Lib Novel Page 51
She yanked her hand away from him, and took a step back. “No.”
He looked at Randy and motioned with his head.
“Hey, why don’t we go get you something to eat?” Randy asked.
“Because I’m not hungry,” Emma said. Jaime turned to say something terribly nasty, but she realized Sean’s sister wasn’t being an ass. She looked genuinely confused by the suggestion.
“Come on, Taylor,” Del said. “Your brother and Jaime need to talk.”
She looked at Randy and shook her head. “I never understand why people just don’t say what they mean.”
Randy tossed them a smile as he followed Del and Emma as they bickered their way into another area of the house.
“Do you want to tell me what this is about?” Sean asked.
She couldn’t compose words in her head yet. Right now she just wanted to find a gun and shoot him for being so damned oblivious. Which, she knew made her sound mental, but she didn’t give a damn.
“You don’t understand why I’m mad?”
He studied her for a second. “I get that you don’t want to take a chance on a dangerous situation.”
“On a dangerous situation?”
Oh, bloody hell, when had her voice gotten so high and squeaky? She sounded like an outraged fishwife.
“Yeah, but I’m the one in the crosshairs, so you don’t have to worry.”
She opened her mouth then snapped it shut. His mouth curved, which turned into a chuckle.
“As I live and breathe, Jaime Alexander is speechless.”
She shook her head. “Don’t joke. Not about this. I can’t lose you, Sean. The idea that I almost lost you and had no idea is enough to freeze my blood. I just got you back. We just got you back. Now you want to run out there…”
She couldn’t continue. Tears burned the backs of her eyes as she looked away.
“Hey, Jaime,” he said, his voice gentle and he took her hand again. “Look at me.”
She did as he asked, just as the first tear escaped. “I know you think I am some kind of Amazon, but I am not. I can’t deal with this.”
He wiped her tears away. “You can deal with it. The three of us can accomplish anything.”
She shook her head. “Don’t play it down.”
“You will be there. Del will be on board, and you don’t know this about Emma, but she’s a genius, truly. IQ and everything to go with it. Her specialty is codes and plans. So, with you and Randy, plus Del and Emma on backup, we can do this.”
She tried to yank away from him, but he kept her close and cupped her face with both hands.
“We have to do this. I want a life with you and with Randy. We can’t do that with this bastard controlling our every thought. If we don’t take a stand right now, there will be a shadow over us. We will never be free.”
She couldn’t fault his reasoning, but she wasn’t truly rational at the moment.
“New identities, with new backstory. We could start over.”
He shook his head. “I will not hide behind a false name. We deserve to live a free life. You deserve it.”
She couldn’t help the fresh rush of tears. “Damn.”
His mouth curved. “No. I like seeing you like this.”