His cock throbbed at the thought.
A text from Kilpatrick sent him on a day-long drive to Manhattan and the soundstage of one of the largest stations in the nation. How Claire had managed to take their little article to the national level in a matter of days, he'd never know. But speaking to the country as a whole was so much better than their plan on one small country in backwoods Tennessee.
A blonde reporter finished her last question, and Claire answered, her eyes twinkling in the stage lights and her body at ease in the chair except for her fists in her lap. He noticed them and smiled. That was his girl. Always ready for a fight. Always on guard. With her story breaking on live news, he hoped she'd have reason to drop her guard soon. And he hoped he'd be there to watch it all happen.
"The question we are all wondering, Ms. Wilson, and forgive me for sounding so shocked about this, but how did a small-town reporter come to break a story involving an international terrorism ring?"
Claire glanced from the reporter to the back of the stage. Her eyes stopped on Connor's, and a broad smile crested her lips. Connor pushed off the wall and soaked in every ounce of pride at the way she rolled her shoulders back and gave the reporter her full attention.
"I'd love to take the credit for the story, but it wasn't me."
The reporter laughed lightly into the microphone. "Our source tells us you had a partner in this investigation. Are they coming forward to collaborate on your story?"
She glanced back to Connor, and his heart thumped against his ribs. The producer had given him a copy of the interview script. Every question and answer written out in detail, including the one that exposed him as an informant for the article and the lone survivor of the kidnapping outside Baghdad. As bitter as the pill was to swallow, his truth would save so many others. More importantly, his story gave Claire everything she needed to finally see Henry Forge taken down.
Claire moved a valence of hair from her face and prepared to answer. She glanced at him and smiled before giving her attention back to the camera. "The man who was brave enough to bring Henry Forge to justice risked everything to protect the country he loved. The least we can do is respect his privacy. The facts of my story have been proven without doubt. Other than knowing he is the true hero, that's all we need to know about him."
The reporter wrapped the interview, and the camera moved away. Claire pushed off her chair and made her way across the stage.
"You heard about the interview."
"Kilpatrick told me," Connor answered.
She stepped close enough for her familiar scent to fill his nose. His cock twitched. "He told me he would, but after the way you left, I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
Connor bit his lip and reached for her face. "If it meant putting you in harm's way, I was ready to live without ever touching you again."
"And now?"
"And now you've put the world on notice without ever once using my name."
When she smiled and dipped her face into his hand, his whole body flexed to attention, and his arms itched to scoop her up and take her from the studio to his car out back. There, alone, he could show her what words could never convey.
"Detective Kilpatrick told me what happened to you overseas. You have to know those men's deaths were never on your hands."
A deep knot in the pit of his stomach unraveled at her touch.
"When you left," she said, holding her hand with her to her cheek. "I've never missed anyone in my life. No one ever mattered enough after I was taken from my mother. But you," the tears glistening in her eyes made his throat thick. He choked it back and silenced her with a finger to her lips.
"You sure you missed me? I'm an overbearing asshole who doesn't deserve a woman like you. Haven't you figured that out yet?"
"Jason Blackmon might be that man, but Connor Blake is nothing like what you just described. In fact, I think I might be in love with him."
Connor dropped his hand. He'd waited too long to hold his woman in his arms. Wrapping her up she had to stand on her toes to keep from being crushed into his chest. "You sure about that?"
"I'm sure." She pecked his cheek. "There's not a safer place than with the man who put everything on the line to protect me."
Connor leaned down until their foreheads touched, to hell with the show's crew watching or the reporter who by now had to have put together the pieces and would be wondering over soon with questions. He pulled Claire off her feet and kissed her, taking her with the hungry need of a starving man served his favorite dish with the promise of never starving again.
"We make a great team," she whispered against his lips.
"The best," he answered, pulling away only enough to read the emotion in her eyes.
"Don't ever break us up again, then, you big lug. I don't know how many more of these stressful interviews I have in me to find you again."
"Deal," he smiled and gave in to the impulse to scoop her up and carried her out of the studio.
His girl.
He'd never walk away from that again.
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