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“What?” Jake’s eyes bugged out, and he shot up from his chair so quickly, it nearly tipped backward.
“Calm down, Jake. Nothing was taken or damaged or anything like that.”
“So, how did you know someone was here?”
Breaking eye contact, she said, “Whoever it was...they left me flowers.”
“Flowers?”
Olivia nodded. “Daisies.”
His expression softened only slightly. “Your favorite.”
Her gaze found his again. “You remember.”
She absolutely would not tell him how she’d run through her house looking for him, thinking he was back and had brought her the flowers to surprise her.
Staring deep into her eyes, he spoke low. “Of course, I remember.” Then, he blinked, and Warrior Jake was back. “And quit trying to change the subject. Someone broke in and left you your favorite flowers. Please tell me the police acted on that.”
“They did what they could. Came out and took pictures. Jotted down some notes. The deputies on duty suggested I get a security system, so I had that one installed, the next day.”
Jake began to pace the length of her tiny kitchen. Just when Olivia was sure he was going to wear the finish off her hardwood floor, he stopped next to the room’s edge and swung around to face her again.
So much anger flashed in his eyes that she actually recoiled in her chair. With his strong hands resting low on his hips, Jake was just this side of yelling when he asked, “Why am I just now hearing about this? Goddammit, Olivia. I should have known about this shit the minute it started. Why didn’t you...”
Olivia’s shoulders stiffened at his absurd outburst. Did he even hear what he was saying?
“Are you kidding me?”
Jake obviously didn’t realize how unbelievable his comments were, because he kept his rant going.
“Fuck, no, I’m not kidding. I want to know why I didn’t know someone was stalking you.”
Olivia stood, her own fury flickering throughout her veins. “Okay. First of all, we don’t even know for sure that there’s a stalker.”
He gave her new security system an exaggerated glance, and then looked back at her with disbelief. “Really.” The word dripped with sarcasm.
“And second”—she went on, completely ignoring his interruption—“and most importantly...were you hurt while you were away?”
Her question took him off guard. His face contorted with confusion. “What?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “You know, did you hit your head? Are you suffering from some sort of traumatic brain injury or something?”
“Liv, what the hell are you—”
She cut him off at the pass. “Because it’s the only thing I can think of that would explain why you’re acting like such a moron right now.”
His brows shot up. “Moron?’
Olivia crossed her arms at her chest and glared. “Total. Moron.”
The look he gave matched her own. “Why? Because I fucking care about what happens to you? Because I actually give a shit that some asshole could be out there watching you, just waiting to hurt you, and I knew nothing about it?”
“Are you even listening to yourself, right now?” Not giving him a chance to respond, she continued her side of the yelling match. “Of course you aren’t. You’re too busy being a self-righteous prick to realize how ridiculous you sound!”
Jake’s expression changed from pissed to surprised then back to pissed in less than a second.
“So, first I’m a moron, and now I’m a prick?”
“Damn right, you’re a prick! You left me, Jake. You said you wanted me...that you wanted an us. You fed me that bullshit promise that you’d be here to help me figure everything out once we were home, and I was so pathetic I actually believed you. Right up until the moment you left without a single fucking word!”
Olivia walked over to dump her now-cold coffee into the sink. She sat the cup down with such force, she was surprised it didn’t shatter.
Turning back around, her hands held the edge of the countertop behind her in a death grip while her mind raced to figure out what to say next.
She wasn’t the one at fault here, and refused to stand by another second and let him make her feel as though she were.
“You know what, Jake? On second thought...”—Olivia gave a dramatic pause—“you’re right.”
It was surprising how calm her voice sounded, given the anger still coursing through her system. She tilted her head slightly, as though she were actually accepting her words as truth.
Not a chance! Olivia’s fingernails tapped against the underside of the countertop as she spoke.
“I should have told you about everything. I mean, there were so many opportunities for me to do that, right? All those late night phone calls we’ve shared over the past two months. The times you called to check on me—”
Jake closed his eyes, his shoulders falling as some of the fight left his body. “Liv—”
“I guess I could have told you then, huh?”
Beautiful, tormented eyes met hers, and Olivia had to force herself to ignore the pain she saw there.
“Olivia, just...hear me out.”
Ignoring his request, she snapped her fingers and smiled humorlessly. “Oh, wait! I remember now why I didn’t tell you.” Her gaze burned into his. “You. Never. Called.”
“Sweetheart, would you please just listen—”
“No, you listen!” Her finger flew in his direction as two months’ worth of hurt and resentment came rushing out full-force. “You left me, Jake. Not the other way around. After everything we’d been through. After everything you and I...”—she stopped cold, refusing to go in that direction—“you just left me there, with those agents. Those strangers.”
Olivia continued on, not giving him a chance to speak. “I had no idea where you were. All I knew was that you were gone, and I had to pick up the pieces of my shattered life alone. How do you think that made me feel?” Her voice continued to rise until she was shouting. “Oh, and hello, even if I had wanted to call you, I couldn’t because I had no way to get ahold of you!”
“Bullshit!” Jake yelled back as he took a step forward, his fisted hands at his sides. “You talked to Jason. If you’d told him what was happening, he would have gotten in touch with me, and you know it! I mean”—he stretched out his arms and motioned to her house—“he sure was willing to help you with plenty of other things while I was away.”
Olivia swore she could actually feel her blood pressure rising. He did not just go there.
Refusing to even acknowledge his idiotic implication, she asked, “What then? Huh, Jake? Let’s say I had told Jason what was going on, and he told you. You were on a job! What could you have done about it?”
Jake took a step closer to her. His voice grew louder, his words seeping through his teeth. “If I thought you were in trouble, I would have been here. I would have figured out something with the job, and I would have been here!”
“Which is exactly why I didn’t call him!” Olivia’s voice echoed throughout the tiny house.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The silence was deafening.
“What?” Jake asked with little more than a whisper.
His brows drew together and something other than anger flashed in his eyes. Only briefly, but it was enough that Olivia recognized it. She’d hurt him.
The fact that she was scared and hadn’t wanted his help cut him deeply. Jake was, to the core, a man of action. A protector. Especially to those he cared for.
Well, hell. As much as his leaving had hurt her, deep down Olivia never truly wanted to cause Jake pain. She did her best to explain.
“I knew if I told Jason what was going on, he’d tell you, and you’d go all Mr. Protecto on me.” Jake opened his mouth to respond, but she didn’t let him. “And despite the evidence from recent events, I’m not some weak, helpless, damsel in distress. Believe it or not, I am capable of taking care of myself.”
The lines on his forehead smoothed quickly, and Olivia saw the muscles in his jaw bulge out. Rather than helping Jake understand, her explanation had clearly pissed him off even more.
Lovely. I just can’t seem to win with him, today.
Jake spoke through his teeth again as he shoved his own pointed finger in her direction. “I have never thought of you as weak or helpless. You want to talk about evidence? The only evidence I saw in that fucking jungle was that you are the strongest, most capable woman I have ever known. But even if you weren’t, it wouldn’t matter, Liv. Nothing will ever keep me from worrying about you or wanting to protect you.”
Olivia shook her head and smiled sadly. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Jake. I don’t need you to protect me. I’ve taken care of it. The police know about everything, and, as you so observantly pointed out,” she motioned to her alarm system, “I’m taking extra precautions.”
“That’s all well and good, but—”
“But, nothing!” Olivia’s voice rose with frustration again.
Trying to rein it in, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Damn it. She hadn’t wanted to bring it up.
At best, it would be awkward as hell, but Jake obviously needed to hear it, and she needed to let him off the hook so he could leave here with a clear conscience.
Then, they could both forget about it and go on with their lives. He’d go back to saving the world, and she’d be left alone, again. What else was new, right?
“Look, Jake. What happened between us in that hotel room, was...”—she paused as she tried to describe the most unbelievable experience of her life. There really were no words that could do it justice, so she settled for—“amazing. But, I’m mature enough to understand what it really was and what it wasn’t.”
His voice lowered, and he spoke with such calmness, it sent shivers down her spine. “And what exactly was it, Olivia?”
The truth was almost too painful to admit, but she forged on, needing to resolve this thing between them once and for all. Licking her lips again, Olivia began to babble.
“A one-time thing, right?” She shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, that’s what I said that night. Hell, I pretty much begged you to make love to me. But, don’t worry,” she added quickly. “I’m not looking for more, I just...I wanted you to know why I didn’t make that call to Jason about what was going on. I knew if I did, you’d leave your job and come rushing in to save the day, and I didn’t want”—her voice broke and she swallowed hard—“I didn’t want you coming here just because you felt obligated.”
His eyes widened. “Obligated?” He practically spit the word out, as if it somehow left a bad taste in his mouth.
Olivia let out a frustrated breath. “Yes, Jake. Obligated. I know you. Hell, you said yourself, you’re protective of me. I refuse to take advantage of that, and I’m sure as hell not going to be the type of woman to sleep with you, and then expect you to be at my beck after the fact. Especially when you obviously have a life that doesn’t include me.”
Jake flinched as if she’d just slapped him. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He was yelling again, and this time, a vein in his forehead and one in the side of his neck bulged from the pressure.
“It means”—she raised her own voice—“that you can’t just show up here after two months of not even calling or sending a freaking text to see how I’m doing, and get mad at me for not running to you with every little problem that I have!”
“Mad?” He shook his head and his lip curled up in a sneer as he moved in on her. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m not mad. I’m fucking pissed!” His voice seemed to get louder with each word he spoke. “You damn well should have come to me with this. And news flash, Liv...having a stalker isn’t a little problem!”
“I told you,” Olivia shouted back. “I don’t want you here just because you felt—”
“Obligated,” Jake threw the word back at her. “Yeah, I got that, Liv. But guess what? I’m not here because I feel obligated.” He took another step toward her as they continued screaming at each other.
“Then why are you here, Jake?”
Tension rolled off his body as he continued to move closer. “You want to know why I’m here?”
Olivia jutted her chin up. “Did I stutter?”
His movement faltered slightly, but Jake quickly recovered. With one final step, they were standing toe-to-toe, and she had to tilt her head back to keep eye contact.
His hot, heavy breaths brushed across her face, and Olivia was sure her heart was going to leap out of her chest.
Determined to stand her ground and not let him intimidate her with his size and stature, she stood still and waited for him to continue yelling. Much to her amazement—and total confusion—his scowl slowly turned up into a sinful, sexy grin.
No longer sounding angry, Jake’s voice came out low and steady, and his eyes found her lips. He shook his head slowly. “God, I’ve missed that smart mouth of yours.” He raised his hand to her face and traced her bottom lip with his thumb.
Olivia was so taken aback by his sudden mood change—it absolutely was not the jolt of electricity that thumb was sending through her system—that she was barely able to speak.
“Jake?” she whispered back. “W-what are you—”
The rest of what she was about to say vanished as he grabbed the back of her neck and crushed his mouth to hers. The kiss wasn’t soft. It came out of the gate hard and fast, almost as though he were laying his claim.
Jake groaned as his tongue invaded her mouth. Olivia knew she should be pushing him away. Instead, she stood on the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
Giving everything she had into that one, spellbinding kiss, she set free the desperate need that had been gnawing at her for the past two months,
It was too revealing. She was allowing him to see what she felt down to her soul, but Olivia couldn’t find it in herself to care. She needed this. Needed him. Even if it was only for this brief moment.
He moaned again as he continued to devour her, and Olivia knew then, that he still wanted her just as much as she did him. Physically, anyway. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if that was enough.
As she continued taking what he was offering, her heart began to feel heavy because, deep down, she already knew the answer. And it broke her heart in two.
****
Jake pulled back, forcing himself to end the kiss. Their breaths were labored as he touched his forehead to hers, giving him a close-up view of her wet and swollen lips.
His cock twitched at the sight, and he wanted nothing more than to lift Liv onto the counter, drive himself inside her, and never let go.
He held back, though, having already broken the hands-off vow he’d made to himself on the drive to her house. But damn, the woman was sexy as hell when she was mad. Add to that her little quip about stuttering, and he’d lost it.
“That’s why I’m here, Liv.” He lifted a hand and gently brushed some hair from her face, tucking the wayward curls behind her ear. “Not because I feel obligated, but because I...”—he swallowed the words he was too afraid to say, instead giving her another truth—“I missed you.” He leaned in, kissing her more slow this time, before breaking the kiss to admit, “I missed you so damn much.”
Olivia ran a finger along his jawline, the simple touch as arousing as if her hand was actually touching his dick. Maybe even more so.
“I missed you, too, Jake.”
She smiled, but her eyes looked sad, which bothered the hell out of him. Jake swallowed nervously, sensing she had more to say.
He didn’t want to hear it, but that didn’t matter. He’d hurt her by leaving without a word, and she had every right to feel whatever it was she was feeling. He just prayed he could make her understand.
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming.”
She placed the palms of her hands on his chest, his body’s reaction instant. He was already hard as a rock, his dick a throbbing club between his legs, but his heart was where he felt her touch the most. Yeah, I am way the hell past screwed.
“But, I—”
She seemed to be struggling to find her words. Good. At least it wouldn’t be easy for her when she told him to go to hell.
“I lied,” Olivia finally blurted out, her hands dropping to her sides.
Wait. She’d what?
Jake’s mind raced, because this woman was the farthest thing from a liar. Him, sure. Her? Not a chance.
However, as he stared down into her eyes, those alluring swirls of greens and brown said she was telling him the truth. Damn.
Had she lied when she said she didn’t regret being with him? Jake didn’t think he could handle that. Anything but that.
Pushing past the lump in his throat, he nutted up and asked her, “What did you lie about, sweetheart?”
She glanced down at his chest, refusing to look him in the eye for this part. Definitely not a good sign. Jake held his breath and waited. Please don’t say you regret us, baby.
“About not wanting more,” she whispered.
At first she didn’t say anything else, and he began to question whether he’d even heard right. Then, she looked back up at him and began talking so quickly, her words almost came out in one, long rush.
“I thought I could handle it, us...being together like that. I thought if I had you, even just that one night, it would be enough.”
Her normally strong voice cracked slightly, and the tears beginning to well in her eyes tore at his swelling heart. Before he could respond, she rambled on some more.
“When you left, I thought maybe we really could go back to the way things were before. Like nothing had ever happened.” She shook her head, almost frantically, her words falling out one right after another. “But, I can’t. It’s obvious you don’t feel the same way, and that’s okay. Well, it’s not really okay, but I’ll get over it. It’ll take time, but I know I can move on, and one day we’ll be able to be friends again. Until then, I just...I can’t do this with you, Jake. I can’t.” She licked her lips and straightened her shoulders, drawing on her inner strength. “I won’t be just a...booty call.”
She wanted more? That’s what she’d lied about? Jake’s swollen heart pounded in his chest.
He wanted to do a fist-pump high in the air, or pick her up and swing her around like he’d seen guys do in those cheesy chick flicks.
Olivia Bradshaw wanted more. With him. Hell, yes.
He started to reach for her, but remembered what she’d just said about being a booty call. Shit.
He was really screwing this whole thing up. That was okay, because he was about to fix it, right the hell now.
Cupping her face with his hands, Jake tilted her chin up. He looked her square in the eyes as he spoke.
“Let me make something very clear. I would never, ever come to you for a booty call.” He kissed her softly, his lips brushing against hers when he spoke again. “Not with you, Liv. Never with you.”
Olivia’s throat moved, and her eyes glistened. “It’s just too hard, Jake. I know you don’t feel the same way about me, but that’s my problem, not yours. I’ll...deal with it. Eventually.”
She obviously wasn’t listening. Jake opened his mouth to set her straight, but the stubborn-assed woman wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise.
“Look, Jake. I get that with your job, you sometimes have to leave at a moment’s notice. I’ve always known that, even when I didn’t know what your job really was. I also understand that whatever you and your team had to do this time was more important than staying with me. And that’s okay, too.”
Olivia stopped to take a breath. Her eyes filled even more, and the tip of her cute-as-fuck button nose turned rosy. She blinked, and a single tear fell.
“It was the fact that, after everything we’d been through together, you didn’t even bother to tell me you had to leave. God, Jake. That’s what hurt the most.” Her chin quivered, and her voice broke. “You never even said goodbye.”
“Ah, sweetheart. Come here.” He pulled her in closely. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he cupped the back of her head and tucked it beneath his chin.
Jake felt her small hands grab the back of his shirt tightly, and he closed his eyes against his own emotions. It took him a full minute before he could talk past the softball-sized lump that had suddenly taken up residency in his throat.
He filled his lungs and prayed for the words to help her understand. Moving back just enough to look her in the eyes, Jake willed her to see the truth behind his.
“Leaving you that day was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Beautiful, tormented eyes stared up into his. “Then, why did you?”
She sounded so small and fragile, making him curse the circumstances behind their two-month separation once again. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to leave with my team.”
“Jason told me you had another job. He said it was important, but I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have talked for a minute before you left. Just long enough to at least say goodbye.” Another tear fell.
He wiped it away before it reached her jaw. “My team and I left that day because we were going after the bastards responsible for your abduction. Time was of the essence, and literally, every second counted. You’d already been taken to the safe house when I found out I had to leave. I couldn’t risk missing the opportunity to catch those assholes. Not even to try to find you to say goodbye. I’m sorry.”
Olivia inhaled deeply, the movements pushing her soft breasts against his chest. Jake forced himself to ignore the way they felt.
Instead, he focused on the way her eyebrows turned inward, the soft skin between them wrinkling together in that adorable way they did. He wanted to kiss them. Focus, McQueen.
“I thought your team killed all of Cetro’s men the day you found me. Well, except the two who took us, but we know for a fact they’re...”
She didn’t finish, which was fine with him. Neither one of them wanted to talk about the circumstances surrounding those two assholes’ deaths. Jake sure as hell didn’t want to think about how close he came to losing her that day.
“I’m not just talking about Cetro and his men, sweetheart. When we left Dallas two months ago, we were also going after the man who hired Cetro to take you.”
Visibly shaken, Olivia pulled out of his arms and went back to the table. She plopped down in her chair, looking thoroughly confused. And scared.
She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing them as if she were cold. “I-I don’t understand. Someone actually...hired those men to take me?”
Following her lead, Jake reclaimed his chair as well. Propping his elbows on the table’s wooden top, he fisted his hands together and said, “Most of what went down is classified. I can’t give you all the details, but I’ll tell you what I can.”
She nodded her understanding.
“There was a group of men. Powerful men, with more money than God. Each month, they would put together the type of auction Cetro and his men were planning to take you to. One of the rich assholes saw your picture in the paper. It was with an article about relief workers offering aid to the victims of the hurricane.”
Olivia absentmindedly nodded again. “I remember a few people taking pictures of us while we were working there. Some asked for our names and wanted to know where we were from. I thought it was great exposure for the program.”
“I’m sure that was the intent behind the article, but the guy we went after saw it, saw you, and decided he...wanted you.” Jake worked to bite back his anger, hoping she didn’t notice how tightly his clenched fists had become. “He hired Cetro and his men to take you and hold you until the next auction.”
Olivia thought for a moment, and then said, “Okay. So, I get why you left the way you did, but why were you gone for so long? Jason and the other agents acted like you’d only be gone a few days. And why couldn’t you at least call or text me during that time to let me know you were okay?”
Jake understood her frustration. The two-day job had almost immediately turned into the mother of all cluster fucks. Ryker’s contact was supposed to meet with the team after they’d landed that night. He never showed.
“The situation we were in was delicate. I couldn’t risk either one of us by trying to contact you, even with a simple text. But, I swear to you, Olivia...when I left, I thought we’d only be gone a couple of days. A week, max.”
With genuine concern, Olivia asked, “So, what happened?”
“Like I said, I can’t tell you most of it, because it’s classified. The rest...”—Jake sighed. “Hell, Liv. You’ve got enough bad shit stored up inside already. I refuse to add to it when it’s not necessary. All you need to know is that my team did its thing. We found a way in, got what we needed, and took the organization down. Permanently.”
Jake wasn’t trying to be a chauvinistic prick. Olivia didn’t need to know that, two days after they’d landed in Argentina—where they were supposed to meet Homeland’s contact—Ryker had called with confirmation that his guy was found dead, his body dismembered.
He’d either been made as a snitch, or he’d pissed off someone in the group badly enough that they’d taken him out. In any case, the guy’s death had caused Jake and his team to start from scratch, in turn, extending the length of the mission by a whole fucking lot.
Olivia covered her mouth and inhaled deeply through her nose. Her entire body started to shake, making Jake feel helpless.
He wanted to take her in his arms and promise that everything would be okay. Vow that nothing bad would ever happen to her again. Instead, he stayed glued to his chair.
What she’d said earlier was true. She was a lot stronger than he gave her credit for, and didn’t need him swooping in every time there was a problem. Even if every primal instinct he had was screaming at him to do just that.
As much as he hated it, Jake forced himself to give her a few minutes to process everything without him rushing to her rescue. Finally, her eyes met his.
“But you got him, right? The man who wanted to b-buy me?”
Jake nodded once, his voice deadly. “We got him.”
She took in a cleansing breath and let it out slowly. “Did you kill him?”
Jake shook his head. She’d never know how hard it was for him not to put a bullet through the fucker’s brain.
“Unfortunately, we needed the asshole alive so we could use the information he had to help shut the entire organization down for good.”
Olivia sat quietly for a moment before asking, “And Cetro? Is he...”
“In a cell awaiting transport to the States. He’s been in a Mexican prison for about six weeks now. A trial will be set soon. He’s been charged with the murders of your friends and your kidnapping, along with human and drug trafficking charges, and a slew of other shit. Ryker’s going for the death penalty, and he’ll get it.”
Jake didn’t tell her he and his team found Cetro hiding out in a small village near the Texas border. Even now, the thought of him being so close to Olivia made his skin crawl.
“W-who was the man? The one who hired Cetro to take me?”
“I’m sorry, baby. I can’t tell you his name. However, I can promise he will never be able to hurt you or anyone else, ever again.”
Olivia stood and walked past him toward her living room, her body full of nervous energy. She ran a shaking hand through her hair several times, totally unaware—or maybe just not caring—that she’d pulled the elastic band loose from her ponytail.
The black ring went unnoticed as it fell to the floor behind her. She rubbed both hands across her face before turning back around.
“This is all so unreal. I can’t believe there are people out there who’d actually do such despicable things to another human being.”
Then, as if she’d suddenly realized something awful, a look of horror swept over her face.
Both hands flew to her chest, almost as if she were actually trying to reach in and grab hold of her own heart.
“Oh, God, Jake. You know what this means, right? It really was my fault. They were all killed because of me.”
The guilt in her eyes as she referred to the other nurses and doctors Cetro’s men had gunned down right in front of her gutted him.
Tears began to fall freely down her face, but she didn’t seem to notice them. Jake sure as hell did. Screw processing time.
In an instant, he was out of his chair and pulling her into his arms. “No, baby,” he said fiercely as he held on tight. “This was not your fault. The only ones to blame are Cetro and the other men we took down.”
Jake spoke the truth, but knew Olivia would continue to blame herself. Time and support would help her come to terms with it all, but for two months she’d been forced to deal with it all on her own. A fact that shredded him.
He was here now, and for him, there was only one option. Jake had to make her understand. She had to let him back into her life, because if she didn’t...if she spent one more second thinking she was alone in all of this, it would fucking destroy him.
With her head pressed against his chest, he said, “I know this is a lot to take in, Liv, and I’m so damned sorry for leaving you the way I did. But, after finding you alive in the jungle after I’d thought you’d been killed, knowing what you’d gone through...what they almost did to you...”
Damn it. Jake’s voice broke, and he had to clear his throat to keep from breaking down.
“I had to make sure those assholes were put away for good. I needed to know they wouldn’t be able to come after you ever again. The thought of that happening...”—He got choked up again, but pushed through it—“Sweetheart, that’s what drove me onto that plane two months ago. It was the only thing that could have taken me away from you that day. I had to know you were safe, and that those bastards could never hurt you again.”
Olivia continued to let him hold her like that, with the back of his shirt bunched in her hands for the second time in only a few minutes.
When she finally stopped shaking, she pulled back. Her eyes clear were and focused. Jake looked down into them and this time, he saw the one thing he’d prayed for...Acceptance.
“Thank you. For going after those men,” Olivia offered solemnly.
Relieved beyond words, Jake kissed her forehead, then her cheek. His lips barely touched her ear when he whispered, “You don’t ever have to thank me for that. Your safety is everything to me, Liv.”
He moved in for a long, slow kiss. When it was over, he pulled back only slightly. Then, with his eyes locked on hers, Jake relinquished even more of himself to her. “You are everything to me.”
After brushing some hair from her eyes, he cupped the side of her face. “I need you to believe that, baby. You have to know the only reason I left the way I did was to make sure the bastards responsible for taking you away from me never got the chance to do it again. I couldn’t risk letting another team take over. I had to be the one to do it. Can you understand that?”
More moisture spilled from her forgiving eyes as she whispered the only answer he could bear to hear, “Yes.”
Jake exhaled loudly, feeling as though a two-ton boulder had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank God.”
He hugged her tightly again. Knowing she not only forgave him for leaving the way he had, but that she actually understood the position he’d been in, made him want to cry like a baby.
His eyes stung, but he squeezed them shut to keep his tears from falling. After collecting himself, Jake put some space between them but kept his hands loosely resting on her hips.
“I promise I’ll never leave you like that again.”
There would be other jobs, of course, but he meant every word. No matter what he had to do, Jake would never leave without telling her goodbye again.
