“You know them!” Josh begged. “Tell them to let me go!”
Brandon regarded Josh for a long moment without saying anything. Then, he turned back to Mark. “Well? You heard his request. Will you comply?”
“Like hell I will.”
Brandon nodded, a small smile gracing his lips. He’s too calm, Sandra thought. Too collected. She would have been shaking if she were in his shoes. He’d walked straight into the lion’s den, and hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Mark continued. “Don’t interfere with what I’m doing here, Brandon. This isn’t your problem anymore. It became mine when you failed to smooth things over.”
“I failed?” Brandon growled. “Did you forget how we run our operation?”
“About that,” Mark began carelessly. “I always thought we were limiting ourselves by adhering to your rules.” His hand started to creep for his pocket. “Imagine how much more money we could make if we weren’t crippled by your limitations.”
Mark’s hand dove into the pocket, and Sandra realized he held a weapon there. But Brandon reacted faster.
He whipped his gun out and fired.
The blast echoed through the barn. A cry of pain ripped from Mark’s throat as he fell down. Brandon whirled and went to his knee, aiming right at the chest of the burly man.
“One wrong move,” Brandon warned, “and you’ll end up like your boss.”
Wretched cries of pain started from the floor. Sandra looked, and saw Mark clutching his upper arm where the bullet hit. Blood poured from the wound. The man curled into a ball, like a small child and shrieked pathetically.
“Give me your weapon,” Brandon demanded of Mark’s associate. The big man regarded Mark on the floor, then his eyes went back to Brandon. For a second, Sandra thought he’d try to be a hero. Then he slowly reached to his hip, and pulled his gun out by the barrel, tossing it to the floor.
“The other one, too.” Brandon smiled. “I’m not an idiot.”
The man frowned, but he reached down, rolling the fabric of his jeans up. He took a second gun from there, and dropped it to the floor. With a kick, he slid it toward Brandon.
“Good. Now, get Mark to a hospital before the coward bleeds to death.”
Finally, reality seemed to hit the man, and he nodded, then scrambled over to Mark. Brandon kept his gun on him the entire time.
“Don’t do anything stupid, now,” Brandon told Mark, “and I might forget this little incident. But if you do… Clarisse and I will cut you off.”
Sandra didn’t think it was possible for Mark’s face to get any paler, but on those words she was proven wrong. What little blood remained in his head drained out completely, and his eyes rolled back as he fainted. The bigger man looked just as shaken by the threat. Hastily, he pulled Mark up with by the shoulders and dragged him out.
Only when they were gone did Brandon stand up and turn to Josh. Sandra decided then it was finally safe to appear.
When Josh saw her, his eyes widened with hope. “Sandra!” he exclaimed.
She ignored him, running straight to Brandon. She was overwhelmed by emotion: fear for Brandon; worry about his wellbeing; anger at Josh for deceiving her. But, above everything, she was staggered by the amount of pride she felt for Brandon.
He really was the person he showed himself to be in their relationship. He really did care what happened to other people. What happened to her.
“How did you do all that?” she sputtered out. “That was amazing! I can’t believe you shot Mark! Have you ever shot anyone before? How did you know he wouldn’t fire back? How did you—”
Brandon smiled, an easy smile, as he looked at her. “One question at a time, miss.”
Sandra had to compose herself. My, but she felt flustered! And she’d been hiding the entire time! “Weren’t you frightened?” she asked.
“Terrified.” That intense gaze was on her again. “But only for you. If anything had happened to you tonight…” Brandon’s eyes turned to white-hot fire, completely devoted passion. That look… the look… sparked something in her that she’d been suppressing with all her might. The love she still felt for Brandon. Suddenly, her feelings burst into full bloom again, chasing away the darkness. She loved this man, she knew now, unconditionally and completely. She forgave him for everything.
“How did you know he wouldn’t retaliate?”
“I took a chance. Mark’s prone to lapses in judgment, but he’s not a complete fool. He’s smart enough to realize our business is the most lucrative one for him. If he did anything wrong, he’d lose out on the income that’s kept him fat for years. Nobody can come close to matching what we pay.”
Josh said something, but Sandra ignored it. “And what if they come back?”
“They won’t. For the same reasons.”
Sandra nodded. She opened her mouth… and found herself at a loss for what to do next. Despite standing so close to Brandon, she felt like there was an enormous gulf between them. All she wanted was for him to know how much she loved him. She wanted him to know she was there for him. But she couldn’t find the words.
She had to tell him. He had to know how she felt. She opened her mouth again, and—
“Listen, Sandra. Going through this today, with you, only made me realize how much you mean to me.” Brandon took her hands in his. “Tonight, my only concern was for you. No matter what the danger was, no matter where we were. And when you were gone last week, when you disappeared from my life… the whole time, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I’d fucked up. I never want to let you go again. I know you have a right not to trust me anymore. But I’m begging—begging—that you give me a chance to change that. Please. Because tonight, I realized, without reservation… that I love you.”
And just like that, the gulf was gone. It was the first time she’d heard those three simple words from him. I love you. It was what her heart had been waiting for her whole life.
She threw her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Brandon. And you’re wrong. I do trust you.”
And then, just like she’d imagined, just like she’d dreamed, he swooped down and kissed her. It was a kiss laced with passionate fury, but also full with the sweet, gentle touch she’d been craving.
When Brandon let her go, she had to suck in air through raw lungs. Always, as always, the feel of him left her unsteady and trembling. She realized, staring up at him, that she was completely and hopelessly smitten.
“Sandra… do you remember what I said today when I came to your office? About the next stage of my life? About how I want to do it with you?”
She nodded.
“Well, I do. And… I’m there now. I made a promise to Clarisse to get out of the business when the time was right. That time is now. She took care of me after I left my family, but now, I’m ready to go back to them. And you’re the only person I want to do it with.
“Hell, I know this is fast. I know we have problems. But babe, today I realized I’d rather be in hell with you than in paradise with anybody else.”
“Brandon… what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I can’t question the way I feel about you anymore, Sandra. Our relationship isn’t perfect, I know. But we can smooth it out. I love you, and I know our love will win out in the end. I’m ready to go back to Chicago. It’s what I’ve been waiting my whole life for. But I don’t want to do it alone. I can’t do it without you. I want you to come with me.”
When she couldn’t form an immediate reply because of the immense shock, Brandon started muttering.
“I know it’s a big step for you. It is for me, too. But I don’t want to be there with anybody else. We can build a future together, I know we can. And you’re the only person in the world I’d feel right doing it with. We can go home together.”
“You’re asking me to move across the country with you?” Sandra said.
Brandon laughed, a shaky laugh, and looked at her. “Yes. Yes, I gues
s I am. Yes, I am. I know it’s crazy. I know I just shot somebody. But everything that happened tonight… well, no secrets, remember? Clarisse told me I should never let you go. And I intend to take her advice. Moving in together—that’s just the first step. Sandra, I want you to be in my life. Remember what you said on my yacht? That you want us to last forever. Well, I do, too. That’s how I feel. So, what do you say? Will you come? Will you take that first step with me?”
Sandra heard his words, but she could barely comprehend them. Her brain and her heart were too busy doing cartwheels. Finally, after a delay that seemed to span eons, she sputtered, “Yes. Oh, Brandon! Of course, yes!”
And when he swept down to kiss her again, with Josh making sounds of disgust in the background, Sandra knew that tonight, she and Brandon would be making up for the passion lost during their time apart.
Their relationship wasn’t perfect. Sandra was no fool. But she wasn’t worried about the problems anymore.
She knew they had the rest of their lives to fix things.
Yours to Savor Page 35
