“You risked your life coming here to save mine,” he said. “How could I do any less?”
She typed faster somehow. “I had to decipher the computers.”
He nodded. “I have to reassure you that you can do this.”
“I know I can do this,” she snapped, her shoulders rigid.
Yet she didn’t—not really. The little girl who’d tried to please her father by learning to fight so well, who’d tried to please asshole boyfriends by hacking so well . . . she didn’t know she could just be. “I love you, Sami. Whether you’re fighting, hacking, or just sitting on your butt daydreaming. Everything about you, that is just you, is inside me and always will be.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I trust you.”
She shivered. “I love you, too.” She sniffed. “It was wrong of me to ask Jax to knock you out and take you away from here. You can make your own decisions just like I can.”
“We’ll discuss retaliation for that later,” he promised. Man, was she going to fight him at five minutes. Would he have to knock her out? No. This was Sami, and she was the best hacker around. “You can do it,” he said, fully meaning the words. If it were possible, which he didn’t know, then she could do it.Ifit could be done. He read the clock.
Nine minutes.
She started mumbling to herself, and he left her alone, just being present. Her fingers clacked keys, and she blurted out an expletive every few moments.
Eight minutes.
She kicked the drawer and dragged the keyboard closer to her chest, her gaze on the screen and not the keys.
Codes flashed across in red and blue so quickly he couldn’t read them, but Sami kept typing. “Got rid of my other back door,” she muttered. “Fucking dickhead of a bastard.”
Seven minutes.
The woman had admitted the feat might be impossible. He had absolutely no clue what she was typing or doing, so he couldn’t tell how close she was or if she was close at all. Hell. He’d had one of his sisters set up his e-mail account years ago and hadn’t changed the password since. Wasn’t sure he even knew how to do so. Not that he needed e-mail any longer. Memories of his family, of his little sisters, flashed through his mind. They would’ve loved Sami, and she would’ve enjoyed Texas and them. He focused on the screen.
Five minutes.
He stiffened. “Baby? Let’s run for it.”
“No.” She shook her head and kept typing. “I’m close. Trust me. Please, Tace.”
His eyes shut. If he dragged her out of there, he’d be saying he didn’t believe her. His woman, the only one he’d ever love, had asked for trust. When the woman you loved asked for something so important, you gave it to her. He’d learned that from his daddy, who’d learned it from his, and so on. “All right.” He grasped her shoulder to just hold on. If it was their last moment, he was going to be touching her when it all ended.
“Four minutes,” she muttered, her body hunching. “Damn it.”
He wished he’d made a move on her at the very beginning. They could’ve had a couple of months together instead of this short time. Yet he wouldn’t trade what they’d had for anything.
More memories flashed through his mind—these of Sami. The first time he’d met her, she’d shaken his hand too tightly, trying to be one of the guys. He’d disarmed her with his drawl and a joke, and in that second, he’d seen the sweet girl inside. She’d trained him to street-fight, and when he’d surpassed her in strength, she’d glowed with pride.
The first time he’d made love to her, she’d sighed his name.
That sound. That one little sweet sound would stay with him through eternity. He opened his eyes.
Two minutes.
At the sight of the two, everything in him settled. All right. It was too late to run anyway. He wanted to hold her hand, but her fingers were flying, so he kept his grip on her shoulder. She mumbled, panic in the sound. He rubbed her, careful not to disturb her typing. Man, she was in the zone. Fast typing, rigid body, computer-term mumbling that might as well be a foreign language.
“Thank you for the last couple of weeks,” he whispered.
She stiffened. “I want more of them.” Flashes flew across the screen in different codes that made no sense.
“Me too,” he said.
One minute.
He held on to her, thanking God in this last minute for giving such an incredible woman to him. For giving him the chance to really love and be loved. They hadn’t had time to explore it, but they’d felt it.
