Summer considered the other woman as they stood almost nose to nose in the middle of the kitchen.Nikki’s compassion was going to be her undoing.Summer didn’t think she could be so forgiving if the tables were turned and it was her house that’d been partially destroyed.But perhaps she was right.She had to stop feeling sorry for herself and start standing up for herself.If not for her own safety, then for the safety of those around her.
“Okay?”Nikki asked, narrowing her eyes at Summer, hands on hips.
“Okay,” Summer replied slowly.
“Good.”With that, Nikki gave Summer a quick, hard embrace, then let her go.“I think the cops are finishing up, and the insurance assessor will be here soon.It’s not as bad as it looks,” Nikki finished kindly as she busied herself tidying the kitchen.
“That’s true,” Jacob said, entering the room, Mårten close behind him.“A good carpenter will have it fixed in a few days.There was no major damage to the roof or any of the walls.We put it out before that could happen.”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Mårten added, his eyes anchored on Summer’s as if trying to gauge her mood.“The destruction is minimal; it can be repaired, and then the house will look like new.”
She’d forgotten in all her panic over Jacob and Nikki’s safety just how good Mårten looked in a pair of running shorts.She’d been shocked to see how muscled and tanned his legs had been, and she’d barely been able to force herself to look away from those powerful thighs when he’d emerged from his room earlier this morning.And that tight black T-shirt, which did nothing to hide the hard walls of his stomach, tapering off to a narrow waist, as well as how it stretched so tightly over bulging biceps.Oh God.And now seeing him again, she was hit with a second wave of that same smack of lust right in the groin as her gaze traveled up and down his torso of its own accord.Blast, she was in trouble.He was too sexy for his own good.Too sexy for her own good.
She’d also forgotten that she was supposed to be mad at him.He’d kissed her this morning, and then rejected her, as if that kiss had been the worst mistake of his life.As anger seemed to be the easier path to choose, she raised eyebrows at him defiantly.He wasn’t getting away that easily.She had a long memory, and just because he was being all solicitous and sexy now, didn’t make everything okay again.
But before she could come up with an appropriate retort, Jacob said, “Everyone take a seat.We need to figure out what our next steps are, and I can bring you up to speed on what Miller and I have discussed.”
Jacob’s FBI partner, Agent Claire Miller, had arrived at Nikki’s house seconds after she and Mårten had returned, looking way too cool, collected, and professional for that early in the morning.Her first act had been to make sure Jacob and Nikki were both okay, and Summer could see the genuine care and concern she had for her new colleague and his girlfriend.But after a few moments’ perusal of the burned sections of the house, the lines of unease had cleared from her brow and she’d taken Jacob aside for a tête-à-tête, then left again soon after.
“Miller is back at HQ right now, to talk to our boss and organize a few things.”Jacob’s gaze zeroed in on Summer.“Things that will affect you, Summer,” he added.
“I already know what my next step is,” she muttered half under her breath as she took a seat.“I need to get out of here.So this can’t happen again.”When Summer looked up, three pairs of eyes were all staring at her in disbelief.
Jacob was the first to break the heavy silence.“I agree.”His reply caught her by surprise.
“Oh, good, I—”
“Miller thinks you should go into witness protection.She’s talking to the boss about taking you to a safe house this morning.”Jacob said, his face deadpan.
“What?No.”This was the last thing Summer had expected.
Jacob held up a hand to stop her protestations.“Miller and I agree this is the same MO as the other arson attacks the FBI have been investigating.In all the previous blazes, the perp set fire to both the front and rear entries to prevent the occupants from escaping.This has Tyrone King’s stamp all over it.We’ve confirmed by your description that the guy you saw in your stairwell wasn’t actually Tyrone, which means he’s brought someone else in to do his dirty work.Whether it’s just to scare you into submission, to get you to hand over those photos, or worse, we’re not sure yet.But either way, you’re in extreme danger.”
Summer faltered, knowing that byworse, Jacob meant Tyrone wanted her dead.“Yeah, I get all that…” she said eventually, once she got past the idea someone wanted to murder her.The last thing she desired was to go into witness protection, however.
“I’m not sure that you do,” Mårten said, banging his hand down on the table hard so that she flinched in her chair, and turned to face him in surprise.“I’ve felt all along that this guy was dangerous, and I’m glad someone is finally taking your plight seriously.I’m sad that it took Nikki’s house to be firebombed for people to understand.”He sent Nikki a brief glance of solidarity.“But this is a life-and-death situation.I’m going back to Sweden in two days, so I won’t be around to cover your pretty ass anymore.Don’t forget, there is already a woman who’s gone missing, and if she’s linked to this case…” Mårten let his words trail off.
Of course, Summer hadn’t forgotten about Paige.She wanted the ranger found as much as anyone, and it sent shivers of ice down her spine thinking that her friend could’ve been abducted, maybe being held prisoner, or… Summer daren’t even think of other alternatives.But that didn’t mean the same thing was going to happen to her.
“I can’t go into witness protection,” Summer ground out from between gritted teeth, glaring at him like this was all his fault.Which she knew it wasn’t.But she was already angry at him; he was a convenient target, and it felt good to let some of that anger boil to the surface.To use it to drive away the fear.Because the idea of going into witness protection was scaring her even more than the idea that some maniac might be after her.The concept of someone else dictating her every move, of her being stuck in a house under lock and key being watched twenty-four hours a day, not being able to control anything in her life scared the shit out of her.Her heart was fluttering like a bird in a cage at the mere notion.She needed to shut this suggestion down right now.But they’d scoff at her claim she would be like an animal trapped in a zoo; they just wouldn’t understand that autonomy over her life was how she managed to stay sane.So she needed a plan B.
“I’m not letting some asshole disrupt my life.Besides, I’ve already handed the photos over to the FBI.I shouldn’t be a threat to him anymore, should I?”she said with more forcefulness than she felt.She was grasping at straws, but she had to start her argument somewhere.
“Perhaps not, but we require more time to figure this out,” Jacob said in that most annoying know-it-all tone.“We need you in a secure place until we can be sure about a whole lot of things.”
“No.”Summer wasn’t having this, so she took a different tack.“I have a world championship meet in two weeks, and I don’t plan on missing it.And if I’m to do well at that meet, I need to continue my training schedule.Which I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to do if I’m hidden away in a safe house for weeks on end.I don’t think you understand how important this is to me.”Yes, this was good, she decided; she could use this as her defense, and the theory gelled more decisively in her mind.She’d told them all about it just this morning.It should be fresh in everyone’s minds, and hopefully she had put enough passion into her speech that they believed this was the only reason she was defying them.
Mårten stared at her as if she’d morphed into a brainless idiot.“You can’t honestly tell me that some stupid triathlon event is more important than your own safety?”There was sheer exasperation in his voice now.
“I’m sure we can arrange something for you.”Jacob jumped in.“A way for you to continue your training,” he said with a smile that was supposed to be convincing.But she wasn’t fooled.
It was Summer’s turn to bang her hand on the table.This time she directed her anger at Jacob, her emotions in full flight now, and she rode that wave to drive home her point.“How?How are you going to arrange it?Does this safe house have a fully equipped gym?Are you going to let me out of this place long enough to swim laps at the local pool at five a.m.?Are your agents going to take me to a nearby running track, so I can do sprints, or follow me on my ten-mile runs?”She glared at him bitterly as he sat back in his chair, shrugging one shoulder ruefully.
“I’m not positive about all of that,” he admitted with a wry twist to his lips.“But surely—”
“Surely nothing,” Summer spat back.“I need to do all that and more to make sure I’m in peak condition for this trial.”She knew they were all trying to help her, but she felt hemmed in, like a set of prison bars was closing in on her.
“You might just have to miss this stup—this meet,” Mårten added.
