yet, electricity sparked between them and nearly burned a hole in his hand.
Jesus holy hell, Hamilton. This is a fucking client. Without the fucking part.
In his entire life, he had never felt his discipline compromised the way it seemed to be with Peyton West. He was stunned at the intense connection between them, something he’d never had with another woman. And what could he do about it? She was a client. He’d damn well better figure out what the hell was going on, and fast.
But he noticed that she reacted to the contact, too, something flaring in her eyes and a tiny gasp escaping her lips. Apparently, she also had major control, because outside that infinitesimal reaction, he’d never have known the contact had affected her.
He’d better keep his shit together.
“I don’t want to scare you,” he said, “but has it occurred to you that whoever is behind all of this—not just the accident but the coverup—could have it in mind to eliminate you and your sister, also?”
Every bit of blood drained from her already pale face.
“You mean…” Her voice trailed off.
“I mean that Dane knew something that got him killed. What if whoever this is thinks your sister knows it, too? What if the hit and run was meant to kill both of them? And what if whoever this is gets nervous about you raking this all up and looking for answers?”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” She nibbled on her lower lip.
The sight of it made Blaze’s balls ache. Fucking shit. Was he sixteen years old? And this was a damn client.
“I think we should discuss some kind of protection for you.”
She looked up at him. “I wish I had my gun with me.”
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. That was among the top ten things he hadn’t expected to hear from her. “You carry a gun?”
Her lips curved in the first genuine smile of the day. “I live in Texas. I think it’s a requirement.”
Blaze thought for a moment. “Texas has reciprocity with Florida. If you let me check you out on the gun range and your score’s respectable, we’ll fix you up.”
“Really?”
“My preference would be to have protection of some kind with you and your sister at all times, but—”
She turned even paler at his words. “You think someone would come after us in the hospital?”
“I do,” he acknowledged. “You’re with her there most of the time, and basically unprotected. It’d be easy enough for someone to slip into the hospital, find your room number and take care of business.”
“How soon can we do the gun range?”
“Late tomorrow afternoon sound good to you? I can pick you up at the hospital.”
She chewed on her lip again and Blaze ground his teeth, searching for his self-control.
“Yes. That would be good. Can you text me when you’re on the way?”
He nodded. “Maybe around four? I want to meet with my partners during the day and see what kind of research we can get done.”
“What about Brianne? Is she safe? Will whoever this is try to finish the job with her?”
“Until I can make better arrangements, I’ll ask my brother to have hospital security make regular checks on the room.”
“Thank you.” She blew out a breath. “Thank you so much. Is this a usual part of your services?”
He laughed. “Nothing is usual in our business. Anything goes when it’s in the best interests of the client.”
“Well, thank you again for taking this on.”
“We’ll get to the root of this. I promise you.”
“Thank you.” Relief washed over her face. “I didn’t want to ask you, but—”
“But we’re all human. I understand. And I’ll definitely give you a call in the morning.”
They walked back to the hangar in silence. Peyton looked drained, as if she’d used the last bit of her energy and was trying to recharge her batteries before heading to the hospital. Blaze could only imagine the emotional stress she was dealing with. He didn’t like to make things personal. It could clutter up one’s thinking when working an op.
“I’ll be jumping on this right away,” he assured her again as he walked her to her car.
“I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have you believe something is wrong here. Someone who doesn’t keep trying to convince me that I’m nuts and to leave it all alone.”
“Oh, there’s definitely something out of whack here, but that’s the kind of stuff we thrive on. We’ll get to the truth, I promise you. See you tomorrow afternoon.”