She nodded.
“Well, dammit, that makes two of us.” He reached for her hands. “Something’s happening. You and me…I don’t understand it.” He gave a short, sharp laugh. “I’m on that precipice with you.” His hands tightened on hers. “I can’t make you any promises, Jaimie. That’s not who I am. I can only tell you that I want to make you happy, that I want to be with you. It’s all I can offer—and I only hope to God it’s enough.”
He fell silent. She didn’t say anything. Why would she? It was possibly the world’s worst speech, certainly not what a woman would want to hear, especially not a woman who’d just told him she didn’t take risks, but it was the truth and it was the only truth he could offer.
The part of him that had spent years in Special Ops, in The Agency, knew that he had to be out of his mind, saying these things. He had a job to do. He was here to protect her, and if convincing her to go with him was the best solution for now, until he could get another plan in place, what did it matter how he convinced her?
He could have lied. He could have said the hearts and flowers nonsense women all wanted to hear.
“Zacharias. I have to tell you something.”
He looked at her. Her eyes shone with courage, with determination. He could feel the letdown coming.
“I missed you,” she said. “I missed you terribly, all these weeks. I know that sounds impossible, but—”
He undid his seatbelt, leaned toward her and kissed her
. Slowly. Gently. Until she made a soft little sound and then he took the kiss deeper, deeper…
They broke apart, both of them breathing a little harder.
“Are you desperate for that pizza?” he said in a rough voice.
Jaimie answered by putting her hand in his lap.
They were twenty minutes from her apartment.
They made it in ten.
* * * *
There was a pizza place in her neighborhood. Jaimie had their menu.
“Woman does not eat by Lean Cuisine alone,” she said solemnly.
Zach phoned, ordered the biggest pie they had. He said he wanted everything on it.
“Except anchovies,” Jaimie said.
“Except anchovies,” he repeated to the kid at the other end of the line, and then he looked up.
Jaimie was heading for the shower. She was wearing an oversized robe, but she’d left it hanging open. It skimmed her breasts and framed her hips, leaving the cluster of soft golden curls exposed.
In a heartbeat, he was hard as granite.
“—thing else, sir? Hello? ”
Zach cleared his throat.
The rest of what he wanted wasn’t on the pizza joint’s menu.
“Uh, no. That’s it.”
“Did you tell them extra cheese?”
He looked at Jaimie again. Her expression was innocent but her eyes told a different story. Witch. She knew what she was doing to him.
“And extra cheese,” Zach said. “How long?”