The sharp click had the two men on the floor freezing, their heads whipping around to stare at her.
“Enough, Bradley. It’s over.” Her voice strenghtened. “It’s over,” she repeated as sirens sounded in the distance.
There were moments in life, Keely thought as she and Lex walked out of the police station, that you knew you’d never forget. Bradley pulling the gun, Lex leaping through the door. And yet, somehow, even in that moment, with Christmas morning dawning, the whole thing was impossible to believe. Less than twelve hours before, two men had held guns on her. Now, in houses all around them, children were wakening to the magic of presents and Santa Claus.
Bradley and Skele had been taken to the hospital, the laptop confiscated by Stockton for review. Stockton and his colleagues had questioned Keely and Lex all night. They’d been scolded, thanked, congratulated, exonerated.
And now they were outside, finally with a moment to themselves.
After everything that had happened, all that had passed between them, she hadn’t a clue what to say. He had broken her heart and quite probably saved her life. He had saved her life and he was going to disappear into the sunset and she’d more than likely never see him again.
She couldn’t bear it.
She stopped and swung around to look at him. Their breath came out in plumes of white in the chill air. “Thank you doesn’t seem like enough, but it’s all I have,” she said. “You were wonderful.”
“I should thank you. You were the one who stopped it.”
“We both did.”
“We’re a hell of a team.”
“We were,” she said, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Thank you. I owe you my life.” She leaned in to kiss his cheek.
And he grabbed her and pulled her to him convulsively, so that she almost couldn’t breathe.
“I’m an idiot,” Lex said savagely.
Keely blinked. “What?”
“I’m a pinhead. I so screwed up. I could have lost you. I love you and I could have lost you.”
She stared at him, stunned. “What do you mean?” she asked faintly.
“Oh, God, Keely, I was out of my mind tonight when I was driving over there, knowing about Bradley and Skele, knowing that you were in danger. I was so wrong last week. I got scared,” he said simply. “I’ve been on my own so long that I just couldn’t deal with what was happening.
“And then tonight when I realized all of a sudden I might lose you, I found out what it was like to be really scared.” He shook his head. “It’s no good without you. I realized that. If you’re not with me, whatever else there is, it just doesn’t matter.”
He swallowed and took her hand in his. “I love you, Keely. That was what you saw in my face the night of the gala. I was just too dense to realize it. I want to make this work.”
And she laughed and threw her arms around him. “Oh, do you mean it?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
He was strong and solid and there and she’d never known what it was to feel happy before this moment. But they had to do it right. She leaned back and looked into his eyes. “I meant what I said last week, Lex. I love you but I don’t want to trap you. I don’t want this to be about you giving up something so we can be together. It can’t work that way.”
“I’ve got a chance to take a job in New York for a year, running the photo desk of the wire service. That gives us a good, solid start together.”
“Don’t give up what you love. It’s too important, too much a part of you. We’ll figure something out.” She gave him a grin. “I might look cute in a burka, you never know.”
“The thing is, I’d already about decided to take the job before this happened. The kind of assignments I take can grind you into dust if you don’t watch it. I’ve been needing a break.”
“Yeah, but this much of a break?” She held on to him, still unable to believe it.
“The year off will be good. After that, we’ll see. I can still take assignments, I can still go out but I’ll have a place to come back to. Wherever you are.” He kissed her forehead. “We’ll find a way to make it work. Maybe I’ll decide I like it here.”
“Here in New York or here, here?”
“What do you mean?
“I realized something, too, last night. I’m leaving New York.” Ignoring his shock, she went on. “I want to come back here to live, start my own accounting business. I’ve already got Darlene as a client and she says she can get me more. And…well, you’ll think it’s silly…”
“What?”
“The safe house,” she blurted out in a rush. “It’s so gorgeous out there. When the case is over, it’ll probably be up for auction. I was thinking about buying it.”
“You want to buy a place where my brother held a gun on you?” He half laughed.
“I want to buy the place that we first made love. I mean, we might need to do some kind of a psychic cleansing on it, get rid of all the bad vibes.”
He pulled her close to him. “I know just the way to do that. It’s an ancient African ceremony that involves getting naked together, lots, in every room of the house.”
“Well, if we’re going to do it, we’ll need to practice.”
He grinned down at her. “Well, what are we waiting for? It’s Christmas morning. Time to open your presents.”
“My present is you.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0982-8
HER CHRISTMAS SURPRISE
Copyright © 2007 by Chez Hardy LLC
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