She shook her head. “That is not what you said, Mack. First you looked angry and you demanded to know if I was pregnant. When I didn’t answer you, you said if I was pregnant, we’d handle it.”
“Well, we would have.”
“Handle it? That’s not wanting a family, Mack. That’s making the best of a bad situation; or worse, maybe your handling it was to suggest an abortion.”
“Damn it, Jaimie, I would never suggest you get rid of our baby. Is that what you thought? You know me better than that.”
“I thought I knew you. I thought we both wanted the same thing out of our relationship. It was a shock when I discovered I was wrong.” She shrugged. “I handled it. But it’s best if we don’t see each other.”
“Because we belong together.” There was smug satisfaction in his voice.
“Because we aren’t good for each other.” There was finality in her tone.
“Jaimie, are you happy?” Everything in him stilled. Waited. Her answer would determine his fate. He wouldn’t ruin what Jaimie had if it was really what she wanted.
Jaimie would never lie. She might avoid the question, but it wasn’t in her to lie. He knew her too well.
The tip of her tongue touched her lip. She blew on her tea, avoiding his eyes.
“You didn’t need a family, Mack. I was always surprised that so many didn’t. I wanted desperately to belong. That was why I joined you in the first place and later did undercover work. I needed to belong somewhere, to feel I was part of something. I haven’t found that yet, but I will. At least I know what’s important to me and I’m going after it.” She flashed him a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’ll be all right.”
Everything in him settled again. If she wasn’t happy, that meant he had a chance.
It might be a slim one, but he was a GhostWalker and he thrived on slim chances.
“I’m coming back. I have to go to work, Jaimie, but I’m coming back. If you have another man in your life, get rid of him. He isn’t making you happy.”
Her eyes flashed again, tiny sparks. He felt the answer in his gut. He had never been able to stop his response to her, and since his psychic enhancement, the pull between them was electric. He remembered her as a teenager, a young girl, all eyes and hair and that awesome mouth. When she smiled she could make the sun rise.
He’d never met anyone else as intelligent. She could keep up with him on any subject, her mind quick, like the computers she loved so much. He’d spent hours just talking to her back then, watching the animation on her face, knowing she was his—that she’d always been his.
Very carefully she set the teacup onto the sink, more to keep from throwing it at him than to prevent him from seeing her hands shake. “I’m not starting up with you again, Mack. It took too much out of me. I loved seeing all of you. I’ve felt terribly alone these past couple of years, but I can’t go there again. I’m asking you to please leave me alone.”
He stepped close, crowding her body with his so she could feel the heat radiating from his body and the brush of hard muscles against her soft curves. “Honey.” His voice was gentle, tender even, as it only managed to be with Jaimie. “You might as well ask me to stop breathing.” He caught her chin in his hand and lifted her face to force her to meet his gaze. “You’re home to me, Jaimie. I’m tired of being without you. I’ve never wanted anyone else. I’m not walking away from you. Not after finding you again. I don’t care if someone threw us together on purpose. I don’t care how it happened. And don’t try disappearing. Don’t do it, Jaimie. This time I’ll come looking, and God help both of us if I have to kill a man over you.”
She jerked her chin out of his hand. “I hate the way you have to be so alpha, beat your chest all the time. I’m not a bone to fight over.”
“No, you’re a woman worth everything on this earth to me.”
“Well, that’s a big change, isn’t it?”
“I’m not fighting with you. God knows we did enough of that. I’m done fighting with you. I want to come home.”
She pushed at the wall of his chest. The shove didn’t even rock him. A flicker of anger crossed her face. “You haven’t changed at all.”
“You always loved me just the way I am, Jaimie, alpha or not.”
“I was a kid and anything you did was incredible and cool. I’m all grown up now and I know the difference between physical attraction and love. I want love. I want a family. I won’t settle for anything less and you don’t have that kind of commitment in you. You aren’t tearing out my heart, Mack. Go do your thing. Get your adrenaline rush, but when you come back all hot and bothered, find another woman to expend all that energy on, because I’m not available.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw, always a bad sign. It took discipline to keep his hands off of her. “We’ll see, Jaimie. I’m coming back and I’d better find you here, alone.”
He turned on his heel and stalked out.
CHAPTER 2
Kane sank back on his heels. “I don’t like this, Mack. We’ve got two guards sitting in the warehouse playing cards. Other than that, there’s no one. I can’t detect heat anyplace else. If the weapons are really there, why aren’t they being heavily guarded? Are we really going to believe that we tracked these weapons through three countries and during all that time they were under heavy guard, and now they’re just left unattended in a warehouse a block from Jaimie?”
“Yeah.” Mack sighed. “Hard to swallow, all right. Madigan is a savvy arms dealer. He would never let the Doomsday group know where he had the weapons, and he sure as hell wouldn’t leave them exposed where anyone could take them. Maybe we’re too late.”