Nathan. I know she doesn’t agree with what I’m doing, and I hate that.
She’s always been with me, and I think this is truly the first time we’ve been on such diametrically different sides of something.
She glowers at Nathan, cold and suspicious.
But she is right about one thing. I need to go. I point back and forth from one to the other. “All right, you two. No fighting in the audience, and if you insist on shooting each other, do it honorably, ten paces at sunrise. You have a reputation to uphold, Agent Daniels. And you don’t need any bad press, Mr. Stone. Can you play nice while I go do my thing?”
Claire sticks her tongue out at me, making me grin. She may be a fierce FBI agent, but she’s still my big sis, and on some level, we’ll always be those annoying kids we once were. I give her another hug, “Thanks again. I love you.”
I turn to Nathan, who winks, but there’s something serious hiding in the depths of his eyes. I freeze under his gaze, my body pulled to him without his even touching me.
My voice is soft, hazy, as I whisper in his ear, “Thank you.”
His breath stutters, and I think he’s going to say it first. It’s right there, plain as day in his eyes, and I stand taller, wanting to get as close to the words as I can when he speaks them. But they don’t come.
Instead, his mouth presses to mine gently.
He’s slow and easy about it, but the intensity is just as consuming as when he was fierce and possessive.
“Emma,” he groans. I can feel his emotion bleeding out in the word, pain and heartbreak, hope and love. At least I think that’s what I’m hearing. I pray it is.
I want to stay here and find out, but the assistant speed-walks by and grabs my arm. “Time to go!” She drags me away, and as I look back, Claire and Nathan are talking as they head to the theater lobby.
That’s a start, I think.
The play goes amazingly well for opening night. No flubbed lines, no missed marks. I don’t even try to look out into the audience, experience telling me the stage lights would blind me in a moment if I did, but knowing that Claire and Nathan are out there makes me happy.
As soon as the curtain closes on the last bows, I’m running for my things. I don’t bother taking off the stage makeup. I can do that later. I only change out of my last costume because the wardrobe crew would have my ass if I tried to leave in it.
Instead, I hang it up neatly and turn it in, glad for the dress I brought to toss on after. It’s soft and flowy, bordering on being a cotton nightgown.
I grab the wrap sweater I brought to toss over it to stave off the evening chill, and I’m out, heading for lobby with my roses in my arms.
I see Claire first, and she hugs me again, gushing, “You were amazing!”
I smile big and wide, hugging her as tight as the roses will allow. “Thank you! It felt really good. Everyone did such a great job.”
I look left and right, curious. “Where’s Nathan? He run to the bathroom or something?”
Claire’s eyes darken and I see her swallow hard. “He, uh . . . Emma, honey, he left.”
She reaches for my arm with a comforting touch, the glitter of tears visible and not letting me pretend she’s lying.
She has to be lying. He wouldn’t leave. I could see the words on his tongue, feel them in his kiss. “No. No, no, no,” I ramble, getting louder. “DAMMIT!”
Claire tries to wrap me in a comforting hug, but I shake her off.
My heart shatters as the roses fall to the floor and I run. But I’m not running away. I’m running toward something.
Him.
I won’t let him do this to me. To him. To us.
The night air is cold as I burst through the lobby door, hailing a cab. As I slam the door and tell the cabbie to drive, I see Claire following me.
Through the glass, I can’t hear her, but I see her lips form the word, “Emma!”
But I won’t let her stop me.
I can’t.
The cab pulls up to Nathan’s place, and I toss money over the seat, slamming the door before he even fully stops. I fly up the stairs to the front door, banging on the wood and ringing