taking her to bed. He never got the chance.

As if she’d plucked his fantasy from his head, she cleared the last step with him directly behind her and whirled on him, facing him, only to immediately sink to her knees at his feet. Holy shit, leave it to this woman to turn the tables on him. Her hands went to his thighs, climbing up his legs, and his dick responded, standing at attention, and pressing uncomfortably against his zipper.

“Still want to tie me up?” she asked, stroking the thick line of his erection.