He needed to hold her again and kiss her senseless and find out if being inside her was as un-freaking-believable as he remembered before she hauled ass out of his life. Not that she seemed pointed toward that door at the moment.
She was damned near tearing his flight suit off. Her fingers yanked at his zipper, crawled inside to stroke his shoulders. Sweeping the warm recesses of her mouth with his tongue, he tasted Mary Elise, wondered if the honeysuckle sensation was taste or scent but couldn't tell with her jumbling all his senses.
Daniel struggled for reason. He couldn't let this spin out of control, as much as he might want to roll her to the floor and lose himself inside her with a deep rightness he hadn't felt since … her. He needed to get his head on straight. Two boys waited down the hall, and regardless of what she said, the cops would have to be called. They would have to face her past.
Together, dam it.
He let her soft touch seep into his anger, even feed the protective urges. Whatever it took to keep her safe, he embraced it.
Daniel pulled away, let his gaze land on her, immobilizing her with only his will. "You're not going anywhere without me."
The cloudy passion in her eyes dissipated. "Danny—"
"How closely did you look at that bottle?"
Her head angled to the side, toward the coffee table where the bottle rested. Her hand inched closer to graze the numbers handwritten across the label.
He forced himself to say the words, even knowing they would scare the hell out of her.
Whatever it took to keep her safe.
"You can talk about walking away to protect me all day long, but McRae has already made the choice for you." Daniel pointed to the penciled scrawl across the label on the medicine bottle. "My social security number. He's not just after you anymore."
Time passed in a haze.
Standing by the queen-size bed, Mary Elise sorted through the laundry basket, folding the boys' clothes into a suitcase, her body on autopilot. Beside her, Daniel jammed gear into a big green bag—a webbed vest, canteens, knife.A gun.
His stark announcement about his social security number on the bottle still thundered through her head. She'd brought Kent's wrath to Daniel.
She would never be able to forgive herself.
Danny had insisted on calling the cops and filing the official complaint. Prints had been lifted. A restraining order requested. She'd been this route before.
At least the boys would be protected, safely hidden away with Darcy and Max until the threat passed. The engaged couple had already planned to spend Thanksgiving with Darcy's sister stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The boys would be ensconced in a family full of service members and an OSI special agent. She would stay alone with Daniel in a secluded fishing cabin Max kept for his "cave time" as Darcy called it.
Totally alone. Gulp.
Daniel had calmly explained this would give him and Max time to track information through CIA and OSI internet files. The remote locale would also keep the threat away from others if Kent found them.
Mary Elise willed her hands to keep folding little boy boxers and pairing up socks. Darcy and Max would finish their own accelerated packing soon. It still boggled her mind that Daniel could ask this of them and that they wouldn't even hesitate to help. The level of friendship went beyond anything she could fathom.
Made her question the depth of her friendship with Danny.
She tunneled a hand into the basket and came up with … one of Daniel's shirts. Hard Rock Café: Bangkok.
Once they'd shared so much, and now there were countless unshared memories and experiences between them. She smoothed a hand over the logo, then tugged the shirt inside out for Danny before folding it.
They had been close, damn it. She'd only turned to his father because she'd known Franklin wouldn't ask too many questions.
Or had she secretly been hoping Franklin would notify Danny? A disturbing notion that left her swaying on her feet.
"Would you quit before you fall over?" Daniel palmed her waist, stirring embers barely banked after their kiss earlier.
The two of them would be alone together soon. No more secrets. Well, not many. Already she could feel the inevitable draw they hadn't been able to resist eleven years ago.
She didn't want this. Especially not now.
Mary Elise ducked from under the temptation of his broad palm. "It's only a little laundry. Do you really want to subject Darcy and Max to the sonic shriek that will come if you forget Austin's blanket?"