Lifting her hips, he pushed deep into her and clenched his teeth against the urge to find his own release.

Driving into her was pure ecstasy.

Her nails curled, biting his skin. “More.”

Holding back slid farther from his grasp with each stroke, but if she wanted more… he grabbed her hips, pounding, relentless, driving past all thought.

Wait. He could hold on longer…

She locked her legs around his waist. Her heat tightened around him. She squeezed. “Now.”

Game over.

Muscles clenched, locking across his body, then snapped free, shooting stars past his eyes with the mind-numbing release.

Seconds turned into minutes until he realized he’d lost track of time.

Unheard of. He never lost track of his surroundings. Ever.

But a minute ago he’d been on top of her pounding and now he held her in his arms, lying on his side.

He reached over and pulled the covers over them both, mainly so she didn’t get chilled. His body still roared hot as a furnace.

When he was able to move again, he told her, “I’ll be right back.” Lumbering into the bathroom, he navigated by a light on the bottom of the wall-mounted hair dryer. He cleaned himself up and returned with a warm washcloth, but when he reached the bed she took the cloth from him.

How could she be self-conscious about anything now? He smiled but didn’t tease her. For all Abbie’s bravado she had moments of insecurity. Some idiot male had yanked the legs from under her confidence. By the time Hunter had discarded her washcloth in the bathroom even he was feeling the chill. He climbed back into bed and snaked an arm around her waist, drawing her tight against him.

He inhaled deeply, enjoying the musky scent of their lovemaking.

She shuddered out a long sigh. Her fingers wrapped around the arm he held her with. She made a little shift with her body and settled down as though ready to sleep.

No such luck for him.

Not after she’d wiggled her backside against him. He was getting hard again.

Four more condoms called to him from where he’d tossed them on the nightstand, but Abbie was out stone cold in the next minute. She had complete faith in his ability to keep her safe, hadn’t even questioned if anyone would find them here.

She’d obviously left her future in his hands.

The weight of that trust pressed on his chest.

He’d lived for years without anyone depending on him or caring about him. Had to so he could function at his highest level, especially after losing Eliot. Even Borys knew how to take care of himself for the next week until Hunter had a chance to find him a new place to hide. He couldn’t have kept the cabin in Montana once Abbie left since he’d never risk anyone walking around with knowledge of his personal safe house.

But he hated to lose that place because of all the memories he had of Eliot’s visits. And Eliot had been the only person he’d ever trusted to know the location.

Abbie sighed in her sleep.

Hunter realized he’d been brushing a hand softly over her hair. He kissed the top of her head. She was sweet and had no reason to tell anyone about the cabin, but leaving himself vulnerable to any security leak went against his discipline.

He hadn’t understood Eliot taking that risk with Cynthia, even if he did love her. His friend had placed a hell of a lot more faith in love than Hunter would.

He curled Abbie closer, trying to quiet the voice inside him arguing in her defense that she was different from all the other women. That Abbie would love deeply and never break a trust.

But his father had probably thought the same thing about Hunter’s mother, who had sworn her love in front of the world and tossed that word around with little care for the meaning in the dictionary.

Look at Todd. He and Pia had said they loved each other. That love had ended in divorce court and his brother hitting the bottle as he never had before.

There was a limit to how far Hunter would ever invest himself.

Better to be cautious than dead because of misplaced faith.

Like the way he’d trusted Joe to be good for his word. Joe had agreed to Hunter’s plan to access the Kore database.

With so little time left and the threat of bombings, why had Joe sent a team to Montana? Why not wait to see if Hunter came through with the records from Kore?

How had BAD found his Montana location?

The pilot of his brother’s jet from Chicago would have known only about the helicopter Hunter and Abbie transferred to at a small airfield in Wyoming, not their final destination. Hunter had the helicopter pilot make a total of six stops at coordinates of remote locations, dropping them along the way near Beartooth Pass in Montana.

He’d known the pilot from his days with the CIA when the pilot was sent in to extract an agent in Uruguay and got captured. Hunter had led a team to rescue the pilot and the agent. That pilot wouldn’t have given up a thing even if he was locked up somewhere with a trumped-up charge.

A very likely scenario.

Didn’t matter. Hunter had known Joe would come after him at some point, just hadn’t expected it to be now.

A complication. Not one that would stop him once he figured out what to do with Abbie.

Nothing would prevent him from finding Eliot’s killer, but he also had a duty to protect Abbie and to help BAD and his country even if Joe did want to hang him right now. Hunter would retrieve the information BAD needed before he went to ground. He didn’t hold a grudge against Joe for sending a team to bring him in. He’d known for four years this time would come. He just had to be careful not to make a mistake.

Like the one he was holding in his arms.

Abbie had stumbled into his life a second time and he shouldn’t have touched her. He tried to tell himself he’d made love to her because he had to finish what he’d started at the cabin and because she needed comfort and because… just excuses he’d dug up to ignore the truth.

He wanted Abbie.

Still did. Didn’t want to give her up.

But he’d never make the mistake Eliot had made.

Hunter would never let Abbie know how much he’d like to keep her, and he sure as hell wouldn’t risk her getting pregnant.

Besides, she’d hate him once he got the information from Kore, because he’d use that to trade with BAD for Abbie’s safety. If he had a choice he’d keep her with him where he could protect her himself.

Joe had unleashed the hounds last night. If they found the cabin that fast, they wouldn’t be far behind him.

Once he handed over what BAD needed from Kore, the most dangerous place for Abbie would be at his side.

Have you discussed the documents I gave you on this mission with anyone?” Vestavia asked Linette as she prepared to depart his office after their meeting. He studied every aspect of her response, from physical to verbal.

She stood next to the chair facing his desk, a file folder tucked against the front of her knee-length orange dress and open jacket. “Of course not, Fra.”

He listened with an objective ear for any flutter in her voice but heard nothing suspicious. The mole hadn’t made a move yet. If Vestavia couldn’t prevent the destruction of a major U.S. city, at a minimum he would use this opportunity to find the person behind the leaks. Linette didn’t concern him. Not that women weren’t capable of subterfuge.

Josie could have pulled off being a double agent, but Linette wasn’t Josie and had never been given any freedom.

Josie had traveled at will. He’d never find another woman like her.

He’d chosen Linette for this mission because of her lack of field experience. And because the old prick who’d abused her since she was a teen had broken her spirit. She’d tell him if anyone tried to pry information out of her.