“No.” The word shot out of Zach’s mouth automatically. He didn’t think about the answer. He forced out the response before he could turn it over and tell the truth.
“Huh.” Luke looked at Adam. “Then that settles it.”
Adam nodded. “Maybe you’re right. You aren’t that guy.”
Suddenly the idea of being ruled out for Sela didn’t sit so well with Zach. “I could be.”
If he wished it so, maybe he could make it so. If good men like Adam and Luke believed in him, if Sela was willing to fight for him, maybe he had a chance, after all.
“You just said you weren’t,” Luke said.
“I was making conversation.” Zach stole another look at her. Dressed in a navy dress that hit right above her knees, she looked all clean and beautiful. He let his mind toy with the question. “I mean, a guy needs time. Right?”
“Yeah.” Adam coughed over his answer.
Zach ignored his friends’ obvious amusement. Let Luke and Adam think what they wanted. He kept his focus on Sela. “It hasn’t been that long. We’re talking weeks.”
Luke suffered from the same coughing fit as Adam. “Right. Weeks.”
“We should take our time. Not rush to go our separate ways.” The more he talked, the more Zach liked the plan. She wanted all the answers today. He couldn’t do that. He also couldn’t think about her with another man without wanting to throw up.
Adam grabbed his drink and hid his mouth behind it. “Makes sense.”
“It does.” Zach slapped Luke on the shoulder. “So, Recovery.”
Luke’s smile faded. “You lost me right there.”
“We’re going to hire her.”
“We are?” Luke took extra syllables to ask the question.
“That way she’ll be here every day.”
Adam elbowed Luke. “And not out dating other men.”
“She’ll be with me,” Zach said.
“Have you told her this yet?” Luke asked.
“I suggested it but thought I should get your okay.”
“Are you asking or telling me?”
Zach felt the anxiety racing around inside his brain cool down. “She can start in a week. She needs some time with me first.”
Adam laughed. “Make sure you tell her that when you tell her about the job. She might say no.”
“Will do.” Zach was barely listening to his friends. Now that he had a plan, he wanted to put it into action.
Luke stopped him before he could go more than a few steps. “Zach?”
“What?”
“I hate to tell you this, but you already love her.”
Zach waited for the panic to come. He usually heard the word and wanted to run. This time it felt right. “I know.”
Chapter Twenty
Luke wrapped an arm around his wife and whispered into her ear. “We’re going to want to watch this.”
Claire rubbed her growing belly as she sipped on water. She stood a few feet away from Sela, listening to her talk about going over the balcony of the safe house in Zach’s arms.
“What’s going on?” Claire asked.
“Zach is about to tell Sela what she’s doing for the rest of her life.”
“The poor deluded man.” But Claire smiled as she said it.
“That’s the fun part.”
She shrugged. “How do you figure that?”
Luke wrapped an arm around her. “She loves him.”
“Maybe not after this.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “Have faith.”
“In you?” She kissed him. “Always.”
“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Sela walked over and kissed Luke on the cheek. It was a habit, one borne out of respect and gratitude. He held everything together while the world blew apart. She knew that was a special skill.
Luke nodded at something over her shoulder. “Zach is behind you.”
She tried not to tense up. She’d been smiling so hard for the past hour, pretending everything was fine while breaking inside, that her cheeks ached. She didn’t have much fake happiness left inside her. At this point she was held together with a bit of pluck and the tie to her wrap dress. Nothing more.
She turned around and sent a forced smile in Zach’s direction. “Hi.”
At the sound of her chirpy greeting everyone turned around. She wanted to go out with dignity, but that wasn’t going to be possible now. Zach was going to push it. She could see it in the way he braced his legs apart and kept his hands on his hips.
“You’re not leaving.”
Someone groaned. Sela thought she heard Maddie whisper Zach’s name. Sela thought both reactions were appropriate. “Excuse me?”
“I am not letting you go.”
She was about to yell at him but bit back the response. His voice was firm, but those blue eyes carried a note of…fear. “Why?”
“I don’t want you to go.”
“Because I’m such a good secretary?”
“I don’t even know if you can type.”
“Oh, that’s just great,” Luke mumbled from behind her.
Sela blocked it all. She didn’t care who watched, but this showdown was between her and Zach. No one else. “I’m still not hearing anything more than I heard upstairs. You want to date. You want sex.”
He winced at that one. “All true. I do, but I want more than that.”
Hope flickered to life inside her chest. “Like?”
“I’m taking you up on your offer.”
She had no idea what he was saying. “How romantic for me.”
He took both her hands in hers. Until he touched her, she thought she could handle this. She could act like it didn’t matter and hold her head up so as not to ruin the day for Mia and Holden. But being this close to Zach, smelling the soap on his skin and feeling the warm brush of his skin against hers, did her in.
“No more pretense, Zach. Just tell me.”
“I want the chance. I’m not sure how good I’ll be at this couple thing.” He rested his forehead against hers. “Honestly, I have my doubts. About me, not you.”
“I believe in you.”
He placed a soft kiss on her lips. And when he pulled back, he looked at her with a smile that promised the world. “Take a chance on me.”
She knew then. He loved her. He was jumping off that cliff with her because he did believe. He wouldn’t ask, stand there in front of everyone and risk being turned down, unless he wanted it as much as she did. And it changed everything. Took all the pain and washed it away in a wave of hope.
She sniffed to keep the tears from flowing. “We need to be clear about one thing.”
He frowned but wisely stayed quiet.
“I am taking the job here because it’s right for me.” She glanced over her shoulder at Luke. “And I can type.”
He winked at her.
She went back to Zach. “Not because you are arranging my life. This is my choice.”
“Got it.”
“I don’t need to be rescued.”
“Sometimes you do.”
“And so do you, but this is not about that.”
“Okay.”
“Besides, you need a keeper.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I figure I’ll have my hands full watching over you.”
“I’m not sure Luke will pay you for that.”
“Yes, I will.” The whole room laughed at Luke’s comment.
Sela felt it all—the love and acceptance. Every person in this room would die for the others. They’d banded together in a makeshift family that transcended blood ties.
She loved them but mostly she loved Zach. He filled her with sunshine and made all things seem possible. With him, she could face the past and embrace the future.
But it was time to torture him. “Now tell me.”
“What?” He pretended to look terrified but couldn’t hide his smile as he did it.
“Right here, in front of everyone. I want to hear it.”
That made the amusement disappear. �
��Uh, Sela.”
“It’s time, Zach.”
“Listen to the lady.” Adam added a whistle to his comment.
“Fine.” A smile lit up Zach’s face. “I don’t know how it happened so fast or even what it was until it knocked me on my butt, but I love you.”
He said it with such ease, so fast, that the words almost didn’t register. “Say it again.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on.”
“Please.”
He picked her up off the floor until her eyes were even with his. “Listen up, Sela Andrews. I love you.”
Within seconds they were swamped with hugs and good wishes. The men kissed her and the women talked about Zach taking the big fall. Sela soaked it all in. When Zach broke free from the group to spin her around, she laughed until she cried.
“I love you.” She repeated the words as he kissed her.
When they came up for air, she knew everything would be okay. “I can hardly wait to get started on that future.”
And she knew he meant it. “Let’s sneak out of here and get started.”
“It’s not our wedding.” He looked around. “But someday.”
THREE DAYS LATER, Adam, Luke and Zach sat around the conference table. The women were off looking at the new apartment Adam was working on for him and Maddie.
“It’s over. Congressman Brennan is happy. Maddie is safe and the idiot who paid to have her killed is facing a new load of charges. It looks as if we’ve found everyone involved in the scam and the cleanup of the program has begun.” Luke gave the laundry list as he closed the thick folder in front of him.
“And Trevor Walters is getting a hero’s welcome.” Adam snarled as he said it.
Zach shrugged. “He is one.”
“Excuse me?”
“He saved Sela.” Zach knew that didn’t wipe the slate clean. Trevor had done so many bad things, including threatening to kill his ex, but he stood up when it mattered. Zach wouldn’t forget that. “Yeah, I know he caused—”
Adam held up his hand. “That’s a good enough reason for me.”
Luke nodded. “Me, too.”
“So now we get back to business.” Adam reached for the coffeepot behind him and started pouring a round for all of them.
“Which is?” Zach asked.
“These.” Spinning around, Luke reached for a new stack of files next to the monitors. He dropped them on the table with a thud. “Brennan made some calls about cold cases and recent missing persons investigations. Looks like he found some work for us.”
Adam fingered the folders. “And two private clients have contacted us, one a corporation missing a member of its management team and one a family.”
The world had tilted right again. All those years of running on the fringe came back to Zach. He wouldn’t change much. He’d needed that time to heal and learn to battle the anger inside. With Sela’s help and Mia dusting off her unused therapy skills for him, he’d get through. He’d learn to wrestle the rest of the beast down.
Until then he had everything else. A future. A love. A chance.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. This time he knew what it was. Satisfaction. Pure emotion.
He grabbed the top folder. “Looks like we’ve got plenty to keep us busy.”
Luke looked at the pot and his cup. “We’re going to need more coffee.”
Zach smiled. Yeah, life was good.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1255-8
THE BIG GUNS
Copyright © 2011 by HelenKay Dimon
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* Mystery Men
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