Page 53 of Defending Love
I needed to do this.
I owed it to both of them.
Using my fingerprint, I opened the computer. The file wasn’t difficult to find, even though I hadn’t accessed it in ages. Another code was needed to open the folder. My heart clenched in my chest as Amy’s face filled the screen. The photograph was a casual shot, a picture I’d taken only days before her death. Her curly blond hair blew in the breeze, and her lips were upturned in a smile. We’d been hiking at a state park in Oregon. Little did we realize during that moment that soon we’d be called for the same job.
Amy wasn’t my assignment; she was my coworker, a fellow Guardian Securities bodyguard. It was a line that never should have been blurred. Like myself, Amy had prior military experience. Her skills on a shooting range exceeded—hell, anyone else’s. My assignment was a client in witness protection. He’d turned state’s evidence against a powerful man with underworld connections. The client was scheduled to testify in a federal trial on the second day of our assignments.
I was assigned to the man testifying. Amy was assigned his wife.
The transfer to the courthouse was supposed to be routine. The plan was to take two cars to the courthouse. I knew Amy was capable. We both completed our routine pre-inspection of the cars, discussed the best routes.
A normal day.
At the last minute, we decided to switch vehicles as an extra safety measure. My assignment and I made it to the courthouse. Amy and her assignment didn’t.
An incendiary device had been placed into the gas tank in the car I should have been driving. Even my complete inspection of the vehicle failed to find it. On their way to the courthouse, the device was activated.
“I miss you,” I whispered, or spoke in my mind. I wasn’t sure. Reaching out, I touched the screen. “I meant everything I said to you. I saw a future for us. I wanted that. You were stolen away, and I swore I could never love again.” I inhaled. “I think I was wrong. There’s something about Dani.” My cheeks rose. “I think you’d like her. She’s strong like you. You’d kick her ass on a firing range, but she’d kick yours in a research lab. I guess I just wanted to tell you that for the first time since you left me, I want to smile. I want to protect her and keep her safe. I guess I’m talking to you, to defend my right to love. That doesn’t mean I’ll ever forget you. I won’t. I’ve been given another chance, and I promise you and Dani, I won’t make the same mistake. I won’t let my love for her blur the lines in a way that could risk her life.”
For a moment, I stared at Amy’s picture, knowing it would be the last time I saw it. “I hope you can rest peacefully, knowing I’m trying to live, trying for more than work, and also trying to remember what love is. I owe you that.”
I kissed the tips of my fingers and touched the screen. My chest ached as I deleted the folder. As difficult as it was to say the final goodbye, it wasn’t fair to Dani for me to hold on to my past.
Dani and I had talked about grieving. I knew the process well.
As I shut down the laptop, I took off the gold band from my left hand. I hadn’t lied to Dani. I’d never married. That ring worked for the reason I told people. It also reminded me that at one time I’d wanted to marry.
I still did, but if it happened, that commitment deserved a new ring.
I made myself a promise. If Dr. Danielle Sinclair would have me in her life after this assignment was complete, I’d stay.
Because as much as I tried to walk away from her a year ago, the pull to return was too strong. I’d find who killed her father and was terrorizing her family, and after that, I’d devote myself not only to her safety but to her happiness.
One more sweep of the doors and windows, and I stripped to my boxer shorts and slipped under the covers. If I had my way, it would be one of the last nights I slept alone.
Chapter
Twenty-One
Dani
* * *
When I woke up, instead of grief, for the first time in weeks, my thoughts were positive—memories of Eli. In hindsight, the two of us moved pretty fast from why are you back to full steam ahead. And yet, as I stared up at the ceiling, I didn’t regret a minute. The feelings I’d harbored for him over the last year came out with a vengeance. It could be said that our physical attraction was my way of distracting myself from the tragedies of life. However, as I recalled the way in which we came together as one, I wanted to believe there was more.
Does he feel the same?
Last night, sometime after Eli slipped away, I woke. Unable to fall back to sleep, I decided to start looking through Dad’s photo album. The photographs were in no particular order, some dating back to when Dad was in high school and later, college at Purdue University. Others were more recent. It was the older photographs that had me stumped. I could identify family, but there were others taken in the offices and labs at Sinclair that contained people I didn’t recognize.
I tried not to read too much into the fact that Eli left my bed and my room. He had work to do. Those thoughts took me back to my dad’s letter. After taking care of business, I decided I wanted to read Dad’s letter again.
Down the hallway, I found Eli working behind one of the computer screens. Instead of his usual suit, he was ruggedly handsome with his facial beard growth, his hair untethered, wearing basketball shorts and a Colts t-shirt. My heart may have fluttered a bit. “Good morning.”
He looked up, his handsome green stare scanning from my head to my toes. His cheeks rose as his lips curled into a devilish grin. “Good morning.”
I walked closer. “I’ve never seen you look so casual.”
Eli scooted his chair back and reached for my hand. “You, Dr. Sinclair, are witnessing the breaking of many rules.”
