your brothers and sister, will always be in your heart.”
“It’s not the same.”
“No, it’s not. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have room for you too. I promise Jill’s memory won’t ever come between us. When I’m with you, I don’t think of her. But I don’t know how to convince you of that. I can’t hand you something concrete to prove it, I wish I could.”
So did she. Still he’d removed the ring, that was a start. But had he hung onto it? Was it still tucked away somewhere safe for him to look at now and then? Or had he gotten rid of it?
“If you’re wondering what I did with the ring, I asked Mark to send it to Jill’s parents.”
Feeling guilty over the relief flooding through her, Rosie turned her hand over and twined her fingers with his. “Jill was only part of why I left, Sam.”
“Oh?” His voice was a study in casualness but from the way his fingers dug into hers for a moment before gentling his grip, she knew he was forcing himself not to react.
“There’s the question of how you didn’t respect me as an operative. How you wouldn’t let me do my job.”
A moment passed before he said, “I told you at the start not to try to get between me and a bullet.”
Especially you, she heard him not say.
“I thought Robert was a sniper. You were my principal. That’s what Hauberk hired me to do. To protect our clients.”
“So you threw yourself on top of me prepared to take the bullet in my place. That wasn’t a tactically sound move, Rosebud. You should have just taken me down out of the line of fire, and sought backup. If you’d been shot, I’d have been just as vulnerable as if you hadn’t been there at all.”
“A tactically sound move?” She narrowed her eyes. “What about you racing into the club when you thought I was being held hostage, huh? You charged in, expecting to have to fight for me even though they’d taken your weapons at the gate.”
He opened his mouth to speak but she barreled over him. “Yet still you came. Unarmed. Unprepared. Alone. Did you even think of calling the police? The SWAT team or hostage negotiation? Nope. Big old Sam Watson walked straight into a trap. You deliberately put yourself in harms’ way. Now tell me that was a tactically sound move.”
“That was different.”
“No, it wasn’t. In fact it was worse than what I did on the terrace.” She poked her finger into his sternum, pushing until he lost his balance and fell back with an oomph. “What you’re saying is that you’re allowed to sacrifice yourself, but I’m not allowed to. So what does that mean, Sam? That I’m not allowed to love you as much as you love me?”
He clambered to his feet. “It’s not a matter of allowed or not allowed, or who loves who more. It’s about how I don’t want to lose you, and I hope you don’t want to lose me either.” He held up his hand stopping her from speaking. “It’s got nothing to do with Jill or anything Thalia or Chad said at the club. I love you, Rosie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to get you pregnant and have children that I can teach to ride a bike and throw a football.”
“You want children?” she spluttered, unable to form a coherent thought. The course of this conversation had taken a turn she hadn’t expected. The hope she’d squelched when she thought about Jose and Elba cooing over their new baby boy flared up, sensing a fresh source of oxygen.
Great, if he was this protective of her when she wasn’t pregnant, think what Sam would be like when she was. She’d barely be able to make a move without him coddling her.
Is that so bad? Yes! She might as well be living at home, dependent upon Mama and Papa. She’d spent too long gaining her independence to give it up now. But somehow she also knew Sam’s type of coddling would be different than Mama’s. It probably meant spending long hours in bed with him.
Sam sat on the couch and pulled her onto his lap, resting his forehead against hers. “Come back to D.C. with me, Rosie. Give me a fresh start. Let me take you out on a date, go with me to a restaurant, maybe a movie. Just Sam and Rosie, not Samuel Watson and his bodyguard for once.”
“We skipped that part, didn’t we? Dating, I mean.”
“Yeah, we did. So what do you say?”
“All right. But I have some conditions.”
“Ah, a negotiation.” His grin returned. “Name your terms, sugar.”
When she slid off his lap and began pacing, he spread his arms out along the back of the couch, and straightened his legs, forcing her to divert her path around him.
“First off, you’ve got to stop treating me like I’m some china doll. I’m a Close Protective Officer with Hauberk Protection. And we’re the best on the whole eastern seaboard. Got that?”
“Yeah, but-”
“Shut up and listen, you big jerk.” She stopped in front of him. “I can drop a two-hundred-and-twenty-pound man and have him crying for his mommy in two seconds. I carry two Glocks and I know how to use them.”
“Right. You’re tough. Keep going.” His grin widened.
“Damned right I’m tough. And like it or not, if someone threatens you, I’m going after them.” She climbed back on his lap, straddling him. “They want to get to you-” she jabbed his sternum with her thumb, then pointed her herself, “-they have to go through me. You got that?”
She narrowed her eyes, growling, “I said-got. that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her gaze dropped from his face to his bulging erection. “Are you getting off on this, Watson? Because I know that’s not where you keep your Glock.”
A grin flashed on his face before he wrestled control back and replaced it with a bland expression. “No, ma’am. I mean, no, that’s not my Glock. And yes, ma’am, you sure make me hot when you get all riled up.”
A choked sound echoed down the hallway. Damn, how had she forgotten her mother would have been eavesdropping?
“Do you agree to my terms? That you don’t try to wrap me in cotton wool and protect me like some china doll?”
“Agreed. Reluctantly. But agreed. Now you mention it, I have a couple conditions too.”
“Which are?”
His grin faded. “You don’t run out on me again, Rosebud. You stick around and hear me out if we ever get into an argument.”
“Right back at you.”
“I’m not the one who flew to New York.”
She rested her head on his chest. “I’m sorry about that. I just needed to get away to think.”
“You could have stuck around a bit longer before hopping on a plane. It’s not like I could have chased after you, if that’s what you were expecting.” His hands kneaded her behind before pulling her on top of his erection. “You left me handcuffed and shackled, remember?”
“How long did they leave you there?” She wondered who’d had the guts to release him, and if they could still see out of both eyes.
“Hard to tell, they were so busy yakkin’ at me I zoned out.” More likely he was shouting and cursing them. “Then they started arguin’ with each other and walked out and left me hanging there until Fredriksson came to check on me.” A sensible precaution, once freed he probably would have taken them all on. “By the time I got to your place you were gone. Anyway, that’s in the past, right?”
She nodded and shifted closer. “You said you had a couple of conditions. What’s the second one?”
“That you remember I love you, and that I know you’re my here and now. That you’re my future.”
“I think I can agree to that. Provided that you accept that while we’re together, I’m going to be your personal bodyguard.”
Sam chuckled then kissed her until she was lightheaded. “Then that means you’ll be guardin’ me for life. Because, Rosebud, when you’re around I’m gonna need a lot of personal protection.”
About the Author
The only woman in a houseful of men, Leah often takes refuge in her office in an effort to avoid the dishes and dust bunnies. Writing about hunky heroes and hot sex is so much more rewarding than housework.
