Up in Flames (Rosemary Beach 13)

Cope shifted his gaze, and it cut to me. That was my cue. It was time.

I saluted him just to piss him off, then stepped back into the woods and headed for the black SUV waiting for me. My life as a deadly shadow had begun. The life I was leaving behind was dead. I had just left it all. The best part was that I would be the boss now. Cope was out, and I was in. Damn fool had gone and fallen in love. Shaking my head, I laughed and climbed inside, to disappear into the darkness and my life of crime.

Nan

I slowed my pace as his silhouette came into view in the morning sun. I knew that body shape. I hadn’t expected to see it again, but I recognized it. The closer I jogged to him, the more questions piled up in my head.

“Hey.” That was the first thing that fell from my lips when I stopped several feet away from him.

“We need to talk.” Those were Cope’s first words. Much more to the point than my “Hey” had been.

“I know everything. You don’t have to explain,” I said, hoping I sounded more intelligent this time.

“You know nothing,” he replied, and took a step toward me.

Instantly, I took a step back. He was right. I knew nothing about him, really. The fantasy he had created as his persona to lure me in so he could protect me while I was away from Major was just that, a fantasy. It was Gannon.

This was Cope. A man I didn’t know at all.

“I know all I need to know,” I shot back at him. I felt the anger that I tried to tap down when I thought about all that had happened. I didn’t want to hate my child’s father.

He frowned. “You don’t know what’s important. So no, you don’t know all you need to know.”

He didn’t know the only thing that was important. “I disagree,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and lifting my chin. I would not show him that he frightened me.

“Really? Lets start with this, then.” He slipped his hand out of his pocket and produced what looked like my old birth-control pills. I’d left them in the trash can of the hotel room at the casino. He’d been a private agent; of course, he had gone back and swept the room once I was gone. That made sense.

Shit. “What about it?” I said, shrugging as if the pills meant nothing. But I’d seen my doctor this week, and they did mean that I was carrying his child.

“Are you seriously not going to admit that you are pregnant with my baby? You think that’s a fair secret to keep from me after you purposely got pregnant?”

OK, so it figured he would know. “Have you been following me? Am I still under surveillance?” I asked, feeling naked suddenly in front of this man whom my heart wanted to cling to while my brain screamed he was a stranger.

“No. You aren’t under any surveillance. But I watch after you. I have since the moment I saw you. Yes, I know you missed pills the last time we had sex, and I know you’ve been getting sick in the mornings and some afternoons, and I know you went to see your doctor and he confirmed you were pregnant. That’s what I do . . . did. I watched people. I’ve continued watching you from a safe distance while you mourned the loss of someone you cared about. But it’s time we talk now. I can’t put that off, and I can’t keep my distance any longer.”

The deep tone in his voice was the same one that still came to me in dreams and often during the day when I let myself remember. It had an addictive quality to it. One I’d had a hard time shaking. Listening to him now, I wanted to do whatever he asked. To please him. To forget that he wasn’t who I thought he was.

“I thought I was keeping a part of a man I loved. That man didn’t exist. In some ways, that makes his disappearance from my life without even a good-bye easier to deal with, and in other ways, it makes me ache for what never was. But this baby will be mine. It will be loved. I will provide for it, and I’ll never require a dime from you. Don’t think this was a trap. It wasn’t. Nor will I ever call it a mistake.”

His two long strides happened fast, and I didn’t have time to react before he was directly in front of me. His hands gripping my arms. His body heat mingling with mine. I inhaled without thinking, because I wanted to smell him. I’d missed him. Even if he wasn’t who I believed he was. “This baby will know me. I’ll provide for it, and I’ll love it. Don’t tell me I’m not needed. Don’t tell me this baby doesn’t need me, because every child needs its father. That’s not a fair statement to make. You, of all people, know how important a father is in a child’s life. The absence of your father and the detachment from your mother marked you and molded you. Do you want that for our child? Really, Nan? Is that OK with you?”

I hated him in that moment. Throwing my fears in my face. Accusing me of hurting my baby by my choices, when he knew nothing of my life. “You don’t know anything about me and my life.” My words lashed out as tears stung my eyes.

“I know more than you realize. I know your hatred, I know your cruelty, I know your mistakes, I know your self-loathing, and I know your pain and your regrets. I know it all, Nan. I’ve heard it, witnessed it, and I still love you so fucking much I can’t walk away from you. The life I lived before you is over for me. So don’t stand here and tell me that you don’t need me. That our baby doesn’t need me. Because you both do. You both need me, and you want me.” He stopped and sighed as if he was exhausted. “And I need and want both of you.”

I hadn’t expected that. It wasn’t in my daydreams or even my real dreams. I was afraid of those three words. I’d never heard them from a man. My brother didn’t count. I wasn’t sure if I could trust those words. “How?” The words were honest and came out without thought. If he knew all of me, how could he love me?