Counting On Cole (Wilde Ways #8) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,77
too, Evie!” And you are my life. “Don’t think for a second that I am going to let you walk into death. I can’t. I won’t. You matter too much to me. Don’t you get it? You are my life. You’re worth more than five million dollars to me. You are worth more than everything else to me. I will do whatever is necessary to keep you safe.”
Her breath hitched.
“That’s my job, remember? Keeping you safe.”
She shook her head. “It’s not about the job.”
“No, it’s just about you.” She needed to understand this. “I would kill for you in an instant, but I won’t back the fuck away and let something happen to you. I’ve seen these situations before. I know how these bastards think. They break rules. They kill.” His voice roughened even more. “If something happened to you, if someone hurt you, I would lose my mind.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Her head turned. She caught his hand. Brought it to her mouth. Pressed a tender kiss to his palm before she released it. “Not you, Cole. You’re the strongest man I ever met. You can do anything.”
Only when I have you.
“You survived torture. You don’t need me. You can be—”
“You are the person I need most. You are the reason I survived torture. You are the reason I am still breathing.”
Her eyes widened.
“You got me through it. When I thought of you, I got through it. I didn’t feel pain because I focused on you. For the last two years, you’ve been what keeps me going.” She was in his very soul. “I will do anything to protect you.”
“I love you, Cole,” she told him.
Love was way too tame of a word to describe how he felt about her—
“But you heard him. If he sees anyone else in that car with me, he will kill my brother. That can’t happen.”
If he sees anyone else…
His chin lifted. “Don’t worry, Evie, I got this.” The perps had screwed with the wrong man. The wrong team.
It would be their last mistake.
Because no one threatens Evie and walks away. No one.
Chapter Seventeen
What if you lose the one thing you want the most? You ever wonder about that? About what would happen…after? Hell, screw that kind of talk. I’m not losing her. Not now. Not ever.
Evie slowly pulled her car onto the road. Truth be told, she didn’t drive much in New York. Who did? Must easier to get around by foot or cab or subway, and she hadn’t been in her car in ages. Her hands were shaking as she gripped the wheel. Chase had programmed in the GPS location of the ransom drop site for her before she’d left. She looked to the left and the right. Her heart wouldn’t stop racing.
Everything is going to be okay. The money was in the passenger seat, and the duffel bag appeared so unassuming. Like it was just a workout bag that she’d tossed in with her. Strange to think that five million dollars could be put in a bag like that. It had taken a few hours for the bank to the get the cash ready for her. She’d sat in the little office, with Cole at her side, and sweat had covered her.
The bank manager had been courteous and helpful, even as he’d cast worried glances at Cole every few moments.
People tended to be nervous around Cole, and she didn’t get that. When she was around him, that was when Evie felt safest.
She paused at the red light and glanced over her shoulder at the empty back seat.
You can do this. There really wasn’t much of an option. She had to do this. Her brother was waiting on her. He was—
A phone was ringing.
Only it wasn’t her phone.
The light was still red.
The phone kept ringing. It sounded as if it were coming from somewhere near the passenger seat. Under the passenger seat?
She surged to the right and angled down as far as she could go. Her seatbelt bit into her chest, and she growled as her fingers stretched and stretched and—
There.
She grabbed the phone. Not her phone. Who the hell put this phone here? But, even as her finger swiped over the screen, she knew.
The light turned green. She didn’t move. “Who is this?”
“You’re going to want to turn left at the light.”
“My GPS directions say to turn right.”
A car horn honked behind her.
Her gaze jerked to the rear-view mirror. She frowned at the flower delivery truck and the waving driver.