King crossed to stand beside Saint. His friend was breathing heavy still, a thin sheen of sweat along his brow. The target had given them a good run, it seemed. But why? What the hell was going on?

  Rae shifted on the bed, breaking the tension in the room. Leah turned back to her patient—friend? What were they to each other?—her fingers reaching for the controls. They stayed silent as the bed adjusted to allow Rae to sit up once more.

  Saint’s patience finally broke. “Who’s going to tell us what the hell is happening here?”

  Remi Agozi’s frown would have had a less determined man pissing his pants. “How about you two tell us what the hell you’re doing here?”

  Saint couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Rae, every cell in his body expecting her to acknowledge him, acknowledge what they were to each other. Instead she stared nervously at her lap, fingers plucking at the thin sheet that barely protected her. “Rae?”

  How many times was he going to say her name as a question? And how many times was she going to ignore him?

  Agozi and his significant other shared a glance, then turned as one to stare back at him. A united front of silence. Frustration surged hard in his gut, and he opened his mouth—to say what, he wasn’t sure.

  King cleared his throat just in time. “Maybe we could take this out into the hallway.”

  Remi nodded, but as everyone except Saint turned toward the door, it was Rae who protested.

  “No.”

  Steps slowed and eyes sought her out.

  She flushed, the color making her seem far healthier than she had since he’d walked into the room. “No,” she said again, this time stronger. “This is about me, right?” She stared hard at Leah as if the woman was her lifeline. “You’re not going to discuss me without me being involved.”

  Leah hesitated, then nodded. As she returned to the bedside and retrieved a glass of water from the tray to hand to Rae, King leaned in close to Saint. “She okay?”

  Was she? Truth was, he had no idea. Shock and injury didn’t go well together on the best of days, and this obviously wasn’t Rae’s best day. “I don’t know.”

  Rae stopped drinking, set her glass aside, then brought her hands to her face and rubbed hard at her eyes. A heavy sigh escaped her, but her voice was threaded with steel when she said, “What happened, Remi?”

  The chiseled edge to the man’s jaw softened as he took in Rae’s obvious fatigue. “We chased the target into the stairway, but he managed to lose us in the basement halls before escaping.”

  “It’s a warren down there,” Leah murmured absently. Saint had been down there before, and she was right. The morgue was situated at the back of the hospital on the underground floor, but the rest of the area was a maze of maintenance, housekeeping, and other practical facilities, not to mention corridors of ductwork and pipes feeding the massive building above it. The perfect place for a perp to hide. Their target was smart in that regard.

  Rae dropped her hands into her lap. “So we’re no closer to finding out who he is.”

  Something that looked like regret flickered across Remi’s expression. “No.”

  “We’ll figure it out, I promise. We won’t leave you unprotected,” Leah assured her.

  “We know he has to be tied to the hit-and-run,” Remi said. “We’re not giving up.”

  The words sent a jolt of shock through Saint. “The target was responsible for Rae’s accident?” He’d known the guy was a threat—Remi’s attack and Leah’s protective stance had told him that much—but somehow his overworked and under-rested mind hadn’t made the connection with the car that had caused Rae’s injuries. Some part of him had assumed the hit-and-run was an accident. Why would anyone want to run Rae down on purpose?

  Now it was his turn to rub his eyes. King gripped his shoulder, squeezed down hard, steadying him as his mind raced at the implications.

  Saint felt more than saw Remi’s attention zero in on him from across the room. “What exactly do you two have to do with this? Why are you here?” His voice took on a rough growl. “And who the hell is Rae?”

  Saint threw a cautious glance in Rae’s direction, assessing her steadiness before he answered that question for the second time tonight. “Why do you keep asking me that? She is Rae.”

  King’s grip slid from his shoulder as his friend straightened away from the wall. “They keep asking because Rae can’t remember,” he said quietly. Saint jerked around to face him, alarm bells sounding in his head. “She has amnesia, Saint. She doesn’t know her name.”

  “What?” He understood the words, but somehow their meaning got lost between his ears and his brain. Or maybe that was his chest, because his heart was thundering so loud he couldn’t think straight. “She…she…” His head swiveled on his shoulders without his conscious command, staring now at Rae huddled in that hospital bed. “What?”

  Rae’s gaze dropped to her lap, tracked to Leah and Remi, back to her lap. He was making her uncomfortable, he knew, but he couldn’t turn off the laser focus after days of searching so hard for this woman, of building up their reunion in his mind and imagining exactly what she would do and say when he saw her again. But everything he’d imagined was wrong. They’d been wrong from the start, from the moment he and King had entered the corridor outside. Still, he’d never imagined that she not only wouldn’t want him here, but that she wouldn’t remember him. Remember them, together.

  A strangled groan left him.

  “You know her,” Remi said. A statement, and a harsh one at that.

  Saint choked off a laugh that rose out of nowhere. He definitely knew her.

  Get a grip, asshole.

  “We—”

  The words he’d been about to speak turned to dust in his mouth as he stared at the man across the room. He took in the dark stare, the resolve. The arrogance. Well-earned, Saint knew. This man’s family would be formidable opponents, and right now they appeared to have more involvement, more right to Rae than he had. It didn’t matter that they’d had sex—he and Rae barely knew each other. He hadn’t known enough to find her when someone had tried to murder her.

  He thought back over the past week, the days and nights of worry. Of hunger. He needed Rae in his life. Needed to be the one to protect her. No matter how involved Remi and Leah were, they didn’t care about her the way he did. They couldn’t.

  He wouldn’t let them.

  He squared his shoulders. “Rae is my girlfriend.”

  Chapter Eleven

  King muttered curses under his breath, too low for anyone but Saint to distinguish, but his friend didn’t contradict him. Saint prayed that would continue.

  “You’re her what?” Leah asked. Doubt screamed through every syllable.

  Saint firmed his voice. Rae stared at her lap, and he stared at her, willing her with everything inside him to look up, acknowledge him. Acknowledge them.

  “We’re in a relationship.”

  Not a total lie—he didn’t say what kind of relationship.

  “We’re dating?” Rae croaked. The sound of her voice tugged him closer, and he didn’t stop himself from moving to her side, though he was careful not to touch her again.

  “Not just dating. Living together.” He had no clue where she was living, or how. For now, she needed to stay with him.

  “And what’s her full name?” Remi’s voice came heavily laced with suspicion.

  “Rae Smith.” Yes, he was talking out his ass. “Spelled with an e, because Smith is plain enough. That’s what she always said.”

  He gave Rae a small smile, but his hand landed on his chest, his fingers curling around the crucifix beneath his shirt. He was going to have a helluva lot to confess the next time his mother guilted him into joining them for mass. There was nothing new about that, except it wasn’t lies he was usually confessing.

  Their priest wasn’t the only one he’d be confessing to—Rae would get her memory back eventually. Would he have to answer for lying to her somewhere down the road? Yes. Was he willing to lose her now for consequences that he’d have to face and might be able to talk himself out of somewhere in the future? No, absolutely not. He couldn’t lose her no matter what. He couldn’t walk away from her or let her walk away.

  Remi wasn’t finished with his interrogation. “Where is her ID?”

  Saint frowned. “I assumed it was on her when she left the apartment that morning. She keeps one of those slim pouches in her pocket, no purse.” He’d observed that at the restaurant. Had whoever hit her taken it, or an observer at the scene? “Rae often goes for early morning runs, so I assumed that was where she’d gone that morning.” Her body told him she exercised often, whether that was running or something else.

  Damn, I’m better at this than I realized.

  “Does she have family we need to contact?”

  Saint tore his gaze from Rae then, looked to Remi, a pang hitting his chest. “She doesn’t have any family.” She hadn’t mentioned any, at least. If she did, he’d do what needed to be done to find them. But he couldn’t do that without intel, and only Rae could give it to him—if she ever remembered it.

  “My turn for questions,” he said firmly. “Explain Rae’s condition to me.”

  Leah took over, getting technical about TBIs and temporally graded, MRIs and neurologists and electroencephalograms. Saint understood most of it, and what he didn’t, he questioned carefully, wanting to be fully aware of what they were dealing with. When Rae walked out of this hospital, her recovery wouldn’t be over; it would be just beginning. Every bit of information was filed away for future use in helping her fully heal.

  A knock on the door cut into the explanation. The nurse King had spoken to earlier poked her head inside. “Visiting hours are over, folks. Leah, will you be staying?”

  “I’ll be staying,” Saint told her.

  Leah immediately protested, but Saint wasn’t budging. “You expect me to leave my girlfriend here alone when I’ve just found her, without her memory? When someone just tried to attack her? Hell no.”

  “While you all fight over whose territory is whose,” King said, amusement softening the words, “I need to get home to my fiancée.” Walking toward the bed, he gently took Rae’s hand in his and stared down at her for a long moment. “I know you don’t know me right now, but I can’t tell you how relieved I am that we’ve found you. Take care of yourself.” Moving slowly, so as not to startle her, he lifted her hand and brushed a careful kiss along the back. “I’ll be here tomorrow to help any way I can.”

  Rae held herself very still but didn’t reject King’s touch. The sight sent jealousy flaring through Saint. It was a ridiculous reaction—King had a fiancée, and he certainly wasn’t touching Rae inappropriately. But he was touching her, and she was allowing it. Saint hadn’t experienced that since he’d found her again.

  A slight smirk tilted King’s lips when he turned back to Saint, as if he knew exactly what his friend was thinking. “Saint?” He tipped his head toward the hall.

  “I’ll be right back,” Saint said to Rae. His gaze swept Remi’s and Leah’s, both skeptical, before he followed his teammate out of the room.

  King was chuckling when he came to a stop just down from Rae’s door, far enough to give them a bit of privacy. “You never have done things halfway, brother.”

  Except relationships. Until now. Saint shook his head, aware of the chaotic jumble of emotions filling his chest but unable to sort them out and explain them to his best friend. “They don’t know her any better than I do, King. I can’t leave her unprotected.”

  “Agreed. And there’s a difference between someone else adequately protecting someone you care about, and doing it yourself. Been there,” King said, his amusement fading. He slapped a hand onto Saint’s shoulder and squeezed down hard. “I get it. And no matter what lies you tell, I know you’ll treat her honorably. That’s why I didn’t say anything. But we have a helluva lot of backfilling to do before she’s released from the hospital; you know that, right?”

  In Saint’s mind, a list had already started to form. He slid his phone from his pocket and waved it at King. “I’ll get on it.” He hesitated. “Think Elliot would help?” Dain would come down on him like a shit-ton of bricks, but Elliot had always operated in the gray. Hell, sometimes she didn’t bother with any light at all.

  “The queen of deceit?” King asked, his mind obviously following Saint’s train of thought. “I think she has some skills we can put to use. I’ll call her before work in the morning and see what we can do. In the meantime”—he glanced toward Rae’s closed door—“get to really know her, Saint.” King’s brow creased with concern. “Her world hasn’t just been turned upside down; it’s been obliterated. We’ll do our best to help you help her, but I hate like hell even imagining the fear she’s feeling right now.”

  Saint couldn’t even let himself think about it. Their backgrounds gave them a peculiar insight into being in danger—the sheer terror, the helplessness. He knew Charlotte had experienced it, Olivia too. He’d never wanted a woman he cared about to understand what that felt like, but to also have no foundation, no life or memories, no support system to carry her through?

  God no. Why Rae? Why his woman?

  He shut off the questions and focused on action. “She’ll be safe with me.” It was a vow with more than one meaning, and King understood.

  “I know.” He squeezed down again and then released Saint, turning toward the exit. “I’ll call you in the morning.”

  ∞

  His girlfriend.

  Living together.

  Rae— She closed her eyes, shaken. The name fit just right, like her favorite pair of jeans or a T-shirt she’d loved for years—and Saint was the one who’d given her that and so many more answers. She tried to wrap her head around the most startling declaration, the look in his eyes when they met hers, but she just couldn’t. She’d thought realizing she had no memory of herself was bizarre, but this…

  How did she reconcile having an intimate relationship with a man she didn’t even recognize?

  The BP cuff surrounding her arm began to inflate, and she startled, a cry escaping before she could choke it off. And she wasn’t the only one—Leah jumped too, as far as Remi’s firm hold on her would allow.

  Had Saint held her like that? Would he do it again?

  “Leah…” God. Rae rubbed at her head, a sudden ache making her wish all of this would just go away.

  The woman who’d taken her under her wing stepped closer and grasped Rae’s other hand. Rae stared at their clasped fingers and imagined it was Saint’s hand holding hers, a hand that had touched her intimately. They were living together, after all. And there was no way that incredibly virile man was celibate. She imagined his tight grip, the strength of those muscular arms and how they must feel holding a woman.

  Safe and secure—that’s how they’d feel. When was the last time she’d felt safe and secure?

  She didn’t know. She had no memory of it, if it had ever even happened. No family, Saint had said. No past, no family. She couldn’t remember a father or mother, her childhood. Her first kiss.

  The first time she’d had sex.

  Her first time with Saint. Had she been a virgin then? Had it been good between them? Had those full lips fit perfectly with hers? How had they felt on her skin, her breasts? Between her legs?

  Shit! What was she thinking?

  Leah’s murmured protest made her realize she was squeezing down on her friend’s hand. She lightened the grip immediately, but couldn’t let go, not with the ability to breathe suddenly choked off by the overwhelming awareness of her lack of memories.

  It was Leah who let go, but only to raise her hand and wipe at the tears Rae hadn’t even realized were falling. “R-Rae…” She fumbled on the bedside tray and retrieved a tissue, using it to stem the flow of Rae’s tears. “It’s going to be all right, I promise.”

  “Is it?” Rae couldn’t help a little chuckle, but there was zero amusement in the sound. “Is anything going to be all right?”

  Leah lowered the bed rail and leaned her hip on the mattress, facing Rae. She pushed the tissue into Rae’s hand. “It is. I know this has to be scary and overwhelming, but no matter how it feels, you’re not alone.”

  Wasn’t she? Alone with no memories, a blank black slate of nothingness that erased any anchor she might have had.

  Except that name. Rae with an e.

  “Rae,” she said out loud.

  Leah ducked her head to meet Rae’s lowered gaze. “How does it feel, the name?”

  “It feels…right. Like it fits somehow.”

  Remi circled the bed until he stood on her opposite side. “And the man? How does he feel?”

  She lifted her chin, met Remi’s questioning gaze. “I don’t know.”

  There was something there; she couldn’t deny that. But it didn’t feel like he was familiar. More like attraction, maybe? Which was ridiculous. She was sitting in a hospital bed, bruised and broken and anchorless. Attraction was the last thing a man would feel for her right now, or that she should be feeling for a man.

  But those lips…

  “We won’t let him stay,” Leah said firmly, seeming to come to a decision. “There’s no proof of his story. We can—”

  “You said you’d met him before?”

  Leah tightened her lips before nodding. “We have. He works for a security firm here in Atlanta.”

  “A very good one,” Remi added. “They’ve got a solid reputation. His team helped us with a situation last month.”

  Rae met the intelligent amber eyes that reminded her of an eagle’s. “You worked with him.”

  “His team, yes.”

  “What did you think of them?”

  Remi seemed to give that careful consideration before he spoke. “They’re solid. I don’t know anything about them personally—the other man, King, is a teammate, along with Dain, their team lead, and a woman, Elliot—but as security specialists, they’re good.”

  Rae nodded. Remi knew what he was doing when it came to safety. He’d carefully explained everything about her situation—multiple times, according to Leah, since Rae hadn’t been able to keep the details in her head until a couple of days ago—and he and his brothers had access to security and technology she had no hope of wrapping her brain around, but it was significant. If he’d asked for Saint’s team’s help, they must be more than good. “And…Saint personally?”