Page 56 of The Gift
“I’ll handle Holt.”
“You can’t control him.”
“No,” Coop agreed. “But I can control what he gets.”
“And if Kedrov connects it?”
Her question wasn’t unexpected. He’d already considered it, planned for it, dreaded it. Still, it hung between them.
“If this escalates, we move you,” he said at length.
“Move me where?”
“Somewhere quiet. Off the grid. No trail.”
Her fingers curled in his shirt. “You mean disappear.”
“If it keeps you breathing, yes.”
He didn’t want that. Didn’t want her gone. Didn’t want distance after last night. But if it came to that, he wouldn’t hesitate.
She leaned in to him as though exhausted. “I don’t want to pull up stakes and run again.”
He pressed his lips to her hair. “Believe me. I don’t want that either.”
She tipped her chin up, uncertain as she searched his face. He thought she was going to refuse.
“I trust your judgment,” she said at last.
He exhaled slowly. “I’m going to the station. I’ll start with O’Reilly. See what he’s heard.”
“And if it’s not him?”
His expression hardened. “Then someone’s fishing in waters they don’t belong in.”
She watched him a second longer. “Please be careful.”
“That’s my line.”
His thumb traced her cheek, and he kissed her, warm and lingering. Needing it more than he wanted to admit on a morning that had tilted sideways the moment he saw that headline.
When the kiss ended, he held her gaze. “I like where this is going. And I’m going to protect it.”
He didn’t want to leave her, but promises meant action. After one last look, Coop made himself go.
Chapter 16
The red tip of the cigarette glowed across the street.
Erica stood at her living room window, keeping to the shadows. An old habit, hard learned. The ember brightened, dimmed, brightened again.
Yesterday, a car had been idling half a block down. Ten minutes. Fifteen. She’d reached for her phone, but before she dialed, the car rolled away. The day before that, a man paused in front of the Wilson house for too long. Alarm had spiked her pulse until a dog trotted into view, and he bent to clean up after him.
It was all perfectly normal. She’d felt ridiculous and hated that normal now felt suspicious.
The ember suddenly arced through the air, hit the pavement, and died. The man moved into the glow of the streetlight—
Music exploded behind her.Sweet dreams are made of this…
