by Jo Leigh
“Knock-knock.”
Tate turned to find Sara at the bedroom door. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Right back at ya,” Sara said. She was in her workout gear, looking radiant, and she sat on the bed with a plop. “Come with me?”
“I will,” Tate said. “But not today.”
“You said that yesterday. I know you’ll like my trainer. He’s got the best ass in the five boroughs. Seriously. It’s worth all the pain just to watch him bend over.”
Tate grinned. “I missed you.”
“I’m glad. It would have hurt my feelings if you hadn’t.”
“You’re my sister, kiddo. So when I ask you something, I trust you’re going to be honest, right?”
Sara crossed her heart.
“I can’t let go of Michael. I miss him too much. I love him.”
Sara’s smile faded as she nodded. “I figured.”
“I want to go to him. Do whatever it takes to make him see that we can be together. Except…there’s the whole money problem.”
Sara’s head went down for a long time. Tate thought of calling the kitchen for tea, but she didn’t want to disturb Sara’s thought process.
Finally her friend looked up. “It’s a big problem, and I don’t know Michael well enough to predict if he can get past it. But something that might help is the reward.”
“What reward?”
“Your father offered a million dollars to anyone who was instrumental in finding you. Michael was instrumental, all right.”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“Yeah,” Sara said. “Go figure.”
“Surely he’d have to agree that Michael deserves the reward.”
Sara laughed. “Your father? Come on, Tate. He’s going to blame Michael for a long time.”
“But Michael deserves—oh.”
“Exactly.”
Tate grinned. “Do you think I’m crazy?”
“Only if you don’t try. Tate, you haven’t taken a risk in so long. I think taking this one will make up for it. The worst that’s going to happen is he’ll break your heart. And since your heart is already broken, it can’t be that much worse.”
Tate felt her pulse race and her heart pound. Sara was right. It would be scary to go to him—but then, she had faced scary. And she’d kicked scary’s ass.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER sunrise, and Michael wasn’t getting better. His hand was healing, but missing Tate continued to get worse.
He didn’t understand. Yes, he was depressed. He got that. He’d made some big mistakes and there had been consequences. That wasn’t what was making him nuts.
That had everything to do with Tate. Not Charlie, not the kidnapping, not the killings. Tate haunted his dreams, haunted his waking hours. He kept thinking about how she’d been so brave, how she’d fought so hard. He remembered, too vividly, the way her skin felt, the taste of her flesh, how he felt when he slipped inside her.
He took a sip of coffee, wishing she were there, wishing he could find a way to justify calling her. If he couldn’t do that, he wanted a way to forget her. Perhaps now that Charlie was in jail he could go back to the Army. If his hand healed correctly. If they’d take him.
It would all be a lot easier if he would stop thinking he saw her out of the corner of his eye. Every woman with reddish-brown hair made his pulse race. Until he saw that it was just a woman and not Tate. Then he’d hear a voice, and the cycle would start over again until he saw it was a stranger.
The persistence of her memory had taken him over. Like a virus, she had spread throughout his system. Unfortunately there were no pills or shots to help him.
He felt someone next to his chair, but he didn’t want any more coffee or a drink. He looked up, ready to send the boy away. But it wasn’t a boy. And it wasn’t a dream.
“Tate?”
She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, with her hair down and wild, the way it had been on the boat. She wore no makeup and her eyes were puffy from crying. He’d never seen anyone more beautiful in his life.
“I tried, Michael. I did. I tried to see it your way and I gave your argument all I could. But the only conclusion I could come to was that you couldn’t be more wrong if you tried.”
He couldn’t help laughing at that, even though she looked damn serious.
“Don’t laugh. I mean it. You’re an idiot.”
“I never had any doubts about that.”
“Good, so we’re agreed. And since you’re an idiot and I’m tough and smart, here’s what we’re gonna do.” She came around in front of him and pulled him up by his T-shirt. “We’re going to figure out who we are and what we want and we’re going to do it together. I have no idea if it’s going to last a week or a lifetime, but I’ll be damned if I walk away and don’t find out.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Any questions?”
“What about your—”
She put her fingers over his mouth. “This isn’t about my father. So no questions about him. And it’s not about money, because there was a million-dollar reward for my safe return, which you completely and utterly deserve, so you have money, I have money—and, dammit, money isn’t the issue.”
“Are you through?”
“No. I also want you to know that just because you saved my life doesn’t mean I feel some kind of obligation toward you. I’m not going through a phase and I’m not here because you’re the first man in years to make my toes curl. I’m here because being with you is the best thing that’s happened to me. Ever. You’re an amazing man and I admire every single thing about you. Of course, when we actually live together, I reserve the right to get cranky. But still, I think you’re incredible and I don’t want to spend another day without you.”
“Are you through now?”
“For the moment.”
“Good. Because I love you.”
Her lips curved up in a wicked smile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“All that other stuff?”
He shrugged. “We’ll deal.”
“I thought this would be harder.”
He shook his head. “I can’t get you out of my head. You’ve been driving me insane.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “Thank God. Because I love you, too.”
He smiled as his whole body relaxed. “Thank God,” he said. And then he kissed her.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0524-0
KIDNAPPED!
Copyright © 2007 by Jolie Kramer.
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