didn’t have anything to do with those missing relics.”
Her relief was swift and consuming, and she moved toward him, desperate to have his arms around her, only to stop when she saw the warning flash in his eyes. He reached down and snatched his bag from the floor. “Where are you going?”
“I’m outta here.”
Panic set in. “Wait. Pete, let’s talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You just told me everything I need to know.” He jerked the door open and left.
Kat stood in the middle of her living room as his receding footsteps pounded on the steps in the hall. A sick feeling settled in her stomach as her heart hammered against her ribs.
What had she just done? She’d let her aggravation over the scene with Marty, her fear over where her relationship with Pete was headed and her worries over everything happening at the tomb sway what she knew about Pete deep in her heart.
The hundreds of ways he’d loved her over the past six months flashed before her eyes, the whispered promises late at night and the tenderness in his eyes when he looked at her. Her heart cracked wide open.
She loved him. If she hadn’t known it before, she knew it now. She loved him, and she was losing him.
She tore out of the apartment and down the stairs. Her hands shook as she pushed the heavy front door to the building open and paused on the top step, breathing heavily, searching up and down the sweltering street for him. Please don’t let him be gone yet.
She couldn’t see him. A Muslim family crossed in front of her building. A garbage truck burped out exhaust as it ambled down the street. A man sped by on a bike.
Where was he? Please God…
Then she spotted him, a block up with his bag over his shoulder and his head down, striding away from her.
“Pete!”
He turned sharply at the sound of her voice, and she didn’t even hesitate. She threw herself into his arms, wrapped herself around him and held on tight.
“Don’t go. Not like this. Please.” A sob caught in her throat. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave.”
He hesitated, and for a frightening moment she thought he was going to push her away. Then his bag hit the concrete, and his arms wrapped tight around her until his embrace squeezed the air out of her lungs.
“Dammit, Kit-Kat.”
A tear slipped down her cheek as his mouth crushed over hers, hard and possessive and bruising in its demand. She returned the kiss with everything she had in her.
Somehow they made it back to her flat where they made love with an urgency that bordered on the violent. When it was over, they lay sweaty and breathless in the bed they’d shared so many times she’d lost track. But this time was different. Though they were skin to skin and his arms were around her, Kat felt the distance between them as wide as the ocean that normally separated their continents.
She closed her eyes and snuggled closer, trying to bridge the gap. “What are you thinking?”
Silence. Then, “I have to go soon.”
Her heart pinched at the emptiness of his words. She wanted to tell him she loved him, but she knew now wasn’t the time. He wouldn’t believe her. Not after what had happened earlier. She’d have to wait. But in the meantime, she’d show him.
She eased up on her elbows and looked down. He was staring at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts. Slowly his gray eyes shifted her way, clouded with the same turmoil she felt.
“Not yet,” she whispered as she leaned down and kissed him. Once. Twice. Drawing him into her mouth and deeper into her soul. Hoping he could feel what he meant to her with every beat of her heart.
His hands came up to frame her face, and his fingers slipped into her hair. “Not yet,” he repeated against her mouth.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Present day
Philadelphia
Pete’s instincts went on high alert the closer they got to Philadelphia. He couldn’t shake the feeling something about this meeting Slade had set up was wrong.
During the last few hours, Kat had sat stoically in the passenger seat of the midsized sedan he’d rented, staring out at the scenery as if she were a thousand miles away. Considering their last conversation at the rental lot, he figured maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. It gave him time to think about what was really important, like what the heck was