“I love you,” she blurted. “I love you so much it terrifies me. Please don’t hurt me.”
His eyes flared with intensity, dancing between her own and then down to her lips. He dragged her up onto her toes and kissed her hard.
“Never,” he murmured against her lips.
He held her a while in silence as she sniffled and came down from her emotions. His hands moved in a restless circuit all the while, like he couldn’t touch her enough, no matter what he did. When she had no energy left to cry, she looked up at him with her chin nocked against the divot between his pecs.
“Sam?”
“Hmm?”
“Ireallywant to take a shower,” she said in a tiny voice.
He threw back his head and laughed.
CHAPTER 43
Logan caughtthem as they made their way toward the back door of the building, and annoyance flared in Sam. Ophelia was so weary that she was swaying on her feet. She was struggling to keep her eyes open as she leaned heavily into him.
“What?” Sam snapped.
Logan glared at him before directing his attention to Ophelia. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Do you honestly think you have any right to question my decisions?” she fired back. A heavy sigh escaped her. “I’m sure that the last two years of my life were wasted. I’m sure that I have never for a single moment in my life truly done something just for myself.” She looked up at Sam from beneath her lashes. “I’m sure that I want Sam. Surer than I’ve ever been about anything.”
He smiled at her, stroking his hand over her tangled hair. She’d only been able to finger-comb it after their demonstration, and he got a sort of perverse pleasure over the evidence of how he’d undone her.
Logan’s jaw worked, but he nodded tightly. His gaze flicked up to Sam. “If you hurt her…”
Sam grabbed him by the lapel and hauled him up onto his toes until they were nose to nose. “IfIhurt her?Youwould speak those words tome?You don’t get to make threats, worm. You get to kiss her feet and thank her for every breath you’ve taken from the moment I learned of your deceit. If you’re in the mood for warnings, here’s one for you: if anyone comes after us, if anyone even hints that they think to separate us because of my coding, I will hunt you down like a dog, and I will kill you so slowly that you’ll be begging for the end. Say you understand.”
The man only gaped up at him, his expression a mixture of fear and fury.
Sam shook him hard. “Say you understand.”
“I understand,” he spat, wrenching out of his grip. He turned a bitter look on Ophelia. “For your sake, I hope you’re right about him.”
She bit her bottom lip, and for a moment, he thought shewasreconsidering—but she slipped her hand in his and pulled him toward the door.
It was drizzling outside: a miserable, cold sort of rain that he knew would seep down to her bones. He led her over to the dumpster where Logan had hidden a bag earlier. He wrenched the plastic trash bag off the duffel, then unzipped it and pulled out his coat. She objected when he draped it over her, but her protests quieted when he reminded her that the cold wasn’t painful to him as it was to her.
He dressed quickly, stripping out of the uniform and back into his ordinary clothes. They were more of Logan’s hand-me-downs, aside from the pair of boots that Ophelia had bought him. He stuffed the uniform into the trash bag and tossed it back into the dumpster, shouldering the duffel.
Ophelia was staring at him from beneath the shield of her hand as her breath fogged the air.
“What is it?” he called over the patter.
She just smiled, blinking fast, and shook her head.
“Let’s go,” she called back, taking his hand.
He followed her to the end of the alley, where a car awaited them.
Laura rolled down the window. The butterfly-shaped glasses sliding down her nose were tinged pink and glowing with a HUD that was giving feedback on the road. “Get in, losers!”
Ophelia chuckled wearily. She slid into the back seat as he tossed his bag in the trunk. When he slipped in next to her, the doors hushed closed. Warm air blasted over them as Laura eased the car into the sparse early-morning traffic.
“I cannot believe we’re doing this,” Laura said, glancing at them in the rear-view mirror. “You know this can go totally wrong? Like Terminator level wrong?”
