Page 6 of Danger

“Plus,” he continued, ignoring her one-word attempt to dismiss him, “Savage has a great security system in the bar. Out here, you’re not protected, but in there,” he said, pointing at the building as if trying to get his point across, “you’d be safe.”

“You can’t guarantee that, and I’ve already told you that I won’t share a room with you. I don’t care if it’s actually the last room available in this whole God-forsaken city or not. We won’t be sharing a bed, Mr. James.”

Declan kept his smile pasted on his face, not wanting to let Danger know that she had hit a sore spot with him, or even possibly hurt his feelings. She’d probably take some sort of delight in knowing so. “Well, Ms. Danger, I never said anything about us sharing a bed. In fact, you can have the bed. It’s quite lumpy and uncomfortable. I’ll take the armchair that’s in the room. I’ll probably get more sleep in that thing than I did in the bed.”

“You’d actually give me the bed?” she asked.

“Yep, but we’ll still have to share the room and a bathroom. Are you willing to accept my offer?” he asked, holding out his hand to her.

“You want me to shake on sharing a room with you?” she asked.

“Yep, to keep things strictly professional,” he insisted. She rolled her eyes again at him and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“You,” he said, “I seem to make you want to roll your eyes a good deal.”

“Well, you do vex me, Mr. James. I guess it’s just my natural reaction to your insane proposal. But I will take you up on your proposition,” she agreed, shaking his extended hand through her open window. “And this will be strictly professional. You promised to help me find my brother, and that’s all this is.”

“Understood,” he lied. He wasn’t sure why they had to keep things professional. They were two consenting adults—well, he was at least. Having a bit of fun to kill some time sounded like a good plan to him, but then again, that just might be his overly active dick thinking for him. Either way, the first step was getting Danger to agree to come into the bar. The next step might turn out to be a challenge, getting her into bed with him, but he was always up for a challenge.

Danger

Danger had no intention of giving in to her hypersensitive body and letting Mr. James have his way with her—not that he had even offered. She left the bar in a huff, meaning to drive to another town until she found an available room for the night, but instead, she just ended up back at the bar. She gave up hope of sleeping in a real bed and settled herself in the driver’s seat of her SUV to catch a few hours of sleep. Knowing that Mr. James was just inside the bar had given her a sense of comfort that it shouldn’t have, but it did. She knew that trusting anyone but herself usually ended badly for her, but for some reason when Declan James promised to help her find Anthony, she believed him.

Declan making her the offer of a warm bed, no matter how lumpy it might be, sounded like heaven to her. He showed her into the small room and Danger quickly looked around. “It’s not what I was expecting for a room over a biker bar,” she admitted. The bed had a flowered quilt on it and the curtains were quite frilly.

“Yeah, I have a feeling that Savage’s wife might have had a hand in decorating up here,” he said.

“It does seem to have a woman’s touch,” she agreed, eyeing the bed. “Are you sure that you don’t mind me taking the bed? I really could use some shut-eye. Sleeping in my car wasn’t the most comfortable, and my back is killing me.”

“Sure, but you’ve been warned. The mattress isn’t the best,” he reminded. She didn’t waste another second, crossing the room to crawl into bed. Danger moaned at how good it felt to stretch out.

“It feels pretty fantastic to me,” she said with a yawn.

“Suit yourself,” Declan said. “I’m going back downstairs in search of coffee. You need anything?” he asked.

“Just some quiet so that I can sleep,” she grumbled, popping an eye open at him. She watched as Declan nodded and turned to leave the room, and suddenly felt bad about dismissing him the way that she had. After all, he was kind enough to give her his bed. “Thank you again for the bed,” she called after him as he shut the door. He didn’t respond and she took that as her cue to get some sleep. Before she even realized it, her heavy eyelids were shut as she let the darkness consume her.

Sleep always came fast for Danger, but quickly became fitful as her dreams turned into nightmares. This time was no different as she found herself running through the streets of London, chasing or being chased by one bad guy or another. She was never really sure who was doing the chasing, but she always felt a sense of panic as she ran toward the center of town. It was the same dream night after night. Every time she closed her eyes, she was being pursued by her past and there was no way to break the vicious cycle.

“Danger,” a man’s voice called. She felt as though the world was spinning around her as he called her name again. She knew that she couldn’t keep running. Every night, she had the same dream, and it always ended the same way—with her being caught, but she could never see the face of her captor.

She let her eyes open and groaned at the brightness that had flooded the room. “Too bright,” she grumbled. “How long have I been sleeping?” she asked. It felt as though she had only just closed her eyes minutes before.

“You’ve been out for seven hours,” Declan said. He sat down next to her, and she thought about protesting but having him close comforted her to some small degree.

“Seven hours,” she grumbled, wiping the sleep from her eyes and stretching. She didn’t miss the way Declan’s eyes roamed her body. “It feels as though I had just laid down.”

“I know the feeling,” Declan said, “I’ve been tired since arriving in the States. Have you been in America long?” he asked.

“Um, not really,” she admitted. Danger sat up and pushed her hair back from her face. She usually kept it pulled back in a tight ponytail, but she was sure that sleep had made her look quite unruly. “I arrived here about four days ago,” she said. “Honestly, as soon as I found out that the Dead Rabbits had my brother here in Alabama, I jumped on a plane and got here as fast as I could,” she said. “How about you,” she said, “have you been in America long?” she asked.

“Just two days,” he admitted. “I didn’t waste any time coming to find my sister. I just hope that I didn’t lead the Dead Rabbits right to her and my older brother.” It was a valid fear. The Dead Rabbits had members all over the world. No one could disappear from their radar, no matter how careful they were being. “Do you plan on being here long?” he asked.

“I’ll be staying in Alabama until they move my brother, or I can find him. Either way, I’m not planning on leaving here without him,” she said.

“I understand that,” he breathed. “If someone had one of my siblings, I’d go after them too—no matter how long it took. But I’m wondering,” he said, and she held her breath worried about what his next question would be. “Why won’t MI6 help you to find your brother?” That was a question that Danger didn’t want to answer. She had lied to him and all his friends and family when she met them in the bar. She wasn’t on leave from MI6, chasing down her brother as she said. She was no longer with the agency. Once they told her that they refused to help her find Anthony, she told her boss that she couldn’t stay with the agency if they weren’t willing to help her out. How many times had she laid her life on the line for her job and fellow agents? Countless times and now that she needed help, no one was in her corner—well, except Declan and his friends and family. They were strangers to her, and they still offered to help her save Anthony.

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