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bombarded his brain as they climbed in silence.
    Stacia. Peter. Attackers. Life had been a hell of a lot simpler when he lived thousands of miles away.
    Danger had been rushing at him from all sides ever since he’d arrived home in London after years away. Back then it had all started with the suspicion that his father wasn’t just ill but was being pushed in that direction. There were the whispers around the house. Talk of Stacia and Peter sabotaging each other. The insistence that he had to pick a side.
    Then he’d met Hunter. Stacia had hired him and Peter tried to win him over. Will had watched the craziness unfold from the sidelines, in awe of Hunter’s ability to stay out of the worst of the who-was-a-bigger-badass battle between his siblings. Hunter even volunteered for the bodyguard job, something Will didn’t think he needed but acquiesced to because the choice had been Hunter.
    The job put them in close proximity. Threw them together. Will had planned to come home, check on his sick father, and then take off again. A final goodbye sort of thing. Spend the days saying whatever needed to be said and the nights sneaking out to find some nameless guy to screw.
    As with everything else, Hunter had changed that, too. Forget finding someone else. When Hunter stood nearby, Will didn’t think about sex with some stranger to chase away the numbness. The whole blond and brooding thing appealed to him way too much. At night, alone in bed, it was Hunter’s face he called up as his hand slid under the covers.
    But it was more than attraction and heat. No, with Hunter around, Will’s priorities changed. He changed. It was no longer possible to ignore the things his family did because Hunter was right there, watching and assessing, making it clear Will had already picked a side by staying silent. During those two months at home, Will started to believe that Hunter might be the one good thing to come out of his unwanted family visit.
    Until the explosion.
    Hunter had disappeared and Will’s thoughts scrambled. All Stacia’s worries about being spied on ran through Will’s head. At the end, Stacia had been so determined to get her hands on a CIA target, so desperate to drive out the person she thought had infiltrated the family business, she could have missed things. Like how Hunter seemed more skilled than every other paid guy with a gun protecting the property. How he was the last one with Peter and the men Will had seen tied up in the basement before the explosions started.
    With those doubts bombarding him, Will tried to remain distant and extra careful. He wanted to know more about who Hunter really was, more than his intensity and gruffness, before diving in any deeper. That was the plan and Will knew it made sense, but Hunter never lowered the shield. That façade never slipped.
    But being close to him again only pumped life back into the fire that burned deep inside him. Hunter had a hold on him, and Will wasn’t even sure he wanted to fight it anymore. Maybe one good fuck and they could move on. That option was starting to sound smarter and smarter in his head. It sure as hell had always sounded good.
    “One second,” Hunter said, breaking into Will’s thoughts.
    Will watched Hunter’s fingers as he typed in a code on the security pad outside the door at the end of the hall on the fifth floor. Next came the key. Redundant security. The place would not be easy to access from this direction. That left the fire escape, and Will had just learned how dangerous those could be.
    They walked inside. Without saying another word, Hunter lifted his gun and started exploring. Checked the rooms and behind doors. The surveillance didn’t take long since the place was a studio. At one end a bed sat in a small alcove. At the other end, a kitchen. The living area, which consisted basically of a couch and a chair, took up the space between.
    Will scanned the surroundings, looking for any sign Hunter lived here and came up