Page 59 of Explosive Vengeance

“Sleeping.” Finally. “Where’s Megan?”

“She’s at our hotel talking with Amber. They’re following up a possible new lead on Dubois.”

Heath groaned. If they found something and Chloe heard about it, she’d go right back to the hunt.

“Problem?” Ty asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded at the connecting door. “I don’t want her to go through any more.”

Ty nodded and dropped into an easy chair. “I get it. But that’s not how it works with these women.”

Annoyed, off-balance, Heath sat on the foot of his bed to regard his best friend. “You should have seen her when I found her. She’s done, man.”

Ty watched him steadily. “You’re awfully protective of her.”

Heath shot him a hard look. “Hell yeah, I’m protective of her. Not that I can do anything to protect her from what happened,” he muttered under his breath.

“I feel you, man, I really do. Especially since I know how you’re wired.”

And why. Ty knew all about Heath’s past and why he was the way he was. “It makes me fucking insane that I can’t protect her,” he admitted finally.

“That she won’tletyou protect her, you mean.”

“Yes.” That was exactly it. “Jesus.”

Ty nodded. “I know. It was the same for Megan and me.”

“Was? Meaning it doesn’t bother you now, what they do and that she’s still in danger?”

Ty’s expression was wry. “Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.”

Heath shook his head at himself, bewildered about what he was feeling, how it had happened in such a short time. After seeing what his mother had gone through, he’d made the conscious decision long ago to protect himself, and that meant probably never letting a woman into his heart. And yet after yesterday Chloe was deep in there, whether he liked it or not. What the hell did he do about that?

“I didn’t even know her a few days ago. Now I want to either lock her up to keep her safe, or stand between her and anything or anyone that poses a potential threat to her,” Heath said.

“Feels awesome, doesn’t it?”

He glared at Ty for the dry attempt at lightening the mood.

Ty sobered. “Sorry. No, I know it sucks.”

“I barely know her.” Didn’t seem to matter, though. She’d blown past all his walls without even trying. Watching her dive off that dock yesterday to get to Fleur had irrevocably changed him. It was like being halfway up a rock face, but with no harness and ropes. Foreign. Terrifying. Yet he couldn’t stop it.

“So?”

“So this…doesn’t make any sense.”

“It never does.” Ty stretched his legs out and crossed his ankles. “These women…” He shook his head. “They’re incredible and impossible to resist. If that makes you feel any better.”

That was supposed to make him feel better?

“Just remember that she’s not like anyone else you’ve ever been with.”

He snorted. “Like I didn’t notice?”

“No, I mean she’s got a screwed-up history and tons of baggage she probably hasn’t ever dealt with. She probably feels as lost as you do in all of this.”

Heath frowned. “What do you mean, a screwed-up history? Aside from being an assassin,” he added.

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