I met his gaze. “It doesn’t work like this.”
“I say travel, you say…”
“What?”
He had an eyebrow arched, waiting.
“What’s happening right now?”
“I say travel,” he repeated, nodding, “and you say…”
“I don’t—DeLorean, I guess,” I told him. “Time travel is the kind of traveling I’d like to do best.”
His smile was huge. “You see? Your brain is whacked.”
“What?” I scowled at him.
“You are so logical, and so completely not, at the exact same time, and that’s because you never let your heart run,” he assured me, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tight. “But now you can, because I’ll take good care of it. I’ll take good care of you too. You’ll see, you’re gonna fuckin’ love me.”
The problem was, I was fairly certain that I loved him already, and how in heaven’s name that had happened, I had no clue. What I could say for sure was that I’d never met anyone in my life who saw me as clearly as Dallas Bauer, and the idea of getting on a plane and not seeing him every day for the rest of my life seemed contrary to what was best for me. Because logically, if someone made you feel free and weightless and happy and content and like you could say anything at all to them, then leaving was completely counterintuitive.
He leaned back to look at me, and I caught his cheek in my hand and kissed him, first gently, then deeply, taking what I needed and that which he willingly gave. Every time. Every single time, he gave me what I needed most. Because I was neurotic, opinionated, combative, and far too logical when sometimes feeling was for the best. He could remind me to be human; I could make sure he stepped back from the abyss. It was a good trade-off.
He trembled when I eased back to look at him. His blown pupils, his parted lips as he caught his breath, and how tight he held me, arms wrapped around my neck, told me everything I needed to know about Dallas Bauer. He was already in this with me. Not terrified like I was, because his heart was stronger than mine. He’d used it more, the muscle more developed, but the fact that he would risk everything in the sanity-defying feat of choosing to take a chance on me, was still very brave and completely illogical.
“I know you,” he told me, his lips hovering close to mine. “I see you very clearly.”
And that I knew.
Fifteen
I woke up with a raging headache, sometime after three, and was in desperate need of painkillers, so I eased out of bed, careful not to wake Dallas. It was the shots of tequila we’d done at dinner. Ella, who had never been able to hold her liquor, had assured me that after being in Murray’s employ for almost two years, she could drink like a fish. It was impressive. Dallas went shot for shot with her, as Ryder and I watched. Lund was clearly smitten with my friend, watching everything she did, and she’d asked me how bad it would be if she did him in the guest room. Apparently she’d been celibate for the last two years, and the handsome agent with the dark brown wavy hair and deep, dark chocolate eyes was something she might want to take a bite out of. I told her to go for it, but I suspected they were both a bit too sloshed.
I walked out of the bedroom and looked down the hall toward Ella’s room, and noticed that the nightlight that was normally plugged into the wall had been switched off. Perhaps it had shined in under Ella’s door and bothered her. For some people, trying to sleep with any light at all was no good. When I looked left, toward the garage, I noticed that the light on the alarm panel was green. It should have been red. The fact that it was green, when I knew for certain Dallas had set it before we all started drinking, and I knew for certain that I was the first and only one up, sent a chill through my body.
I was going to turn and rush back to the bedroom, but the light over the stove came on, and I saw Digby Ingram standing there holding a gun. It was leveled at me, and yes, I could have dived sideways and avoided getting hit, but I was afraid what that would mean for Dallas if he came running out of the bedroom, or Ella, or Ryder, who I was guessing was with her.
Walking into the living room, he gestured me closer, and I went to the counter where the barstools were, where I’d served brunch to Dallas and his mom and sister just two days before.