He left the door open a couple of inches. “I take it you’re feeling emotional.”
Fire nearly blew off her head. “Are you kidding me?”
He sighed and scrubbed a hand across his eyes. “Listen. I get that you’re pissed. You’re also overwhelmed. We’ve been shot at, hauled into the FBI, and then faced a judge. Then I had your aunts kidnapped by guys in masks. You have every right to feel everything. But do we have to fight?”
She hated,hatedthat he had a point. She was overwhelmed. Not only by everything they’d gone through but also by the baby in the other room. She was a mother now. Oh, she had to get the paperwork stamped in Alaska, but it was a done deal. She felt like a mother. And she had no idea how to be one. What if she screwed up? What if Talia already had problems because of the kidnapping? Then there was Denver and her feelings for him. She couldn’t even organize those into a semblance of anything that made sense. Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t want to fight.”
“Good.” He straightened. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done wrong.”
But he’d do it all again, wouldn’t he? She sighed. “My aunts are going to kill you.”
He slowly nodded. “I know, but you’ll be with them tomorrow, so you can help them plan.” His slight smile was a bit too charming for fairness.
It hit her then. This might be their last night together. “You’re leaving me in Montana.” She had to do what was right for Talia, and being in a safe place for now was right. She got that. “To go after your enemies.”
He just studied her.
She slowly shook her head. A part of her wanted to beg him not to go. To stay in Montana with her and Talia. To stay in their lives. To not put himself in danger and possibly die. Her body ached for him.
As if he could read her mind, his blue eyes darkened. “They’ll never stop coming for me. For Ryker and Heath.” He rocked back on his heels. “Jory and his family. None of us are safe until Madison and Cobb are stopped.”
“Malloy and the FBI could help,” she argued, wanting him to live. Even if it wasn’t with her, she needed him to be alive out there somewhere.
“No.” Denver shook his head. “I’m sorry, but they can’t. Madison is too well connected, and there’s no proof against either of them.”
A battle like this, she didn’t understand. One fought in the darkness, on the periphery of the rest of the world. Like the dark web but in real life. Most people wouldn’t get it. Just how many people on earth lived in this other world? One where law and order were not what she’d been taught. She suspected more lived and worked there than she’d like.
Denver was one of them. Maybe through no fault of his own, but he navigated there freely.
“I’ll miss you,” she whispered, her chest aching. Miss the way he seemed to dominate everything and everyone around him without twitching a muscle. Even though he truly had ticked her off, there was a sense of safety she felt in his orbit.
His gaze darkened.
She shivered. Maybe not safety. That wasn’t the right word.
“I’ll miss you, too,” he said quietly.
She knew then exactly why she’d wanted to fight with him. Why she’d wanted to push him over the edge—so he’d do the same thing to her. It was too difficult to be up front about what she wanted. What she needed.
If this was their last night together, she wanted it to last. He meant something to her, whether he wanted to or not. She thought she might mean something to him. It hurt to think this might be their last time. He was going to leave her in Montana the next day with her family. Maybe she’d never see him again. That thought left a hollow ache throughout her chest.
Whatever it was, they had only hours. So she moved toward him.
He uncrossed his arms.
Several steps later, and his scent washed over her. She slid her hands up his shirt and curled her fingers over his shoulders. “I guess this is good-bye, then.” Levering up onto her toes, she nibbled across his mouth.
With a low growl, he wrapped his arms around her waist and took over the kiss.
CHAPTER
25
Denver was stealing time, and he knew it. They should rest. But the idea that this could be their last time, that he’d never see her again, spurred him on. He deepened the kiss as her scent wrapped around him.
There was a rawness to the kiss, to the moment, that slashed through him. How could he let her go again? The last time had nearly killed him. This time it might. Everything in him hurt at the thought. If this was good-bye, he needed to slow the hell down.
But he couldn’t. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and swallowed her small moan. He kissed her, demanding more. Right or wrong, he wanted all of her. Even if it was for only one night. Nothing held back. Just them.
