Laughter burst out of his throat, and he wrapped his arms around her, rol ing until she sprawled on top of him. The swift movement had her squealing and clutching at him, but the giggle that burst from her when she braced herself over him and flipped her hair out of her face so he could see the sparkle in her eyes made a tenderness he’d rarely experienced in his life squeeze his chest.
“Chloe, I—”
He’d never know what he might have said, because she swooped down and caught his mouth with her lush lips. It was slow and soft, her unique flavor on his tongue, her scent in his nose, her silken skin rubbing over his body. They were both breathing hard when she lifted her head, and she shot him a wicked grin.
“Gods, I love the taste of you.”
“Ah, sweetheart. You’re good for me.” He sat up and cradled her close, kissing her forehead.
Some of the light dimmed in her eyes, and her smile slipped a bit. She glanced away. “Yeah, I’m so good for you I’m going to get you shot one of these days.”
“Hey, now.” Frowning, he crooked a finger under her chin and forced her to look at him. “Where did that come from? What happened to you being the hopeful one?”
Shaking her head, she pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. I’m just . . . worried.” A faint smile creased her cheeks. “I’m always worried. About you and Alex . . . and me, of course.”
He sighed, brushing her hair out of her eyes and away from her face. He wished he could spare her this, but he knew he couldn’t, so he gave her honesty instead. “I’m not going to tel you not to worry, Chloe. I’l do my best to make sure that’s al you have to deal with, but you already know my best may not be good enough.”
The words burned as they came out, and he wished like hel he didn’t have to say them, but he wouldn’t lie to her, not ever. Not even to spare himself. Especial y not then. He dropped his forehead to hers and pushed away the self-loathing he felt for having failed to protect them. Like he’d failed others before them.
He’d done everything he could.
“No, I—” She shook her head, kissed him. “I trust you to help us. You have to know that. I trust you the way I could never trust anyone else, and it scares me even to tel you that, but it’s true.” Her fingers flexed against his shoulders, and she shrugged helplessly. “I just... I don’t know what you get out of this. You could die—”
A laugh huffed out. “Honey, that’s just the job. That’s what I do.”
“Yeah, I know you deal with it every day, but why leave your job for this? ” She waved her hand around to encompass the room, the apartment, their whole situation. “Are Alex and I just the job? Is it because you couldn’t see my future? I mean . . . I’ve wondered this from the beginning, but was too scared to ask in case you regained your sanity. After what happened in Oregon, I can’t not ask. It’s not just a vague maybe. It’s a very real possibility. You could end up dead because of us. Why would you do that?”
He stroked his fingers up and down her spine, working his answer over in his mind. Some of it was obvious; some of it he didn’t know the answers to himself. He hadn’t when he started; he stil didn’t. He doubted that would satisfy his curious little scientist. Smiling, he kissed the tip of her nose. “Some of it is the job, I’l admit. I don’t like to see innocent people get caught in the crossfire, and I do what I can to stop it.
Also, I’d love to do anything I could to help nail Smith’s ass to the wal . If chasing you trips him up and makes him do something stupid or draws him out in the open for Caval i to catch, then that’s fine by me.”
“I never pictured myself as terrorist bait.” She winced and shifted to try to get off his lap. “I’m glad you can —”
“I’m not done yet.” He held her in place, tightening his arms around her. “It’s not just the job. It’s not just because I can’t see your future. That’s more likely to make me turn around and walk away.” That wasn’t strictly true, because before he’d met her, the number of people he couldn’t see the future for could be counted on one hand, with fingers left over. He just couldn’t imagine approaching such a person without al the caution reserved for live explosives. “I care about you and Alex. Not just because of the job, but because of you. Both of you. And admitting that scares the hel out of me. The inability to see with you means you’l be important to me, but it doesn’t let me know how or why. Or for how long.” He shrugged. “I made my own choices, and I’m here wil ingly. I would die for you.”
“I know. I saw you risk your life to go get Alex.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t want you to die for me. Us.”
Her dark lashes swept up, and her gaze met his. She cupped his face between her palms. “I care about you, too. You can say it was your choice, but I would feel responsible forever if anything happened to you.”
Catching her hand in his, he turned his head and kissed the center of her palm. “I know exactly what you mean, sweetheart.”
She sighed. “I’m getting that memo. It just . . . sucks, you know?”
“No arguments here.” He dropped a quick kiss on her ful lips, then went back for another, slower, longer kiss. His cock stirred, and he groaned before he forced himself to pul away. He hated to worry her more, but he had to let her in on his agenda for the day. “I’m going to need to leave Alex and you alone for a few hours while I take care of something.”
A frown drew her eyebrows together and her kiss-swol en mouth downward. She crossed her arms over her bare breasts. “Oh? What do you need to take care of?”
He couldn’t resist it—he brushed his lips over the cleavage she presented. “I need to see someone about resupplying my ammunition cache. I can only carry so much with me at one time, and I blew through some in Oregon.”
She shivered at the reminder, but didn’t shy away from the discussion. “There has to be a sporting goods place that has what you need around here. Arizona’s a red state, right? They have to have guns here.”
His lips twitched. “It’s not that simple, Doc.”
“How come?”
“Think about it. Would a regular, Normal bul et work on, say, a werewolf?”
“No.” She blinked. “Oh.” Blinked again. “Wel , shit.”
He did grin, then. “There are limited places to buy the kind of ammo I need, and we need this to be off the record. We’re trying to fly under the radar, remember?”
“Yeah. I recal ,” she retorted drily. He watched her brows draw together as she thought about it for a second. “You can’t possibly have a separate kind of bul et for each Magickal species. You’d never know what kind of person you’d be shooting at next. What if you were ready for werewolves with silver bul ets and got attacked by elves? Silver wouldn’t be nearly as effective.”
“Head of the class, Dr. Standish.” His cock reacted as she idly stroked his skin while thinking. Since he didn’t have time to indulge himself again before he had to get going, he forced himself to lift her off his lap.
“So . . . what do you use?” She settled against the headboard, tucking the sheet around her. “There’s no known chemical, herb, metal, or al oy that effects every Magickal species.”
Grabbing his duffle off the floor, he tossed it on the bed and pul ed out clothes, his extra revolver, and his last clip of bul ets for his regular weapon. He’d had to drop his other spare in Oregon, but two guns meant he could leave one with Chloe and stil remain armed himself. It was enough. “We use bul ets that are explosive, armor-piercing rounds that have fragments of every metal, al oy, chemical, etcetera, known to ward off Magickal species.”