by Cynthia Eden
Then Kat’s arms were around his neck. Her body pressed hard to his. “I thought you were dead,” she whispered against his lips. “When I first saw you on the floor, you weren’t moving at all, and I thought you were dead. Everything stopped for me. Everything. Until I saw your chest rising and falling.”
He blinked at her. “You got out of the cuffs.”
She lifted a hand. The cuffs dangled from her fingers. “Was working on it the whole time. You think I was going to let him slit your throat?”
Still on his knees before her, still with his hands cuffed and with an unconscious FBI dick against the wall, Rick told her, “I love you so much.”
She kissed him again. Her hand slid behind his back. Her fingers danced over his wrist. Her body pressed even tighter to his and then Rick’s cuffs gave way. He felt the release of pressure even as he heard a soft snick of sound. He whipped his hands up and around and held her as tightly as he could.
“Cough, cough,” Ghost snapped, saying the words and not actually coughing. “Could you two get your hands off each other and uncuff me? I’m not like Kat. The guy frisked me and took all my weapons and picks before he left me in this chair, so I could use some help!”
Rick turned his head and glared at the hit man. “I’m not uncuffing you. You’re wanted for a shit-ton of murders, and the last thing I’m going to do is give you the chance to run again.” He pushed up on his feet. Almost slammed down face-first, but Kat rose with him. They both wobbled, but straightened.
“Oh, come on! I wasn’t lying to that jackwad FBI agent! I’m here to keep Kat safe.”
Rick’s hold on Kat tightened. “Kind of got that covered…” Each word was stronger as more of the drugs wore out of his system. “So fuck you.” He looked down at her. “Baby…you okay?”
“I love you.”
His heart pounded faster. “God, I love you, too.” He bent to kiss—
“I am choking on the frigging sweetness here!” Ghost shouted. “Look, we need to send a message. One big, bad, bloody message to anyone else who wants to come after Kat. You can’t let that FBI agent live. We need to carve his ass up and hang him from a window.”
Kat shuddered.
“Ignore him. He’s a psychopath.” Rick kept one arm around her as he lifted his head and glared at Ghost. “Not happening. Bryan’s going to be arrested and—”
“And he’ll get out. He’s a Fed! That means he has powerful friends.” Ghost heaved in his chair. “Even if he doesn’t get out, there will be others in line. We have to send a message. We have to make an example of him. A bloody example.”
Rick shook his head. “That’s not who I am.”
Ghost stopped heaving. His eyes glittered. “What-the-hell-ever. If you can’t do the job, uncuff me and I’ll get the shit done.”
Rick didn’t move toward him. “I’m not letting a murderer go free.” He gently pushed Kat forward. He wanted her out of there. He needed to call Eric and get people he could trust in that penthouse. His gaze slid toward Bryan’s slumped form.
Rick stiffened.
He was sure that he’d just seen Bryan’s eyelids flicker.
Playing possum? Bastard, I just used that same trick.
“You don’t have the balls to do what needs doing!” Ghost was raging. “You’re too scared that if you let go of that freaking beast you keep chained inside and Kat sees the real you—you will lose her. Because she’ll realize you’re just as much of a bloodthirsty, violent bastard as the rest of—”
Bryan lunged up. He’d grabbed a backup gun from his ankle holster. Like Rick hadn’t seen that move coming from a mile away.
You should have stayed down.
Rick pushed Kat out of the way even as he grabbed Bryan’s wrist—and he twisted. He twisted hard and shoved the weapon back at the FBI agent. Bam. The bullet tore through Bryan’s throat.
Bryan’s eyes bulged.
“Your first mistake…was coming after her,” Rick rasped.
A gurgle came from Bryan.
Rick yanked the gun down and aimed it at Bryan’s heart.
“The second…” Rick moved his mouth near the bastard’s ear. “Was not killing me when you had the chance.” Bam.
He backed away. Once more, Bryan slumped onto the floor. But this time, blood was pouring from the wound in his neck and soaking the front of his chest. Bryan wouldn’t be attacking again.
Rick’s head turned toward a gaping Ghost. “Any other fucking comments? Or did shit just get done?”
Ghost shook his head. “I think I’m good. Uh, don’t worry about uncuffing me. I’ll…just…wait here. You know, for the cops. There’s a really pretty detective who I think won’t blast a bullet into my throat. I’ll wait for her.”
Rick grunted. He dropped the gun. His hands clenched and released. And he made himself look at Kat.
She stared at him with wide and terrified eyes.
Jesus. Baby, no.
“I love you,” he told her. The truth. The stark, consuming truth.
Her lips quivered.
The front door shattered. The wood flew inward and thudded into the wall. Rick surged forward, ready to charge at the new threat.
“Rick!” Cole bellowed. “The freaking agents aren’t outside! Where the hell are you? What is—” He stopped. His gun was drawn as he stood there, gaping.
“FBI agent…was bad guy.” Rick swallowed. The adrenaline had helped him to stay upright, and while he was feeling better, his body still had a wee bit of a tendency to weave. “Took care of him.”
Cole blinked. “Yeah, I can see that.” His weapon turned to Ghost. “What about him?”
Sirens wailed in the distance. Rick realized that Cole had brought backup with him.
“Would you believe…” Ghost gave a weak smile. “That I’m not as bad as they say?”
“Not for a minute.” Rick nodded toward him. “Keep your gun on him. Guy has a…tendency to vanish.”
Cole would make sure Ghost didn’t get away. Right then, Rick had to focus on Kat.
She wouldn’t look him in the eyes. Oh, God, that shattered him. “Baby, I’m sorry. He was going to keep coming after you.” And, Rick knew, dammit, that Ghost had been right. A message needed to be sent.
Rick had sent one.
You fuck with my woman, I will destroy you.
“I’m not like your father,” he whispered.
Her hands twisted in front of her.
“I don’t want you hurt. Not ever. All I want to do is keep you safe. I just want to make you happy.” He wanted to touch her. Wanted to curl his hand under her chin and tip her head back.
But he didn’t touch her.
This was Kat’s life. Kat’s choice.
“You’re what I want. I will do anything for you. Know that. I’d lie, cheat. I’d kill—”
“That’s not you.” A fast shake of her head. “You wouldn’t even let me steal a phone, remember? You—”
“All bets are off when it comes to your safety.”
Her gaze lifted. Held his.
Only he couldn’t read the expression in her gorgeous eyes.
“I would do anything for you.” She had to understand that. For her, there was no law he wouldn’t break. No line he wouldn’t cross.
Her lower lip trembled. “I don’t want you losing your soul for me.”
“Baby, you are my soul.”
She glanced over at Bryan’s body. Shuddered.
She’s going to turn away from me. I’ve shown her I’m just as violent and brutal as the others. She’s going to—
“I was going to kill him, Rick. I was going to kill him the moment he said he would slit your throat.” Her chin lifted. “What does that say about me?”
“Kat—” He could feel Cole and Ghost watching him. He didn’t care. This moment with her was too important. They didn’t have long, though, before the cops would be coming. Those sirens were so loud now.
“Can you love all of me?” Kat asked him. “The good par
ts and the bad?”
“You are good, baby. You always have been. Even good people can be pushed too far.”
She licked her lower lip. “You are good, Rick. I knew that from the beginning. Good, with a little bad thrown in…and I kind of think that makes you perfect for me.”
She still wanted him?
“When I said I loved you…I meant it.” Her gaze stared straight into his. “Every part of you. And I’m not scared of anything that you throw at me.”
He pulled her into his arms. His mouth locked on hers.
He was still kissing her when the cops stormed in.
Chapter Twenty-One
A million reporters seemed to have swarmed outside of the courthouse. Kat could hear their shouted questions even from the interior of the car.
“You ready?” Rick asked her.
They were in a limo. Some bullet-proof ride that had come courtesy of Wilde Securities. Rick was at her side. His fingers curled with hers.
He’d been at her side the whole time.
After she walked into that courthouse, what would happen?
They hadn’t talked about after, not yet. She’d been too busy living in the moment.
Now she glanced at their linked fingers. She’d be going into Witness Protection soon, and there wasn’t a place for Rick there. That was why she hadn’t talked to him about the after. She didn’t want to ask him to give up his life.
She loved him too much for that.
“You made me happy,” she told him. His hand was so big that it swallowed hers. “You made me feel…so much.” More than she’d ever expected. She looked into his eyes. “Thank you.”
“Ah, princess, why does it sound like you’re telling me good-bye?”
“Because you were only supposed to walk me to the courthouse.” Do not cry. Do not. “You weren’t supposed to change my life, but you did.”
“You changed mine.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m not going to forget you.”
“It’s kinda impossible to forget a woman like you.”
Her gaze turned toward the window once more. To the crowd that waited.
“Ask me to come with you.”
Her hand jerked in his. “I-I thought you had to walk me to the courthouse.” They weren’t there yet. She still had a little time with him.
“That’s not what I mean.” A pause. Then, voice low and tender, he repeated, “Ask me to come with you.”
Her lower lip was trembling. She bit it, trying to stop that tremble. Kat shook her head and glanced back at him.
His brows lowered. “You love me.”
“I do.” Her words came out so softly. “That’s why I’m not asking. I want to be selfish. I want to keep you with me forever. But, always looking over your shoulder, having to give up your life and pretend to be someone else…that’s not what I can ask the man I love to do.” She wouldn’t ask. Not that. “So I’m going to ask you to do this instead. Live a life that makes you happy. Don’t look back. Don’t. Go forward. Laugh and love and have a family and get every moment of joy that you deserve.” She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Because you’re a wonderful man, Rick Williams. The best man I ever met, and I need to know—I have to know—that you’re safe and happy.”
The privacy screen lowered. The driver announced, “It’s time to go.” The driver—another agent. She was surrounded by them.
She pulled away from Rick and reached for the door.
Rick tugged her right back into his arms. His mouth crashed onto hers, and he kissed her with a feverish intensity. A desperation. As if he never wanted to let her go.
And I don’t want to let you go. She kissed him back, took that moment to have him and to memorize every detail of his mouth on hers. There would never be anyone else like him.
Her hands curled around his shoulders, and Kat held on tight. She wished they were other people. Wished they were far away. A different place, a different life.
His mouth lifted from hers. “I’m taking you inside. I’ll stay with you at the courthouse, every day, until it’s done.”
She could still taste him.
“And I will love you, every day, for the rest of my life,” Rick promised her.
He slid out of the limo first, then turned back for her. His hand extended toward her.
Kat took his offered hand. The reporters shouted.
Rick led her into the courthouse.
***
“I don’t really need a lawyer.” James Smith smiled at Kendrick Shaw. “But I wanted you here because the detective just refuses to update me on Kat, and I have it on good authority that you know what’s going on with her.”
Kendrick sat beside him at the small, wooden table in the police department’s interrogation area. James hadn’t been taken through the normal police booking procedure. Mostly because he didn’t think the PD knew what to do with him and because they were too afraid that he’d slip away. So they’d kind of left him in limbo. A very boring place to be. Not legal, either, but, who was he to argue when the situation had suited his needs?
But, while he had a lawyer there…“I’m pretty sure they’ve broken lots of laws by just holding me for so long.” James nodded as he considered Kendrick. “I bet a guy like you could have a field day with all of that. But, hey, if they’ll just let me walk out of these doors in the next twenty minutes, I’ll forgive and forget. I can be the bigger person.”
Kendrick cocked his head. “Are you trying for an insanity defense?”
“Is Kat at the courthouse? Is she good to go?”
“You aren’t going to be released anytime soon. The Feds are coming for you. That’s why you’ve been kept here. You’re wanted in connection with over—”
James held up his hand. His cuffed hand. Seriously, what a joke. Why did they keep cuffing him? He simply kept getting loose. “Let’s not name numbers. It seems braggy.”
“Braggy.” Kendrick’s stare could have melted a lesser man. “Murder isn’t a joke, and I don’t think I am the right defense attorney for you.” He rose. “We’re done—”
“Is Kat in the courthouse? Is she sealing the deal, so to speak?”
Kendrick flattened his hands on the table. “Kat is at the courthouse. She’ll be testifying on a number of different cases, as you well know. She has quite a force of guards, and since the last attack on her—”
“Oh, there won’t be more attacks. The message was sent. Loud and clear. Rick Williams is a bloodier bastard than I expected.” He had to admire that. And to think, he’d almost shot the guy back at the farmhouse. A little friendly fire, so to speak. He hadn’t intended to kill Rick, only to make sure the fellow stayed on his toes.
Kendrick’s jaw clenched.
“I’m sure your buddy Cole informed you of his little chit-chat with Gage Hollow.” James smiled. “Gage isn’t interested in Kat dying. Truth be told, he likes Kat. She’s likeable. Has that trait about her, know what I mean? She kinda gets under your skin when you least expect it. First, she drives you crazy, then you find yourself liking the crazy.”
“We’re done.”
James sighed. “Gage was never trying to get Kat killed. He wanted her safe, too. She’s not testifying against him. He’s not linked to any of the crimes that she’s talking about in court. Why would he need her to die?” He waved toward the one-way mirror on the wall. “Is the detective watching in there? Or is she supposed to be staying away since I’m conferring with my lawyer?”
“I’m not going to be your lawyer.”
James sighed a second time. All long and dramatic. “Then that makes it so much harder for me to spill my secrets to you. And here I thought we were friends.”
The door opened. Detective Layla Lopez marched inside. Cole Vincent was right behind her.
“The band’s all here!” James laughed. “Well, with the exception of Kat and Rick. But I get that they are occupied.”
Layla crossed her arms over her chest.
Cole glared.
<
br /> “You guys are not a fun crew.” His gaze darted to the clock. “Okay, time is running out, so I’ll try to answer some questions because I am a great guy like that. One, I never wanted Kat hurt. As you all know, I was hired to protect her.”
“Where’s the twenty million?” Layla demanded.
“In the Cayman Islands, waiting for me. Next question.” He twisted his hands in the cuffs. “Hurry. Time is running out.”
Cole stepped forward. “Why doesn’t Gage Hollow want Kat hurt?”
“Because I suspect he fell for her. You know, when he was trying to use Kat against her dad. Like I was telling Kendrick, Kat works her way under your skin.” A shrug. “Or maybe she didn’t get under Gage’s skin. Maybe he doesn’t want her dead because she saved his ass once. That explanation might be more believable since most folks know Gage Hollow doesn’t actually have a heart.”
“How’d she save his ass?” Layla stared at him, her whole body tense.
“Well, when Kat’s dad was still alive, she went to the cops…you know about that? Anyone? No? Huh. She did, she went to them and told them her father was planning a hit on someone. She wanted that hit stopped. But the cops she went to see…” He winced. “They were not like you, Detective Lopez. Not good, up-standing citizens. They were on the take. They turned Kat right back over to her father and made her evidence disappear.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice, as if imparting a secret. “The man who was supposed to be the victim of that hit? It was Gage Hollow. Even though he’d broken Kat’s heart, betrayed her…she still was ready to save him. Word about the hit leaked from the PD, and Gage was able to take steps to protect himself.”
Layla nodded. “And he felt grateful to Kat…”
“So he won’t be gunning for her. When she called him a few days ago, Kat was under the impression that Gage was the one leading the pack to kill her. Wrong. He was busy eliminating threats to her. Paying his debt, if you will. The real threat to Kat was the FBI. Greedy-ass Agent Brisk wanted her money. By the way, Agent Brisk is the one who killed the Assistant Director. You did figure that out already, didn’t you? No? Well, the AD found out about Brisk’s side jobs for the mob—oh, yeah, the dick had been on the take for years—and Brisk had to eliminate the AD.”