Hunter wasn’t one of those pussies afraid of commitment or his emotions, but he wasn’t the only part of this equation. He’d pushed Kata to her mental and physical limit before leaving on this mission. He was coming off three days of adrenaline rush and sleeplessness. His mood was bad, his temper worse. Normally, he wouldn’t go near Kata until he was rested and calm. But since he had to leave again Sunday morning for what would likely be months, he couldn’t waste time. He had to see—and deal with—her now.

Inside the hospital’s too-white lobby, Hunter bypassed the sleepy receptionist and headed for the bank of elevators. He counted to ten ... twenty. Fuck, counting to a thousand wouldn’t calm him down. If Tyler hadn’t been on top of the situation, Kata could have fallen prey to an assassin’s bullet; the heart Hunter still sought to earn could have stopped beating. The very thought turned his blood to ice.

With a muted ding, the elevator stopped on the third floor. Hunter jogged down the hall, spotting Tyler tucked in the shadows at the nurses’ station, just as he’d promised. Jack and Morgan had gone home for a bit of sleep. Deke had stepped in while visiting his wife, then left around midnight. None of them could convince Kata to leave the hospital and rest someplace safe.

Hunter’s palm itched. He was going to spank her but good. After they settled her mother, they were going to spend hours and hours sleeping and making love and resolving their problems. He’d do whatever necessary to make her damn well promise not to put herself at risk again. And he’d earn her love by Sunday.

Finally, room 304. Though less than a few dozen steps, the jog had seemed interminable. He rounded the corner and stepped into the hospital room.

And stopped cold.

In one of the room’s two chairs, Kata sat, all curled up on Ben’s lap, with her face in the crook of his neck and her arms around him, fast asleep. Ben had curled his arm over her thighs, his broad hand anchored near her hip. The other clung to her nape as he dozed. They looked cozy. Intimate.

The sight felt like a battering ram decimating his solar plexus.

Behind him, he heard familiar footsteps, and without looking knew they belonged to Tyler.

“How long has he been here?” Hunter swallowed, but nothing could keep the jagged fury from bubbling up inside him.

“He brought Kata and her mother here Monday night and has barely left since. Kata hasn’t gone anywhere with him, but . . .”

Tyler’s unfinished sentence suggested that, given their snug, sleep-warm embrace, it was only a matter of time before Kata fell back into Ben’s bed. And from where Hunter was standing, that looked like an accurate assessment.

Fuck.

The bottom line was, Ben had been there for her when she needed him; Hunter hadn’t.

What did you expect? An absent husband can’t give me what I need. He can. His mother had screamed those words at his father fifteen years ago. No one in his family had seen or heard from Amanda again, divorce papers excepting, before she’d died.

Fisting his hands, Hunter stared at his wife curled up on another man’s lap, a million thoughts racing through his head. He could turn around, leave, and never come back. But the Colonel had done exactly that when his wife had fallen for someone else, despite the fact that it cost him his heart. No fucking way was Hunter waving his white flag.

His dad had never quite healed after the bitter divorce, and Hunter knew if he let Kata go now, he’d likely crawl down that same emotional path. Unlike the Colonel, Hunter wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Do you want to kill him, or should I?” Tyler whispered.

Personally, Hunter had assumed the man would understand Ben’s position, mired in an unrequited love for Luc’s wife, Alyssa, for about a year. But Tyler wasn’t his focus now.

“Neither. I took Kata from Ben. Maybe he thinks this is tit for tat. I’ll deal with him later. Since the doctor isn’t releasing Kata’s mom until later today, I’m going to have a long . . . chat with my wife.”

When he finished, she’d understand exactly the lengths he’d go in order to keep what was his.

Chapter Thirteen

A HEAVY presence woke Kata from a deep, tangled sleep. Had the doctor returned? She opened her eyes to find herself on Ben’s lap and frowned. How had she gotten there? Shaking her head, she stood on shaky legs, then turned—and gasped.

A forbidding shadow stood directly above her, face inscrutable in the predawn dark. Heart pounding, she gasped, adrenaline jolting her. Then recognition hit.

“Hunter!” Her first urge was to throw her arms around him, but she suddenly saw his taut shoulders and cold, cold gaze shift down to Ben before lifting back to her with the sharpness of a lethal blade. Trepidation tightened her belly.

Kata glanced back at Ben, who shifted restlessly in the chair, then faced Hunter once more. “It’s not what you . . . I—I was just exhausted. I guess we fell asleep. I don’t remember. But nothing—”

“Not here.” His voice sounded like the snap of a whip. “The doctor says your mother will be discharged this afternoon. Once she is, we’ll get her home and settled. When was the last time you showered or ate a whole meal?”

Kata swallowed a lump of dismay. She knew better than to think that he hadn’t asked why she’d been sitting on Ben’s lap because he didn’t care. Rage vibrated off of him. No, he was saving this ass chewing for later. Ben had originally agreed to share her with Hunter, but she didn’t think for one second that Hunter would be at all willing to share with Ben.

Jack’s warning about the spanking Hunter would undoubtedly give her dive-bombed her thoughts. Had she, in his mind, added to her list of infractions by falling asleep on Ben? Would Hunter strip her bare, force her to lie across his knees, and take every hot, commanding swat of his hand on her ass? What self-respecting, independent female would want that? Yeah, his few swats back at Logan’s condo had been . . . nice, but to actually want him to truly spank her? No way. Not her.

Still, the thought made her heart stutter . . . and made her pussy dismayingly wet.

God, her whole relationship with Hunter was confusing, destructive. Kata had fallen asleep trying to decide if she should give him the divorce papers. She still didn’t know what to do. All the ways he’d touched her as if staking his claim, everything he’d said about loving her . . . She wanted so badly for that to be true, even though it terrified her.

“Kata, your last meal and shower?”

The way he barked questions rattled her. All his warmth, passion, and fire had been replaced with barely checked thunder. An odd shame crawled through her. She’d displeased him, and for some reason that bothered her. A lot.

She didn’t like it one bit.

“Hello to you, too.” She thrust her hands on her hips. “Glad to see you’re still in one piece. Thanks for telling me all about your trip. Things have been rough here, since you didn’t ask. But I’m handling it.”

He clenched his jaw and softened his voice. “I’m sorry your mother’s been ill. Tyler updated me on the situation earlier this morning. I’m glad she’s recovering. Now I’m concerned about you. Answer the question, Kata. When?”

“The way you’re glowering at me doesn’t exactly make me want to answer, but it’s been two days.”

If she’d seen thunder on his face before, it now held a storm of fury. “Goddamn it—”

In the chair behind her, Ben groaned, stretched, and opened his eyes. He froze when he saw Hunter. “Oh. You’re back.”

Ben didn’t even try to sound happy about that fact.

Hunter gave him a single nod, then grabbed her hand. “I’ll take care of my wife from here. I’ll make sure she gets a damn meal.”

Ben stood and edged right behind her and added fuel to the fire by wrapping his arm around her waist. “Fuck you! I begged her to eat. I’ve been by her side for the last day and a half while you were off playing soldier. In fact, I’ve been with her for the last two years. I’ll stand by her, no matter what, and she knows it. It’s up to Kata to choose who she wants to . . . help her.”

“Help” clearly being a euphemism for something much more meaningful. Kata gaped at Ben over her shoulder. They’d been casual lovers. Was he seriously trying to stake some claim now?

“Ben?” She sent him a questioning stare, tension gripping her insides.

His arm around her tightened. “I guess I didn’t realize how important you were to me until you weren’t there anymore. But you are, and I’m here for you.”

Kata was there for him, too, but as nothing more than a friend. She didn’t know if she’d just naturally outgrown him or if Hunter had played a role, but she knew that whatever had once been between them was over.

“Back off.” Hunter pulled Kata out of Ben’s grip, then held up her left hand. Her wedding ring glinted in the white hospital light filtering in through the hall. “I take care of what’s mine.”

“You’re such a bastard,” Ben snarled.

The testosterone in the room was so thick, Kata thought she might choke. She stepped away from them both.

“You knew that when you invited me to Vegas.” Hunter smiled coldly.

Ben clenched his fists and looked to her, his expression a plea for reassurance. Kata’s stomach cramped with guilt. If she’d led him on, it had been unintentional. No doubt, they should talk this through at some point.

She turned and gave him a friendly hug. “Thank you for everything. I wouldn’t have made it through this difficult time without your help. I’m fine now. Rest. I’ll call you.”

Ben closed his eyes. Despite her gentle rejection, the sting of it tightened his face. Abruptly, he stepped away. “You’re living in Fantasyland if you think this controlling prick will ever let you call me again.”

He brushed her shoulder with his own as he exited the room.

Was Ben right? Would Hunter try to forbid her from even saying hi to someone she’d considered a friend for two years? Kata wouldn’t put up with that.

“Your mother isn’t set to be released until at least thirteen hundred, in seven hours. She’s out of danger, and you haven’t left her side in days. You need to rest and refuel. You and I need to talk. Tyler will watch her and call if anything arises.” He tugged on her hand. “Let’s go.”

Kata dug in her heels. “I can’t go anywhere until Mamá does. She needs me to take care of her.”

Hunter’s cold eyes narrowed. “She’s in a hospital filled with health-care professionals. You can’t take care of anyone when you’re falling down on your feet. If you’re not going to take care of yourself, I’ll do it for you. Don’t think I won’t carry you out.”

She absolutely knew that he would. A part of her reveled. Another part railed. How could he expect her to leave when Mamá needed her most?

“If this is your way of taking care of me, it feels more like bullying.”

He crowded into her personal space, then glanced down at her breasts, his gaze a hot caress. “But you respond to it.”

Shit. Kata became aware of her nipples, tight and hard, poking against her shirt. A few minutes in his presence did that to her. Her body felt heavy, her breathing shallow. Her panties? Best not to think about how wet those had become.

“You haven’t even begun to discover all the ways I’m going to take care of you. Come with me now.” Each word he spoke in low tones, his voice like smoke and steel, infused with that controlled demand she knew so well.

Kata knew she should just shut up . . . but she couldn’t bring herself to simply give in. “If I don’t?”

His grip on her hand tightened, and he stepped even closer, his chest brushing hers. “Itching to add to all the punishment you’ve got coming?”

Kata’s pulse leapt. Lightning flared through her nipples. Fresh moisture slicked her sex. She pressed her thighs together, but that only made the ache worse. Damn Hunter. His touch could too easily become an addiction. Already, she felt the slide into craving.

She looked up, and their gazes locked. The fury in his blue eyes was so cold, they were nearly gray. A glance farther down revealed an erection that made her body tighten with need all over again. But when Kata looked up again, she saw the exhaustion in the deep hollows of his eyes and compressed lips. Concern bled through defiance.

Kata curled her hand around his shoulder. “When was the last time you slept and ate a whole meal?”

He paused, seemingly disarmed by the question. Some of his starch softened, and he sighed tiredly. “Days ago.”

Which explained why he was particularly short now. Ben’s presence at the hospital hadn’t helped the cause.

“All right. Then let’s go. We’ll be back in time to get Mamá?”

“Of course. Kata, if you’d let me, I’ll always take care of you. That includes helping the family you love.”