Under Threat
Page 36
She whirled back, somehow every sentence he uttered making the violent thing inside of her larger. “What?”
“It’s supposed to be romantic,” he returned, clearly irritated she wasn’t falling into line.
“What the hell is romantic about me hypnotizing you? You can’t tell me how you feel unless I put you under?”
“You gave me a whole lecture about people being unable to give information under hypnotism unless they want to, and I’m trying to show you how willing I am to—”
“Then just say it!”
“I love you.”
They both stood in stunned silence for Natalie wasn’t sure how long. She clutched her hands at her chest and tried to...process that. Meanwhile Vaughn stood stock-still, his eyes a little wide as if he was shocked by his own words.
“I don’t...believe in a lot of...” Vaughn rubbed his palm across his jaw and then took a step toward her. “Natalie, I fell in love with you. Your strength, your dedication.” He swore. “And I thought that’d go away, or dull, or... I don’t want to fail someone else. I’m so sick of feeling like I failed, and I just wanted to show you that I’d do it anyway.”
“Fail?” she asked incredulously.
“Try!”
“Oh.” He loved her, and he wanted to try. He was trying to be...romantic. Vaughn Cooper. For her.
“Will you sit now?”
“No.”
His eyebrows drew together, but before he could be too confused over her refusal, she found the courage to do what she’d wanted to do the moment she’d stepped in the room.
She moved into him, wrapping her arms around him, holding him through the ragged exhale he let out. “Nat—”
“I love you too,” she whispered fiercely. Because that was such a better emotion to focus on than anger. That was what she should have taken away from this morning and being reunited with Gabby, not feeling anything... Love. Hope. Faith.
“I wasn’t sure... I’m not sure I know how to go from the most important thing to me being your safety—and me keeping you safe, to you just...being safe. How does...any of this work?”
She pulled back a little and tried to smile, but a few tears slipped out instead. She could tell it bothered him, but he didn’t rush to stop her. No, for all Vaughn’s gruff, by-the-book protector conventions, he always seemed to give her the space she needed to work it out.
And hold her through it if she needed.
“My life is literally burned to the ground, and I have a sister who’s been held prisoner for eight years finally back in it. I don’t know how any of this works, but I just guess you...figure it out.”
“Together?”
“We make a pretty good team.”
He wiped away one of her tears, his rough thumb a welcome texture against her cheek, his mouth gently curved, that love shining so clearly in his eyes. “We do,” he agreed, his voice rough and...true.
Because Vaughn didn’t lie, and he didn’t sugarcoat. This man, who understood obsessions and failures, violence and the absence of it. How to keep her safe, how to give her space.
They made a wonderful team, and Natalie was certain that’s exactly what they’d continue to be.
* * *
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ISBN-13: 9780369703903
Under Threat
First published as Steel Resolve in 2019.
This edition published in 2021.
Copyright © 2019 by Barbara Heinlein
Stone Cold Texas Ranger
First published in 2016. This edition published in 2021.
Copyright © 2016 by Nicole Helm
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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