“How long have you been here?” Sullivan asked her. Her voice had been calm. His was tight with fury and fear.
Celia pursed her lips and glanced toward the clock near his TV. “About an hour. I was starting to think you must have been out with a hot date.”
He stalked toward her. “I was out looking for you. I was tearing up the damn town because I thought you’d been hurt. I thought someone was after you and—”
“Someone was after me. Or rather, someone is after me.” She didn’t sound particularly worried. Her gaze held his. “A tail followed me from your office. He tried to take me. Or, actually, I think he was more interested in killing me than taking me. But that doesn’t matter.” She shrugged, moving her shoulders lightly against the leather of his couch. “He failed in his attempt.”
Every muscle in his body locked down. “Take you?” Sullivan repeated. “Kill you?”
“Um...you know, the usual in our business. When forcing me off the road didn’t work, he followed me into an old parking garage. I’d slipped inside there, thinking to use the place for shelter.”
“Celia...”
“Like I said, he followed me. Jumped out of his vehicle. Gave me some nice line about how it would be easier if I just came out so he could put a bullet in my head.”
His vision reddened as fury burned in his blood.
“I wasn’t in the mood for that bullet, so I got away.” Her words were said so simply. As if she hadn’t just faced some life-or-death battle when he was far away and couldn’t help her at all.
“How?” Sullivan demanded.
“The parking garage was dark, but it wasn’t empty. Other people approached from the elevator bank, so he had to put up his gun and act not killer-like. When I heard those folks approaching, I slipped away into the shadows and got out of there as fast as I could.”
So the guy was still breathing. “He’s a threat to you.”
She just stared back at him.
“You saw him, though,” Sullivan said, thinking quickly. “You got his description. With your contacts, you can find out who—”
“I didn’t see him. I didn’t stick around to get a full physical description. He had a gun, I had a knife, and with civilians in the area, I didn’t want to risk them.” Her fingers tapped along the arm of his couch. “So I left, without looking back. And as quickly as I could I...came here.”
Her words gave him pause. “You came to me?” Sullivan stood about two feet away from her. He wanted to close that distance, scoop her up and hold her tight. Because he wanted that so badly, he kept his muscles locked and didn’t move another step forward.
“I’m afraid I’ve brought you into this mess as a target. It’s obvious that I went to McGuire Securities tonight, and if the guy after me has done any digging into my past, he’ll know about you.” She rose and came to stand right in front of him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shine a bright target on you.”
Sometimes, he forgot how delicate—physically—she was. She barely came to his shoulders as she stood there in her bare feet. He saw that she’d kicked her heels away, and they lay overturned next to his coffee table.
His hands lifted and his fingers curled around her shoulders. “You know I don’t mind danger.”
“That debt I was going to call in? It wasn’t to protect me,” she said. Had her eyes ever seemed bigger? Bluer? “I can protect myself. It was...I needed you to help me vanish.”
He frowned at that bit of the news.
“I’m leaving the CIA. I’ve been compromised.” She gave that bitter laugh again. The one that made him worry she’d changed—too much—since they were together. “Compromised again and again. I thought I could get away clean, but it sure seems my enemies aren’t going to stop hunting me.”
“You know who they are...”
“Actually, I don’t. I’ve made a lot of enemies in my time at the agency. I joined right after college, was recruited straightaway. I was perfect for them, after all. No family. No close friends. No ties that would hold me back. I could become anyone they wanted me to be, and for a while, I did.”
His hold tightened on her. “You have ties now.”
“No, I don’t. And that’s why it was going to be so easy for me to leave.”
But what had happened? Why was she quitting the agency? “The CIA was your life.”
“Was it?” Her eyelashes flickered and then she seemed to notice that he was touching her. He felt her stiffen beneath his hands. “I’m sorry I broke into your place. After everything that went down tonight, I just needed to make sure you were all right.”
She’d been worried...about him?
“But no one saw me enter your home. I was careful this time.”
She pulled away. He let her go, but the temptation to hold her—it was far too strong.
“Maybe I will call in that debt you promised me one day. My plans have changed now, so who knows?” She pushed back her hair, tucking a lock behind her left ear. “Remember what I said before, though. Watch your back.”
She was walking away. Again. And he knew that if she slipped away, he wasn’t going to see her again. Despite her words, she wouldn’t be back to call in her debt. He suspected she wouldn’t return to him at all. “Who is going to watch yours?” Sullivan wanted to know.
Celia tilted her head back as she gazed up at him. “Oh, Sully, be careful,” she chided him. “It almost sounds as if you care about what happens to me.”
I do. I never stopped caring, no matter how hard I tried. Some obsessions couldn’t be conquered. “Stay here,” he heard himself say, his voice way too gruff.
Celia shook her head. “What?”
He cleared his throat. “Stay the night. You said yourself that no one saw you come into my place. That means you’re safe here. Stay the night. Get some sleep. Then you can make a new plan of attack or escape—or whatever the hell it is you want to do—in the morning.”
She bit her lower lip. After a moment, voice strangely subdued, she said, “You know that’s not a good idea.”
“Do I?” It had sounded like one damn fine idea at the time.
“Yes.” She sighed out that answer. “Sully, you know that—”
“I still want you.” There. He’d said it. This time he wouldn’t have lies or secrets between them. He’d tell her everything, because he wouldn’t crash and burn again. Neither would she. Not on his watch.
“No.” She put up her hand, as if to ward him off. “Stop it. Just...stop it.”
No way. He wasn’t stopping. He could see her slipping away, and if she did—what would he do then? Go back to the bleak, empty world he’d been living in since he lost her before? Go back to looking at crowds—and always searching to see if he’d find her?
Mac had brought them back together on that last case. Sullivan had tried to warn his brother that he’d made a mistake. How am I supposed to let her go again? But Mac had been blind to the danger.
The simple truth was that Sullivan couldn’t let Celia go. Not without losing too much of himself.
“I can’t stop wanting you. Baby, I tried, but it just doesn’t happen.” He caught her hand in his and put it against his heart. A heart that always beat faster when she was near. “You think I don’t know how much I screwed up before? I didn’t trust you. I— Hell, I won’t make the same mistake again.