Hunter knocked on Hart’s door, and a second later, he pulled it open. “How did Gabby’s side mission go?” asked Hart.

Hunter shrugged as he walked inside. “Didn’t find anything useful, but that’s not really a bad thing.”

“It could be. We’re running out of leads here.”

“Toni couldn’t get anything off the hard drive?”

“She found the original threatening email the judge got. Has a possible location from the original server where the email address was created, but she’s making sure her info is correct first.”

Hunter had a feeling he wasn’t hearing everything. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“You’ll know as soon as we’re sure. There’s no direct action you can take right now anyway, so take a breather. Take some time off and spend some quality time with Gabby.”

“Gabby and I don’t need quality time.”

Hart looked at him skeptically, proving that he really had been spending too much time with his girlfriend. “Tell yourself whatever you want. But I’ll need to know your status soon.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“We’re shorthanded. If you’re going to leave the operation soon, I’ll need to look into finding a replacement. I’m sure you know you won’t be the easiest to replace, but I can’t expect you to do this kind of work forever.”

Hunter’s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of what Hart was saying. “What would I be doing if I weren’t working for you?”

“Listen. Gabby is a nice girl. She doesn’t deserve to be worrying about you running around. She could barely handle this morning, and we both know that was a piece of cake. If things are getting serious between the two of you, I need you to consider your future at Hart Securities.”

“I haven’t seen this woman in years before a few days ago.”

“And in that time, I’ve seen you make more questionable decisions than you’ve made in your entire career.”

“You haven’t known me my entire career.”

“I’ve known you long enough. I also know what it’s like to fall in love with a woman who turns your life upside down.”

“I’m not—”

“You don’t have to convince me of anything. I’m just asking you to think critically. I want you to be happy, Hunter. If that includes not working for me anymore, that’s fine. I just need to be one of the first to know. Understand?”

“I’m going to bed,” said Hunter, not giving him an answer. “Call me when you can actually tell me something.”

“Will do,” said Scott casually, as though he hadn’t just asked Hunter whether he was going to quit.

What the fuck would Hunter do without Hart Securities? He had no backup plan. No fail-safe to turn back to. But if he stayed with them, what would happen to Gabby?

He already knew the answer to that. She’d be fine. She’d find someone else to take care of her and she wouldn’t need him. Fuck, all of this was bullshit.

He went upstairs to the loft bedroom he’d left Gabby in. Opening the door softly, he saw the little lump of covers where she was lying. He walked softly across the room to keep from waking her, but it appeared to be in vain as she rolled over and looked up at him with sleepy eyes.

“How did it go?” she asked with a groggy voice.

“Fine,” he lied. “Scott thinks Toni found something, but they’re checking on a few things.”

She pushed up on her elbows. “Really? What did she find?”

“He wouldn’t tell me.”

She frowned and he couldn’t blame her. “Why not?”

“Because he likes to be an enigma. I don’t know.”

She fell back against the bed. “I don’t need any more enigmas in my life.”

“You’re telling me,” he muttered. He kicked off his shoes and sat on the bed. He was a hundred percent sure he wanted Gabby here, where she could be at his side and he could keep her safe. But after talking with Hart, he was uncertain of everything else. All he wanted to do was crawl under those sheets and between her thighs until they were both too exhausted to do much of anything else. But that seemed like an answer to Hart’s question. He needed to be able to go on without her. Why did it seem so impossible? He’d lived his entire life without Gabby holding his hand. But as he looked back on his past without her, everything seemed black and white. She was the one who brought color into his life.

But how could he allow her to brighten his existence while he dampened hers?

Hunter pivoted to lie on the bed over the covers and with his jeans still on. As much protection as he could get from the pull of her body. She didn’t turn around, but nudged closer to him, fitting her back to his front even through the layers of protection he’d left between them. He was unable to resist wrapping an arm around her waist and tucking her in as close as possible, simultaneously grateful and cursing the fact he couldn’t feel her warmth through the sheets.

“Something’s wrong,” she said softly as they laid together.

She wasn’t wrong. “Go to bed. I’ve got you.”

“But you’re not going to stay, are you?”

“You don’t want to talk about this now,” he warned.

“Please don’t tell me what I want,” she bit back.

Hunter let his head fall back and clenched his jaw. There were so many things he wanted to say, but nothing that would make her feel better. He knew the uncomfortable situation he put her in, but how could he imagine not staying with her every second of every day?

They each went silent because there was apparently nothing good to say to each other. Hunter knew sleep would be good for him, but he didn’t want to zone out. He wanted to savor each and every second with her. He wanted to smell her scent and feel her warmth. Feel her breaths slow as she finally succumbed to sleep and relaxed in his arms, trusting him to watch over her.

He leaned forward to run the edge of his nose along the side of her neck and savored the little moan that escaped her mouth. The fact that even in her sleep she craved his touch gave him a wicked joy. Once again, he should be happy if she didn’t want him, but some part of him needed her to crave him even when he was gone.

He took a deep inhale, trying to memorize every note to her scent, but something was wrong. He sat up in bed and looked around the room, looking for any sign of danger. He couldn’t see anything, but the smell was unmistakable.

“What’s wrong?” asked a groggy Gabby, who must’ve woken up with his abrupt movement.

“You need to get up. There’s a fire.” As he spoke, he jumped out of bed and ran for the door, touching the handle to feel the heat on the other side. Fuck.

He crossed the room in a few long strides and pushed the window up. “Gabby, we need to get out of here.”

Gabby was getting out of bed way too slowly for the adrenaline already coursing through him. Hunter pushed the window open and looked down. He could probably make the jump, but like hell he was going to let Gabby take the chance without a better idea.

“Okay.” She approached the window. “What do we do?”

He formulated a plan as quick as he could. “Stick your head out the window. Breathe as much fresh air as you can,” he warned as he ripped the sheets off the bed before walking back to the open window. But he didn’t stick his head out as he got to work tying the fitted sheet and flat one together as though Gabby’s life depended on the knot.

Without a word, he then reached for Gabby and tied the flat end around her waist.

“What are you doing?”

He lifted her up and started to wiggle her body out the window. “I’m going to lower you as much as possible. Don’t use your hands to break your fall. Don’t lock your knees or elbows. Try not to fall on your head. Try to land on your back, butt, or thighs. I love you.” Without waiting for her to respond, he gripped the sheet tightly and started to lower her.

“Hunter, wait!” she called as she started the descent.

He knew the sheet would get her closer to the ground, but there would still be a fall. Already, the smell of smoke was increasing rapidly. Even with the fresh air coming through the window, he could feel his lungs burning. Even worse, the open air was providing even more oxygen to fuel the flames, wherever they were.

He reached the end of the sheet and knew there was no more time. He didn’t know where the fire was, so he could be dangling her in front of a window that was about to shatter under the heat. “Get ready!” he warned, looking down at Gabby to see her pull herself into a ball shape.

He was pretty sure his heart stopped beating as he had to watch her fall to the ground. The smoke around them was billowing out farther and farther, and he had to squint to see Gabby slowly stand in the haze.

He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding before he turned back to the fiery house.

––––––––

––––––––

“Son of a bitch,” muttered Gabby as she saw Hunter disappear from the window. “Son of a—”

“What the fuck was that?” asked an out-of-breath Kate from behind her.

Gabby whipped around to see her friend and wrapped her arms around her neck. “I’m so happy you’re safe!”

Kate wrapped her robe tighter around herself but was too distracted by the flames that were now visible in the first story.

“How did you get out?” asked Gabby as she released Kate and hoped like hell that she was about to see everyone else run out.

“Well, I panicked, threw this robe over my head and ran out, trying not to breathe. I’m lucky I didn’t run straight into a beam. Seriously, though, what the hell is this? I don’t really believe in karma, but I must’ve done something terrible in a past life, right? This is way too many coincidences.”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence....” Finally there was movement and more figures emerged. Gabby couldn’t see who it was in the dark, but just then one of the windows exploded and she flinched in surprise while instinctively covering her face. It was only a second later that she realized she was way too far from the house to be in danger.

But that didn’t make her relax. It was only when she could finally make out Hunter’s familiar face that she let out a breath of relief. All of her fear and terror was let out in one second as her breaths started to come faster and faster. The adrenaline coursing through her had her shaking uncontrollably. Through the panic, she saw that Scott, Toni, and Mrs. Baker, the owner of the bed-and-breakfast, were walking with him, each holding bundles of things in their hands.

They couldn’t be serious. They’d grabbed things before they made a run for it?

As the group approached, the sirens of nearing fire trucks were heard. Gabby thought they were far away, but as the fire roared louder, she realized they were just turning down the street. The sound of the fire was enough to drown out the sirens.

When Hunter approached, she wasn’t filled with a sense of love and relief. Instead, all of her panic and adrenaline transferred to anger. As soon as he was close enough, she shoved her hands out, knocking him square in the chest. “What was that?” she demanded.

He fell back a few inches, but she knew he was just humoring her. There was no way she could move Hunter against his will.... The thought only made her angrier. “Where did you go?” she demanded. “You dropped me down here and I followed every one of your stupid instructions and I looked up and you were gone! How dare you leave me!”

“Gabby, he was just checking on us,” said Toni.

“Checking on you?” Gabby could feel herself becoming unreasonable but was unable to stop herself as the fury took over. “Why does he need to check on you? Aren’t you some badass super-agent? You have Scott to look after you. It wasn’t like he was saving Kate!”

“But he did wake up Mrs. Baker,” pointed out Scott.

Gabby rolled her eyes, annoyed that she’d overlooked poor Mrs. Baker and that Hunter officially had good reason to leave her. She didn’t want to see him as some sort of hero. She wanted him to be hers. She didn’t want to share him with Toni and Scott and Mrs. Baker. Because he could’ve died. He could’ve....

She shook her head and walked away. She didn’t know whether she should be yelling like a crazy woman or breaking down in tears or hugging Hunter until she was pulled off him. The warring emotions swirled around in her mind and she couldn’t focus on anything. The tears were just hitting her eyes, and all of a sudden she was wrapped up in Hunter’s strong arms and everything spilled over, and he held her all through the sobs and shaking that overtook her. The smoke was filling the air, and she could hear the fire trucks as they parked and worked to fight the fire, but everything seemed to float away as she allowed Hunter to hold her. And he did, not complaining once. The only thing that separated them was when police, who Gabby hadn’t even noticed had arrived, came over to question them about the fire.

The next hour was a blur. She told about five different people what she knew, which was pathetically little, and watched as everyone else gave their stories. Finally Hunter came over to her and gave her a quick kiss to the forehead. “I’m going to be here for a bit. We’re waiting to get confirmation on the point of origin and hopefully figure out how the fire started.”

Gabby looked over to the smoke still billowing from the once beautiful house. The flames were no longer visible, showing that the firefighters had made progress, but they were obviously not out of danger yet.

“Toni has been coughing a lot. She refused an ambulance, but Hart is about to have a heart attack, so he’s driving her to the hospital. I don’t want you to stay here. It’s safe to assume that this fire is related to everything else going on. Which means whoever set it could still be here.”

Gabby stiffened and glanced around her, the dark woods suddenly taking on a more ominous tone. She assumed the fire was connected to the man who’d tried to kill her, but it had never occurred to her that he would still be around. “What do you want me to do?”

“Don’t go to your apartment. You and Kate go to her place. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Try to get some sleep and don’t open the door to anyone.”

Even though it was good advice, Gabby was getting more paranoid by the second. How did this even happen? “Where is Gage? Can he come with?”

Hunter’s jaw tightened and she prepared herself for more bad news. “Gage isn’t here. Neither is Melissa.”

“Do you think—”

Hunter shook his head. “I’m taking one step at a time. Go with Kate. I don’t feel safe with you here. Too many strangers and we already know the police can’t be trusted. I trust you. I trust Kate. I’ll see you soon.”

She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t find any words to say. Instead, she pushed up on her toes and kissed him. His hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her closer. It was fierce and passionate and contained every bit of her love and fear and adrenaline. Pulling away from him was like pulling away from some integral part of herself.

She was breathing heavily and looked into his eyes, trying to silently say the hundreds of conflicting thoughts bouncing through her mind. And then she finally said the one thing she should’ve kept to herself. “I love you,” she whispered.

Instead of seeing shock or confusion in his eyes like she expected, he whispered back, “I love you.” And then he was turning and walking back to the crowd of rescue workers gathered behind the fire truck.

Trying to deal with one more unbelievable event, Gabby walked over to Kate and recommended they go home. Kate didn’t have her car because she was driven here right from the jail, but Gabby took her to Hunter’s car, which had the keys inside. She’d thought it was stupid for him to keep his car unguarded, but she supposed in his line of work a quick getaway was more important than making sure your car wasn’t stolen. Considering Hunter was probably more than capable of stealing a car, transportation probably wasn’t a huge problem.

Gabby was going to drive, but her hands were still trembling, so Kate wisely took the key and drove the short distance to her own home. Kate’s house was a small ranch. There was a cute little stone porch, and the front of the house was filled with well-manicured bushes and a picturesque garden that Kate had absolutely nothing to do with. She prided herself on the cute appearance of her home but had a reputation for killing every plant she touched. Luckily her landscape service could take care of all of that for her. The back of the house had a newer chain-link fence set up for the dog that Kate always talked about getting, but never did.

“So.... You and Hunter seem to be getting along well.”

Gabby let out a laugh and shook her head as she got out. “We almost died tonight, but you’re still interested in my love life?”

“Yeah, well, it seems better than everything else we have to talk about. There deserves to be at least one happy ending in here, right?”

Happy ending. That was a joke. “Hunter’s leaving as soon as this mess is taken care of. I don’t see any possible ending being happy there.”

“Well, he doesn’t have to leave. Obviously he likes you.”

“He loves me,” said Gabby softly, as though not even believing her own words.

“He what?”

“I mean, he said he did.”

“What brought out this profession?”

“Well, I said it first. I mean, he said it first, but I was being thrown out of the window. But I said it second and he said it again and—”

“Okay,” said Kate. “You really need to work on your communication skills here. Start from the beginning.” She opened the door to her home, using a spare key she kept under her mat.

Gabby tried to think of a logical way to explain all that happened between her and Hunter, but somehow logic didn’t apply when it came to him. “I don’t know. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and a lot of old things have come up between us. When he’s around, I can’t think about the future. All I see is him and I get carried away, I guess.”

“Sounds like you got him carried away too. Why on earth can’t there be a happy ending between you two?”

Gabby shook her head. “Well, look at me. I’m a small-town florist who’s barely ever traveled out of Michigan, let alone the country. I felt adrenaline more times in the past week than I have in my entire life, and it’s exhausting. It’s terrifying. Hunter lives for this. It’s what he does for a living. What kind of future is there for us? If he moves here, the biggest adrenaline rush he’ll experience will be when he has to chase the geese off our yard before they poop too much. What am I supposed to do? Go with him? I can’t be a florist who travels around all the time. What kind of florist-related job can I get that allows me to work at home? So I’ll be sitting there, jobless, and getting taken care of by my man while he goes out and risks his life for all these random people I don’t even know. He risked his life to save you tonight, and I was upset about it. What kind of person does it make me if I’d rather you die, so I can still have my man? I mean, I don’t want you to die but—”

Kate rolled her eyes. “I understand. Love makes people crazy. And a little homicidal.”

Kate laughed at her own joke, but Gabby couldn’t help but defend herself. “I’m not homicidal. I’m just saying—”

“I understand. I do. I’ve been stupid in love before. I mean, not the way you are, but one day I hope to love somebody so much that I wouldn’t mind if you die.”

“I would mind!”

Kate waved her hand, obviously done with that subject. “Gabby, I’m happy for you. I’m unbelievably happy for you. I don’t want you to be defeatist about this. If you love this guy, and he loves you, don’t let that go because you’re too afraid to try for something more.”

“I’m not afraid—”

“You are afraid. You’re afraid that you’ll try and fail. You’re trying to stop it before you’ve even begun just so you don’t get hurt. And honestly, that sounds idiotic to me. You both love each other. If you try and fail, you fail. But it will be because the relationship wasn’t working, and not because one of you was too afraid to take the steps.”

Gabby ran her fingers through her hair and tried to focus her thoughts. “I’m really tired. Do we have to talk about this?”

Kate tilted her head and glared at Gabby. “The only reason you don’t want to talk about this is because you know I’m right.”

“I know you’re right far more often than I want you to be,” murmured Gabby.

Kate smiled. “You know it.” She locked the front door and went around closing all of the curtains, as though she knew Gabby was paranoid. “Why don’t you go to the bathroom and get freshened up?” said Kate. “I’m gonna grab you some clothes and make up the couch. Sorry it’s not a foldout or anything, but....”

“Are you kidding? I appreciate you even having me here. I’d sleep on the floor if I had to.”

“Floor? Please. You know I’d share my bed with you. I might not let you get frisky with me, but who can complain about a little extra warmth, right?”

Gabby smiled at her friend, thinking how lucky she was to have Kate in her life.

When Gabby walked to the bathroom and turned on the light, she had to hold back a gasp at her appearance. There were streaks of dirt across one side of her face, and her hair was a ball of knots. Probably from how much she was messing with it due to nerves. She quickly wiped off the dirt and used her fingers to work on her hair, but it was no use. She spotted a brush on the bathroom counter and used that instead, hoping Kate wouldn’t mind. When all this was done, she had to buy Kate a really nice dinner. Maybe ten really nice dinners. And lots of wine to go with those dinners. She hoped that she never failed to pay Kate back. Not just because she had to take the blame, but because she hadn’t seemed upset with Gabby at all, even though it was all her fault.

As soon as she looked okay, she walked out of the bathroom and found Kate tucking a sheet into the couch cushions and laying a big fluffy blanket over the top. “I hope this is good enough. I should have more blankets—”

“Do I have to bring up the floor again?” asked Gabby.

“No, no, no. I know you’re easy to please. I guess I just try too hard.”

“Isn’t trying too hard one of the BS excuses you give when you’re being interviewed and they ask you what your biggest weakness is? In my eyes, it’s a good attribute.”

“I believe when they asked me what my biggest weakness was when I interviewed at the office, I replied that I’m too nice.”

“You didn’t.”

“Oh yes, I did. They deserve to know how nice I am, Gabby. It’s only fair.”

“That reminds me, I was at your office the other day. I was asking around, to see if anybody knew anything about what happened to you and me.”

“You think someone at my office would have something to do with this?”

“I think it’s related to Hunter being here. You told me that you mentioned it to a few people.”

Kate sighed. “I can’t believe I did that. It seemed so innocent at the time.”

“It was innocent. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have told people. At least nothing that we would’ve known about. You know I’m not upset with you, right?”

“Well, that makes one of us. I don’t know why you’d question the whole office though. I only told one of the receptionists and Hot Realtor.”

“I didn’t see anyone that attractive when I was there,” admitted Gabby.

“Oh, you’d know Hot Realtor if you saw him. He’s kind of got the silver fox thing going on—amazing cheekbones, eyes that look like they know everything. I can’t even handle it when I see him.”

“Well, one day you’ll have to point him out when he’s around. I would love to know what I’m missing out on.”

Kate reached down and pulled her cell phone out of her bathrobe. “Oh, I can show you a picture.”

“You grabbed your cell phone before you ran from the fire?”

“Trust me, being in jail without your phone makes you appreciate having that phone.”

“You were in jail for three days.”

“That’s a long time to go without checking Facebook. Hold on... I look terrible in this picture, so I didn’t really want to show you, but I figure we’ve been through enough now.”

“Just a little,” muttered Gabby.

“Here it is!” Kate frantically waved Gabby over. “It’s like, the worst lighting ever and he still looks amazeballs. I can’t even handle this.”

Gabby pushed in close to Kate so she could see. Her entire world fell away as she recognized the silver fox photo. “Oh my God.”