"I'll be fine. Swear." Pause. Then, a gasp. "Oh, baby. Your pretty face." Those strong fingers gently caressed her cheek, her jaw, her swollen lips.

"I'm fine."

He sliced her bonds. "I want to kill the fucker all over again."

Hands free now, she rubbed at her wrists. Sean's shadow form gently clasped her arm and helped her stand. She swayed, and he dragged her into the shadows with him, into his embrace, holding her tight.

"I knew you'd come," she said.

"You trusted me?"

"Yes."

His arms tightened even more. She couldn't breathe, but that hardly seemed to matter. She was exactly where she wanted to be, doing exactly what she wanted to do.

"Bentley and team are on their way," Rowan said from the doorway.

"Come on," Sean said against Gabby's temple. He ushered her from the room and building, not removing the shadows until they'd stepped outside.

The sun was setting, but still she had to blink against its brightness. When she focused, Sean's beautiful, tattooed face came into view and white-hot tears filled her eyes, even as her heart swelled with love for him.

"Sean," she said, but he shook his head.

"We have some things to discuss, you and I," he said, wiping those tears gently from her face. "But not here and not now."

As he'd spoken, cars had sped from the surrounding forest and toward the building. Rose Briar had arrived, she supposed. No wonder Sean wanted to wait. What these agents would want to do with her she could only guess. And none of her guesses ended well for her.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

The next fifteen minutes of Gabby's life were surreal. One minute she was alone with Sean, breathing him in, happy to be alive and hopeful for the future; the next they were surrounded by agents of every age, size, and ethnicity. Some rushed inside the building. To clean up, she supposed. Some searched under every rock, every wood plank, tearing the building up piece by piece. For Thomas's secrets, she was sure. His home would probably receive the same treatment. Someone even approached her and gave her a bag of ice.

Gabby stood in place, one hand holding that bag and pressing it into her cheek and the other fisting her side. She wanted to be back in Sean's embrace. He was next to her, but that wasn't close enough. Not anymore. No longer would she hold him at a distance. Look how close she'd come to losing him. Like him, she was going to stop pushing. She was going to give everything.

She sighed. She knew what she wanted to tell him during their discussion--I love you--and wondered if he planned to do the same. She trusted him not to hurt her. She did. Not emotionally and not physically. So she knew he wasn't going to drop her now that the mission was over. But still, she couldn't guess what he wanted to say.

Offering someone blind trust was . . . nice. She didn't feel like a fool, like she'd always assumed she would. She felt relieved, empowered, important.

Bentley emerged from one of the cars and strode to them, drawing Gabby's attention. The agent was frowning.

"Good job," she said with a nod. Her gaze remained glued to Sean. "But you should have come in. You should have brought her in, and you should have kept our lines of communication open."

He nodded but didn't back down. "I didn't know who I could trust."

Her expression hardened. "You trusted Rowan."

"Yeah, but I've worked with him before."

"And I just happen to be made of awesome," Rowan said, coming up behind them.

Everyone chuckled, the tension somehow broken.

A charmer, Sean had called Rowan, and Gabby realized he'd been telling the truth, even in that.

"You trusted the girl," Bentley said without rancor this time.

He flicked Gabby a white-hot glance. She gave him a half smile of encouragement, then grimaced. Ouch.

"Poor baby." He reached over and linked their hands. Finally. Connected again. The heat of him nearly undid her, but she remained in place rather than do what she really wanted: launch herself at him. Reluctantly, he turned back to Bentley. "We're together. Of course I trusted her."

Despite the pain, Gabby offered him another smile. Yes, they were indeed together. Now. Always, she hoped. But exactly what did he have in mind? Because she was ready to move in with him, sleep with him every night, wake up with him every morning. Maybe he just wanted to date first. After all, they'd only known each other a few weeks and men liked to take things slow. Well, everything but sex.

Bentley's eyes widened, and finally she faced Gabby. "That true?"

Gabby removed the ice and nodded.

Sean squeezed her hand in approval.

"I need to take you in, ask you some questions," the agent told her firmly. "Alone."

Before she could reply, Sean, like a storm cloud of rage, got in Bentley's face. "Don't even think of hurting her."

Bentley held up her hands, all innocence. "Never even crossed my mind."

"Uh, Bent," Rowan said, making a cutting motion over his throat. "He knows all about Operation, uh, Elimination."

"Fine. It crossed my mind," she admitted sheepishly. "Best friends shouldn't be allowed on the same team."

"What's Operation Elimination?" Gabby asked, though she thought she knew the answer.

Sean kissed her temple. "It doesn't matter anymore. Does it, Bentley?"

Bentley crossed her arms over her middle. "She can be tracked."

"But we'll have Thomas's records soon, which means we'll find out how he was able to track her. Then, we can stop it from happening again. And besides that, she'll be more valuable to us than dangerous."

Yep. She had been the target of OE. She almost pulled from Sean's grip, almost ran for the trees. However, the thought of leaving was more painful than the thought of living without Sean, so she just continued to stand there, sweating, wondering how to handle this.

"Sean," Bentley said, unwilling to give up.

How could the woman sound so calm while talking about someone else's death? That had to be why she'd been chosen to take Bill's place rather than Sean or Rowan. Gabby, of course, would have chosen Sean.

"I work with her or not at all," he said flatly.

"He means it," Rowan said. "I know because I work with him or not at all."

Gabby's mouth fell open. They were standing up for her, protecting her yet again. In fact, Sean was willing to give up his life's work for her and Rowan was willing to give his up for his friend. Now that was love.

As much hurt and rejection as she'd endured as a child, she'd never thought to find this kind of acceptance. That she had, and with such a great man . . . tears once again filled her eyes, stinging.

Sean misunderstood, bless him, and tugged her all the way into his body. She burrowed her head in the hollow of his neck. "We're done with this conversation," he said, his tone flat again. "Gabby and I are leaving. Don't try to stop--"

"I'll go with her," she said, the words muffled from his shirt. She placed a quick kiss just above his heart. "I'll talk to her."

Tenderly he cupped Gabby's cheeks, forced her to look up at him. "You don't have to."

"I want to." For you. For us.

"Liar," he said, but nodded stiffly. "She's taking you to headquarters. I'll follow. I'll be in the building the entire time. You have nothing to fear."

"I don't." Not anymore. And if she knew Sean, and she was beginning to think that she did, he would find a way to be in the room--though no one would know it, the shadows his refuge.

He grinned down at her, and she knew they were thinking the same thing.

Gabby's talk with Bentley lasted over four hours. Four hours of answering questions about Gabby's personal life, her emotions, her intentions, all while hooked to a lie detector. It was embarrassing, strangely exhausting, and in no way enlightening.

What made her maddest was that the woman had tried to get her to betray Sean. What could he do? Who had he talked to while they'd been together? Where had he taken her? Those were the only questions she'd refused to answer.

When Bentley finished with her, she sent Gabby on her way without telling her what she meant to do with her. Hire her, forget her, or kill her.

Sean was waiting in the hallway, hands shoved into his pockets. He'd showered, and his hair was damp, slicked back. He wore a black cashmere sweater and black slacks and God, he looked edible.

He straightened when he spotted her, though he didn't say a word. Just took her hand in his and led her underground to a parking lot. There he helped her inside a bright red Scorpion HX that had her drooling.

"Yours?" she asked after he had maneuvered out of the lot, down a congested road, and then onto the highway. The moon was out, a tiny golden sliver in the sky, the night dark and quiet.

"Yes."

So he clearly had money. At one time, she might have worried about that, thinking he deserved better than streetwise, poor her. Now, she just thought they belonged together. No matter what. And yeah, he would be buying her a Scorpion HX in yellow.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"Home."

Okay, his short and sweet answers were unnerving her. What was wrong with him? "To mine or yours?"

No reply.

She sighed. "Bentley didn't tell me what she has planned for me. And you should know, she wanted to know all about you."

He surprised her by nodding. "That's standard. She was testing your loyalty. And you should know the results in a few days. The waiting is another test, by the way. Rose Briar wants to see what you'll do when you aren't sure what they'll do."

"So if I stick around, they'll hire me?"

"Not always. But you, yes, they'll hire. They wouldn't have gone to all the trouble to get you if they didn't want you."

"Even though I'm apparently dangerous."

"Like I said, we'll take care of that," he said confidently.

At least he was talking to her, really talking to her now.

Sean pulled off the highway, took a few corners as if they were braced on rails despite the still-thick throng of traffic, and finally parked in front of a house in the middle of suburban paradise.

He led her inside. A large home, like the one she'd once shared with her parents, only this one had dark leather furniture and there weren't any photos on the walls or sitting on the mantel of the fireplace.

"Yours?" she found herself asking again.

He turned to her, expression unreadable. "I stay here when I need peace and quiet."

She scrubbed her hands against her thighs, nervous. "Are you ready to talk to me, then?"

He nodded, crossed his arms over his chest. "First, ask me again if this house is mine."

Gabby still didn't know what was going on, what he was leading up to, and her nervousness increased. "Is it?" She licked her lips. "Yours?"

He shook his head.

She blinked in confusion. "Whose is it, then?"

"Ours."

Ours. The word echoed through her mind, and she almost jumped up and down. "You--you want to live with me?"

"Yes."

"Here?"

"Here. Anywhere."

She covered her mouth with her hands to stifle her cry of happiness. Tears were once again pooling in her eyes. Was this really happening?

"What's mine is now yours. I mean, really. It should be. You have my heart, and everything else is just bonus. You told me the shadows don't bother you, and I'm trusting you. I want to marry you, Gabby. I want to live with you. I want to hold on to you and never let you go. I love you. If you don't want any of that, I'll understand. I won't like it, but I'll understand. Only, you should know that I won't give up. I'll romance the hell out of you until you finally cave."

Her legs almost gave out. This was everything she'd ever secretly dreamed. "I love you, too. I love you and I want to marry you, live with you, be with you forever. You have my heart. Why not my life, too? But if you think that means you don't have to romance me, you are in for a rude awakening."

"Thank God." He strode to her, grabbed her up, and carried her upstairs. "I was prepared to get on my knees and beg if necessary."

She grinned. She just couldn't help herself. "Don't let me stop you."

He chuckled, and the beautiful sound washed over her. "Oh, I'll get on my knees soon enough; don't worry."

When they reached the bedroom, he tossed her on the mattress. They were too frantic with their desires to go slowly and ended up ripping each other's clothes in their bid for skin-to-skin contact.