He cupped her cheek in his hand, his thoughts turning serious. “You should probably know that if you turn down Sykes’s job offer, I’ll do my best to find a way to stay by your side. You’re still in danger as long as the bad guys know you’re immune to the contagion. Sykes managed to keep the identities of all immune military personnel under wraps. There aren’t many of us. But Sellars told his buddies about you. They could still come after you.”
“I know,” she said softly, her expression serious. “I’ve been trying not to think about it, but I’ve been aware of the possibility since I heard Sellars on the phone in that basement lab. Don’t think I haven’t factored that into my decision.”
“So what is your decision? Have you reached it yet?”
He desperately wanted her to take Sykes’s offer. It was the easiest way for him to remain close enough to protect her. He’d find another way if she truly didn’t want to join the team, but if they were working together, it would solve a lot of difficulties. He wouldn’t pressure her. It had to be her decision. It was, after all, her career they were playing with.
“I’m going to take the job.” She held his gaze. “I know it’s what you want me to do. It’s also what I want to do. I’ve never been more challenged, more afraid and more alive than I’ve been these past days working with you and your team. I don’t want that to end, Xavier. I want to work with you. I want to be with you. And I want to contribute. I can make a real difference on the team. I can help stop the spread of this contagion. I’m one of the few who can do it in relative safety. I can’t waste that kind of opportunity.”
“You are one hell of a woman, Sarah.”
She blushed prettily as he swooped down for a lingering kiss.
She pushed at his shoulders until he rolled to his back, then she took control. She straddled his thighs, sitting up to smile at him.
“For the record, I think you’re one hell of a man, Xavier.” She ran her hands down his chest, loving the play of his muscles under her fingertips. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”
He caught her hands and laced his fingers with hers. “How we got so lucky,” he corrected her gently. “In all this mess, somehow we managed to find each other. Somebody up there is definitely looking out for us. What are the odds that we’d both survive being bitten by zombies, only to work together and fall in love?”
“Astronomical.” She bent over him, resting her head against his chest. “You know, if Sellars had succeeded, we’d be like Adam and Eve.”
“Come again?” His hands stilled.
“He started talking crazy about how he didn’t care if the people he sold the technology to wiped out everyone on the planet. He thought it would be good to start over with only a handful of immune people to recreate the human race.” Remembering Sellars and how he’d held her prisoner while he told her those things made her feel weak. Xavier’s presence gave her strength and helped her come to terms with the horrors of the past days. “We’d be one of those couples he talked about. Both immune. Survivors of a plague that could destroy humanity as we know it.”
“It’s not going to happen, mon amour. We’ll see to it.” He withdrew his fingers from hers and wrapped one arm around her back, the other cupping the top of her head as she pressed into his chest.
It felt so good, so protective. With Xavier holding her, nothing bad could possibly happen. Even if such thinking was only a pipe dream, it felt real at the moment. He comforted her by his mere presence.
“That, more than anything, is why I’m taking the job Sykes offered. I want to prevent that twisted vision of the future from having even the faintest hope of coming true.” She clutched at his shoulders, seeking his strength. “As long as the people Sellars was working with are out there, the threat of this technology spreading remains viable. We may have taken care of one lunatic today, but there are at least a few more out there, willing to wipe out millions of people for their own profit.”
“You forget, sweetheart, there’s more than just us on this team. There are others like us and still others