Take My Breath Away…

“And Debra might not have nearly killed you tonight. At least you can’t argue that I’m not responsible for that. I hired her. I put her in a position to do everything she did.”

She slipped off her stool, rounded the counter and grabbed his face in her hands. “Look at me. Debra Bancroft is crazy.”

“Yes. She was with me for five years, and I didn’t see it.”

“She was crazier for a lot longer than that, and she was good at hiding it. Look at how many lives she ruined—your father’s, Dee Atherton’s, Mark Adams’, Claire’s and she very nearly ruined yours. How do you think I felt when I was stuck in that closet with Mark? I knew that the second you gave her the Cézanne, she was going to kill you.”

Gabe pulled her into his arms and held on tight. “I’ve never been that afraid before.”

“Well, the feeling was mutual. And you’re really going to have to work on this ‘I can protect everyone’ gene.”

He drew back and looked into her eyes. “And you’re not guilty of the same? Who’s going to see that Claire Forlani gets a defense team?”

With a sigh, he rested his forehead on hers.

“Maybe we can work on it together,” she said.

“Yeah. But it’s going to be a big job. It’s going to take a lot of time.”

“Eons,” she agreed. “And there are other things, too. We both have very demanding jobs. We’ll have to work on making time for each other.”

“I do consulting work for the FBI. Maybe we could work together again.”

“I’d like that.” She met his eyes, saw the gleam in his. “Ready?”

“For what?”

“A lifetime of very hard work.” She smiled at him. “And fun?”

“Yeah.” He wound one of her curls around his finger. “What about you?”

“Very ready. And now will you please take me to bed?”

Laughing, he scooped her up into his arms and headed toward the stairs. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“I didn’t have to the first time.” She nipped on his lower lip.

“Neither did I.”

“Something else we’ll have to work on,” she said as they tumbled onto the bed.

“Forever.”