that time, Kate had pulled out a spreadsheet. On it was everything she’d found out about every man Christie had dated.
But before they got to that, Seth wanted to know what had happened at the house.
“The geek knew we were in the living room. He had a scoped rifle, I’m thinking an M24. Laser scope. He had a bead right on my chest, so he wasn’t aiming blind.”
“He had a camera.”
Boone nodded as Seth cursed. He’d eaten half his dessert, but now he pushed it away as if he didn’t deserve it.
“I don’t know how I could have missed it. I went through that house with a fine-tooth comb.”
Boone sighed. “I’m pretty sure he drilled, sent in a pinhole on a fiber-optic cable. I don’t think it was there until after you left.”
Seth crossed his arms. “Then we shouldn’t have left.”
“The point is, we have to find this guy. Now. Not later. He’s accelerating, but he’s not entering. What does that tell us?”
“He’s a coward,” Kate said.
“True. What else?”
“His objective is to terrify and control.”
Boone nodded. “He wants me, us, out of the way. So he can have her to himself.”
“To do what? Own her?” Kate asked. “Or is this revenge?”
Now it was Christie’s turn to push away her cheesecake. It turned her stomach, how they were talking about her, but she knew it was necessary. If they wanted to stop the bastard, they had to dissect his motivations. She just wasn’t sure she was strong enough to hear them.
“You okay?”
Boone was concerned, his hand over hers, that crease above his nose deep.
“I think I’m going to go watch TV with Milo. Call if you need me.” She left the room and went right to the bedroom, to Boone’s sad bed. Milo trotted in, and she coaxed him up next to her. Then she looked around for the remote.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Boone stood near the dresser, holding the remote.
“Yeah, thanks.”
He walked it over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. “You should try and get some sleep.”
She shrugged.
“Don’t give up. These are the best people I know.”
“What if he’s better?”
“He isn’t.”
She hugged Milo. “Go on. I’ll be fine.”
Boone looked at her for a long time, then he stood and put his gun on the bedside table. “You can use this until we get back to your place.”
She watched his back as he left the room, then she turned to the gun. It was too much to think about. Guns and what she used to think of as home. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV. She hadn’t thought of TV in weeks, if not months. It was so bright and loud. The people looked happy. Normal. How could the world go on when hers had turned upside down? She lay down, hugging the pillow instead of the dog. And she smelled Boone. His scent was in the sheets. It wasn’t a cologne, it was the man. Completely distinct, she’d know it anywhere.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, oddly comforted.
TERROR PROPELLED HER UP THE bed where her head cracked against the wall. A hand touched her shoulder, a chest pressed against her side and her breath ran out before her scream.
“Christie, it’s me. Christie.”
She gasped as she struggled against him, the voice familiar but it was dark and her heart pounded so hard it hurt her chest.
“Shh, Christie, honey, it’s okay.”
Her fingers released the blanket and grabbed on to Boone’s shirt. It ripped as she forced him closer, needing to feel him, to make him real. He touched her hair, her side, and she pulled as if she could climb right inside him.
“It’s okay, it’s all right,” he said, over and over, until the words made sense and she didn’t feel as if she were going to die.
Her mouth found his and she breathed him in, and still he wasn’t near enough. Her hand went to his neck, her leg wrapped around his hips and she needed him so much.
If he hadn’t kissed her back, she would have cried until the ocean was dry, but he did, he kissed her, hard and deep.
What she needed was Boone, just Boone. Only him, and no one else. Her hand went under his shirt to touch his warm skin. She pressed her palm over his heart but she couldn’t find the beat.
He thrust again into her mouth, his tongue rigid and thick, and she captured him between her teeth and sucked hard, making him moan and push up with his hips.
Her hand moved from his chest to his waist, to the panic of getting him unbuttoned and unzipped. He went to help and she shoved him away.
When she released his tongue, he pulled back, away from her, and it didn’t matter because she had his zipper down and when she reached inside his pants he was hard and ready.
“Christie,” he said, his voice a coarse growl, warning her.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t you dare.”
“You had a nightmare. You’re scared.”
She held him in her fist, almost squeezing. “Damn right I’m scared. You were almost killed. You got that? Killed. It could all be over in a heartbeat, and I’m not going down empty, you hear me? I won’t.”
“Stop it,” he said. “You’re not going to die. I’m not going to let you die.”
She pumped him with one hand, the other went to his waistband to push his pants down and off. When she couldn’t push any farther, she reached for her own, desperate to be naked, to have him inside her.
“Christie. Wait.”
“No. Don’t.”
“I’m not leaving you, I swear to God. Just slow down. Take a breath.”
“Go to hell,” she said as she pushed her pants down her thighs.
“I’m not going anywhere, I told you,” he said, his hand circling her wrist.
It was dark, so she couldn’t see his face well, and she couldn’t tell if he was mad, but he wanted her, she knew that, so what the hell was his problem?
“Talk to me, honey. Tell me what scared you so badly.”
“What scared me? Haven’t you been paying
