Sierra opens the door to her building and we enter the lower level foyer, which is basically a box leading to a stairwell. The door shuts behind me, sealing us inside, and I refocus any concern I have for what, or who, might have been outside following us, to who, or what, might be inside waiting on us and for good reasons. I don’t like this building or this neighborhood, I’m chasing a serial killer who likes women who look like Sierra, and she’s got a crazy ex who’s basically an unknown to me.
She heads up the stairs, with me closely following, and when we reach the last flight of stairs, I catch her hand. “Let me go first.”
She turns to face me. “Why? Did I miss something? Did you see something?”
“No, sweetheart. Hero complex remember? Just being a macho ass who needs to save the world and you. And I figured you might want to look at my ass again.”
She ignores my joke, as if it wasn’t as amusing as it was. “Are you armed?”
“Yes,” I say. “Does that make you feel better?”
“Since you seem worried about what’s upstairs, yes. I didn’t bring the mace on my outing. I brought you.”
“And I’m better than mace. I’ve got you covered and later you can feel around and figure out where I hide that weapon.” I kiss her temple, and move in front of her, beginning the walk up the next flight of stairs. The steps are long and ridiculously narrow, but it’s not long until I silently declare the foyer between her apartment and one other safe and empty.
I take the bag Sierra is holding and step to the side of her door, giving her room to approach her apartment and unlock the door, but that’s not what happens. Instead, she flattens against it and looks up at me. “You aren’t coming in with me.”
“That’s a cock block if I ever heard one,” I say. “I’m here. We’re here.”
“Thank you for today. Thank you for everything, but you aren’t coming inside with me.”
I set the bags down and step closer to her, pressing my hands to the door above her head. “Sierra.”
“Don’t say my name all low and rough like that. Like I’m your woman. I’m not.”
“And if I want you to be?”
“You just met me.”
“And I’ve never wanted to know a woman like I want to know you,” I say, speaking a truth I don’t even try to understand. It just is what it is.
“I’m married, Asher. What part of that do you not understand?”
“Let’s go inside. I don’t want your neighbor listening in.”
“She barely speaks English and sleeps all day. She dances at some topless bar, which I know because she offered to get me a job. I’m married, Asher. I can’t change that. I wish I could. I so wish that I could, but he will kill me before he divorces me. So, I can’t ever be free.”
“I’m crystal clear on your marital status and while no, I do not fuck, love, play with, or engage with married women, this is not cheating. You’ve been separated nine months while the man hunts you like an animal and it’s time I hunt him.”
“See,” she says, poking my chest. “That’s why we’re over.”
“Because you think I can’t beat him when I can?”
“Because,” she clutches my shirt again, “I’m saving your macho hero-complex-ass from getting killed.”
I cover her hand with mine. “I know you think he’s dangerous.”
“I don’t think. I know. I’m not emotional. I’m not irrational. I’m not damaged. He doesn’t get to do that to me. And you don’t get to downplay my intelligence.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Sierra,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be an arrogant prick. I’m just wading through the swampland here with you.”
“Are you sorry enough to hear me and believe me?”
“I heard you. I believe you, but—”
“No buts,” she bites out angrily and exhales, lowering her voice to calm again. “I’m rational, Asher, and I’m a smart person. I’ve stayed alive nine months that most people would not have survived, considering who he is and the connections he has. This isn’t a man who wants to bring me back home. He wants me dead.”
“Why?” I ask, assuming this is one of those me-or-nobody kind of crazy fuckers.
“I found out things about him and other very powerful people.”
That wasn’t the answer I expected. “What things?” I ask. “What people?”
“Go home, Asher.”
I shackle her hip and walk her to me. “Let me be clear. I could have already run your fingerprints. I could have already looked into who you are, and based on what you’re telling me, I’m going to. I have no choice.”
“He has red flags set up. He found me in Texas and I did everything right. Almost everything right. That’s another story. The bottom line though is that I barely escaped. The minute you dig around, he will come for me. And if he finds out that I’m with you, or your people, he’ll kill us all. He’ll make it look like a robbery or a terrorist attack, but he will kill us. He knows how to do it and survive it.”
Holy fuck, I think. I believe her. “We have people high up in all of the agencies and in the government.”
“Which means you could have people who are corrupted by his people,” she counters.
“No one on our team is corruptible. I believe that one hundred percent.”
“I thought that, too. I thought there were people I could trust. I can’t take that chance again with your people. And neither can you. You need to forget you ever met me.”
“I know you need time to trust me, Sierra. We’ll find a path to get there.”
“I already trust you, Asher. Maybe beyond reason but I do. It’s not about you.”
“Then give me time. Give me two weeks, until the baby shower, to show you my inner circle is trustworthy. Let me show you that we will keep this in that circle and find a way to take this guy down.”
“Whatever you think I mean by that, you aren’t thinking big enough. This runs too deep, too high for even you and Walker Security.”
“If that’s true, which I doubt, there are other options besides this damn apartment and that bar.” I cup her face and stroke her cheek. “Let’s go inside, sweetheart. This is not a conversation we should be having in the hallway.”
Her lashes lower, dark circles on pale, creamy skin, torment in her expression before she turns to the door and flattens her hands on the wood. “Oh no,” she whispers, before turning around. “I lost my key. Please tell me you really did keep a key.”
“I did not.”
“I never do stupid stuff like this. You’re distracting me. You’re making me crazy.”
“As far as I’m concerned,” I say, “it’s fate. Now you have to come home with me.” I settle my hands on her waist. “Let’s go to my place. I want you there. I want you in my bed, Sierra.”
“You know—”
“I heard everything you said.”
“What little I have to my name is in this apartment.”
“I can get you back in, but I don’t have time tonight. I have to meet with my team before we head to the bar.”
“It’ll be like four in the morning when we get back here.”
“I’ll get you in tomorrow, after we sleep. I have to focus on the reasons I’m at the bar with no time distractions.” I cup her face. “I’m of the opinion we should just fuck and get past any barrier your fuckhead ex puts between us. But I have a spare bedroom. I want you with me, but I’m not going to pressure you.”
“He’ll kill me before he’ll let me divorce him. You get that right?”
“The only one that’s going to end up dead is him, Sierra. That’s a promise.”
“That’s the problem,” she says. “He won’t stop coming for me until I’m dead or he is.”
“Then he gets to die.”