The day she’d noticed him for the first time, they’d been at another party, another glittering ballroom, one decked out in the familiar gold-and-purple colors of Carnival. He’d been leaning against the back wall there, too, watching her.
But not with lust in his eyes, the way others sometimes did.
Instead, cold calculation had filled his stare.
“He seems very taken with you,” Genevieve murmured.
With an effort, she kept her smile in place. He should have taken himself out of there. Like she couldn’t spot an EOD agent a mile away.
Deliberately, she looked away from him, making a point of giving the man her back. Take a hint. The band started to play again, a slow, romantic tune, and some of the chatter quieted just as—
A hand closed over her shoulder. Warm, strong, his. Every muscle in Cassidy’s body tightened in response to that touch.
“I want this dance.” His words were rough, a demand, certainly not the suave invitation that most of the men at this event would have offered her.
But, then, he wasn’t most men.
Genevieve stood watching them, her golden eyes wide.
Cassidy realized the stranger hadn’t given her much choice. She could refuse, then Genevieve—glorious gossip that she was—would want to know why. The point had been to make the mysterious man vanish, not to pull him into her life even more.
He’d obviously missed the point.
“One dance,” she agreed softly, inclining her head in what she hoped appeared to be a gracious move.
She’d be sure he got the point this time.
Cassidy turned toward him, tried to brace herself against the impact of staring right into those blue eyes of his. But there was no bracing that would be good enough. Each time she looked into his eyes, her heart beat faster even as sensual awareness spiked through her.
Handsome, he definitely was. With those strong cheeks, that long blade of a nose and that chiseled jaw, the man certainly would catch the attention of most women. He even had a cleft in his chin, a cleft that softened the roughened edge of his features and made him even more appealing.
His hand closed around hers as he led her onto the dance floor. Cassidy noticed that there were calluses on his fingers, and he was just so...warm.
She swallowed and held her faint smile in place as they began to dance. She tried to keep some precious distance between them but—
He pulled her even closer.
Annoying.
“I told you to leave,” she gritted out through her locked teeth.
His lips twitched. “Um, you did. But I decided that I wanted to stay.”
He was moving easily, fluidly, a bit surprising for a man of his size. A solider who knew how to dance—and dance well, she realized, as he gave her a little spin and dip.
Her lips parted as she pulled in a quick breath. Then he was moving her again, leading her around the dance floor.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. It seemed to heat. “I think—” his voice was deep, rolling “—that you owe me an explanation.”
Her brows climbed. “What?” She didn’t owe him anything. They didn’t know each other. As soon as the dance ended, their association would end, too.
“Tell me about the EOD,” he said. Cassidy realized that he’d just used her trick. When he’d said those words, he’d put his lips right next to her ear and whispered his demand.
Only...had his lips pressed lightly against her ear? It felt as if they had. And his tongue. Had he...licked her? She certainly hadn’t...licked...him.
Had she?
Goose bumps rose on her arms. “I don’t need to tell you anything.”
Really, Mercer had stooped to this level? Sending a new babysitter after her? He’d promised the last agent was it. It looked like he’d broken another promise.
Same story, different day. She should have expected this from him.
“You think I work for something called the EOD,” the man told her. She pulled back, staring up at him. His hair was dark, thick, and her fingers were brushing against the nape of his neck.
Why were her fingers doing that? She immediately flattened them against the back of his tux.
“Shouldn’t you at least tell me what the EOD is?” he pressed.
Cassidy sighed. “Cut the act, okay? I’ve seen your dossier picture. I know you’re an agent.” That was how she’d first recognized him at the other party. She had a thing about faces. Once she saw one, she never forgot it.
Actually, there were quite a few things that she couldn’t forget.
His jaw hardened just a bit. “Well, I’m at a disadvantage—”
“Yes, you are,” she interrupted him, making sure that her voice stayed low so that none of the other dancers would overhear. “Because you’ve been sent down here for no reason. I don’t need you.”
The song ended. Thankfully. Blessedly.
She tried to pull away from him.
He didn’t let her go.
“Are you sure about that?” he asked.
“Yes,” she hissed. “I’m sure. I’m perfectly fine. This place is safe—”
A scream cut through the ballroom. At the high-pitched, desperate sound, everyone froze.
Cassidy’s blood iced. Genevieve. That had been her scream. She knew Genevieve’s scream.
Cassidy’s gaze flew to the right as she looked for her friend. There, near the staircase. One glance and Cassidy knew why her friend had screamed. Men in black—men wearing ski masks and armed with handguns—surrounded Genevieve. One man had a gun to her side. The other three men were fanning out, advancing toward the unarmed guests.
“Anyone moves,” the man holding Genevieve shouted, “I kill her.” No accent covered his words.
Cassidy’s breath heaved in her lungs. No, no, this could not be happening now. It shouldn’t be happening—not to Genevieve!
But it was happening. She was staring at a nightmare straight from her past. The armed men swept into the crowd.
And—
“Cassidy Sherridan!” the man holding Genevieve shouted. “We want her.”
Cassidy took a step forward.
Only to be halted by the man who was quickly becoming the bane of her existence.
“Too bad,” the EOD agent whispered—a whisper that reached only Cassidy’s ears. “Because I’m not letting them get you.”
He didn’t understand what was happening. She did. She was also more than ready to trade herself for Genevieve.
So while everyone else was frozen, she jerked away from the agent and called out, “You want me? I’m right here.”
The agent swore.
The masked man shoved Genevieve away and began closing in on Cassidy. His gun was aimed dead center at her chest.
Cassidy lifted her chin and waited.
Only in the next second she wasn’t staring at the gun. The EOD agent had grabbed her and pushed her behind him.
No!
“Don’t play hero,” the masked man snarled. “It’s a surefire way to end up dead.”
“That’s a