Christie didn’t say anything for so long, Boone had to look. God, she seemed so sad. Not crying, but almost.
He went to her side and took her hand in his. “He was a hero. For real. He stood up for his principles, for what was right. You have to remember that.”
She sniffed, then met his gaze. “Sounds like you were all heroes.”
“Naw. Just grunts following orders. We were just smart enough to know who to take our orders from.”
“Boone, is this plan going to work?”
“It’s our best shot. If he thinks we’re leaving, for good, he’ll have to make a move. And he’ll have to do it before Seth and Kate come back with the new identities, which gives us our window of opportunity.”
“What if he decides to solve the problem like that special ops team did? By killing us both?”
“He wants you too badly for that,” he said. “He may be insane, but he’s not crazy.”
Her lips quirked up. “Was that a compliment?”
“It was trying to be.”
“I appreciate it. But I don’t think you’re right. I’ve read too many real-life stalker cases where the bad guy thought if he couldn’t have the girl, no one could.”
“We’ll be ready for him. Whatever he does.”
“We? As in you and me, or you, me, Kate and Seth?”
“The whole gang.”
“Good. I’d hate to have our futures depending on my shooting skills.”
“You could do it if you had to. But you won’t. Trust me, we’ll have it covered.”
She stood up and went to the center of the room. She didn’t move for a while, then she dropped her towel and reached for her panties.
He watched as she dressed herself. Panties—white and lacy, but not a thong, unfortunately—and then her bra. It was one of the most erotic things he’d ever seen. She wasn’t trying to turn him on. The opposite was true, he thought. She was simply dressing, as she would if she were alone. Or with a longtime lover.
It hit him that this was a new experience for him. He’d seen a lot of women dress, but it was always after sex, or after a shower, and there was always a show of some kind, whether purposeful teasing or casual indifference. He knew and they knew it was all part of it. The post-game show.
This wasn’t. Christie wasn’t trying to get him to call the next day, or to touch her, or to notice her at all. She wasn’t trying and she was the sexiest women he’d ever seen. Even with her slightly baggy jeans, and even when she sat on the toilet to pull on white crew socks. He was stunned at how badly he wanted her. That bit before when she was in the tub? Nothing. A twitch. This? This was a full-on body spasm, an electric shock. He wanted to make love to her all night long. He wanted to wake up to her the next morning, and see her hair a mess, and he wanted to see her yawn, and scratch and do all the things a person does when they aren’t trying to be someone else.
“Boone?”
He stood up so fast he almost slipped on the rug.
She looked at him, puzzled. All her clothes were on. The jeans, the shirt, the sneakers. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. Why don’t you go on and meet with Kate. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Oh, okay. Sure.” She headed for the door, but paused before she opened it. “For what it’s worth, I think the plan is a good one.”
“We’re a good team.”
“Oh, and before I forget, thank you. For last night.” She smiled at him, then left, closing the door behind her.
He sat down again, amazed at his incredibly horrible timing. He liked her. The woman was in a living nightmare, and he was thinking about asking her out on a date. Which was crazy, because the last thing she needed was him in her life. He wasn’t just a wanted man, he was a marked man. They’d been running for too long for their luck to keep holding out. As soon as they caught the geek, Boone had to disappear again. He had to go back to his world of shadows and lies.
The worst thing he could wish on Christie, aside from the stalker, was to have anything at all to do with him.
KATE WAS AT THE KITCHEN TABLE with Seth. As soon as Christie walked in, Seth got up and went to the sink to rinse out his cup. Christie took the hint and sat down next to Kate. “You wanted to ask me some questions?”
“Yeah, thanks.” She moved a picture over, one of a guy Christie had dated three years ago.
“What can you tell me about him?”
“Alan? He was a nice guy. Kind of unfocused. He kept trying different careers.”
“Ah.”
“What, that makes a difference?”
“Yeah, it does. A lot of stalkers have trouble maintaining jobs. They don’t do well socially.”
“That’s not Alan. He fancied himself a renaissance man, but mainly he just got bored easily. He was a popular guy, went to a lot of parties.”
“Okay,” Kate said, pulling another picture out. “What about him?”
She almost didn’t recognize the picture. “That’s Ed, but when I knew him, he didn’t have that much hair. Or the mustache.”
“What was he like?”
“Nice. Really nice. The kind of guy you’d want to bring home to mother, if your mother wasn’t mine. He loved chess and he was into Asian cooking. He made sushi a lot.”
“What happened between you?”
“It was a long time ago.”
Kate gave her a curious look. “I remember why I broke up with every guy I’ve ever been out with.”
“Okay, yeah. He was too nice, okay? He wanted to please me so badly, it was like screwing an abandoned puppy. I couldn’t take it.”
“So you like it a little rough?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to step on any toes.”
“What else do you need to know?”
Kate glanced at Seth, who didn’t move one facial muscle, then back at Christie. “How was he socially?”
“He got along with people. He just wasn’t real aggressive. He liked his cat. A lot. But he wasn’t weird. Just nice.”
“Okay. We won’t cross him off the list just yet.”
“There’s no way in hell he got fiber-optic
