She’d pretended she wasn’t aware of him. All through the negotiations as he stood by the door, she’d tried to mentally block him. When Bast finished the deal, Gabe took over and started planning. He switched from quiet but determined watchdog to drill sergeant, issuing orders and making decisions as if she didn’t get a vote. She’d been planning to put an end to his dictatorial reign when he drugged her water bottle, scooped her up and brought her here . . . wherever “here” was.

He shook his head. “You even wake up arguing and difficult.”

Not the first time she’d been called either. Still . . . “Excuse me?”

“Makes me sorry the drugs wore off so soon.”

The idea of nailing him in the gut tempted her. Lower would work even better. “Since you knocked me out against my will, changed my clothes and dragged me out here, you shouldn’t try taking the high road.”

“Had to be done.”

Typical. He thought he knew what she needed. She decided to remind him of a very basic fact: “I am trained.”

“True, but I’m better.”

When it came to stalking his prey, he likely was. Snipers excelled at shooting, but the real skill came with the ability to move in and around without anyone knowing where they were. Not that she was ready to concede anything to this guy. “Get off me.”

“No.”

The bruising cold of the ground contrasted with the warmth of his body. He wore an outfit similar to hers, jeans and a flannel shirt, but heat poured off him. Forget the dropping temperatures and never-ending fall of snow. None of it appeared to affect him.

She shifted her hips and felt the bulge in his pants and the way it pressed against her. Not erect, but the man was not small and seemed to have an issue with personal boundaries. That only made her more determined to impose a few. “Are you so hard up for sex that you tackle random women?”

“No.”

“I can feel you.”

He didn’t bother to lift up or move. Didn’t spend one second hesitating or looking guilty. “I would think so, since I’m basically on top of you.”

It was hard to argue that point. She started to buck her hips with the idea of knocking him off balance but changed her mind. The friction could take them in the wrong direction, and she needed every ounce of concentration right now.

The icy cold of the ground seeped into her bones. The combination of the drugs and the dropping temperature had her body in freefall. She’d start losing feeling soon, much faster than she normally would, and if she didn’t get inside and dry, she could be in huge trouble. The weather appeared to have no impact on him. He stayed warm, got hard. Never even shivered. Of course, no one had messed with his body or brain to get him out here.

She decided to go with the obvious problem. “Your dick is against my thigh.” She could feel all of him everywhere. The muscles across his chest and his flat stomach. For a big guy he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him.

“Where should it be?”

The way he acted, like it was no big deal and not a threat in any way, had her thinking he might have even fewer people skills than she did. “Not on me.”

“Sorry about that.” Nothing more. Not even a shift to the side.

“That’s your response?”

“Yes.”

The whole he-man thing should have pissed her off. Instead, confusion had her brain cells sputtering. He didn’t take any crap but didn’t flinch when she fought back. She couldn’t intimidate him. He didn’t resort to stupid insults like the ones she used to hear whispered behind her back at the office.

She couldn’t put the pieces together in her head, but she could fall back on the denial that served her so well in the past. “I don’t want your protection.”

“So you keep saying.”

His exasperated exhale blew over her, but she ignored his frustration. “You should listen then. I’m not great with repetition.”

“Fine, I heard what you want.”

“And?”

“Tough.” He sat up and moved back. Still straddling her thighs, he pulled her up and got her back off the ground.

Her instincts told her to take a shot. Knock him back and run. But she didn’t. She sat there and waited to see his next move. Might have had something to do with the very real sense that Gabe was not a guy many people got away from easily.

Her gaze wandered down his chest to the bulge at the front of his jeans. “You think we’re going to sit up here, have sex and wait for bad guys to come snooping around?”

The corner of his mouth kicked up, not in a full smile but close. “You seem obsessed with sex.”

“I wonder why.” She rubbed her hands over her arms as her teeth started to tap together.

His gaze fell to her lips then traveled back to her eyes. “Let’s make a deal.”

“No.” The knee-jerk response came out before she could stop it.

“So prickly.”

“Do you blame me?” She’d been run out of her job and made the fall guy for a rogue CIA operation that eventually uncovered a spy within the agency. Never mind that she resolved everything or that her team pushed through, with some of them losing their lives, and found the mole despite claims from agency higher-ups that none existed.

He nodded. “You’ve had more than a fair share of bullshit thrown your way.”

“Understatement.” Her crime had been simple in the eyes of her superiors. She’d exposed blind spots in the agency. She’d refused to take no for an answer when she knew she was right. She’d stuck up for the sole surviving members of her team and made a deal to spare their lives in exchange for her leaving her job and not exposing systematic flaws within the agency. In return, she got manhandled, drugged, and now had to hide just in case someone at the CIA decided she might not keep her mouth shut and needed to be eliminated.

Gabe exhaled. “I can’t fix what you’ve been through, but I can give you some peace of mind.”

For some reason that made her more skeptical, not less. “If you say so.”

“I won’t touch you without your permission.” He lowered his head until he leveled that intense stare right at her eyes. “Ever.”

“You’re touching me now.”

He held up his hands. “My job is to protect you. Nothing else will happen.”

“Damn right.”

“Kick me in the balls if I try.” He stood up, pretty much jumped to his feet without making a sound, and held out a hand, letting it hover in front of her face. “You hold the power over what happens between us.”

“I agree.”

“Us, not how I protect you.”

He still didn’t get the churning inside her, that drive to run and not depend on someone else. She’d been trained for this, damn it. The idea of having a full-time bodyguard made her twitchy. Made it more likely that she’d end up looking to protect him than to keep herself safe. “I need to leave.”

He exhaled as he shot her one of those you’re-working-on-my-nerves frowns he excelled at throwing her way. “And go where?”

Seeing no reason to play the martyr, she grabbed his hand and struggled to her feet as numbness threatened to overtake her. “Hell if I know.”

This time he did smile. Shot her a wide and sexy grin. “That’s what I like about you, Natalie.”

That look had her spinning. Whatever was dancing around in her stomach better be the flu. “What?”

“You’re not stupid.”

Smart of him to notice. “I guess that’s a good thing.”

“And sexy as hell.”

Now that was a problem. If she let her mind wander for one second she thought about climbing all over him. The need pounding through her could not be mutual. She could fight off her own attraction, but not his as well. Sex on the run, in the midst of gunfire and danger, sounded dumb. Like a one-way ticket to checking out of this world for good.

“Imagine me shooting you. That should kill the mood.” She glanced around, trying to believe she lost touch with her weapon for even a second, or that she only had one.