His eyes dropped to her hand. “I don’t see a ring on those pretty fingers. It looks like someone likes the chase.” Moving so that he was blocking her car door, he stared at her breasts, making her feel sick.

“Plea-please,” she stuttered. “I’ve got to go.” She felt herself going into full-blown panic mode. All she could remember was what had happened to her last time, so many years ago, when another man hadn’t taken no for an answer. In the moment, she was reduced to a teenage girl again at the mercy of someone bigger than her. As she was backing away, a cab pulled up to the curb and without thinking, Ava turned and ran toward it. She heard someone yelling behind her, but she didn’t turn.

“You call for a cab, miss?” the driver asked as she huddled in the middle of the backseat.

“Ye-yes.” She gave him her address and sat trembling on the seat. When they pulled up in front of her apartment, she looked around for her purse before realizing that she must have dropped it somewhere. Oh God, she didn’t have money to pay her cab fare. Digging through her pockets, she was relieved that she had stuck her keys in them instead of in her bag. “I . . . eh . . . Could you wait here while I go inside for money? I don’t have my bag.”

The cabdriver looked at her for a moment before giving her a kind smile. “Don’t worry about it. You look like you’ve had a hard night. Just pay it forward sometime.” Ava felt tears well in her eyes at the kindness she saw on his face. She thanked him profusely before turning across the expanse of concrete with her arms hugged tightly around her body. She was lost in her own thoughts when someone grabbed her arm and swung her around. Suddenly, the face that she had run from only moments ago was back and abject terror tore through her. Her head started spinning and it was only a moment later that darkness descended to claim and protect her.

*   *   *

Mac had just opened his door to find Gwen unexpectedly standing on his doorstep when his phone rang. He motioned Gwen inside uneasily, noticing that she seemed to be dressed a littler sexier than usual. “Just a second,” he said while he hit the call button on his phone. “What’s up, Jeff?”

“Mac, I’ve got a problem here, and I don’t know what to do about it.” Jeff worked part-time surveillance for East Coast and was filling in for one of his regular guys this week. He should be in the middle of making rounds to various locations throughout the city now.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, not expecting anything major.

“It’s Miss Stone. She had just arrived home when I got here to check around her place as usual, but then some guy stopped her in the parking lot, and before I could walk over to find out if she needed assistance, she just collapsed. I had the security guard at the complex detain the man until we find out what is going on.”

Fear gripped Mac as he started hunting for his keys on the entryway table. All he could think about was that Ava was hurt and he needed to get to her. “Where is she now?” he growled.

“I carried her into the clubhouse here. The manager called one of the residents who’s a doctor and he’s checking her over. She’s starting to come back around now, but she took a pretty hard lick when she hit the pavement.”

“I’m on my way,” Mac bit out. “Don’t take your eyes off her until I get there, got it?” Without waiting for the other man’s answer, Mac was racing out the door when Gwen grabbed his arm. He tried to shake her off, desperate to reach Ava, but she was stronger than she looked.

“Mac, what’s going on? Has something happened to your mother?”

“No,” he said, not taking any time to elaborate. He was irritated that she was slowing him down and his usual patience and good manners had deserted him. “Listen, Gwen, I’ve got to go. Shut the door behind you.” With those words, he was gone without sparing her another thought.

He made it across town in record time, pulling in front of Ava’s building in less than fifteen minutes, even with the heavy evening traffic. Scanning the area, he saw Jeff waving at him from the doorway of a small building near the swimming pool. As he drew closer, Jeff held the door for him. “She’s in here. She wants to go to her apartment, and I’ve barely been able to keep her here. The doctor thought she should go to the hospital to be checked out from the fall and from passing out, but she refuses. Says she just wants to go home. According to the security guard, the guy who was talking to her before she passed out was from her hang gliding group. Said she dropped her purse in the parking lot, and he was just bringing it back to her. We got his information but let him go. Seemed harmless enough.”

As if sensing he was near, Ava swung her head around from where she was sitting on the couch in the corner, and Mac’s heart slammed as tears welled in her big eyes. What the fuck had happened to her? She got up on shaky legs and propelled herself toward him. His arms opened automatically to embrace her as she clung to him with sobs shaking her small frame. “Oh, baby,” he whispered against the top of her head, “what happened?”

Trembling, she said, “Please take me to my apartment. I want to get out of here.” Without thinking, Mac swung her up in his arms and took the flight of stairs up to her place. He had to set her back on her feet so she could fish the keys from her pocket and open the door. As soon as she was across the threshold, she turned back to him. He picked her up again before settling them both on her couch.

Mac let her breathing quiet and her body relax before asking quietly, “Baby, what happened? Are you sick?” He felt her shake her head against his neck. He rubbed his hand soothingly up and down her back, letting her know that he had her.

“I got scared,” she mumbled against his throat. “I . . . panicked and started to hyperventilate. It just happened so fast. I couldn’t control it.”

Pulling her away from him, Mac searched her eyes. She still looked so damn shaken. Every protective instinct inside him was roaring. Right now, though, she needed something to take the edge off. “I’ll be right back, baby. Just sit tight for a minute.” Unwinding her arms from around him, he went into her kitchen and pulled out a bottle of vodka. It would probably burn her windpipe, but it should settle her nerves. He poured a generous measure and took it back to where she was sitting. He wrapped her hands around the glass, helping her raise it to her lips. “Don’t sip, Avie. Throw it back. I know it’s gonna taste like fire, but drink it.” She started gagging on the first sip, but he kept steady pressure on her wrist. After a few more swallows, she had downed the alcohol. He set the glass on the table and pulled her back into his arms. “Better?”