Page 50 of Edge of Danger

As she rounded the corner into her bathroom, she stopped cold. “Oh, for crying out loud.”

The intruder had smashed her sink and bathtub fixtures. A fine spray of water was the source of the hiss, and Ian was quickly getting soaked as he wrestled with the water cut-off valves. She passed him a wrench and backed out of the impromptu water park. In a few seconds, silence fell, punctuated only by occasional dripping sounds.

“Let me get you a towel,” she said, “assuming I’ve got any left intact.”

“I’ll take a pile of rags if that’s all you’ve got.”

She headed for her walk-in closet to fetch an armful of towels. Okay, so it was nice having a big, strong, capable man here with her, right now. She felt a lot safer with him at her place. The sense of violation was lessened somewhat by knowing nobody else would mess with her as long as he was around.

It struck her wryly that she was being a hypocrite to gripe about him intervening to save her in Africa but being grateful he was here, now.

Fine. It hadn’t been that awful having Ian looking out for her in Khartoum. She still didn’t like the idea of needing his protection, but maybe it had been a good thing he’d been there.

She found her towels wadded on the floor but doubted Ian would care at this point if they were dirty. He was drenched. She stepped back into her bedroom and gulped as Ian stripped his sodden shirt over his head to reveal that gorgeous man-hunk body of his.

He took the towels she handed him and dried himself off. He used another to vigorously dry his hair. And then, oh God, he unbuckled his pants and let his dripping slacks fall to the floor.Eyes averted from his muscular legs and clinging briefs, she passed him the rest of the towel remnants.

She scooped up his clothes, mumbled something about throwing them in a dryer, and fled the apartment and nearly naked man inside. It took her until she slammed one of the building’s round, dryers shut to realize she was hyperventilating. Must be delayed reaction to the shock of her place being vandalized?—

--Oh, who was she trying to kid? It was a reaction to seeing Ian strip down in her freaking bedroom. Never mind that her place had taken a tactical nuclear strike.

She was not in lust with him, dammit! Okay, so she was. But it was only lust. The man had rocked her world in Khartoum. This was purely a physical reaction to the sex they’d had. Past tense. There would be no more sex between them, future tense, thank you very much.

Not to mention, they were officially working together, now. And she was vividly aware that surveillance and tracking technology was significantly better here than in Sudan. The two of them could easily be monitored by their respective employers.

Which meant that, as of two hours ago, it was not only unethical but also illegal for them to sleep together, and neither of them wanted to ruin their careers by flirting with fraternization charges.

Reassured by that thought, she managed to catch her breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering strength. She could do this. She could work with Ian McCloud and keep it just business.

Ian horsed Piper’s box springs and mattress back into place on the bedframe. Both were slashed beyond use, but it cleared floor space for him to move around the bedroom. The television inhere was trashed, too. Along with the lamps, alarm clock, and ceiling fan.

Why in the hell would someone—a guy, given the strength required to do some of the damage in here—break into Piper’s place and randomly destroy it like this? It didn’t look like a typical B&E. It read more like a hate crime.

Obvious leap of logic from that—an ex-boyfriend did this. Piper could be pretty infuriating, but what did she do to make someone this enraged? He wrapped the remains of a bedsheet around his hips with the intent of tracking her down and asking her. She slipped back into the apartment just as he entered the living room, however.

“Your clothes will be dry in twenty minutes or so,” she announced.

“Thanks.” He gestured at the wrecked couch. “Have a seat. Let’s talk.”

Wariness leapt into her sapphire gaze. She perched on the edge of a cushion and looked ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. He supposed she had cause to be jumpy after what she’d just walked in on.

He asked her, “Can you think of anyone who has something against you and might do something like this?”

Some strong emotion he couldn’t name flashed through her eyes. “Like who?” she said cautiously.

He shrugged. “An ex, maybe?”

“No ex’es to speak of.”

That surprised him. “None?” he blurted. “You’re a good-looking woman with healthy appetites. Surely, someone like you has a few old boyfriends under your belt.”

“Not really. I’ve been pretty much focused on my career since I got out of college. Even in school, I kept my head down and studied most of the time.”

Which might explain some of her prickliness regarding men in general. At least he knew for sure that she liked men. A lot. He pushed aside memory and reaction to their epic sex in K-town. Right now they needed to figure out who’d trashed her place and how much danger she was in.

He said, “Are you sure nothing was taken?”

“All my electronics are here. What little jewelry I have is still in the remains of my jewelry box. Everything’s just…smashed.”

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