Scott shook out his hand and looked at her. “He does, huh? Enough to go head to headwith your mom?”
“Maybe.”
The only sound out of his mouth was a slight hum as he hammered away at the wall. It didn’t look like anything was happening. Of course it had taken hours to get out of the chains, but they had finally done it.
They stopped to rest alternately, each using the crowbar because it seemed to do a better job. At about two in the morning they’d managed to clear out a few of the new bricks. Still nowhere near large enough for either of them to fit through. And it had taken hours to get that far.
As Scott took his turn and she leaned against the wall, she blurted out, “I wanted you tofight for me.”
“What? I’m fighting pretty darned hard right now, don’t you think?”
She ran her hand down his arm as he stopped pummeling the wall. “I mean at the party. Or in general. It seems like you gave up too easily. I know Clif was an ass and my mom was hardly subtle in her thoughts on blue-collar workers, but I wanted to be wanted and fought for. I figured if you wanted me enough, you’dfight for me.”
Gazing down at the floor, his shoulders rose and fell. When he looked up, his face held regret. “You’re right, I should have. I was letting my experience with Patrice color this relationship. It hurt when she blew me off so easily and I didn’t want to let it get that far so it would hurt even more when you finally left me.”
“And what if I never did?”
“Good question. One I should haveasked myself.”
Lifting her hands to his shoulders, she said, “And I should have made it more apparent how I felt. That you were an important part of my life, and not only as a business partner or friend. I’m sorry if I made youfeel that way.”
He shrugged, sliding his thumb down the side of her face. “Maybe you didn’t know how I felt. We both should have been more open. Talked about it.”
“But our relationship is still fairly new, so I guess you were waiting to see how it panned out. Like I was.”
Nodding, he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave back all he was giving her. This was what she needed. His touch, his desire, his imminent need for her.
“As much as I’d love to continue this, we’ve got a bit of a time crunch,” he said, easing her back. One last quick kiss and he picked up the crowbar and began hacking away again.
“I didn’t fight for you at the party, princess, but I’ll do my damned best right now.”
She rested a bit more then got back to scraping cement. When three-thirty rolled around, she dropped the metal she was working with and whimpered. “This is no use. We’ve only got a few more bricks out and there isn’t much time left.It won’t work.”
“We’ve got half an hour. If we both keep at it we should be able to get a few more out. Enough to squeeze you through.”
“Squeezemethrough? Then what happens to you? I simply leave you here to blow up?”
His eyes clouded over and he grasped her arms. “You goand get help.”
“And what if we only have a few minutes? I run for help and you blow up with the restof the bodies.”
“I already disarmed the C-4 down here. Itwon’t explode.”
“But the rest of the building will. Then it all rains down on you and it takes us three weeks to dig you out. Oh, but you’ll be crushed by the building fallingon top of you.”
“I promised I’d get you out of here, princess. And I will.” He went back to whacking away at the wall with a vengeance.
“I’m not leaving you here, Scott. I won’t do it.” Moving up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back. “Why don’t we have some wild, amazing sex and then we can really go out with a bang?”
He chuckled andturned around.
After kissing him a few more times, she said, “Could you knock me over the head, though, so I don’t actually feelthe explosion?”
“You’re too much. I love that about you.”
How much should she read into that? He loved it about her. Did he love her? They hadn’t ever said the words. Was it too early to say them? They’d known each other for years.
“You know once the explosion goes off, this wall will all come down. Too bad it’ll blow us up.”
