He nodded, and she let her finger fall away.
“I should feel weak right now. Giving up control the way I did should make me feel smaller somehow. But I don’t. In fact, I’ve never felt more empowered than I do right now. More in control of my own destiny. Maybe I didn’t really know before exactly what I wanted, but I do now. I want you. And I realized why another man has never been able to satisfy me. It’s because I didn’t make the emotional connection with them that I did with you. I didn’t trust them. And trust is everything. Without it I couldn’t really let go of that control, and as long as I was holding fast to it, I was destined to remain disappointed.”
He gathered her hands in his again and lifted them both to his mouth. He kissed first one and then the other. “You are such an incredible, honest woman,” he said in a shaky voice. “Weak? I don’t think you could ever be weak. What could possibly be more powerful than admitting your needs and not being ashamed or afraid to embrace them? People spend their entire lives hiding from their true selves, living out farces and fantasies, never embracing reality. By offering your surrender, by meeting your needs and desires head-on, you’ve freed yourself from the worst sort of bondage. And nothing is more powerful than that. Or more courageous.”
He reached out and touched her cheek with the back of his finger. “I love you, Faith. Lord knows I’ve tried not to. I wanted to believe that you were playing games. That you couldn’t possibly give me what I wanted. But you’re what I want. What I’ll always want.”
She stared at him, too overwhelmed to do anything more than gape numbly in shock. She closed her eyes and willed the tears not to come. But one slipped down her cheek.
He tenderly thumbed it away. “Open your eyes, Faith, and look at me.”
She blinked, his face a shimmery glare as she looked at him through a tear-thickened sheen.
“There’s something else we need to talk about,” he said quietly.
She frowned at the worry she heard in his voice. Before she could ask him why, the front door exploded inward. Gray shoved her to the floor and bolted to his feet.
“Don’t move a muscle, or your buddy here gets it.”
Faith looked frantically around Gray from her position on the floor to see a strange man holding a gun to another man’s head. Fear and desperation radiated from the gunman, and his hostage looked pissed. But strangely unafraid.
Gray held his hands up in a placating manner, but on the inside he was cursing a blue streak. Beside him, Faith scrambled up from the floor. Gray grabbed her wrist and yanked her behind him. His first priority was her safety.
“I’m going to take a guess here and say you’re Samuels?” Gray said in an even voice.
The gunman sneered. “Does it really matter who I am?”
“It does if you killed my partner.”
Faith huddled close to Gray’s back, clutching at him with her hands. He still had a hand on her wrist as he held it behind his back, and he rubbed up and down her skin in a soothing manner. He could feel how frightened she was, and it pissed him off all the more.
How the hell had Samuels found them? And for that matter, how did Mick end up mixed up in this? Mick’s threat about taking Samuels down himself echoed in his mind. Damn fool was going to get them all killed.
“What do you want?” Gray demanded. “How the hell did you get here?”
“I want the girl,” Samuels said.
Gray felt Faith tremble against his back, and he squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“That’s not going to happen,” Gray said in a dangerously low voice.
“Let her go,” Mick said bitterly. “She doesn’t matter.”
“Shut the f**k up, Mick,” Gray growled. “What were you thinking, going after Samuels alone? Are you just trying to get us all killed?”
“Both of you shut up,” Samuels barked. “The bitch’s mother is anxious to see her. I’m sure her old man will be willing to cough up some cash if he wants to see her alive again.”
Faith stiffened, and before he could pull her back, she stepped from behind him and stared at Samuels. “What does my mother have to do with this? What’s going on?”
“Faith, get behind me,” Gray said slowly.
Samuels tightened his grip around Mick’s neck and pointed the gun at Faith. “Move over,” he ordered, gesturing to the left with his gun. “Move, or I’ll shoot you.”
Faith stood stock-still, whether out of fear or the fact that she was in shock. “How do you know my mother?” she demanded. And then understanding flashed in her eyes. “You’re the man my mother was with. Why she was calling and asking for money. You’re the one I heard in the background.” She turned her confused gaze to Gray. “But what does that have to do with your partner?”
“They used you as bait, sweetheart,” Samuels said. “Too bad they’re so incompetent. Now, get moving. I don’t have time for all the drama.”
Gray’s heart clenched at the confused, hurt look in Faith’s eyes. But more than that, things were getting desperate. He couldn’t take Samuels down, not when he was pointing a gun at Faith.
“What do you mean, used me as bait?” she said.
“I sent him to Houston,” Mick said, his face growing red as his anger exploded.
“Mick, shut up,” Gray said.
“Sent him to Houston why?” she asked softly.
“To get close to you.”
“But why? I don’t understand.” Her voice echoed her bewilderment.
In a flash, Samuels shoved Mick, sending him stumbling across the living room. He reached out and yanked Faith to his chest, repositioning the gun at her temple.
“Now, that’s better,” Samuels said, satisfaction lining his voice. “Let me make this simple for you, sweetheart. Just so you know what a bastard your lover is. The old man over there sent lover boy to Houston to cozy up to you because he knew I’d hooked up with your mother. And then lover boy brings you out here to lure me out.”
Samuels looked over at Gray. “Were you planning to take me out yourself? Bet you didn’t tell your buddies in Houston that. Quite the sting operation they were running. The decoy looked remarkably like Faith. I probably would have fallen for it if the old man hadn’t let it slip where you were holding her. But then I guess that was all part of the plan. Only I decided to change things up a bit. I’m not entirely stupid.”