Acceptable Risks
Page 35
“I’ll be outside.” Gabby wrapped her arm around him and held his head to her chest for a moment, her eyes closed while she pressed her face to his hair. “Don’t forget to tell him our news,” she murmured before leaving.
“What news?” Jason asked, but Matt shook his head. Slowly. “I hear you got clocked pretty good. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll live. Man, JT, you have got to stop doing this.”
Jason couldn’t help smiling. “I know. Everyone’s okay?”
“Yeah. Isaac is in custody. He had some big story but no one believes him, there are too many conflicting reports from other people.”
“Who?”
“Kolanko.” Matt leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. The lines on his face seemed deeper, the skin sagging just a little, and Jason had a feeling he knew what was coming at the end of this catch-up session.
“He agreed to come forward, then?”
“Yeah, after we raced off and the cops and stretcher came in, he realized it was more than words on paper. He’ll testify if he has to. Nils and Caitlyn are talking, too. They’re not willing to go down silently for Kemmerling.”
“I don’t get that.” Jason tried not to frown because his head had started to ache sometime in the last few minutes. “Nils makes sense. He’s one of those guys who will do anything if he gets the right kind of attention. But Caitlyn’s been your assistant for seven years. What could Kemmerling offer her that would turn her against you?”
Matt shrugged and looked even more desolate. “I don’t know. Power, money, love?”
“None of those seem enough.”
“Whatever Isaac promised her was, but if she revealed it, no one told me.” He leaned back and rubbed his hands up and down his thighs.
Here it comes. Jason braced himself.
“I’m closing Hummingbird.”
Whoa. That wasn’t what he’d expected, and the words knocked him off his moorings.
“What about the lab?” It wasn’t the right question, but Matt understood, anyway.
“All the data is gone. Gabby wasn’t trying to unencrypt it for Isaac, she was destroying it. She even did your medical file. You didn’t need surgery, so the docs here don’t know what happened to you. You know, before. But we did fake your death, so there will be some repercussions for that.”
Jason wasn’t worried. They could connect it to everything that had happened over the last week, and without proof, no one could act on whatever accusations Isaac made. “What’s happening to Kemmerling?”
If Matt realized—and he surely did—that Jason was ignoring his pronouncement, he allowed it. “The charges are complicated, but abduction is in there, as is conspiracy, slander, fraud—enough to put him away for a long time. They’re telling me he’ll plead guilty—he won’t have much choice, with John and Kolanko and Ella added to the witness list.”
“They’ll all testify?”
Matt nodded and sighed. “Jason.”
“I heard you. I’m trying to decide whether or not I should argue.” If there was any point.
“It’s too big. Too much damage, no matter how we come out of this.” Matt sighed and rubbed his hand across his forehead. “I’m going to do private consulting, no government work.”
Jason nodded, his throat raw again, but the water pitcher out of his reach. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“I want you to join me. Be my partner.”
It was something Jason had always wanted, something they’d had in reality if not officially. And he was ready for smaller, too. But as much as he yearned to say yes, he wanted something else more.
“I’ll think about it,” he told his boss, his best friend. “But I don’t think I can. As soon as I’m out of here, I’m moving to Boston.”
Matt gave him a funny kind of smirk. “We’ll talk about it later. There’s no rush.” He stood and made a move to leave.
Jason couldn’t let him, not without putting it all out on the table. “I love her, Matt.”
Matt stopped, looked down at him. Gave nothing away.
Jason swallowed and winced at the drag on his damaged throat. “Now that this is all over, there’s nothing—well, there’s only you standing in our way.” He hoped. Maybe Lark wasn’t here because she couldn’t handle this. She might be getting a cool brush-off ready. Jason didn’t care. He’d do anything to convince her being together was worth the risk.
“Nope, you were right the first time.” Matt smiled. “There’s nothing standing in your way.”
Intense relief swept away the pain. Well, half of it, anyway. “Thanks.” He lifted his hand, and Matt clasped it tightly before he turned and started for the door. Now all he needed was Lark. But then he remembered.
“Hey,” he called. “What’s the news Gabby mentioned?”
“Oh, yeah.” Matt came back to the bed and looked down at Jason again, his mouth twitching. “Will you be my best man?”
Jason’s wide grin intensified the throbbing in his head as he reached to shake his friend’s hand again. “Damn. Good for you, man. I can’t believe you did it.”
“I’m not rushing into anything. We set a date for six months from now. I told Gabby I want her to have time to change her mind once she gets to know the day-to-day me. The one who’s not struggling to save his best friend and his business or rescuing her from an evil mastermind.” But the lines that Jason had noticed just moments ago had faded. There was a sparkle in his eyes that hadn’t been there since his wife died. Only one thing would make Jason happier than his friend being in love.
And then she was there. Lark peered through a two-inch crack she’d made with the door. Barely enough space for Jason to see through, never mind identify the person on the other side, but he knew it was her, and he craved her with every damaged and repaired fiber of his being.
“Your turn.” Matt gave him a light tap on the shoulder and headed out, holding the door for his daughter and giving her a one-armed hug as he passed. “We’ll talk later.”
“Yeah,” Jason agreed, but his attention was all on Lark, the only one of them who seemed unharmed. “You okay?”
“Fine.” She looked sheepish as she took her turn in the ugly chair. “Not a scratch.”
“But Gabby said you went after Isaac.”
“I did.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and slipped her other hand through the bedrail to touch his. “He tripped. I Tasered him with Nils’ Taser and it was all over. Well, except for convincing the police to arrest him for trespassing and assault. But it was easy.” She drew in a breath and blew it out, her hand tightening around his fingers. “Seeing you go down? Not so easy.”
Jason suspected she was glossing over the details, but let it go for now. Not important. “Gabby says you saved me.” He tightened his fingers in hers, emotion swamping him as he considered what it had to be like, watching him almost die.
She shrugged. “It was a team effort. How are you feeling?”
“Horrible,” he admitted.
She chuckled. “Sorry. Stupid question.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine. Gabby says, and she’s the best.”
“Yeah.” Her face lit up. “Did they tell you?”
He nodded. “You okay with that?”
She laughed. “It seems so long ago I hated even the idea of her having a crush on him. Now I’m maid of honor in their wedding.” She sobered. “Did Dad also ask you about the partnership?”
“Yes, but I told him no.”
She looked shocked and started to pull away. “No!”
He held on. “I want to move to Boston, Lark. I’m changing my priorities.”
She glowered. “Well, that would be a stupid way to do it.”
Jason had thought a cracked sternum hurt. The pain of her rejection kept him from speaking for a moment. He almost nodded, almost accepted it. Even if he took heroic precautions to keep from getting sick or injured again, the specter would always loom over them. She’d had to wait two days to be
sure he wasn’t going to die like her mother had. The danger wasn’t past, never would be. He’d always be at risk, even if he didn’t partner with her father.
But if he didn’t have Lark, he couldn’t work with Matt. A long, lonely life without his best friend or the woman he loved loomed ahead of him.
Fuck that. Maybe he’d never be able to convince her, but he had to try. He loved her, and that made all the risks acceptable.
Assuming she loved him back. He finally managed, “Did I misinterpret what you said the other night?”
“No. Oh, no, honey.” She stroked his arm, and the pain eased. “No, I meant—well, I got fired. I never reported for work.”
Jason cursed, but Lark shook her head. “I think I want to do something else.” She was quiet for a moment, her thoughts turned inward. Jason watched her, unable to keep the fear from growing. Every muscle tensed, doubling his pain, but he didn’t push her, didn’t want to rush the letdown that seemed more inevitable with every throbbing second that passed.
Lark visibly pulled herself back to the present and straightened. Her soft gaze landed on his face, and her lips curved. “I’ve already got some résumés in around town. You wouldn’t be happy working for someone else, and I’d feel much better if my father had your back. And vice versa.”
Everything clicked into place, and Jason could breathe again. He let go of her hand and reached for her. “Come here.”
“I’ll hurt you,” she protested, but didn’t move away.
He caught the back of her neck and tugged her toward him. “Just don’t support yourself on my chest.”
“I love you,” Lark whispered, grabbing the rail to hold herself up as he drew her in for a kiss.
“I love you, too.” He kissed her for a long time, trying to convey his gratitude and appreciation and happiness when he couldn’t move anything but his mouth without his body screaming at him. But she got it. Oh, yeah, she got it. He could see it mirrored in her eyes when she finally pulled away.
“How does a double wedding sound?” he asked.
Lark shook her head, but kissed him again, reassuringly. “We don’t have to rush this,” she told him, staying close. “Let’s just live together and find our own time, okay?”
Jason nodded and lay back, sighing. A week ago he had thought he was starting a new life, reborn from the broken remains of the old one.
Now, he finally was.
* * * * *
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Eighteen years ago, a group of men killed Regan Miller’s boyfriend and tried to kidnap her daughter, Kelsey. When Kelsey goes away to college, Regan finally begins to relax. She even starts to think she can have a real relationship, perhaps with her flirtatious neighbor, Tyler Sloane. Then Regan is attacked again. Desperate to get to her daughter, Regan accepts Tyler’s help—despite her suspicions about him. She knows nothing about Tyler but he knows a shocking amount about her past…
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About the Author
Natalie J. Damschroder became a writer the hard way—by avoiding it. Though she wrote her first book at age six (My Very Own Reading Book) and received accolades for her academic writing, she hated doing it. Colonial food and the habits of the European starling just weren’t her thing. Shortly after graduating from college, however, she found her niche—romantic fiction. So instead of using her Ohio Wesleyan University degree in geography and environmental studies, she became a novelist. She has had ten novels and nearly two dozen short stories and novellas published in ebook and print since 2000, to almost universally positive reviews. Fight or Flight, her first romantic adventure for Carina Press, is a 2012 EPIC Award finalist in the Romantic Suspense category.
When not writing, Natalie works as a chiropractic assistant and freelance editor, as well as mother of two awesome daughters (dubbed “the anti-teenagers”) and wife of the most patient husband in the world. Her three cats remind her when it’s time to stop working and feed them—otherwise, she might never leave the computer (until Supernatural comes on TV). You can find her online at www.nataliedamschroder.com, on Twitter as @NJDamschroder, or on Facebook under /nataliedamschroder.
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ISBN: 9781426893636
Copyright © 2012 by Natalie J. Damschroder
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
About the Author
Copyright