I felt like a total jerk for giving her the flowers in front of Trent, and for the innuendo I’d spewed. It’d been tacky and classless. Public displays of affection had never really been my thing, and I usually reserved my cocky, suggestive comments for behind closed doors. That was what a good man did. He didn’t kiss and tell, and he didn’t make lewd suggestions in front of friends and colleagues.

He also didn’t lie.

But I’d just lied to Hailey, and, in a way, to Trent, too. And I think part of me wished Hailey had slapped me for the ridiculous comment I made in front of Trent, even if it was said in jest. Just so I’d have something to openly apologize for.

I finished speaking with Trent and he left, no doubt wanting a few hours of sleep and a moment’s peace. I vowed then that, if I was still standing after all this was over, I would make it up to him. He’d already helped me more than was necessary, and put himself, and his career, on the line.

“You want to tell me what that was about?” Hailey sat on the kitchen counter, her legs dangling over the edge.

I could tell her everything. Right now.

No, you can’t. “I just told Trent I’d talk to him tomorrow.”

“Took a lot of whispering to say that.”

“Hailey…” I crossed the kitchen to stand in front of her, my hands on her knees. “I’m not the enemy here, okay?”

“I never said you were.” She pulled me closer, her knees parting so I could lean against the counter. I thought she was making to hug me, but a moment too late I realized that she’d found her mark, pulling the gun from the back of my jeans. She held it out to me. “But I want to know why this was necessary to go pick up some flowers from the lobby.”

I took the gun from her, and she let me. “Better safe than sorry.”

She watched me with a measured stare, and I felt that gaze follow me as I rounded the corner and returned the gun to the drawer of the entryway table, checking the locks once more before I made my way back into the kitchen. She hadn’t moved, and her gaze was just as steely.

“Just tell me what’s happening,” she insisted.

I didn’t mean to, but a hollow chuckle erupted from my throat before I could stop it. “What’s happening?” I closed the gap between us again, suddenly feeling the weight of the last few days, and the tsunami of emotion I’d been barely struggling to contain. “What’s happening is that everything is spiraling out of fucking control. What’s happening is that there’s no way to win this war.” I nudged myself back between her knees, cupping her face in my hands, searching her eyes for something—anything—that would give me a lifeline to cling to. “What’s happening is that I’m falling for you, and your safety is the only damn thing I care about. Yet, it’s the one thing I can’t guarantee.”

It killed me to admit it, to outright say that I was powerless against the likes of Creighton Banks. But she and I both knew that, even if her father killed me, Hailey’s name was on the next bullet in the magazine. It wasn’t a matter of which one of us he’d kill, only of which he’d kill first.

Hailey bit the inside of her lip. “I never asked you to guarantee me anything, Alex. You’ve already done so much.”

“And it’s not enough,” I bit out painfully.

“It’s enough for me,” she whispered.

I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. “You deserve more.”

“I don’t care what you think I deserve,” she breathed. “I want you.”

“That’s the one thing I can guarantee you,” I rasped. “You’ve got me.” My mouth was on hers before I consciously decided to kiss her, breathing her in and tasting her as though she could sustain me.

Hailey didn’t try to stop me or slow me down. Instead, her hands deftly dipped under my shirt, raking her finger across the bunched muscles of my back, pressing me closer to her. Her own desperate desire was just as evident.

There were so many things we should talk about, so many things we should go over again. But what good would it do? Words only went so far, and plans were futile in Creighton’s game. He’d taken everything—Hailey’s childhood and teenage years, her mother, and her chance at a normal life.

He could never take the connection between her and I, though. This, us—that was ours.

In a blind flurry of need, I reached behind me and pulled my t-shirt off. Hailey’s followed soon after. It was the only time our lips separated, and the small, pleading gasps that she made in response to my touch only made me tug more relentlessly to remove the barriers between us.

Something smashed near my feet, and I realized a beat or two later that one of the coffee mugs had been knocked to the floor, shattering on impact against the ceramic tile.

“Hold on,” I managed to get out. I guided Hailey’s legs around my hips, and she tightened them around me as I lifted her from the counter. We made it as far as the living room wall just outside my bedroom door before I pushed her up against it and crashed my mouth against hers again. A low moan came from her, muffled by our kiss, but her fingers dug into my shoulders with an intensity that couldn’t have been caused by anything other than sheer wanting.

“Alex,” she panted, her head back against the wall as I kissed my way down the side of her neck. “The bedroom’s the other way.”

“My bedroom is right here,” I replied through labored breaths. “If we’ve only got one night together, Hailey, let me take you to my bed.”

“Two.”

“What?” I pulled my head back, my chest heaving.

Her eyes still danced, but a flash of wariness shone through. “We’ve got two nights. My father said he wouldn’t call until—”

“I don’t care.” My voice was husky, and the last thing I wanted to think about was Creighton Banks. “Just, please, let me—”

Hailey’s finger pressed against my lips. “You have me, Alex.”

I searched for any sign of apprehension in her eyes, but there was none. I pulled her away from the wall, pushing the door open with my foot. I hadn’t made the bed from two nights before, and had barely been in here since Hailey’s arrival. I laid her back on the unmade bed, lowering myself to hover over her. I kissed along her shoulder, down her chest, to her stomach, relishing in her beauty and her perfection.

“You are beautiful,” I whispered, listening to the small gasps she made as I touched her skin. “And, for at least one perfect moment, you were mine.”

I wasn’t sure if she heard me, and she wasn’t meant to. Mostly because I hadn’t even realized I’d said it out loud. And, as the words replayed in my mind, I couldn’t be sure I, in fact, had said them. But I meant them. God, did I mean them.

* * *

Night was only beginning to fall when Hailey settled into my arms, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. Her heartbeat still beat powerfully against my chest as she nestled in against me, one arm draped across my chest. We’d turned no lights on when we came in, and even through the closed window blinds, the shadows left as the sun sank behind the city were creeping behind the edges of it, across the ceiling as I stared up at it, my index finger tracing circles idly on her shoulder.

“Are you okay?” I tucked my chin down to try to see her face. “You’re quiet.”

“I’m too tired to even form sentences,” she groaned.

“But still too anxious to sleep,” I added. “I know the feeling.”

She nodded against me. A moment later, she asked, “Who’s Allie?”

Whatever I expected her to say, it wasn’t that. “How do you know about Allie?”

“I don’t know anything about her.” She tilted her head up onto my chest to meet my gaze. “I just…Trent mentioned the name, so I thought I’d ask.”

“Remind me to knock Montagne upside the head next time I see him.”

Hailey propped herself up on her elbow, her other hand still on my chest. “Is she your ex?”

“She is, yes. Which is exactly why I think this is an inopportune moment to be discussing her, don’t you?”

“It’s better than the other topics we could discuss,” she argued.

“I beg to differ.”

“What happened between you and her?”

“She left me,” I said flatly. “For someone else.”

Hailey’s face fell slightly. “I’m sorry,” she said sheepishly. “How long’s it been?”

“More than eight years.” But still not long enough.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, then resumed her spot nuzzled into the crook of my arm.

Silence ensued, and I thought maybe she’d given up on conversation for the time being. So, when her voice met my ears again, it startled me out of the dazed state of relaxation I’d been in.

“You shouldn’t give Trent such a hard time. He’s just trying to help, especially by saying you should go to Chief Conway.”

“I can’t go to Conway,” I sighed, feeling my muscles tighten again in response.

“Maybe you’re the one who has to have a little more faith in the justice system.”

I knew she meant it half-heartedly, but I answered her seriously. “I don’t give a damn about the system. It’s just justice I want now. And you.”

She mulled that over in silence. “But if Chief Conway gets wind of this, Alex, your career is gone.”

“I can handle losing my career, Hailey, but I won’t lose you.” My arm instinctively tightened around her, clutching her to me as though the warmth of her body against mine solidified my conviction. “I told you before, I can protect you, and I will.” I kissed the top of her head. “I will.”

I just hope it’s enough.