I was already going, my phone on the floor. I threw the door open. A few helpful staff members were clustered around it.

“Move!” I said.

They started to, then were nearly bowled over by Jeremy, who was coming at a run, Troy behind him.

“She’s—” I began.

“I hear her,” he said, his tone grim.

He ran to Hope’s side. She was still shouting, red-faced, coughing now as she struggled to breathe.

“Get the doctor,” Jeremy said to me. “She needs to be sedated.”

“If it’s a message, presumably she’ll stop once it’s imparted,” Benicio said as he stepped in. “We should let—”

“Get the damned doctor,” Jeremy said in a rare snarl.

Troy and I were already running for him—and found him stepping off the elevator. He had the sedative in his bag. By the time we got back to the room, Hope was hyperventilating and her skin was turning blue, and Benicio had stopped arguing that we should let the message play out.

It kept coming even after the needle went in. Her voice dropped as the sedative took effect, then slowed to a mumble, then finally stopped, and she drifted off into silent sleep.

I left as soon as Hope was okay. The room was crowded enough—Paige had arrived, and was helping Jeremy and Karl cool Hope with damp cloths. I was just in the way. So I gave Benicio my phone and told him that I’d managed to record Hope’s outburst. He said he’d get a linguist to analyze the recording.

THIRTY

The job of a bodyguard, apparently, is to look after his charge’s body in every way. Well, most ways. Keeping me fed was a priority, it seemed. After the harrowing experience with Hope, Troy decided I needed a proper breakfast. So as we walked, he gave me options. I picked something. Couldn’t remember what it was a minute after agreeing. He must have stopped to flag down someone to go get it and I must have kept walking. The next thing I knew, I didn’t have a hulking bodyguard at my side.

Hands caught me around the waist. My fists flew up.

Adam caught them. “Please don’t hit me. I’ve barely recovered from the last beating. Though I am glad to see you leading with your fists instead of your spells.”

“If you don’t want to get hit, don’t sneak up behind me,” I said as he bustled me into an empty office. “And you’d better be careful. Troy is going to come looking for me at any second.”

“No, he won’t.” Adam kicked the door shut. “I just texted him and asked for a minute alone.”

He caught me up in a kiss. I barely had time to start enjoying it before I remembered that he’d said we needed to talk and little alarm bells started going off. The moment I started worrying, I stopped reciprocating. He pulled back.

“Savannah?”

As I wriggled from his grasp, he looked alarmed. “What’s wrong? Did you talk to Paige? Did she say something?” He exhaled. “I know she’s not going to be happy about this. The age gap is—”

“I didn’t tell Paige. But when we talked about telling them …” I rolled my shoulders. Eased onto the desktop and tried to get comfortable. “Damn it. I’m no good at this. I’d rather just stick to the kissing part.”

A chuckle. “We could do that.”

“I wish,” I muttered. “Okay, I’m going to sound like a total nervous girlfriend here but … you said we needed to talk. It sounded ominous.”

“It did?”

“Well, no, I guess not, but …” I looked at him. “I’ve been worrying.”

“Shit.” He moved in between my knees as I perched on the desk. He put his hands on my hips and met my eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to worry you. It’s just … something we need to discuss.”

“Okay, so let’s discuss.”

He glanced at the closed door.

“Yes, we’re wasting valuable private time,” I said. I hesitated. How honest was I ready to be? There was part of me that wanted to play it cool. Casual. But it wasn’t casual.

So I continued. “Truth is, normally I wouldn’t have thought anything about it. Guy wants to talk? Sure. Whatever. But … I’m a little anxious here. A lot anxious.”

“All right then. But I’ll warn you this is the kind of conversation I’ve never initiated. And when a girl does? My cell miraculously starts vibrating, with an emergency call from the agency.”

I smiled. “I’ve pulled that a few times myself.”

“Which is why we get along so well. But this isn’t … It’s not the usual thing. Meet a girl. Hey you wanna grab a drink sometime? Hook up, break up, delete her number. Fun while it lasted. You’re …” He exhaled again. Shifted his weight. “I’ve known you forever. We work together. We hang out together. We share friends. We are friends. You know me better than anyone.”

“So you don’t want to start something and risk that.”

He gave me a look. “Obviously I’m trying to start something. We’ve already started something. The big question is: What? Yeah, I know, you say you’ve been wanting this for a long time but … this might not be what you expected.”

“Okay.”

He hesitated, as if that wasn’t the answer he expected. Or wanted.

I said, “I think, if I’m reading this right, you’re not sure about rushing to tell Lucas and Paige because you’re thinking maybe, after a few days, I’m going to say ‘Huh, not really what I hoped for’ and break it off. I can’t imagine I would. But I’m thinking the same thing—about you. Maybe you’re going to decide this isn’t what you want. We already have something good, right?”

“We do.”

“And we risk mucking it up entirely if we try to make it something better. There’s no satisfaction guaranteed or your old relationship refunded. But if you’re asking if I’m serious enough to give this a shot, I am. Are you?”

He held my eyes for a long second before saying, “Absolutely.”

“Good. Now can we get back to the kissing part?”

As good as our earlier kisses had been, he’d been holding something back. Now I got the full deal, the deep, god-I-can’t-breathe, god-I-don’t-care version. Arms around him. Legs around him, too, heat scorching my thighs and everywhere in between and thinking it was just me until heat shot down my throat, like a sudden lick of flame, and I gasped.