She sighed, securing her belt. “Where are we going?” She gave her attention to the security guard behind the wheel in front of her. “I’m Dr. Trisha Norbit. What’s your name, driver?”

“Bart,” he shared cheerfully. He met Trisha’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “We’re heading up north to a private resort.”

Trisha frowned uneasily. “Why?”

“Oh,” Bart started the SUV, “Mr. North has set a bunch of meetings up there. They figured it would be remote enough to make the press really uncomfortable if they wanted to attempt to follow him there and camp out to see what he’s doing. We’re hoping they don’t find out about it until after the fact.”

Trisha ignored Slade. “What kind of meetings? Do you know?”

“Oh sure.” The young guy was really talkative, which suited Trisha. “Mr. North wants to buy some land up there for New Species. He’s set meetings with all the officials out there and the guy who wants to sell the land. I heard he wanted you present in case someone has any questions about medical crap.” He took a breath. “You heard those stupid rumors about how people can catch parvo and stuff from New Species, right? I was kind of worried but Tiger swore it was bullshit. Do you know Tiger, Dr. Norbit? It’s not true, is it? I can’t catch any animal diseases from working with New Species, can I? Because that’s something I would really hate. I think they should give us hazard pay if that’s true. My mom says I should go to a vet and get vaccine shots just in case bec—”

“Shut up,” Slade snarled.

Trisha jumped at the tone of Slade’s voice and Bart closed his mouth. She swung her head to glare at Slade. He shrugged.

“He talks too much. It annoys me.”

Trisha tried to hide her disgust. “I promise you can’t catch parvo from New Species, Bart. Thank you,” she stressed those words, “for telling me where we are going and why.” She shot Slade another nasty look. “Some people don’t appreciate someone who is polite but I certainly do.”

Slade turned a little, faced her more from his position on the seat, and smiled as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. He openly stared at her br**sts and kept his focus there. “I can be really nice when I want to be. I know how to stimulate conversation.” His gaze rose and he winked at her. “I’m pretty good with my oral skills when I’m motivated.” He glanced down to her lap and his grin widened. “I’m very good with my oral skills.”

You son of a bitch. Trisha ground her teeth, refusing to say it aloud. He wasn’t talking about conversation and she knew it. Why did he always try to annoy her? Maybe he thought he could embarrass her by his blatant sexual innuendos but she was a doctor. She took a deep breath and forced a smile. She’d been harassed by drunk men in the emergency rooms far too often to allow him get the best of her.

“Oral skills are always a wonderful thing to have, Mr. Slade.” Her gaze lowered to the crotch of his black pants, lingered there. She slowly allowed her gaze to travel up his body to examine every inch of him until they were staring into each other’s eyes. She saw his smile had faded, knowing her actions had wiped the amused look from his face. “I guess you could say I have a real oral fixation myself.”

She smiled wider at him, licked her lips, letting her tongue glide slowly over the surface. His jaw clenched as he adjusted his weight. She noticed his interest.

“Good conversation is very important, don’t you think? It’s so stimulating and pleasurable if done right. As a doctor it may surprise you how much I’ve learned on the subject. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a really good conversation and sometimes I nearly ache from wishing someone could stimulate me.” Her eyes narrowed. “But unfortunately I haven’t met anyone yet who I want to really talk to. I just keep meeting jerks who have no finesse.”

He growled at her. She chuckled and turned away from him to stare out the window to watch as they left Homeland. The guards at the gate just waved the SUV past. Trisha didn’t bother to look at Slade. She was afraid he’d be staring at her still. She turned toward the window and shifted until she found a comfortable position.

“I hope you both don’t mind but I’m going to take a nap.” She couldn’t resist. She turned her head to meet Slade’s gaze. He still watched her and his amazing blue eyes looked at her without amusement. He actually appeared angry.

“Have a nice nap, Dr. Norbit. I’ll wake you when we get there,” Bart offered. “Mind if I listen to the radio?”

“Not at all.” Trisha turned back to the window, realizing how tired she really was.

* * * * *

“Hurry,” a male roared. “Drive faster. He’s right on our ass.”

Trisha jerked awake as she slammed against the window. She groaned as pain exploded at the top of her forehead. She was half asleep, disoriented, as she jerked her head to glance around the SUV to see what was going on.

Slade leaned forward between the seats and Bart still drove the SUV. Trisha studied their surroundings, seeing they were in a wooded area on a two-lane highway with dense trees on each side of the road. The sun had lowered in the sky and it would be night soon. She held her forehead where it still hurt but then pulled her hand back to look for blood. There wasn’t any.

“Step on the gas harder,” Slade growled. “They are going to hit us again.”