Author: Jaci Burton

Only then did she jam the gas pedal hard and peeled away in a hurry.

She was free. Finally free, with the virus. But without Mac.

She’d done what she had to do.

So why did she feel like hell?

Mac blinked his eyes open. Goddamn, he was tired.

And his mouth felt like someone stuffed cotton in there.

He heard a car. Was Tom back already? Dizziness hit him when he bolted upright and clutched his head. What the hell was going on? This time he took it slower, easing to a standing position and moving with careful steps to the window.

It was dark outside. Where was Lily?

He walked toward the kitchen. Empty, stuff scattered everywhere. Dread fell like a boulder in his stomach. He quickened his pace down the hall and into Tom’s room, which was a shambles.

Jesus Christ. The house was a mess. Panic cleared his head in an instant.

“Lily?”

He did hear a car. He wasn’t dreaming it. He ran to the side window in time to see Tom’s car pulling down the driveway, the gate closing behind it.

The grogginess, the disorientation… His gaze shifted to the empty glass on the coffee table, his mind a whirl as he tried to piece together what had happened before he seemingly fell into a coma.

Lily.

She wouldn’t…would she? And why?

Unless she had somehow found out… Son of a bitch!

He gaze shot to the open vault, confirming his worst fears. The cabinet was torn open, the vial containing the virus gone.

Fuck! He’d completely underestimated her. His mind processed a mile a minute as he paced the center of the room and dragged his fingers through his hair. Okay, he had to think and do it damn fast. He had to get to Lily.

He slid his hands in his pocket and breathed a sigh of relief. His bike keys were still there. The first thing he did was grab a high energy drink out of the fridge and guzzle it down, hoping the caffeine jolt would counter effect the drug and help wake him up in a hurry.

After hitting the button to open the gate at the end of the driveway, he ran out the door and jumped on the bike, weaving a little as he started it up. Blinking to clear the persistent fog in his head, he tore down the driveway, stopping only to push the code on the box by the gate to close them.

He had seen Lily turn right and head west. He took off at high speed after her, hoping she hadn’t gotten too far, and that she wasn’t speeding like he was. If he was lucky, no cops would be meandering down this deserted stretch of road tonight.

The cool night air helped clear his head a little, but he still felt the effects of whatever Lily had drugged him with.

Damn, he couldn’t believe she’d done that to him. And why now? She must have figured out Tom was the drop point for the virus, but how?

Not that it mattered. If he didn’t find her and get the vial back, he was screwed. And Lily could be in serious danger.

He took a curve at a breakneck speed he wouldn’t recommend for an inexperienced biker. Or one under the influence of God-only-knew what. But he managed. Finally, he caught taillights up ahead. Could that be Lily? Please let it be her. The back of the car looked familiar. He pushed the bike harder, and whoever was driving sped up. That meant it had to be Lily and she’d spotted his bike.

Relief washed over him when he realized it was Tom’s car. And Lily didn’t seem to be slowing down, which meant he was going to have to find a way to stop her. He pushed the bike hard, traveling at a dangerous speed. Eventually he pulled up alongside her, waving at her to get her attention. She took a glance out the window, shook her head, and sped up.

Oh, no, baby. You’re not getting away. He revved the bike and passed her, hoping like hell he didn’t wreck. Now was where he had to gamble, because if he knew Lily like he thought he did, she wouldn’t jeopardize his life to lose him. He flew around curves, grateful to hit a straightaway where he could really punch the speed. Finally, he was far enough ahead of her so she’d have time to stop, then he pulled the bike around in front of her. The road was narrow. He left the bike in her lane, then stood in the other. She had nowhere to pass around him without either hitting his bike or running him over.

And Mac was betting that he knew Lily, that he could predict what she’d do.

He hoped he wasn’t wrong.

In seconds, she was on him, bright lights approaching and drawing dangerously close. Self-preservation kicked in and the urge to get the hell out of the way came with it, but he stood firm.

True to form, she hit the brakes, tires screeching as the car skidded, then fishtailed. She swerved off the road and into the ditch, the front end slamming into a clump of thick brush.

Shit! That’s not what he wanted. He pulled his bike to the side of the road, then went running down the ditch. Smoke poured from the engine, but Lily was already climbing out of the car and glaring daggers at him.

“Are you out of your goddamned mind?” she screamed, advancing on him. “You could have been killed.”

He grasped her arms, looking her over for injury. “Are you all right?”

She wrenched away from his hold. “I’m fine, you idiot.

What were you thinking, Mac?”

He shrugged. “I needed you to stop.”

“Screw you.” She turned away and started back to the road.

From the way she was moving, twisting and turning as she climbed up the side of the ditch, she seemed to be fine.

Despite the darkness, he didn’t see any blood on her. He followed after her, lifting the bag off her shoulder as they reached the side of the road. “I was thinking that I needed to get the virus.”

She grabbed for her bag. “Give that back!”

He shook his head. “Not a chance. Goddamit, Lily, I trusted you. How could you drug me?”

Her glare was mutinous. “Oh, that’s rich, coming from you. Trust isn’t a word in your vocabulary. Lies? Now that’s a word you live by, isn’t it?”

“I don’t want to talk about this here. Let’s go back to the house.” He reached for her arm but she pulled away and took two steps back.

“I’m not going anywhere with a thief who would sell a virus to terrorists.”

He arched a brow. “You’re making a lot of assumptions about me.”

She snorted. “I’ve had to assume a lot since you’ve refused to tell me anything.”

“I already explained that there were things I couldn’t tell you right away.”

“No. What you mean is that there are things you will never tell me, because you don’t want me to know what you’re up to. Or what you and Tom are up to. God, Mac. How deep are you in this?”

Between the drug still affecting him and being worn out from the chase, Mac was exhausted. He let out a breath of frustration. “It’s not what you think, Lily. Now get on the goddamn bike and let’s get out of here and back to the house where it’s safe.”

“I’m not going with you.”

“You are.” And he wasn’t going to stand there and argue with her for an hour. He latched onto her wrist and started dragging her toward the bike.

“I will not go with you,” she said, her voice low and filled with anger.

He was getting pretty damned pissed off himself, too tired to talk anymore. He picked her up and placed her on the back of his bike, but before he could get on, she was scrambling off.

“What part of no don’t you get, Mac?”

“What are you going to do, Lily? Walk a deserted road in the middle of the night and hope a nice guy picks you up?”

She crossed her arms. “I can take care of myself. I’ll take my chances alone.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“And I’m not going with you.”

He dragged his hand through his hair. He was so damn tired. So much, in fact, that when Lily barreled into him and grabbed the bag, she was able to knock him down. Shit! Hitting that asphalt hurt. He held onto her as she jumped on top of him and wrestled him for control of her bag.

He couldn’t push her off without hurting her, so he rolled her over, trying to do it as gently as possible. Which wasn’t easy considering she was a pretty tough fighter and he was still fairly drugged up. But he got her on her back and effectively pinned, holding down her wrists and sitting on her hips.

“Stop!” he said, but she continued to struggle, kicking up at him.

“Let me go, Mac. You don’t need me anymore.”

“I can’t.”

Tears glistened in her eyes. Goddamn he hated doing this to her, seeing the mistrust and the beginning of hate in her expression.

Fuck this. He lifted off her and pulled her to her feet.

“I’m not a bad guy, Lily.”

“You’re full of shit. You’re dirty. That’s why all the secrecy and lies. If there was anything honest in what you were doing, you’d have told me. Now give me my bag.”

She launched after him again, but he held her off with the only weapon that would halt her in her tracks—the truth.

“Lily, I work for the goddamn United States government!”

Chapter Twelve

Lily stopped midway in her lunge for the bag, unable to fathom what Mac had just said. Every part of her hung suspended, as if she were dangling in midair.

“What?”

“I work for the government.”

“But you stole that virus.”

“Yes. That’s my job.”

She blinked, then frowned. “Your job for the government is as a thief?”

“Yeah. I steal back what’s been stolen from them. What can’t be recovered through…normal channels.”

Lily felt dizzy, trying to grasp what he’d said. Could it be true? “I need more. I need explanations.”

He nodded. “I’ll give them to you, but we need to get back to Tom’s now, while I’m still awake and can manage to maneuver the bike.”

“Right, yeah.” Then his words sank in. She really looked at him now, the drooping eyelids, the way he was weaving. Of course he’d still have the sleeping pills in his system. God, the way he was riding that bike—she shuddered just thinking what could have happened to him out here.

She stepped up to him and he moved back. “Oh. Mac, I’m sorry. Let’s get out of here before you pass out.”

He’d ridden that bike like a madman, and while under the influence of sleeping pills. Pills she’d slipped into his soda.

Obviously, he’d wanted the virus back in a big way—enough to jeopardize his life to get it.

“Drive slow,” she said as she climbed on the back. “I’ll shout incessantly in your ear to keep you awake.”

At least she got a half-grin out of him with that comment.

He started the bike, and as she requested, drove deliberate and easy. From the looks of him, he was going down and fast. She had to keep him awake on the ride back to Tom’s, because she couldn’t ride the bike without him. So she chattered in his ear the entire way. She knew he could hear her, because he nodded, though he probably couldn’t discern exactly what she was saying.

She kept touching him, running her hands over his back and thighs, feeling his muscles tighten under her hands. Even near unconsciousness, he still responded to her touch. She thought about leaning as far forward as possible so she could rub his cock, but didn’t want to tempt fate and a possible bike wreck.

Anyway, it worked. Her conversation and touch kept his blood churning and maintained his state of alertness long enough to crawl the bike back through Tom’s security gate and down the driveway. By the time he shut off the engine and climbed off the bike, he was done for, staggering as he started toward the house. Lily put his arm around her shoulders so he’d lean into her a little as they climbed up the back stairs and into the house.

“This place is a wreck,” he said.

He was starting to slur his words. She had to get him into bed.