Take the Key and Lock Her Up

by LENA DIAZ,

  “You act like you care about her.”

  “Care about her? Of course I care about her. I care about her more than . . .” He shook his head. “Why would you think I didn’t?”

  Pierce shrugged. “Maybe because you left her?”

  Devlin wrapped a hand around the top rail of the footboard. “I had to. She could never be happy living the kind of life I’m now forced to live. And I wouldn’t want her to try. She’s far too good for that. She deserves better.” He waved his hand in the air, as if to wave away what he’d just said. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping her safe. Don’t you realize the danger she’s in because of that article, that picture? It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Cyprian is bound to send someone after her again. How could you let her do that?”

  “It wasn’t his choice. It was mine,” a soft voice called out from the doorway.

  Devlin’s eyes widened in shock.

  Emily gave him a tentative smile. “Hello, Dev. Miss me?”

  EMILY WAITED UNTIL Pierce had shut the door behind him before moving farther into the room. Devlin stood a dozen feet away, frozen like a statue, by the window.

  “You left me. You hurt me.”

  Pain lanced his features. “I know.”

  He walked toward her slowly, as if she were a mirage, as if she might disappear if he moved too fast. When he stopped, he was so close she could feel the heat of him, so close that her body tilted toward him, a flower turning its face up to the sun.

  His greedy gaze devoured her, drinking her in, like a man who knew he was going blind and wanted to imprint the image of a glorious sunset in his mind to take out and treasure when everything went dark.

  He feathered his fingers across her cheek. “I’m so, so sorry about this. About what Ace did to you.”

  Embarrassed at her unsightly burns, she pulled his hand away. “I heard you when you told Pierce that Ace got away.”

  “For now.” His brows drew down. “Why are you here, in my brother’s house? And how did you know I was here?”

  “I’ve been staying in a guest room down the hall since . . . the day you left. Pierce sent his wife and daughter on an extended vacation, using a made-up excuse about one of his cases being dangerous. They don’t know that I’m the danger part. As for knowing you were here, there’s a transmitter in the side-table drawer, by the bed. It rings a buzzer in my room. Your brother was supposed to press it if you showed up.”

  “The article. It was a plant to draw me out. Pierce’s idea?”

  “Mine.”

  He grinned.

  She smiled back. “Drier would never consider hiring me back, even if I wanted to go back—which I don’t. Pierce took care of the details. I wasn’t sure you’d be monitoring the news here. But he was confident you would.”

  “He would know. He was bit by the bug a long time ago. I’m not sure why I fought it this long. I was doomed the moment I stepped into that basement.”

  “Bug? Doomed?”

  “Never mind. Doesn’t matter. You said your boss would never want you back. What about your partner, Tuck? Did I destroy that for you too?”

  Unable to resist the temptation any longer, she lifted a hand to his chest, reveling in how his muscles bunched beneath her fingertips. She longed to unbutton his shirt and slide her fingers beneath the fabric, to feel the wiry roughness of his hair, the warmth of his skin.

  “I hardly think you can take credit for destroying my life as I knew it. EXIT Inc. gets full credit for that. My friendship with Tuck is an unfortunate casualty. When Pierce and I called in the scene at Jackson’s Island, we made up half-truths to keep your name out of everything. Drier was only too happy to accept that Kelly and her ex-cons were responsible for the abductions. He was happy to believe our story that another man, one of Kelly’s thugs, is the one who shot Gage and burned my face. We simply inserted Pierce in the equation instead of you and . . . well, case pretty much closed. Except for the last missing woman Hawley swears is still out there. Who knows if she’ll ever be found.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it.”

  She nodded sadly. “Tuck wasn’t satisfied with our story since we couldn’t explain Kelly’s motives. And since he couldn’t talk to you. He’s convinced you’re in this up to your neck.”

  “Smart man.”

  “He’s an excellent detective. I hated lying to him. He refused my calls when I tried to talk to him last week.” She shrugged. “It is what it is. Pierce said he hit bureaucratic walls when he inquired about EXIT at work. He was ordered to back off, without explanation. Cyprian has powerful friends trying to keep this fiasco quiet, and to keep anyone from digging into the true nature of what they do. So what happens now? With EXIT?”

  His silence had her fingers curling against the front of his shirt. “You’re going after the whole damn company, aren’t you?”

  He gently pulled her hands away. “My entire life was built on a lie, Em. I thought by joining EXIT I could avenge my fiancée’s murder and protect others from horrific crimes like she suffered. But all along, it was because of EXIT that she died. And after I spent over a decade being loyal to the company, Cyprian gives me a death sentence over a breach of security. I would have expected if he ever found out about me breaking into the system that he would have at least asked me about it so I could explain why I’d done it. Slap on the wrist. Don’t do it again. But to issue an EXIT order? There’s something else he’s hiding, something big, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

  “We can work together as a team to bring them down. We can go to the Justice Department, make them listen, tell them what happened, tell them—”

  “Emily.” His voice was whisper soft, his gaze intent. “Who do you think created EXIT Inc. in the first place?”

  Her mouth dropped open. “What are you saying? That the government is involved? That they know what EXIT really is?”

  “Yes and no. It’s complicated. Em, promise me you’ll do whatever Pierce thinks is necessary to keep you safe. Don’t take any chances with your life.”

  “You’re leaving me again?”

  He winced. “I don’t want to. I have to.”

  “Like you did in the bunker and later, after stitching me up? And again at Jackson’s Island? You’re leaving me again?”

  “I. Have. No. Choice.”

  He grabbed her shoulders, his fingers tight to the point that it was almost painful. Almost. But he knew his strength, and he was careful. He was always careful with her, because he didn’t want to hurt her. Wasn’t that the point of all of this? The reason she’d had Pierce put the fake article in the paper? The reason she forgave him for abandoning her even though he hadn’t asked and didn’t even know she’d forgiven him? Everything he’d done since the moment they’d met had been driven by his desire to keep her safe. It might not have been anything more than an intense attraction in the beginning, an instinctive yearning and pull toward each other. But somewhere along the way, it had turned into something more.

  Something wonderful.

  Something beautiful.

  Something too rare to throw away.

  She shook off his hands and raised her arms to slide her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck.

  He shuddered and grabbed her hands. “What are you doing?”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting for what?”

  “For you to catch up. It’s been two weeks, Dev. Two long weeks since we last saw each other. I’ve thought about everything that happened between us, every single minute. I’ve mulled it over and over in my mind, and I realized something. You’re in love with me.”

  His eyes widened with panic. “I can’t . . . I don’t . . .” He stepped back, forcing her to drop her arms.

  She followed, stalking him across the room. “Can’t? Don’t? You’re scared. That’s all. This is new for you. Heck, it’s new for me too. But at least you’ve been in love once before. You know what it’s like. You have to know this is real, this
thing between us.”

  She stepped forward again, but this time she didn’t touch him. “Look at me and tell me you don’t love me, Dev. Tell me you don’t want me.”

  He surprised her by ducking away, sliding between her and the wall. He put his hands on the windowsill, prepared to slip away.

  “Coward,” she accused.

  He dropped his head to his chest. “What do you want from me, Em?” His voice was so low, so anguished, she barely heard him.

  “The truth. Is that really too much to ask? When you left me the way you did, I thought maybe I was wrong about you. The way you treated Ace . . .” She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “It scared me. But now, now I understand.”

  He turned. “What do you understand?”

  “I understand that you’re a good person, deep inside, but that you don’t see it. You don’t think you deserve to be happy, and you don’t think you deserve me. But you’re wrong. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you. But I’m not as noble as you are. Because I’m not going to give you up. Not if . . .” She swallowed hard, ready to bare her soul, to go all in. “Not if you love me the way I love you.”

  A pained look flashed across his face. “Don’t say that.”

  She cupped his face in her hands. “I love you.”

  He shook his head. “No. You don’t. You love some stupid hero on a white horse who doesn’t exist. I’ve hurt people, killed people.”

  “I love you.” She pressed a whisper-soft kiss against his lips and waited.

  He pressed his forehead against hers. “God help me. I love you too.”

  He kissed her like he’d never kissed her before. If she had any doubts about his feelings, that hot, wet but achingly sweet kiss dissolved those doubts. He poured all his love into that kiss, telling her with his body what he could never tell her with just words.

  When he pulled back, he smiled, really smiled, a sexy, full-blown grin that finally reached his eyes for the first time since she’d met him. She drank it all in, the happiness she’d somehow miraculously been able to give this amazing, strong, protective man who had more honor than anyone else she’d ever known.

  “I think I’ve finally found what I’m good at,” she said.

  “Kissing?” he teased.

  “No. I mean, of course, but that’s not what I was going to say. I’ll never be a doctor.”

  He shuddered dramatically and rubbed the shoulder she’d drunkenly operated on.

  “I’ll never be a good cop.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “I’m your conscience, Devlin.”

  “My . . . my what?”

  “Your conscience. I stopped you in the clearing. I made you realize what you were doing was wrong. You didn’t kill Ace.”

  “That doesn’t mean I won’t when I catch him again.”

  She shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  His shoulders slumped. “You’ve ruined me. I’m no longer a badass assassin.”

  She put her arms around his neck. “You’re still my badass. And I haven’t ruined you—I saved you.”

  He pulled her against him, his smile reaching his eyes once again. “Yes. You did. I love you, Emily, more than I ever thought possible. And I want you, always, forever in my life. But it won’t be easy. The future will be dangerous. I’ll do everything I can to protect you, to keep you safe. But it’s a leap of faith. With no guarantees except that I’ll always, always love you.”

  “I know exactly what I’m getting. And the answer is yes. I love you, and I’m ready to make that leap of faith with you.”

  When he finished kissing her this time, they were both panting.

  “When I get you in a bed again, I’m going to keep you there for a week,” he breathed.

  “Promises, promises.”

  He pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket and opened the window.

  Emily looked out. A rope hung from a hook on the other side of the glass and snaked down the wall to the yard below. Devlin set the gloves on the windowsill.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to take that leap of faith with me, Em?”

  “I trust you. I’ll follow you anywhere.”

  “Then let’s leap.”

  She put her hands on the windowsill and raised her leg to climb out.

  He grabbed her and pulled her back, laughing. “Whoa, whoa. I was teasing. We’re not going out that way.”

  “But the gloves. The rope.”

  “I’ll explain later.” He winked. “But first, I need a pen and paper.”

  AN HOUR PASSED before Pierce lost his patience and went upstairs to check on Devlin and Emily. He didn’t want to intrude in the middle of a fight—or something more intimate—but he couldn’t sit downstairs any longer, wondering whether they’d worked out their problems or whether they’d killed each other.

  He knocked on the bedroom door. No answer. After knocking again, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open a crack.

  “Everything okay in here?” He stepped inside. The room was empty, with nothing to prove that either of them had been there except for a sheet of paper lying on the middle of the bed. A note, written in Devlin’s chicken-scratch handwriting.

  Pierce, Emily decided she couldn’t live without me, so she’s coming with me.

  Pierce, Devlin decided he couldn’t live without me.

  Thank you for everything. We’ll try to check in from time to time. Just know that we both love you and the others very much. Dev and Em.

  He grinned, relieved and happy that Devlin had been blessed to fall in love twice in one lifetime, and that he was finally getting another chance at happiness. Even with the tremendous obstacles facing the two of them in the future, at least they would spend that future together.

  Since he’d been sitting in the main room on the first floor, with a full view of the staircase, he knew they hadn’t come down the stairs. Which left only one way out: the window. He couldn’t imagine Madison ever agreeing to do that. Who was he kidding? She was the type who would probably suggest it.

  He crossed to the window to lock it and saw a pair of gloves sitting on the outside ledge. He slid the window up and looked out. Sure enough, the rope Devlin and Emily had used hung from a hook all the way to the ground. Crazy, absolutely crazy. After hauling up the rope and dropping it inside, he grabbed the gloves, only to notice a note tucked inside.

  Did you seriously think I would scale a wall and climb through a window when a perfectly good door was available? You might want to check with an architect about your home’s original blueprint. These old houses are riddled with secret passageways. All my love, Devil.

  Pierce smiled and shook his head. “Godspeed, little brother. Godspeed.”

  Epilogue

  * * *

  A FEW WEEKS later, Devlin stood just inside the tree line, looking through his binoculars across the field. White trucks with the familiar red B&B lettering on the side clogged the road to the construction site. Banging hammers and whining electric saws shattered an otherwise quiet morning.

  Emily slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “How’s the house coming along?”

  “I’ve never seen so many people working on one building at the same time. Braedon must have canceled every other project B&B had to get this much manpower. Alex should be able to move back in by the end of the summer.”

  “It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they work together.”

  The hidden meaning in her words wasn’t lost on him. He lowered the binoculars, dropping them to the ground so he could cup her face in his hands. “You’re not going to stop bugging me until I say yes, are you?”

  “Nope. Never. You might as well give in now before I drive you crazy.”

  “Okay.”

  She blinked. “Okay? Just like that? You’re going to let me help you try to bring EXIT down?”

  “Against my better judgment, yes. But only because I know that if I don’t take you with me, you’l
l end up going after them on your own, and that would absolutely terrify me. But you have to agree to my terms. We’re David against Goliath. It will take careful planning and training. You’ll have to be patient. I’m not about to rush into this and risk you getting hurt, or killed.”

  He shuddered at that horrible thought and pressed a quick kiss against her lips. But, as it always seemed to happen whenever he touched her, his brain shut down and want and need took over. The kiss deepened until his pulse was slamming in his ears and his hands were shaking at the thought of getting her naked in his bed.

  Forcing himself to break the kiss, he drew back, shaking his head in wonder. “Sometimes I think this is a dream. Because there’s no way I deserve someone like you. I’m too broken, too flawed.”

  She cupped his face with her hands. “It’s not a dream. And you’re wrong about not deserving me. Both of us have our faults. We’re not perfect. We’re just perfect for each other.”

  He drew her into his arms and held her tight, resting his chin on the top of her head. A long moment later, he drew back and gently kissed the healing bright pink scar on the side of her face. She was self-conscious about the mark, but to Devlin, she’d never been more beautiful.

  That scar was a badge of honor, proof of the tremendous courage and sacrifice she’d made defying Ace, refusing to scream to draw Devlin out until it was physically impossible not to. Most women he knew would have given in long before that lighter had been held against their skin.

  “Why don’t you get the air conditioner going in the car? I just need another minute,” he said.

  She looked past him at what had once been his father’s house and soon would be again. “To say good-bye. I understand. Take all the time you want.” She smiled and headed into the trees toward the side road where they’d parked their car.