Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“I don’t need you to be anti-guns. I need you to be pro–smart gun laws, and I know you are that.”
“Definitely that. I don’t esteem my right to bear arms over another person’s right to live and not get shot by some idiot with weapons that belong on a battlefield, not in the hands of a civilian.”
“See? We agree, and my liberal heart is safe.”
“Your liberal heart is mine,” he says, tightening his hand around mine. “Does it bother you that I’m possessive and intrusive and protective?”
“Let’s just say I like your growl best in bed.”
He drops his head back into the supple leather of the seat and chuckles. In the silence that follows, I wonder if I should ask him something that’s bothered me since Costa Rica. “Doc, the man you shot…”
“Jackson Keene,” he inserts, his voice hardening, his jaw tightening.
“You know his real name?”
“I planned to discuss what Grim has found today while we had some time together, but yeah. And ‘Abe’ is his brother, Gregory Keene.”
An icy finger traces my spine when I hear the name of the man who almost killed me more than once. “But he’s dead, too, right?” I demand, my voice going a little higher. “They’re both dead.”
“Grim thinks so, yeah.”
“You don’t believe it?”
“I want to see it. I want to see Gregory’s body in a morgue the way I’ve seen his brother’s.”
“Had you ever shot anyone, killed anyone before?”
“Never. Not until then.”
“And have you been… Well, are you okay? How have you been processing it? I should have asked when we first got back, but my head was all over the place. In some ways, I feel like it’s just starting to clear.”
“I’m not sad or conflicted about shooting Jackson Keene. Gregory held a gun to your head. He almost dropped you off a cliff. If, by chance, he did survive four bullets and didn’t drown in that river, God help him if we ever meet again because I will kill him, too.”
A balloon of fear swells around my heart, popping, leaking into my belly.
“Pull over,” I say, sudden anxiety making the words breathy.
“What?” He lobs a confused look over at me.
“Pull the fuck over, Maxim.”
With a frown, he eases the car onto the shoulder of the road. His legs are so long, his seat is already back to its limit. I undo my seat belt and maneuver over to the driver’s seat, straddling him. I settle my knees on either side of his thighs, slotting myself between his big body and the steering wheel. Taking his face between my hands, I trace the rise of his cheekbones with my thumbs, catch his stare, and don’t let go.
“I don’t want you to see him. I don’t want him anywhere near you.” My breath gets choppy at the thought of Maxim facing that maniac again. “I just want him to leave us alone. I just want you…” I bury my face in his neck, wrap my arms around him. “Leave him alone, Maxim. If he’s alive and not bothering us, just leave him alone.”
He pulls back and frames my face between big, gentle hands. “If he’s alive, and that’s an unlikely if, there’s always the chance that he will bother us,” Maxim says, his voice like granite. “And I’ll be damned if anyone will bother you again. I’ll kill him myself if he’s still breathing.”
“Please stop talking like this. I don’t want you killing anyone for me. Most of all, I don’t want you dead.”
“I would kill a thousand times for you.” His voice throbs with truth. “I’d die a thousand times for you if I could. You asked me what I love about my father. I love that. He protects those he cares about at any cost, and I’m sorry to break it to you, Nix, but I am just like him in that respect.”
A transfer truck passes so close on the highway, our car trembles. We’re so vulnerable on this remote stretch of road. Panic wraps tight fingers around my throat. I’ve rejected the idea of security, but Maxim’s words about killing and revenge take me back to that jungle, to that river; back to the bullets slicing through the air, through flesh. I was literally in mortal danger, but Gregory Keene could have killed Maxim that day. I push away and glare at him.
“Where’s your security? Why are we out here in the middle of nowhere alone?”
“Babe, we landed in San Francisco. I hardly think this is the middle of nowhere, and we’re fine.”
“We’re fine? What the hell does we’re fine mean? Those guys should be trailing this car right now. Does Grim know where you are at all times? I mean, what if your tracker fails? Do you sleep in that watch?” I try to remember if he wore it in the shower. “Is the watch waterproof?”