Page 27 of Sizzling Nights

"I feel like a sitting duck here, not doing anything, just waiting for them to come and get me."

Mitch said quickly. "I can understand that and appreciate it, but you're a sitting duck if you go out there right now. Let me touch base with my contact in Maine and find out what he thinks is going on. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Stay here. Don't leave. Let's be smart about this so no one else gets hurt."

She drew in a shaky breath and let it out slowly.

"Okay. I understand."

Her mind raced. She knew what she had to do. It was imperative now to get the word out. Marco turned to her. "I think we both need some sleep, as we've been up all night. At least an hour or two before we do anything."

"I can't..." She stopped trying to force the words from her mouth. She shook her head and swallowed. "I can't sleep right now. I have research to complete. You go ahead and get some rest."

He shook his head slightly. "I'll just take a quick shower. That's all I need."

She watched him saunter to his bedroom and she blew out a breath. If only things were different. If only she hadn't started this shit-show of a report. But curiosity was something she couldn't set aside, and once she started researching, she couldn't stop. The more insidious reports she found, the more she had to keep digging.

She turned to the dining room table where their laptops sat side by side. She sat in her chair and pulled up her blockchain account. It took four separate passwords before it opened for her, that was by design. After her account loaded, she took a deep breath. It was time to begin getting this information completed and ready to release. And to do that, she was going to have to break cover, which was already kind of blown anyway.

As soon as her fingers began typing, the story flew from her. It had been bottled up for so long. She'd thought endlessly about how to write the final two pieces of her story. She attached the links to the documents she'd set up in a file in the cloud. As soon as she released each piece of the story, the documents could be accessed and seen. Not the originals though. The hard copies of the documents they'd managed to obtain had been scanned and locked away in a safe by Carolyn. She stiffened as she realized what that meant.

Marco strode from his bedroom smelling amazing and looking even better. It wasn't fair that men could simply take a shower to look refreshed and ready to tackle the world.

He stopped near the table and stared at her. "What's wrong?"

She swallowed and blinked her eyes rapidly to keep from crying. Her nose tingled and her ears warmed. She stood and took a deep breath. "I may have gotten Carolyn killed."

His brows furrowed. "That's impossible. You're here, she was there."

"Right." She inhaled to fill her lungs. It was more to keep herself from falling apart than anything. She looked into Marco's eyes. "The documents I had on hand. The real documents that started me on this report were scanned for the story, but Carolyn kept them in a safe at her home. We were worried they'd be found and destroyed before the stories were released."

Marco's chest rose and fell. He wore a gray t-shirt that he likely didn't mean to be sexy, but it was. A simple damned t-shirt. And he wore a pair of jeans that looked amazing on him. She let her eyes roam down his long lean legs to see that he was barefoot. Good gawd, the man oozed sexy.

"Theresa." His voice was deep, soothing and she liked listening to him speak. Far too much. "She did that because she believed in the story. I assume she knew what might happen, otherwise she wouldn't have sent you off to run."

She rubbed her fingers against her temples. "I shouldn't have let her take those documents."

"They would have no way of knowing if she had them or not."

"But, they knew one of us had them. They likely asked her where I was, and she wouldn't tell them. Or they asked where the documents were."

His eyes stared into hers. "How would they know you had the documents?"

"I said as much in the first story I wrote. I emailed you a copy so you could see what we're up against."

He nodded his head and smiled. "I already read it."

Her brows shot up into her bangs. "You did?"

He chuckled. "I'm pretty good at my job. Both of them. My former military experience taught me to be resourceful, prepared, and ready to tackle whatever I needed to take on."

She nodded. "Of course."

He stepped to her and wrapped his arms around her. She eagerly wrapped her arms around his waist. Her ear rested on his chest, the strong steady beat of his heart was comforting. The solid mass of his chest made her feel completely safe.

But she wasn't. She was in more danger now than ever.

17

Marco's arms wrapped Theresa in a hug that he hoped soothed her. It made him feel warmer than he'd ever felt. Her body wrapped in his arms made him feel like he could tackle the world. And he would. He'd do what it took to protect her. To help her.

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