She moved up his body until her lips hovered over his. “Good, because we’re not over.”
The words shot through him. Instead of running and panicking, he settled in and enjoyed. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Her fingers slipped into his hair. “Why don’t you show me how grateful you are?”
“Done.”
Chapter Fifteen
He couldn’t do this one more minute.
Frank shut the cover to his laptop and leaned back in his chair. He’d been investigating every avenue, trying to figure out who had blackmailed him and thought they owned his every move. He’d followed instructions, thinking each new order would be the last. But the assignments bombarded him. He read discussions on the loop and picked out secret messages in every one. He had no idea if he’d grown paranoid or if his life really was closing in on him from every direction.
But he couldn’t keep doing this. Every day he clicked on a news link, worrying some action he’d put in motion had ended in death. He’d made so many wrong turns, but he could not tolerate the idea of having more blood on his hands.
That meant coming clean. Taking the venom out of the blackmail and telling one last secret. He’d already been chastised and ignored. What else could happen? Begging Tyler to take his name off the site hadn’t worked. Telling his blackmailer one assignment after another would be his last didn’t threaten anyone.
The address. The license-plate number. The police contacts. Information on this Shane guy. Frank had done it all, and he was done. Long done.
He picked up his phone and dialed the number. In a half hour it would all be over.
* * *
“FRANK WANTS TO see us.” Makena almost hated to utter the words. She didn’t look up because she could only imagine the scowl on Shane’s face.
When he didn’t say anything and the silence continued, she glanced across to the other side of the couch. He’d been crouched over the laptop a second ago. Now he sat back and stared at her with a blank expression.
That couldn’t be good.
She tried again. It actually didn’t matter if he wanted to be convinced or not; they were going. “He sounds desperate.”
“Did you talk with him?” Still no readable expression. Just the question.
She had her legs stretched out until her feet touched the side of his leg. She pointed her toes and pushed against him. “He texted.”
“How does one sound desperate in a text?” Shane’s hand went to her leg.
She didn’t know if he even realized he rubbed a hand over her calf as he spoke. The gesture was so comforting. Sprawling on the couch as the rain hammered the roof felt normal and right. “My point is he asked that we meet him immediately.”
His hand kept soothing and caressing. “We?”
The heat from his hand seeped through her jeans and touched her skin. She knew that probably grew out of her imagination, but she felt it. She also wondered why he thought she wanted to tackle anything on her own. “Of course.”
Shane smiled then. “I like that.”
“As if I’d be dumb enough to go into a meeting with any of these guys right now without firepower.” She said it as a joke, but it kind of wasn’t.
“So romantic.” Shane stood up and reached down to her. “Let’s go.”
“That’s it?” She stared at his hand, then looked at his face. His quick agreement minus a lecture stunned her. The guy thrived on lectures. “No arguments about the danger or...I don’t know, anything?”
“You mean the part where this is likely a setup to get us both killed.” His wiggled his fingers.
She grabbed on and let him lift her to her feet. “I wasn’t going to put it that way.”
“I’ll call Cam and Connor on the way. They can provide backup and be our eyes.”
“You didn’t ask where we were meeting.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth before stepping around the couch on the way to pick up the keys to the loaner car Connor had gotten for him. “Somewhere dangerous and hard to guard, I’m assuming.”
“Aren’t you hysterical today?” More like lighthearted and calm. The thrum of tension that normally followed him had disappeared. He came off as relaxed yet just as determined as ever.
She had no idea what to make of the change or why it had happened. She half expected him to pretend to bring her along and then dump her off at one of the team members’ houses for safekeeping while he rushed into danger. That was the guy she knew.
“Don’t let the sarcasm fool you.” He picked up his gun. Then a knife.
That was more like it. “This isn’t a kinder, gentler Shane?”