“Is it that—”
“You can’t take too many precautions, Emily, and you know that.”
She bit her lip.
“I have a guy in Miami that’s tracking down Sean, but for right now, we need to get you inside. Once we do, once you’re settled, I need to run to Kelly’s. I won’t be gone but a couple hours, and I’ll be back to watch over for the night. OK?”
Emily nodded.
I sighed. She was the best client I’d had from a strictly professional sense, but I’d never seen her like this. People under extreme pressure weren’t always the best at following instructions. But I had to do what I could.
And that included, as soon as I knew she was safe, going over to take care of Charlotte and Kelly.
Chapter 17: Kelly
A few hours had passed, and the only thing I knew was that Liam had gotten Emily.
But that was it. I didn’t know where he had taken her, I didn’t know if he was coming back with her, I didn’t even know if he was safe. Obviously, from what I knew about Liam and about Sean, I didn’t think Sean had somehow gotten the upper hand, but I began to see why Liam kept his distance in some spots.
This shit was stressful. I didn’t like not knowing things, most certainly things like where my child’s father was—my romantic interest was. Could I call him that? It felt right, if a bit abrupt.
It wasn’t like other jobs. With my ex-husband, if I didn’t hear from him, I knew that work ran long. I never had to worry about if he’d been kidnapped or murdered or caught in a shitstorm of violence and danger. And while this was probably an extreme case, could I really believe that to be true? Was this going to be the norm?
For now, I only cared about if Emily was safe. I knew Liam could care for himself, but Emily…
I heard a car pulling up to my driveway. That…how? I hadn’t told Liam where I lived. Had he just remembered how to get to my house that well? It was remarkable if so—I hadn’t ever given him directions. But I guess when your job was like this, part of the deal was making sure you noticed details when you had to.
I looked outside. I could see the headlights, but I couldn’t see the car.
And then I saw it was a truck. I was pretty sure it was Liam’s, but just in case, I held Charlotte in my arms, ready to run to a safe room if the worst case had happened. I held my breath…
And Liam turned the corner. My entire body felt relaxed, and not just because it had gone from paranoid as hell to not. It genuinely felt good—I was pleased to see Liam. He looked a little tired, but he didn’t look hurt or tragically upset. I didn’t want to assume anything right now, but for how things could have gone, this seemed somewhat promising.
I put Charlotte into her high chair before I headed to the door, opening it before he knocked or rang. When I opened it, I could see he looked even more exhausted than I had thought.
“Hey,” I said softly. “How—”
He stepped inside, took off his shoes, and pulled me in for a hard, passionate kiss. It wasn’t quite an erotic kiss, but it was a kiss that said, “Thank God you’re here.” It was more sweet than sexual.
It was…well, it was a little frightening, but in a good way.
“Hi,” he said, “I don’t have much time, but I wanted to get back to you after this morning.”
“No worries,” I said, walking back to the kitchen where Charlotte was. “Is Emily safe?”
“For now. She’s in a hotel in Breckenridge, and I gave her a gun, a beeper, and a backup phone. I also got a room across from her to take care of shit in case things go haywire.”
“Do you think they will?”
“It’s not my job to think if something will or won’t. It’s my job to prepare as if they will, and then react and adjust accordingly.”
I didn’t say anything more to that. Liam, on this subject at least, was in full “work speak” mode.
“Well, I’m glad she’s here,” I said.
“Better here than there,” Liam said, “but I didn’t come here to give you an update on Emily. I came here to have a talk about…us.”
Saying that sounded more painful to him than describing Emily’s situation. He probably hadn’t had a hard conversation like this in years. Maybe even a decade. If what he’d said about being a widower was true, I couldn’t imagine him jumping into intimacy like this. If you can…yeah, I’d call what we had intimacy. I hope it is, at least.
“This job I have? It’s really fucking dangerous. This, right now, wouldn’t even register as threatening to me on the shit that I’ve seen. It can always escalate, but handling abusive exes is not the same as handling international terrorists.”
But to her…
“In my line of work, every day can be my last. I know we say that anyone’s day could be their last, but that is a much truer statement for me than in most any other job. If we are something, you have to understand that your lives are also at much greater risk.”
I knew that. But hearing it is so much more painful than I would have thought.
“And quite frankly, it’s difficult for me to live in a world where you two could be at risk,” he said before adding a dark chuckle. “I couldn’t give less of a shit about my own safety and
