Catch Me If You Can (Love's Command) by Billi Jean

I just need to sleep, I’m sure I’ll be fine in the morning.”
    She glanced at him once before retreating to the bedroom and closing the door silently. The way he’d looked at her made her stomach feel like it was full of butterflies, because he looked as if he wanted to join her. Kiss her at the very least.
    She leaned against the door.
    What would he think he if knew I want him to?
    Dare stared at the closed door, knowing that before the night was finished, she’d try to get away from them. He wanted to pull her close, ease the fear and helplessness he saw in her eyes and fill the night with soft sighs and hot, wild sex. But he couldn’t do that. Not now , he thought, trying to tame the hard-on trying to suck up every reason why he couldn’t do just that.
    He reminded himself that Tazz had shaken her. Hell, the man had shaken him. All the talk of DNA, genetics and some crazy drugs that had changed his buddy sounded like he’d stepped into the Twilight Zone. Or some horror flick.
    He rubbed his head, trying to get the idea of her body sliding along his out of his brain. It would take her mind off her unhappiness, but only for a short time.
    Do you want your first experience with her to be to get her mind off her worries?
    His chest tightened painfully at the thought, but he still wanted in there. He belonged in there with her, comforting her, easing her, holding her.
    I shouldn’t open that door. She was in there, probably sizing up the windows to see which one she could climb out to get out of the room the quickest. They were on the tenth floor, but the windows were placed one on top of the other. Would she attempt to climb down?
    The look in her eyes said yes.
    She’d looked cornered. Cornered people did crazy things. He was half surprised she’d not tried before now. He’d gotten them here, purchased her a change of clothes, even found the laundry to wash out her backpack and clothing from the dip in the ocean. She’d showered, but he’d been in a panic the entire time thinking she’d try to get away and he’d find her dead somewhere. So far she’d stayed close.
    He glanced out at Tazz on the patio. The night sky of Hiroshima blinked in a multitude of colors and bright lights, but he doubted Tazz was enjoying the view.
    No wonder the man seemed at the edge of his endurance. Shit. He’d died. Died . To come back to this shit? Experiments and worse, his body full of chemicals changing him? As far as he knew, everyone thought Tazz had faked his death or the government had forced him to. Dare doubted even Mac knew Tazz had literally died. No one knew Tazz had been fed experimental drugs. The team wouldn’t let that go. Retired or not, they’d have been on his ass more than they were now, trying to get him to come clean to Mandy and simply live again.
    He was amazed Tazz was listening to him. He was even more shocked the man wasn’t knocking down Kylie’s door for answers to the memory loss. The man he’d known most of his life wasn’t known for his patience, yet there he sat, not doing a damn thing except drinking a bottle of water.
    Tazz had shut down. The man could hold his thoughts close to his chest when he wanted to, and as far as planning, he’d been damn near Einstein about it before, Dare couldn’t imagine him being better at strategizing.
    No doubt that’s what he was doing now. As long as he didn’t plan on doing something to Kylie, Dare was good with it. If he thought to harm her, modified genetics or not, Dare was going to dig him a shallow grave—at least to hold him until he could get Kylie somewhere safe.
    He considered going out there and hashing it out, but he knew the Texan was closed mouthed when he wanted to be and right now, Dare sensed he wasn’t going to listen. Unless Dare forced him to.
    The only thing Dare wanted to force was that door open, so he could insure that one little beauty stayed with him.
    There was something fucked up about it, but he almost welcomed the