Sydney was sure that the EOD’s own investigators would be joining the arson crew tomorrow.
“In the meantime, Sydney, do you want to stay with me and Juliana?” Logan asked her.
“I—”
“She can stay with me,” Gunner said instantly.
That sounded like a very bad idea to her. Sydney shook her head. “Thanks, both of you, but I’m perfectly capable of getting a hotel room. Or maybe even going back to Baton Rouge—”
“No.” Gunner was adamant. “If you leave the area, you’ll be on your own.”
In the EOD, you were never supposed to be on your own. The other agents were there to always have your back.
The way Gunner had protected her tonight. He’d fought the flames to get her out.
Tell him. She had to tell him about the baby. Gunner had a right to know that he would be a father.
“I’ve got an extra room,” he told her, voice stilted. “You’ll have plenty of privacy.”
Logan just looked between them.
She thought of her baby. She thought of the night someone had tried to shoot her on the beach in Peru. She thought of the flames that she could still feel against her skin.
If someone was after her, and it sure was starting to look that way, she wanted protection.
Gunner was the best agent she knew. “I’ll stay with you,” she said softly.
In the moonlight, she could see the expression of relief flicker across his face.
Just what expression would he show when she told him about the baby?
When they were alone again, she’d find out.
* * *
HE WATCHED THEM from the woods. The firefighters were still running around the scene like ants, spraying everything down with their hoses.
But no one had started to search the area.
They were too busy working on the fire.
His jaw ached, and he realized that he’d been clenching his teeth. Gunner shouldn’t have been there. He’d watched Gunner drive away before. Had followed Gunner out there, then waited until he had left.
It had been easy enough to sneak into Sydney’s house. She’d been in the shower. She hadn’t even heard him.
Not when he’d poured the gasoline all over the ground floor of her home.
Not when he’d lit the matches and started that blaze.
He’d escaped, running to his shelter in the woods to watch the flames, but then he’d seen Gunner running into the house.
Always playing the hero.
Always screwing up his plans.
So Sydney was safe now. Or so she thought. But this wasn’t the end. Not even close.
He watched them. Her and Gunner. Their bodies brushed against each other as Gunner led Sydney around the truck and opened the passenger door for her.
Where would Gunner take her? Back to his place?
Bastard.
But he was going to make Gunner pay. By hurting Sydney, he’d be striking blows against Gunner.
He knew Gunner’s weakness, and he was ready to use that weakness against him.
He slipped deeper into the woods. He would attack again, and the next time Gunner wouldn’t be in time to ride to the rescue.
* * *
“DON’T WORRY,” GUNNER told Sydney as he unlocked the door to his third-floor condo. “The EOD will find out what happened at your place.”
She brushed by him as she headed inside. She was still wearing just her shorts, T-shirt and sneakers. There was ash on her cheek. Her hair was tousled. Her eyes were huge.
She was so beautiful that he ached.
Gunner squared his shoulders, then shut and bolted the door. “You’ll be safe here. I promise.”
“Are any of us ever really safe?” The quiet question caught him off guard. “You know as well as I do that this world is a very dangerous place.” She turned away from him and paced toward the large glass window that overlooked D.C. “Safety is what we make of it.”
He stared at her back, at a loss. He knew he’d do anything possible to keep Sydney safe, but—
“Why did you come back?”
He took a cautious step toward her. “Because there was more to say between us.”
“More?” She wasn’t looking at him. “Yes, you’re right, there is more.” Then she turned to face him. “There’s something that I need to tell you.”
He braced himself. There’s something that I need to tell you...usually didn’t foreshadow anything good.
What was she going to say? He hoped she hadn’t changed her mind and decided to go back to Baton Rouge. He knew Mercer had been pressuring her to remain in the area.
Gunner needed to stay close and keep an eye on Slade, but he couldn’t just let Sydney go off on her own when someone as threatening her.
“I’m pregnant.”
He hadn’t heard her right. Gunner shook his head.
Sydney’s lips tightened. “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. We both know you just heard what I said.” She spun away. “Jerk.”
He rushed toward her and spun her right back around. His hands were wrapped around her shoulders, but he kept that grip as careful as he could. “Say that again.”
“Jerk?”
“Sydney—”
Her breath blew out. “I’m pregnant.” Her gaze held his.
Right then, he finally understood what people meant when they said the world seemed to stop for them.
His eyes dropped to her stomach. Flat, smooth. He shook his head.
“Tina says I’m in the first trimester, and if I go back and count to when we were together in Baton Rouge—”
“I didn’t use any protection.” He’d been so desperate for her.
And...he knew everything about Sydney. Just as she knew everything about him. They had blood work run all the time for the EOD. They’d both been all clear in terms of health, and he’d been desperate, so desperate, that he hadn’t held back long enough to protect her. “I’m sorry, I—”
“I’m a big girl, you know. I could have told you to stop. I wanted you, just the way you were.” She paused, then whispered, “With nothing between us.”
The woman was about to shatter his control, and he’d been trying so very hard to stay in control. For her.
“This is why you fainted,” he said. Sydney’s pregnant with my baby. The joy was there, building in his chest, but he didn’t know how she felt. And—
Slade.
Slade wasn’t going to handle this well.
“This is why I fainted,” she agreed.
He wanted to drop his hands, to caress her stomach. Slade was going to be furious. He’d betrayed his brother, taking a risk that he should have never taken but...