“Charley’s men—at least I think they were Charley’s men—grabbed Wei from a back hallway and took him. I spent until the end of the lunch observing as best I could, but I didn’t notice anyone looking for him. Admittedly, I wasn’t in the best position to see the room. They grabbed him after the performance was done so I had to watch from the service doorway. What do you know?” he asked.

  “Not much. She didn’t answer me about Wei. But I did have quite a conversation with Charley. She’s a bit more talkative live and in person, unlike on the phone.”

  “What did you talk about? And why did your hotel room look like you’d been kidnapped?” he asked.

  “I kind of was.” She saw his frown and rushed to explain. “Yeah, sedating me for a job interview is insane but it might have been a misunderstanding between her and her guys.”

  “Sedating you? For a—what interview?” He shook his head, looking confused. She didn’t blame him.

  “I can catch you up pretty quickly. Charley wanted to bring me in for an interview to be 'a charley' like her. It's not a name. It's a position. Although this Charley seems to be the main one. The head Charley. The big man—or rather woman—in charge of all the rest.”

  “All right.” He nodded, his brows still drawn low over his dark eyes.

  “Apparently I’d be doing a lot of the stuff I did for the CIA. Information coordination. Some liaison work. We didn’t get too far into the discussion because Charley heard that you were running around Beijing looking for me.”

  “Well, you were missing. I found your wallet, ID and personal cell phone in the bedroom. And your burner cell was under a table by the door, as if you’d been dragged out and dropped it. What was I supposed to think? And what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t call the police. I had to look for you myself.”

  He'd been worried about her. That thought sent a flood of warmth to her heart and set her pulse fluttering.

  “Charley brought you in because she was worried you’d compromise the operation by drawing attention to the organization’s presence here. Or there. Where are we anyway? Do you know?” she asked.

  “No. They put a bag over my head.” He scowled.

  She nodded. “I agree they do have some extreme protocols.”

  “No worse than the CIA,” he mumbled as he pulled his hand out of Alexis’s grasp and crossed his arms over his chest.

  She shook her head at this old debate but they couldn’t get into it because the door opened again to reveal Charley herself.

  “All caught up? Ready to get to work?”

  Kane’s eyes narrowed. “Do we have a choice?”

  Charley smiled. “It really is so nice to finally meet you, Kane. Come. Mr. Wei awaits.”

  Alexis’s eyes widened. Wei was here.

  “About time,” Kane grumbled as he stood.

  She stood too, hoping that getting to work didn’t include waterboarding or whatever else might be in Charley’s playbook.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kane didn’t often let emotions rule him, even though it had happened too much for comfort lately since Alexis had reentered his life.

  But right now he truly hated Charley. Her and whoever she worked for.

  Her methods. The smooth superior attitude. The way she rarely answered a question directly. And that she’d somehow pulled the wool over Alexis’s eyes.

  Charley had actually convinced Alexis that this offer was for a good job. A real job.

  People were not grabbed and tranquilized for legitimate job interviews. He didn’t care how covert the organization.

  It was all bullshit and Alexis seemed to be lapping up the lies with a spoon like they were chocolate ice cream rather than a crock of shit.

  And now he was eyeball deep in some political intrigue likely involving the Chinese government.

  He’d gone to the ends of the earth to get away from things like this. Apparently Songshan wasn’t far enough. Next time he’d have to choose a mountain harder to get to.

  If there was a next time since Charley had just led them to what looked suspiciously like a cell. He turned to glare at her.

  “Relax. I’ll let you out again. But for now, it’s important for the bonding and trust between you and Wei that he think you are all prisoners,” Charley explained.

  “You think he’s going to confide in us?” Kane asked, doubtful about this plan working even if Wei didn’t recognize him as the same man who’d knocked him out in the hallway. Thank goodness he’d changed his shirt at least.

  Charley lifted one shoulder elegantly. “Let’s hope.”

  Hope? Did she expect him to believe that was her plan? Bullshit.

  He drew in a breath and moved to the bench by the wall.

  “Fine.” He’d give it a try.

  Alexis, however, was still standing near the cell’s door looking ready to bolt. Her focus bounced between him and Charley, blocking the exit.

  “What’s up?” he asked, pinning her with his gaze.

  “I—uh—”

  “Oh, shit. You’re claustrophobic.” He’d forgotten but it came back to him now.

  He’d taken Brittany to a fair one school break and they’d brought Alexis with them. She’d flipped out when they’d strapped her into one of the rides that had a small enclosed car.

  “Come here.” He waved her over and she came, though slowly. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. “Sit. You’ll be fine.”

  Charley, cold hearted pragmatist that she was proving to be, took that opportunity to slam the door closed and lock them in.

  Alexis jumped at the sound, her eyes like a wild animal’s as she stared at the locked door.

  “I’m here. Just breathe.”

  “There’s not enough air,” she gasped.

  “There’s plenty of air. The bars are open.”

  “Bars,” she repeated, looking pale.

  He grabbed her hands and held tight. The last thing he needed was a full-blown panic attack. Although as Wei was unceremoniously tossed into the cell next to theirs and his door slammed, making Alexis jump once again, her genuine panic might convince Wei their imprisonment was real.

  Did Charley realize that? He wouldn’t doubt it was all part of her plan. The woman was wickedly evil but smart—and there were supposedly more just like her. A whole hoard of Charleys. It was a horrifying concept.

  He noticed Alexis had stilled next to him. He glanced up and saw her looking into Wei’s cell. He looked past her and saw the man himself. His eye was swollen. His lip split and bleeding.

  The man hadn’t looked like that last time he’d seen him. Yes, he’d rendered him unconscious but he wasn’t responsible for the rest of the damage.

  Had he known the asshole idiots he’d encountered in the hallway were going to do that to Wei, he wouldn’t have let them take him.

  Alexis jumped up from the bench and ran to the bars separating them. “Um. Hello. Hi. Are you all right? Can I help you in any way? Are you hurt badly?”

  Wei shook his head. Not as an answer but more likely because she was firing rapid questions at him in English.

  Kane stood and moved to where Alexis clung to the bars. He repeated her questions—slowly and trimmed down to a simpler version—in Mandarin.

  Wei answered in a short, brisk manner.

  “What did he say?” Alexis asked.

  “He said he’s not badly hurt.” And that was all he’d said.

  Kane had a suspicion why. Wei had been through this before. They—whoever was leaning on him—had taken his child to force him to do what they wanted. For all Wei knew, he’d been taken again by the same people.

  He was probably confused about what he’d done to earn their displeasure, but he knew better than to complain or talk to a couple of strangers. His family could be in jeopardy. He was going to remain locked down tight… which gave Kane an idea.

  And idea he hated with every fiber of his being. But it might be the only way to get the information they needed without actually compromising Wei and getting his family hurt in the process.

  It was cruel and underhanded, but it would work. And it would set Wei free sooner rather than later. Before anyone noticed he was gone. Before anyone panicked and took action against him and his family. It was probably what they should have done in the first place instead of trying Alexis’s plan first.

  Kane strode to the door of his cell and yelled for a guard as loud as his voice allowed. When one arrived he demanded to see Charley.

  She’d approve of his plan. No doubt.

  Lying and telling Wei they had his daughter and would kill her if he didn’t reveal who was behind him and the camps was evil.

  Kane hated it. But Charley would love it.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Charley had let them go.

  Let them walk right out of the cell and away from the black site. Even provided a car to take them back to the hotel.

  They were hooded for the whole trip but besides that, driving away on their way back to normalcy was a huge relief.

  Wei talked and was released with a warning to not mention a word of the capture.

  He was to say he got mugged in the street outside the event. That the criminal didn’t get anything so he didn’t call the authorities to try to keep the incident out of the news lest it reflect badly on China and Beijing during this time when all eyes were on them.

  It would work if he stuck to the story. Meanwhile, Charley had the name of the puppet master. A name she didn’t share with them, which was fine.

  Alexis could tell Kane was over the whole thing. He wanted nothing to do with Charley or the organization. They’d done their part. It was up to Charley to take down the puppet master and hopefully shut down the camps.

  But as for their part in it, Alexis was thrilled they were done and free to go back to her hotel. Together.

  All in all, she couldn’t have wished for a better ending to an afternoon that has started off so badly.

  After stopping at the front desk to get a key since she hadn’t taken hers with her when she’d been pseudo kidnapped, she walked into her suite with Kane behind her.

  He dumped his canvas bag on the table and reached inside. “Here. This belongs to you.”

  She stared at the items in his hand.

  He continued, “I needed it to look for you when I thought you’d been kidnapped.”

  “Ah. Okay. Thanks.” She took the wad of bills and her personal cell phone.

  She noticed he didn’t move farther into the room, but instead remained by the door. Hovering, like he was about to go. That was the last thing she wanted him to do.

  “When do you leave for the monastery?” she asked.

  “The bus pulls out in the morning.”

  “And do you have to be back there tonight?”

  “I’m not sure I can get back inside the bubble without a lot of hassle. I can meet the brothers outside at the bus in the morning.”

  “So you can stay the night then?” Her attempt at sounding casual instead came out pretty much as what it was—hopeful with a dash of excitement.

  “Um…yeah. Can we talk?” he asked, casting a dark shadow over her bubble of joy.

  Uh, oh. That didn’t sound good.

  “Oh. Sure.” She pretended she wasn’t scared and moved to the sofa, patting the cushion next to her. “Sit.”

  He did, but in the chair where he leaned forward with his forearms braced on his knees. Kane drew in a breath and met her gaze. “Did you make your cell passcode my birthday after we had sex?”

  Oh shit. How did he know about her passcode?

  “No,” she denied.

  He tilted his head and leveled a stare on her that spoke to his disbelief.

  “It’s been my passcode since my parents gave me my first cell phone when I was fourteen,” she explained as proof she hadn’t lied.

  The expression of horror that crossed his face sliced her to the core. That was not the reaction she wanted from the man she’d loved since puberty.

  “Jesus, Alexis.” He ran his hand over his face.

  “I’m sorry. I just never got around to coming up with a new code. It doesn’t mean anything,” she defended.

  “Doesn’t it?”

  “It doesn’t. I swear. So stop looking at me with all that pity.”

  He shook his head. “Not pity. Pragmatism. I’m finally listening to my common sense, the way I should have been all along.”

  “No. Everything is fine. Nothing has changed.”

  Kane scoffed at her claim. She couldn’t blame him. She didn’t even believe it herself. Everything had changed.

  As he looked poised to bolt, she said, “It’s been a long day. I’m going to order dinner. We’re going to eat, and then get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we’ll both feel a whole lot better and be able to think more clearly.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer and instead moved to the desk to pick up the room service menu.

  “Here. Pick anything you want. Charley’s paying the room bill and after what you accomplished today, you deserve it.” She handed the menu to him and held her breath until he finally took it.

  Menu in hand, he raised his gaze to her. “I’m sleeping out here on the sofa.”

  She kept her expression neutral even as her stomach clenched. “Fine.”

  He nodded and bowed his head to study the offerings.

  One step forward, two steps back. She could see any ground she’d gained toward winning Kane had been lost. All because of her stupid passcode.

  She’d just have to work doubly hard to make him realize they were meant for each other. She had all night to do it.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kane had slept in far worse places than the wide, sprawling sofa in the hotel suite, both in the SEALs and while with the Shaolin.

  It wasn’t the accommodations that had him lying awake. It was his own mind. He couldn’t turn it off, which was extra frustrating given the countless hours he’d studied and practiced doing exactly that.

  Perhaps the monks’ meditation didn’t account for situations like this one. Having sex with an ex-girlfriend’s little sister who had been obsessed with him since she was not much more than a child.

  But she was far from a child now. Alexis was all woman, which was another reason why he couldn’t sleep.

  The sofa in the living area wasn’t far enough away from the bedroom where she slept in that enormous king-sized bed all alone.

  He could envision her there. And that thought ultimately led to memories of his body covering hers. Of her writhing beneath him. Of his sinking himself deeply into her—the first woman he’d touched in a year.

  This suite was two small for the two of them. He should have walked back to the Olympic housing and took his chances that they’d allow him back in to be with his brothers.

  The note he’d left explaining his absence probably only worried them, rather than assured them. It was a lie anyway. He’s said he’d gone sightseeing, like a tourist. It was the best he could come up with.

  It wasn’t as if he could tell them the truth. He couldn’t even believe that himself.

  Movement in the bedroom had him stilling. Holding his breath and his thoughts as he listened with heightened awareness. Alexis was walking around.

  Hopefully she was just going to the bathroom. Then she’d crawl back into bed and he could go back to his mental self-torture.

  That hope flew out the window when the bedroom door eased open ever so slowly. He heard her footsteps as she crept across the room, each footfall padded by the carpet.

  She thought she was sneaking up on him but he heard every step. Every breath. By the time she reached where he was and stood over him he was braced and waiting.

  What was she going to do? Stare at him while he slept? After the passcode thing, nothing would surprise him.

  But true to form, Alexis wasn’t good at doing nothing. She really wasn’t good at waiting. Never had been. It was no surprise it took about fifteen seconds for her to kneel on the carpet near his head and lean toward him.

  “Kane,” she whispered. “Are you awake?”

  Yes, but he could pretend not to be. He did just that, feigning sleep as hard as he could. That didn’t deter her as she ran her fingertips gently over his cheek.

  He snatched her hand, grabbing it in his and lowering it away from his head.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  That made two of them, but he hadn’t gone creeping into her bedroom.

  “Just close your eyes and try,” he said.

  “I don’t want to.”

  He sighed. “Why not.”

  “Because we’re leaving tomorrow,” she whispered.

  “Alexis—”

  “And I don’t know when—if—I’ll ever see you again.” Her voice shook.

  He heard the telltale sniffle and knew even in the darkness she was crying. “Lexi.”

  “I can’t sleep away the last hours we’re together. We’re both still here now.” She raised her hand again and brushed it against his cheek.

  He knew what she wanted. And dammit, if she reached down she would feel how much he wanted it too.

  “We can’t.”

  “We can. We have,” she pointed out.

  “It’s better—easier—if we don’t.”

  She let out a short laugh. “Nothing about this has been easy.”

  “Leaving tomorrow will be less painful if we don’t. Lexi, I never wanted to hurt you. I don’t want to make it any worse than it already is.”

  “I’ll worry about that tomorrow,” she said with more strength in her voice than he’d anticipated.

  Then she was kissing him and he let her, groaning as her mouth pressed against his as she eased on top of him. She reached between them and slipped her hand inside his pants to grab his length and he let her do that too.

  She was right. They’d already done so much damage, what was a little bit more?

  He sat and swung his legs over the edge of the sofa.