That night she lay in her bed for a few hours listening to the sounds of the city around her. She missed the sounds of the jungle and of Alex sleeping beside her. She missed his warmth, his smell, his touch.She knew she was going to have a hard time falling back into a pattern. How could she ever go back to a normal life after what they’d been through? Did she want to? More importantly, did she want to do it all alone? Even though they’d only known each other a few weeks,she couldn’t stop thinking about him.The shadows on her ceiling did little to soothe her as the light hit the leaves that were starting to fall from the large tree outside her window. She turned and hit her pillow a few times, trying to get comfortable. She’d had no problem sleeping in the dirt or wet sand last week. Why was her pillow-top mattress that she’d spent a fortune on so uncomfortable now?Damn him for making her feel like she wasn’t good enough. Damn him for wal

Joanne was bored. Since returning home, she’d gone to work, gone to the grocery store. Her kitchen was now fully stocked with groceries. When she’d arrived home last night she had realized there wasn’t anything to eat since she’d left for a long journey. She’d visited her friends and done other boring everyday tasks, but was still bored out of her mind. How could she ever get back in the swing of a normal life after what she’d gone through with Alex?She’d been happily surprised to see Marshall yesterday at the store. When they’d come back to her place, he’d come in and installed several small cameras throughout her place. She’d talked to him and had found out that he’d had to quit his job and leave Columbia on account of helping them escape. She felt bad, but was happy that he was going to be helping Alex out now.She was in the middle of watching the evening news, when the doorbell rang. She hadn’t even heard a word the announcer said since she’d been too busy thinkin

Alex leaned back, and she couldn’t help but admire all the muscles shifting beneath that black collared shirt, ground rules and clearly stated boundaries notwithstanding. “Now, not to scare you, but in case there’s a threat or things go sideways, you need to know about our emergency contingencies. Everyone on this team I out together is charged with protecting you if the need arises. If something happens to me, Marshall will take over, then the others. Michelle’s team will even step in if necessary. If something happens to all of us, you need to find a way to get to the police station, that's if they aren't corrupted and contact Dory or anyone back at the company immediately. He’ll take care of things from there. All right?”All right? Not really, but she nodded anyway, swallowing past the sudden restriction in her throat. She squeezed her fingers together in her lap. “What about security at the place? How will you—”“Both teams have already been going over that. N

She followed closely in Alex’s walk across the street through the snarled lanes of traffic, stretching out her strides to keep up with him. He kept careful tabs on her, checking on her position every few seconds.On the far side of the four lane road they hit the sidewalk and headed east toward the government buildings a few blocks away. Here it was less crowded, the pedestrians moving in opposite directions on the thin strip of pavement without any problem. She noticed Alex’s head moving constantly and knew he was cataloguing everything going on around them. Hired security or not, he was out here guarding her back. She found that sexy as hell.By the time they were a block away from their destination, sweat had gathered beneath her arms and breasts and across her face. She couldn’t wait to get inside the building and cool off, maybe duck into the ladies room to take off her thin sweater and scarf. They passed groups of business people talking on cell phones and throngs

Joanne somehow managed to put one sore bare foot in front of the other despite the rigidity in her muscles as Alex steered her into her hotel room. The lock clicked into place behind them, sounding overly loud to her heightened senses. Her heart rate still hadn’t normalized. She took slow, deep breaths to calm herself. It wasn’t working.“Let’s take a look at you,” he said, ushering her into the bathroom with a solid hand on the small of her back. The warmth of his touch registered more than his voice did. She winced when he flipped a switch and bright white lights flooded the room. With a nudge forward he settled her on the closed toiled lid and grabbed a facecloth from the rack above it. He ran the tap and moistened it before turning back to her. “Here. Clean up your cheek while I check your feet.”Feeling stiff all over, Joanne turned her head to look at herself in the wide rectangular mirror above the vanity. Her eyes looked huge in her too pale face