Bodyguard by Melanie Shawn

52

Gage

I steppedout of the shower and didn't know if I wanted Savannah to be asleep or not. There was something I wanted to tell her. No, needed to tell her. But it would change everything. And I had decided while I was scrubbing my body that I wouldn't wake her up to tell her.

That would be the test. If she were awake, we would go there. If not, then I would take that as a sign.

She was sitting up in bed, cross-legged, looking as alert as if it were the middle of the afternoon when I stepped back into the room. I almost smiled. I should've known that there was no way she would be asleep when, knowing her, she had a ton of questions about how things were going to go down tomorrow.

I also knew that the deal I had made with myself in the shower was bullshit. I was going to say what I needed to say, and nothing was going to stop me.

“So, run it down for me,” she said.

I could see she’d been waiting with bated breath. We hadn’t been able to talk in the van, obviously. And then, when we’d gotten back to the safe house and secured the kid, and Bear had agreed to take the first six hour watch, I’d needed to shower and clear my head. Badly.

I think Savannah could sense that. Which was probably why she’d waited until now to start pressing me for details. Which I appreciated.

"Well, the first step is to call the number I saw in the burner call log, from the guys at the cabin. Hopefully, that will go through.”

“What if it doesn’t?” Worry was etched on her eyes and her brow.

“If not, we’ll put Crypt on finding another way to get in touch with Barlowe. It’ll slow us down but it’s definitely not a deal-breaker.”

She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay. What then?”

“Then we’ll set up the trade. Bear and I have an ideal plan in mind, and I’m sure Barlowe will, too. We’ll negotiate.”

I glanced at the door. “Damn. I just hope he cares about that kid as much as we’re betting he must.”

She nodded. “Yeah. That’s definitely the question mark. But…I mean, he kept paying for him to live, to get out of trouble. That must mean something. Even if he only cares about the abstract concept of his lineage, his heir. His blood. Maybe that will be enough. I think it will be.”

She shrugged. “It has to be.” She said the sentence simply, like it was just a fact.

I understood what she meant. The alternative was just too terrible to contemplate.

But I had been contemplating it. In fact, it was about all I’d been contemplating.

I took a deep breath and dove in. “Savannah, I know I said in the car that I was going to make sure everything turned out okay.”

She nodded, a look of wariness creeping into her beautiful eyes. I rushed on, hoping to head off total panic.

"I am absolutely going to do everything in my power to keep that promise to you," I said solemnly. "But, you have to know that there is a chance that things are going to go sideways tomorrow. There's always that chance. The situation we are walking into is dangerous. You know that, right?"

As a matter of fact, I knew for sure that she was aware of the intense danger of the situation. I had tried everything in my power to get her to stay here at the safe house while Bear and I went and completed the trade. She had flatly refused, in fact she wouldn't even hear any of my reasoning. I had tried to remind her that she had said she would trust me, completely. That that was the only way I could protect her.

She, in turn, had reminded me that she had made that promise before her father was involved. I had to admit that was a fair point.

Besides, I knew she wouldn't let me walk into danger alone. That much was obvious in her eyes and the steely set of her jaw and shoulders when she had shut down the idea of sitting back here and waiting.

For better or worse—and I could only hope to God that it was for better—we were in this thing together. Till the bitter end, or the beautiful new beginning. Whichever it was going to be.

She swallowed hard. “I know that, Gage.”

I expected her to say more, but she let the sentence hang in the air. It was far more powerful than anything else she could have said.

I stepped close to her, reached out and ran my fingers over her hair. Her soft, silky hair. The feel of it under my fingertips was like home. She closed her eyes at my touch and leaned into my hand.

The pulse in her neck was throbbing like crazy. God, I loved that I had that kind of immediate and intense effect on her.

“Savannah,” I whispered, my voice a sandpaper rasp. “If tonight is my last night on earth, I want to spend it making love to you.”

She looked up at me, held my gaze. There were tears shining in her eyes. “Yes,” she breathed. “Me, too.”

“Not just have sex,” I clarified, running my thumb along her jaw. “Make love. Because I love you. With everything in me. I never stopped. And I want to spend tonight showing you how much.”

The tears that had been glittering in her eyes slid down her cheeks, two shimmering drops of moisture that made my heart constrict in a way that made it hard to breathe. In fact, in a way that made me wonder if I’d ever be able to breathe again.

I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, gently. I refused to lose myself in urgency or pleasure. Tonight was about expressing my feelings for her.

After all—for over a decade, I had thought that I would never again be able to hold her, to kiss her, to tell her that I loved her. To keep her warm, and keep her safe. And now, tonight might be my last chance. There was every reason to believe that we might never see another night together. So I planned to make this one count.