“Hunter.”

  “Fuck.” Matt yanked up his pants and scrambled to find his shirt when he turned to her. “You should get dressed. This is going to get ugly.”

  Because his boss would be angry she and Matt had had sex? Or would Hunter berate her for running out on Nash? The second she’d fled, she had called 911 to make sure he got help. But what if that hadn’t been enough? What if the police had come too late?

  With worry on her lips, she lurched off the bed. But when she opened her mouth to ask about his condition, semen ran hot down her thigh. Reflexively, she reached for the sheet and wiped herself as Matt thrust on his shirt.

  “Hurry. With the sun coming up, it’s too dangerous to stay here. And they’ve come to take you into hiding.”

  Just as Nash had told her. “I know.”

  It was one reason she’d trusted Ethan when he’d knocked on her motel room door in the wee hours of the morning. Matt had arranged for Ethan to bodyguard her going forward. She hadn’t known they didn’t get along. Or was that something new? Matt had seemed angry, almost…jealous? Ethan had even hinted as much, tossing Matt’s possessiveness in his face.

  It didn’t matter. She had a handful of moments left with Matt. Leaving him again would hurt beyond anything she’d ever felt—far more than their goodbye three years ago. She might have crashed into his life, but he’d so easily bulldozed his way into her heart again. Their connection seemed realer and deeper than ever. Could he really just turn around and walk away?

  Men always do. Even if he cares on some level, he won’t stay…

  But hadn’t this time been different? He’d demanded that she admit he owned her. Why bother if he just intended to leave?

  Because he likes having power. He might say you’re his…but that doesn’t mean he’s yours.

  The voice in her head was wise. She needed to stop looking at this situation through emotional, rose-colored glasses. That’s how she’d wound up married to Todd.

  “Madison?”

  When she turned to face Matt, he was fully dressed—hat and all—and holding her clothes in his hands. He caught sight of her nakedness and stopped short, scanning her body with a hungry stare that made her heart surge, especially when he dropped his gaze between her legs, where she felt swollen, achy, and empty without him.

  He shoved the garments in her hand, then buried his face in her neck, cupping her pussy with a groan. “Stop me. Goddamn it, I already want inside you again.”

  It wasn’t smart, but she melted against him, her body leaping back to life. “Yes…”

  “Open the door,” Hunter demanded from the other side, jolting them back to reality.

  “Fuck,” Matt huffed as he pulled away. “Get dressed. I found everything but your bra.”

  Madison hated to face reality, but it was literally beating down their door, so she hopped into her jeans, hyper aware of their mixed releases now dampening her panties.

  She’d worry about the ramifications of that later.

  “We don’t have all day,” a second voice barked.

  “Damn it.” Matt scowled. “Logan came, too.”

  Apparently, that wasn’t good. Madison didn’t want to keep Matt’s bosses waiting if it meant more trouble.

  She scanned the room one last time for her missing bra and came up short. So she pulled her shirt over her head, found the flip-flops she’d left beside her backpack earlier, then nodded Matt’s way. Time to face what came next. Even if that meant separating again, it still beat everything Todd had in mind. And once she was in hiding with Ethan, there would only be one degree of separation between her and Matt. That was better than pining for him twelve hundred miles away. Maybe they could find ways to talk…

  Ugh, she sounded lovesick. She couldn’t let emotions make her weak. Whatever she needed to do to bring Todd down, even if her heart was breaking, that had to come first. She’d have no life otherwise.

  “Fine.” Matt yanked the door open and stepped back. “Impatient much?”

  The Edgington brothers eased in, took one look at the tumbled sheets, glared at her missing bra, which blended in with the lamp shade, then wrinkled their noses at the scent of sex clinging to the room. They turned identical looks of displeasure Matt’s way. Madison tried not to wince.

  “What. The. Fuck?” Hunter crossed his arms over his chest.

  Ethan chose that moment to saunter into the motel room and sidle up to her. He didn’t touch her, but he stood in her personal space and flashed a mocking grin.

  Matt barely held in a snarl. Obviously, he was annoyed, but the tattooed bad boy truly had taken care of her during the past few harrowing hours. Could he really be jealous?

  “Ethan found Madison and called me.” Matt shut the door. “I came to…check on her—”

  “With your cock?” Logan challenged.

  Madison blushed. Matt opened his mouth to protest.

  “Nope.” Logan shook his head. “We don’t have time for this. You warned us what you’d do if you got alone with her. You were damn honest about that. I just thought you’d have the fucking presence of mind to wait until she’s somewhere safe, but—”

  “No one followed me here,” Matt snapped. “The door was locked. The only other ingress point is obscured.” He pointed to the drapes. “Ethan kept watch outside and—”

  “Instead of watching her six, you did the mattress tango,” Hunter pointed out.

  “Listen, this isn’t official EM Security business. She came to me because she didn’t know where else to go. I appreciate the help but—”

  “You work for EM Security. If something happens to her, it could blow up our reputation.” Hunter turned to Ethan. “Is your go-bag ready?”

  Madison tensed. This was it. Already. She ached to touch Matt one last time, feel his arms around her, hold him close. But he looked furious, and everything was happening so fast.

  “Yep,” Ethan assured beside her. “I’ve got spare clothes, enough weapons to supply a small army, and a list of filthy ideas to help sweet pea and me pass the time. I’m good to go.” He winked.

  Matt lunged at Ethan. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

  Logan jumped between them. “Stop antagonizing him, junior. We have to get Madison out of here and to the rendezvous point before sunrise.” He turned to her, his expression softening. “You ready? From here on out, Mr. Garrison will behave, or he’ll answer to us. If you need more than what’s in your backpack, we’ll have someone bring it to you.”

  “Can’t Matt go with me instead?” It was a long shot. As Matt pointed out, it wasn’t smart for her to stay with him when he was already on the Pershings’ radar. But if they were headed to the middle of nowhere, who would know? She desperately wanted more time with him. Yes, she was putting off the inevitable because they probably didn’t have a future…but wasn’t it at least a little bit possible? Couldn’t they explore the possibility? After all, he’d come back for her. He clearly wanted her. Maybe it meant something…

  Hunter sent her an apologetic shake of his head. “He asked us to send Ethan with you.”

  “As he should have,” Logan added.

  But she barely heard. Hunter’s admission was a gut punch. A slap. Cold pain scraped her every nerve. Matt was sending her away again? Of course he was. He’d already done it twice; she shouldn’t be surprised. When the hell would she learn?

  “I see. All right.” She hoped no one noticed her trembling voice. She pressed her lips together and tried like hell to reel in her emotions.

  I will not cry. I will not cry.

  Apparently, she still didn’t matter to Matt. She refused to wear her heart on her sleeve. Her feelings only gave him the chance to twist her heart in knots and use her body for his pleasure.

  “I have everything I need.” She shouldered her backpack and avoided looking at Matt.

  “No,” he barked, pointing at Ethan. “He’s not taking two steps with her, much less disappearing alone with her for who knows how long.”

  “You made your choice,” Logan pointed out.

  “He’s not equipped to bodyguard her,” Matt argued.

  “And because you have a hard-on for her, you think you are?”

  His jaw clenched. “This isn’t really your call.”

  “You’re right. She’s not our client. But you’re our operative, and since Nash is down, we’re sending you on a mission. Be ready to leave at midnight.” Hunter looked across the circle to Ethan. “You and Logan take her to your car.”

  Suddenly, Matt reached between his bosses and tugged her against him. “I quit.”

  Madison gasped. What was he doing? Was he actually threatening to give up a job he loved because he was jealous? Or was there a chance he truly cared?

  Hunter raised an intimidating brow. “Are you serious right now?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” the former SEAL sighed.

  “Yep. Are we done here? Daylight is coming. I have a rendezvous to make.”

  Logan shook his head. “I think you’re making a stupid fucking mistake, but it’s yours to make.”

  “Once again, little brother, you prove why you have a reputation as a hothead,” Hunter drawled at Logan, then turned to her. “It’s your life, so I’m making this your call. Would you rather have Matt or Ethan protecting you, knowing it isn’t your safety Matt is focused on?”

  Madison hated being put on the spot, but she didn’t have to think twice. “If it doesn’t cost him his job, I’d rather be with Matt.”

  Hunter sighed like he’d expected her answer, and he thought they were both insane. “Tell you what? Since it’s going to take Deke at least a few days to negotiate with Senator Pershing and you’ll literally be in a location where no one can find you, we’ll let Matt take you—against our better advice—and hold off on accepting his resignation. You good with that?”

  Madison didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

  “And you’re sure you’re up to this?” he asked Matt.

  Her cowboy’s jaw hardened. “She will not die on my watch. I’ll protect her with my life.”

  “Then get out of here. But be warned, if anything happens to her—anything at all—you’re fired.”

  Chapter Ten

  Matt gripped the wheel and headed due east toward the meet point with Jack Cole. He must be out of his fucking mind. He knew the cold, hard truth; Madison was safer without him. But he’d let his jealousy, his sex drive, and his fear that he’d never see her again override his good sense. He’d nearly punched a teammate who, until today, he’d merely found annoying, and he’d threatened to quit the best job he’d ever had.

  For her.

  In the tense silence, he glanced in his mirror. The Edgington brothers were following in Logan’s sleek SUV. The dark roads were blessedly empty. Beside him, Madison was quiet, one bare foot braced on the edge of the passenger’s seat. Her chin rested on her knee. Somewhere along the way, she’d taken down those braids he’d wrapped his fists around. Now, she looked lost in thought, her wavy hair surrounding her like a dark, silken curtain.

  He should say something. After all, he’d fucked her roughly right before he’d fucked up her whole plan. Despite that, she’d all but pleaded with his bosses to let him protect her. Why? He’d bet she was second-guessing herself now.

  “I like it better dark,” he blurted.

  Fuck. He should have kept his mouth shut. Madison hadn’t asked his opinion.

  “Huh?”

  “Your hair,” he clarified. “When I saw your wedding pictures, I almost didn’t recognize you as a blonde.”

  She turned. Under a passing streetlight, he spotted her frown. “Todd made an offhand comment on our second or third date that he wasn’t usually attracted to brunettes. Being the silly little pleaser I was, I bleached my hair shortly after our engagement.”

  Her assessment of herself disturbed Matt. Was that the reason she let him do whatever the fuck he wanted with her in bed? If he couldn’t control himself and she lacked the will to refuse him, how much would her spine bend before he broke it?

  The question unsettled him.

  “When I fled DC, I dyed my hair brown again.” She shrugged. “This is almost my natural color.”

  Matt remembered tangling his fingers in the rich coffee strands their first weekend together. Now, their post-wedding fling felt like a hundred years ago. He needed to get his head screwed on straight if he was going to keep her alive. “What happened at Nash’s?”

  “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine. He lost a lot of blood and had to have a few dozen stitches, but help arrived before he bled out.”

  “Oh, thank God. I called 911 as soon as I could. I didn’t want to leave him alone to fight off the intruders, but—”

  “You did the right thing. You saved his life.”

  She still looked torn. “He told me to run. I knew if I opened that bedroom door to help him or even grab my phone from the kitchen…”

  “You’d be at Todd’s mercy now, if you weren’t already dead. We still don’t know who those guys were. Police are trying to identify their bodies.” But Matt suspected Todd had sent those thugs. At this point, the senator would only hire killers as a last resort. On the heels of Brent’s murder, the optics of another death in the family might look suspicious and warrant more scrutiny.

  “In the moment, it felt awful. So much of the last few days have.” She stared out into the night.

  He wished he could unload this trauma from her shoulders. He’d grown up knowing exactly the kind of shit his dad could pull, but her husband’s capacity for murder had shocked Madison. His ruthless pursuit to silence her must be even more terrifying. Not knowing where she’d lay her head any given night or whether she’d even be alive tomorrow was crushing her. Matt was used to violence; it came with his job. When he wasn’t working, he compartmentalized. As a kindergarten teacher, then a political wife, she had no experience processing brutality. Throw in orgasm with lack of sleep, and no wonder she was so close to her breaking point.

  Matt wished he could pull over, take her in his arms, and reassure her. As soon as they reached Jack’s fishing cabin, he would.

  “I know, honey. I hate that you’re going through this. You can talk to me. Tell me how you feel. Scream, yell, cry. Whatever you need. I can take it.”

  “Thanks, but hysterics won’t change my reality,” she said bleakly. “I’m just sorry I upended your life. I never meant to.”

  Her whole world was crashing around her, and she worried that she had inconvenienced him? “None of this is your fault. You didn’t ask for Todd’s threats.”

  “I knew he wasn’t an angel, but I had no idea he was capable of looking someone in the eye he shared blood with, whom he’d known all his life, and nearly slicing his head off. If he had caught me in the stairwell that night, he would have killed me.” Trembling fear filled her voice. “But I hate that I’ve made a mess of your job, your team rapport, your schedule…”

  He reached across the cab and grabbed her hand. “I’m glad. When I saw you through the window that night, I was convinced I was hallucinating at first. I’d been thinking about you just before you appeared.”

  “Really?”

  Her blue eyes, shimmering with unshed tears, wrenched at him. “The day you got engaged, I resigned myself to the fact you’d moved on with someone bigger and better and forgotten about me. But I never forgot you.”

  “I didn’t move on with someone bigger and better, just someone I thought actually wanted me.” Drops tumbled down her cheeks. She swiped them away impatiently.

  Matt sat back, stunned. He’d spent three years regretting his decisions and assuming that she’d freaked out after he’d unraveled her at the bed-and-breakfast, so of course she kicked him to the curb. Smart women did that to domineering, sexually driven assholes. His mom and most of Dad’s subsequent girlfriends had proven that. Why would Madison be any different?

  But maybe he’d read everything wrong.

  “You married him just because you thought he wanted you?” And you assumed I didn’t?

  She pulled free and dipped her head, as if the weight of her emotions had ground her down. “I’m sure that sounds pathetic. Looking back, it feels that way. I guess I just thought… Never mind.”

  “No. Not never mind. You thought what?”

  “Honestly, it’s not important anymore. We have to focus on now.”

  It was important, but Madison was protecting herself. Matt didn’t blame her. He needed to do a better job taking care of her. He’d volunteered to shield her from the things in this world that could hurt her, but the first thing he’d done when he’d found her again was fuck her mercilessly and dismantle her protective walls separating them. And he wasn’t lying to himself. Despite his guilt, he’d enjoyed every raw, dirty second of it.

  What would happen when he got her—a woman who wanted to be wanted—alone, in the middle of nowhere, for days on end?

  “I’m sorry about what happened earlier,” he said finally. “I didn’t have any right to throw you on the bed and…”

  Madison turned to him, wide-eyed and blinking. After he’d taken her harder and filthier than any woman in his life, how could she still look so innocent?

  “You’re apologizing?” She gaped.

  “Yeah. I didn’t wait for your consent. I made you do and say things that…” He swallowed. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be gentler and more considerate… If there’s even a next time. I’m not assuming anything.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself again, inching closer to the passenger door, beyond his reach. “Okay. I heard you the first time.”

  Then what was the problem? Matt was trying to be good to her, a better man than his father. “I meant that.”

  Madison bit her lip, somehow looking even more spent. “I can tell. Could you just…not talk about it anymore?”

  Damn it, was she that traumatized? He wanted her to know that she mattered and she wasn’t a fuck doll to him. Why should that upset her? Or did she think he’d apologized because he regretted having sex with her? Because he didn’t want her?