“This is your brand of therapy, isn’t it?” she asked. “I like it.”
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” She should step back. Should let him go. “You talked me out of a panic attack and got me back on an even keel.”
“Yes, I did,” he said a little cheekily.
She pinched his side. “Don’t get arrogant, Commander.”
The term seemed to remind him of where they were. Who they were. He gently but firmly stepped back, disengaging her hands from his shirt.
“Sit,” he said, easing her back into the chair. His voice was still light as he added, “Doctor’s orders.”
Her legs were still shaky, but she was steady now. Her heart rate was normal.
“Have you had therapy?” she asked.
Wolf’s expression shuttered. “Some.”
“Did it help?”
“I’m still here.”
She smiled. “I’m glad.”
He smiled back. “At the moment, I am, too.”
Heat spread through her body. She tried to think of something to say, but her brain seemed to short-circuit.
He came to the rescue. “What about your family? Your parents. They must be proud of you. FBI agent, catching killers.”
“They are.” Claire wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold without his warmth. “But they moved to France five years ago. My dad’s company transferred him to Paris. They wanted me to come with them, but I stayed.”
“For the job.”
“For Lily.” The truth she’d never said out loud. It startled her in some ways, but in others, it seemed exactly right. “I couldn’t leave. Couldn’t stop hunting men like the one who took her. It felt like... if I left, if I gave up, she’d die all over again.”
Wolf was quiet for a long moment. “She wouldn’t want you to sacrifice your life for hers.”
“No, she wouldn’t, but that doesn’t bring her back.”
“You’re too hard on yourself. No one who loves someone wants them to stop living because they’re gone.”
The weight in his voice. The certainty. Claire studied his face, this man who understood grief in a way most people didn’t. “Are you insinuating I stopped living because of what happened?”
“Have you? Is everything you do for her?”
Her hands found a thread on her sleeve. “Now you do sound like a therapist.”
He must have heard the annoyance in her tone. He raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I was out of line.”
He was, and yet, she realized she was bristling because he’d hit the nail on the head. Who would she be right now if she hadn’t been living for Lily?
Rubbing her forehead, she sagged back in the chair. She’d think about that later. “What about your family?” she asked. “Your parents. Do you see them?”
Wolf’s jaw tightened. “No.”
“Why not?”
