“Great.” Still, he hedged his bets. “If you don’t stay with the plan, if you put her in any sort of danger, there won’t be a hole small enough for you to climb in. I will find you. And I will kill you.”

*   *   *

AFTER walking Mystery and Heath to the parking garage, Axel hopped on his bike and waited on the side street for her bodyguard to bring the car around. The Brit better not stab him in the back. The warning he’d given in the suite might have been overkill, but he’d bet it was effective.

He plucked his phone from his pocket and texted Stone, advising that if he wanted to meet Sweet Pea, it had to be tonight and to get his ass moving since the drive would take about five hours. The man replied with a quick affirmative.

Then Axel sighed. He had to make a call he really didn’t want to, but he didn’t see a way around it.

Mitchell Thorpe, Club Dominion’s owner, answered on the third ring. “What part of ‘a day off’ isn’t computing for you?”

“Pretty much all of it. I’ve got a . . . situation. I need your help.”

Thorpe sobered instantly. “What’s up?”

Axel explained Mystery’s danger, then hesitated. “I want to bring her to the club, to keep her safe until we get her to her aunt’s house.”

“Is letting her visit the woman at all wise?”

“No, but she won’t be talked out of it. She’s argued with her father, Heath, and me. Apparently, she promised the woman, and I get that. I don’t love Mystery’s insistence, but it’s not my decision to make.” Yet.

“She’s a grown woman, and you can only direct her so much. I know someone else very much like that. Yes, I’m talking to you, pet.” Thorpe obviously teased Callie. She was the only one he spoke to in that voice filled with love, affection, and pride.

“They are a lot alike. They’re definitely both survivors. I know with Callie’s pregnancy you probably don’t want me to bring danger to your door. But it’s the safest place I can think of for Mystery until we arrange a charter to take her to Kansas tomorrow.”

Thorpe paused. “I’m not thrilled, but you’re right that Ms. Mullins can’t stay at the hotel. I’ll make sure Sean takes our girl home and away from any potential threat.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You helped me a lot with Sean and Callie. I owe you.”

Axel hadn’t done much more than track down the former fed’s place and threaten to beat the shit out of him when Thorpe had believed Sean was a threat to Callie, but if the club owner wanted to consider this calling in a favor, fine. “We should be there in less than thirty minutes.”

“Good. I’ll get everything here moving accordingly. Have any of you had dinner?”

Mystery had never gotten to eat her room service with the police and hotel security crawling everywhere. Axel hadn’t even thought of food. “No.”

“I’ll ask Callie to order something good before she leaves.” Thorpe hesitated. “Does Ms. Mullins know where you’re bringing her?”

“I haven’t mentioned it.” He should probably tell her she would be staying in an active BDSM club where, almost every night, Doms and subs pushed themselves to their mental, physical, and emotional limits. But he lacked the privacy to have a personal conversation with her now. Besides, the perverse side of him wanted to see her undoctored reaction to Club Dominion. He ached to know now if she could fit into his life.

Then, maybe, he could try to figure out if he fit into hers, because right now, trailer park upbringing and all, he didn’t see himself letting her go.

*   *   *

BESIDE Mystery, Heath remained quiet as they raced down dark Dallas side streets, winding their way toward their destination.

“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.

Heath’s mouth tightened. “I don’t.”

And he didn’t like it. That went without saying. She’d sensed the tension between the two men, and it worried her. They were supposed to be on the same team, wanting the same outcome. Why wouldn’t they get along?

“He’s actually a really wonderful guy,” she began.

“Pardon me, but from where I’m standing, he was paid handsomely to rescue you, then abandoned you the minute you reached safety. He didn’t call you to follow up or check in to find out if you were all right, did he?”

“No, but—”

“He earned his paycheck. Nothing more. He clearly didn’t care a whit about you. If he had, he would never have turned his back on you after that terrible abduction.”

“I propositioned him before we were rescued.” She felt heat flare across her cheeks. “He turned me down flat.”

Heath gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “You were barely more than a child and had been through a terrible ordeal. I would hope he was a gentleman and refused. But the fact that you felt the need to disguise yourself so utterly in order to persuade him to appreciate your beauty, inside and out, chafes me. And you’re continuing to let him touch you, even though you had to deceive him to catch his attention. He doesn’t want you for you, sweetheart. I don’t know what he wants precisely. More money probably, and I can’t—”

“Disguising myself was my choice. The moment he realized who he’d spent the afternoon with, he came to find me. He hasn’t left my side since,” she argued.

But deep down, she wondered if Heath was right. Not about Axel wanting money, but about him not wanting the real her. Maybe he’d just enjoyed their fuck and wanted another.

“Watch yourself with him. I believe he’ll keep you physically safe. Emotionally . . . I worry. I think he’s a player.”

Mystery didn’t have a comeback. She’d had Axel all to herself in the desert years ago. They’d been blessedly alone together at his house. She didn’t know everything about Axel and his life. They’d had absolutely spectacular sex—fireworks, ballads—the works. She wasn’t ready to let him go. Of course, when she’d seduced him, she hadn’t been thinking of a future with him, but rather a full one without him. Now, her heart felt tangled in him, full of him. They didn’t even live in the same country, and she was sounding crazy. But she wasn’t sure how she’d live the rest of her life without him.

They pulled up in front of an industrial building with a well-lit parking lot and a brightly colored door. Axel parked his bike and took off his helmet, stowing it on a peg, then coming toward her.

He helped her from the car. “This is where I work.”

“Club Dominion?” she asked, shutting the door behind her. She’d learned about his job from the private investigator. She knew what sort of club this was. Her stomach knotted.

Heath stepped out on the other side of the car.

“You knew?” Axel asked, clearly surprised.

“I hired someone to find out where you were and what you were doing these days, yes.” She nodded.

He cocked his head. “You’re resourceful and a step ahead of me.”

From Axel, that was almost a compliment. “Why did you bring me here?”

“It’s secure. I can keep you on lockdown. Unless someone at the hotel is being bribed, almost no one can tie me to you in any way except your rescue years ago. As far as anyone knows, you’re heading back to London. We should be safe here tonight.” He took her elbow and escorted her across the lot.

Mystery sensed Heath behind them, could almost feel his disapproving scowl. “How secure?”

“Cameras, top-of-the-line system, lots of eyes and ears. Nothing will happen here.” Axel dismissed Heath and turned to her. “Just tell me whatever you need to be comfortable. I’ll make it happen.”

“Thanks.”

Instead of entering through the front, Axel skirted the side of the cavernous building and led her around back. He pulled out a key card, then settled his thumb over a biometric reader. The door buzzed open.

“That’s pretty high tech,” she remarked.

“Some of our members are city and state officials. We’ve got cops, billionaires, former SEALs—people who either need to keep a low profile or rely on unbreachable security before they get their freak on.”