still holding hers. “Keep coming this way.”
She refused to look down. Keeping herself distracted was the key. “Just in case you get any bright ideas, I’m not skydiving with you after this.” She shifted her body to enter the window. “Conquering your fears is overrated—”
Her foot slipped off the ledge.
Twenty-Four
Everything happened in slow motion.
One moment Addison was in front of him. The next, her foot slipped off the ledge. Jason’s body pitched forward as his waist pressed against the hard edge of the windowsill. His hand clutched Addison’s. Her body jerked to a stop along the side of the building and pain erupted along his shoulder.
One hand. It was the only thing keeping Addison from plummeting into the unforgiving concrete below.
She screamed. Sheer terror and panic was etched across every curve of her face. Her feet dangled and Addison instinctively flailed. Every movement dragged Jason further out of the window and loosened his precarious grip on her hand.
“Stop.” His tone was sharp and unyielding, as ingrained military training kicked in. The first order of business was cutting through Addison’s panic. His vision narrowed to her slender form as everything else disappeared. “Addison, don’t move.”
She stilled immediately. Her head lifted and their gazes met. The fear in her eyes cut him to the core, but he shoved the emotion to the side. Jason firmly planted his feet and extended his other hand. The windowsill dug deeper into his midsection, hard enough to leave a bruise. “Give me your other hand.”
She reached up and Jason grasped hold of her wrist. Relief at having two points of contact registered somewhere in the depths of his brain, but the mission was only half over. “I’m going to pull you up. Plant your feet against the wall and walk upward toward me.”
Jason hinged back. He’d kept up a workout routine after the bombing, but his body had never returned to its previous strength. The pin holding his leg together, along with the scarred and damaged arm muscles, screamed with agony. He gritted his teeth against the pain and continued to move.
Addison did as he instructed, using the wall to walk toward the window. His grip on her hand and wrist was vise-like. Dropping her was not an option.
Addison’s upper body reached the window. Jason shifted his hold to her waist and yanked her the rest of the way into the apartment. They collapsed in a heap on the floor. He barely felt the glass from the broken window under his body. Or the carpeting. The only thing he could register was the sensation of Addison in his arms.
She was okay. She was alive.
Jason kissed her. Emotions erupted in a heady mix he’d never experienced before as Addison returned his passion. This woman unraveled him. She touched something inside him Jason thought had died years ago in the dry desert of a country half a world away. Try as he might, he couldn’t resist her.
The wail of sirens filtered through the open window, bringing him back to the reality of the moment. He broke off the kiss, breathless, and then rose. Jason brushed his lips against Addison’s one more time before scooping her into his arms and carrying her over the glass so her bare feet wouldn’t be cut.
An hour later, Jason and Addison were sitting on the bumper of his SUV waiting, once again, to speak to a detective. Firefighters and police officers moved around the parking lot. Crime scene tape fluttered in the breeze. Chloe’s apartment was destroyed, and a search was underway to locate her.
Addison’s emergency blanket crinkled as she laid her head on Jason’s shoulder. Her feet swung back and forth. She was wearing Jason’s spare tennis shoes, and they were several sizes too big. “Do you think the arsonist was after me? Or Chloe?”
“I’m not sure.” He wrapped his arm around Addison, tucking her close to his side. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. Hopefully, finding Chloe will answer that.”
“I’m worried about her.”
“So am I.” He brushed his mouth across her temple. “You saved my life today.”
Her nose wrinkled. “That still leaves us three to one.”
Jason chuckled, wrapping his other arm around her for a sideways hug. “We can call it even.”
Someone called out his name. Jason turned his head. Texas Ranger Grady West strolled toward them on lanky strides. He wore a white button-down and khakis covered by a suit jacket. A cowboy hat shaded Grady’s eyes from the sun.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jason grinned. He rose to