Tomi’s soft satiny hands turned his face back to hers. “Is he telling thetruth?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Your letter flipped my world upside down, baby girl. I was head over heels for you. I never expectedthat.”
“I know. I was so scared. I didn’t know what else to do,” shesaid.
He took her hand in his. “You don’t have to explain again. I know why you ran. I just don’t want you to run again because I don’t think I can recover from you leavingagain.”
* * *
Tomi’s heartlurched and everything inside her stilled. She saw so much raw emotion on his face and it shook her to her core. “I don’t know if Ican.”
Cole’s hands slid up her arms, holding onto her. His jaw set. His lips firm. Every nuance of him screamed confidence. “You can because you love metoo.”
“That’s why I’m scared.” She dropped her chin and focused on her hands lying at the juncture where her legs were crossed over his. Cole’s commander’s wife hadn’t been vindictive or lying at that funeral, she’d been bluntly honest. Tomi had seen it in her premature wrinkles and permanently turned down lips. Being in love with a man like Cole meant being afraid every day that he wouldn’t come home. Losing her father had been the hardest thing she’d ever had to do, but losing Cole would destroy her. This small amount of time she’d had him back had been some of the most joyful in her life. He brought back the sun and the intense heat, a made her feel warm again.Loved.
“Baby,” Cole gently lifted her chin with his knuckle. “Why?”
Those damn tears were still there, swimming and lurking and spilling over the edges of her eyes. What was it about this man that always made her defenses crumble? “I don’t think I could survive if something happened to you. And you put your life at risk every day. Just thinking about waiting by the phone for the call or watching the news looking for you – it terrifiesme.”
Cole groaned, closed his eyes and leaned his head back so the veins popped out on his thick muscular neck. There wasn’t a single inch of wasted flesh on this man. He was utter masculineperfection.
“Nothing’s going to happen, baby. I’m out of the SEALs now, all of usare.”
Her heart stilled. “Out? Wasn’t this one of your missions?” She gestured to the rest of themhelplessly.
His lips curled. “No. Me and my brothers have been out for almost a year. We started our own securityfirm.”
“And that’sbetter?”
He nodded without hesitation. “Of course, it is. We choose our missions. We call theshots.”
“You still risk your life.” Tomi lifted her chin from his finger, a tiny bit of anger creepingin.
Cole’s smile faded, but not a trace of doubt replaced it. “It’s what I do,” he said quietly, “It’s who I am. It’s who I’ll always be. I’ll never have a desk job,baby.”
A splash of ice hit her body. She knew that, she’d known it since he’d stepped in and protected her from a middle school bully when she was just a kid. Cole always had the heart of a hero. “Iknow.”
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Don’t you dare look at me like that. You’re not giving up, this isn’t some foregone conclusion. I’m not a damn novice either. Do you have so little faith in myabilities?”
“Yeah, he’s killed a lot of assholes. Beat up quite a few, too,” Clintsaid.
Tomi turned to glare over her shoulder. “And you think that’s a goodthing?”
Clint met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “You want him to be a pussy when someone’s pointing a gun at hishead?”
Tomi felt the blood drain from her head. Of course, Cole had guns put to his head. He’d probably been through much worse than she would ever know about. She didn’t want to know. Panic gripped her, sucked the air from her lungs. This is why she couldn’t dothis.
Cole forcibly turned her around. His voice was gruff, dark even, “What my dumbass brother is trying to say is that I’m good at my job. So good the military offered to double my reenlistment bonus if I would say. And those two jackasses up front aren’t that bad,either.”
“But all it takes is one mistake, one innocent slip up.” Like her dad not locking the door. What if Cole went into uncharted territory, thinking he knew who was waiting only to beambushed?
Cole’s fingers squeezed her shoulders, not painful but with force. “I don’t make mistakes. Listen to me, nothing’s going to happen to me or mybrothers.”
She hadn’t even considered the possibility of the twins being injured. It would devastate Cole. They might poke and prod each other, but their family bond was so thickly intertwined that if any strand was pulled loose the entire thing would fallapart.
“Oh no you don’t,” Cole said, “stop letting fear rule you. We were all in the SEALs for over ten years, baby. That’s a long time. None of us died. None of us were ever even mortally injured, private security is 10% the speed of the SEALs. I promise, you have to believeme.”
“I’m trying,” she answered honestly, “I want to believeyou–“
