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don’t try to leave. When you’re ready to sleep, there are extra sheets and pillows in the hall closet.”
    â€œSleep? How long will Pierce be gone?”
    Tessa sat on the far end of the couch, her actions so smooth and graceful it made Madison feel far older than her twenty-eight years.
    â€œHe should be back by morning,” Tessa said. “Until then, you and I get to enjoy each other’s company.”
    Madison nearly choked on the bile rising in her throat. Enjoyable was not a word she’d use to describe being forced to spend time with Pierce’s fiancée. If she and “red” made it through the night without killing each other, it would be a miracle.
    M ADISON DECIDED TO show Tessa some mercy. After all, where was the fun in yanking out all that salon-perfect hair when the woman was sprawled across the couch, in a dead sleep?
    She didn’t even move when Madison took her gun away and set it on the kitchen counter. And the gun wasn’t even loaded.
    Madison rolled her eyes in disgust and settled into the recliner across from sleeping beauty. She would certainly never threaten someone with an empty gun.
    Neither would Pierce. Madison had always admired how competent he was, his quick reflexes, his skills as an investigator. He could handle himself in any situation. And he sure wouldn’t fall asleep while guarding someone.
    Tessa let out a loud snort.
    Madison shook her head and closed her eyes. When would Pierce be back? Was he working a case? He was good at what he did for a living, one of the best, but she couldn’t help but worry. After all, he was injured. His reflexes had to be off.
    When the sun’s first rays peeked through the window blinds, Madison was still wide awake. A few minutes later, a metallic screech sounded from the garage as the door began to raise, followed by the reassuring rumble of Pierce’s GTO as he pulled inside.
    Tessa jerked awake, blinking to focus. She lifted her empty gun hand and her eyes widened. She frantically patted down the couch.
    Madison hid her smile and peeked out through her lashes, enjoying the other woman’s frenzied panic. When she spotted the gun on the counter, she let out a string of curses and hurried into the kitchen, tucking the gun away just as Pierce stepped into the kitchen from the garage.
    The sound of his deep voice as he spoke in muted tones to Tessa soothed Madison’s worry. Her relief turned to annoyance as they continued to whisper to each other. She wished she could hear what they were saying. Then again, maybe it was a good thing she couldn’t.
    She tried to tune them out so she could catch a few minutes of sleep. She’d give Pierce hell later for leaving her with his snoring fiancée all night. And then, somehow, she’d convince him that she didn’t really need his help.

 
    Chapter Four
    M ADISON COVERED HER yawn and looked out Pierce’s car window at the FBI office building on East Bryan Street.
    After nodding off in the recliner this morning, she’d been shaken awake an obscenely short time later. Pierce, looking impossibly refreshed, as if he hadn’t been awake most of the night himself, had driven her to the cemetery to retrieve her car. Then he’d followed her home and had waited while she showered and changed.
    In spite of her brilliant arguments about not needing his help, he’d bullied her into going with him to give his boss a statement about the shooting.
    He opened her car door and offered her his hand.
    She swatted his hand away and covered another yawn as she climbed out of the car. She’d wipe that grin off his face later, once she got enough caffeine into her system. One cup of coffee was not enough to wake up her “nice” gene.
    The lettering on the glass door of the building declared that it was a technology center, rather than a field office like the sprawling complex in Jacksonville, where Pierce used to work. Its stark,