The men were in assault mentality, and she had to make it easy for them to leave. “I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee when you get back.”
Stealth nodded as he walked out the door.
Josh walked past. “Make sure it’s strong.”
“Triple strong,” she said.
Reese stopped, tousled her hair. “Well, Short Stuff, I…uh…” He winked. “I’ll see you later.”
“I thought you were the one who never saw anything.” She punched him lightly in the biceps as he laughed and walked outside.
Now the hard part.
Mitch stepped in front of her and smiled, then bit his lower lip. “You know, we had a really nice day, didn’t we?”
“More than nice.” She kissed his chin as she brushed her fingers against his cheek. “I never knew bouncing in the waves could be so much fun.”
He wrapped his hand around the back of her head, his lips powerful and hungry against her own. She arched upward to meet his power. If life were perfect, she could have stayed that way forever, but right now, that was only a dream. Slowly, he pulled away as she reached for more.
Gliding her tongue across her lips, she slowly opened her eyes. “I meant what I said. I love you.”
Gently, he placed his forehead against hers. After a long moment he moved, his cheek brushing hers as his breath brushed her ear.
“You deserve better than my world of danger. The only way to give you that is to leave, but…” he whispered, pulling her tight against him. “I will love you forever, Liz. Goodbye.”
He walked out the door and pulled it closed behind him.
Her heart fought for the next beat. Her lungs for the next breath. Her mind shouted stop. Please stop. Please…please stop. But nothing stopped. Not the moment, and not the tears sliding down her cheeks. He’d kept his promise. By all that was holy, he’d kept his promise to say goodbye.
Grasping for anything that kept him with her, she gripped the Neoprene jacket against her cheek. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there holding on to the last vestige of his scent before forcing herself to fold the jacket and place it on the counter. Emotions crashing in on her, she grabbed hold of the stair rail and took one step up, then another, and another. Somewhere in the distance, she heard the high-speed roar of the PWCs charging toward the CT boat.
Why had she ever thought Mitch was trying to control her? The only control had been her fear of how much she loved him. Now that would be there till the end of time.
Making her way to his bedroom, she stretched out on the bed, covering herself with the soft red throw, the one they’d never found time to use. Her tears began to dry on her cheeks, yet all she could do was keep lying there. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed. Gunfire and sirens sounded from the Gulf. Then quiet. So much quiet. She held tight to his pillow as another five, ten, fifteen minutes passed.
Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep… Loud and shrill, the security alarm went off. Then, silence. They were back.
The loud whine of the second security system vibrated through the air as the lights flashed on and off, on and off, on and off. She jumped to her feet and started into the hallway.
“Turn that thing off,” an unfamiliar man’s voice shouted from downstairs.
“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?”
Another man? Who?
A gunshot reverberated from downstairs. The alarm silenced.
Fear and adrenaline burned in her chest as Liz ran to her bedroom and crawled under the bed, reaching for the gun Mitch had stowed there for her. Who were these people?
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Voices came closer and closer. Louder and louder. They were in the hallway. She crawled out from under the bed and opened the sliding door to her deck. Maybe they’d think she got away.
“She’s not in here,” one man shouted from Mitch’s bedroom.
“You two check the next bedroom. I’ll check the ones at the other end of the house.”
Where?
Where could she hide?
