"I can savor things, too."
The smile that came out at her words was like the sun appearing after a long, cold Chicago winter. And that's exactly where Nathan had spent most of his life, both literally and figuratively. She'd spent a lot of years there, too. But not anymore.
He kissed her again, and as he pulled her against him, she could feel his need building.
"No way you're going to last," she teased.
"That's because you're so damned beautiful. We'll go slow the next time."
"That's a lot of confidence for an old man of thirty."
He suddenly swept her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. "I'll show you what old is…"
"Show me," she said eagerly.
She didn't just want to make love with him—she wanted to drive all the bad away. She wanted to be the one to ease the pain of his life and make him happy.
But what then? They might have a past and a present, but did they have a future?
She shoved that thought out of her head. As Nathan had said, reality would be here soon enough.
Fifteen
Waking up Saturday morning with Bree was a dream come true. But as Nathan watched her sleep in the early morning light, he couldn't help but wonder what condition his heart would be in when this all ended.
Which it would…
Bree was only in Chicago for her daughter, and as he thought about poor little Hayley, he felt guilty that he was worrying for one second about his happiness. Finding that little girl was all that mattered, and with the sun coming up, they needed to get back to it.
He just had to hope that Johnny's anger was toward Bree and not Hayley, that Hayley was safely tucked away somewhere.
Not that it made him feel better to know that Bree was a target, but having seen her in action, he knew she was very capable of defending herself. She didn't need him to protect her, and even though he wanted to do just that, it felt good to know that she wasn't looking for him to be her knight in shining armor.
He'd spent a lot of time in that role for his mother and his sister. Not that he wouldn't throw himself in front of a fist or a bullet to save Bree's life, but he also knew she would do the same for him.
Their relationship was the most honest one he'd ever had. She knew him, really knew him, and after he'd shared his one last secret with her, he'd felt as if a huge weight had fallen off his shoulders, that the last brick in the wall between them had come down.
They'd made love for the second and third time with nothing in the shadows: no secrets, no lies, no misunderstandings.
And he wanted to be with her again and again.
He smiled, remembering her overuse of that very same word. Maybe they could get in one more round before they had to get up. But her phone buzzed on the bedside table, chasing that hopeful thought right out of his head.
Bree lifted her head, giving him a sleepy, happy smile, and he wished he could have captured that brief moment before she became aware of all the problems surrounding her.
He tipped his head toward her phone, which continued to buzz.
She jerked upright, pulling the sheet over her breasts as she reached for her phone. "Hello?" she asked, clearing her throat of the last bit of sleep. "Dan?"
She listened for a long moment.
"Oh, my God," she murmured. "But I guess I'm not really surprised."
He could hear a man's voice on the other end of the phone, and he assumed Dan had to be an FBI agent. Judging by the emotions playing across her face, there was news of some sort, and it wasn't good.
"Yes, I know I have a lot to tell you. Everything has been happening really fast. And this terrible news makes total sense now, because the case here is clearly a copycat. I wish I could help you, but I can't leave Chicago until I find Hayley." She listened once more. "I miss you guys, too. Keep me updated on your end, and I'll do the same." She set the phone back on the table.
"Who was that?" he asked, sitting up.
"Dan Fagan, my boss in New York, and one of my closest friends. There was a kidnapping this morning in Brooklyn, a ten-year-old girl taken from a before-school program, a white rose left at the scene."
His body tightened. "That's terrible."
"It is, and it's another confirmation that Hayley's kidnapping was done by a copycat. I wish I could help my team find this girl in Brooklyn, but—"
"You need to find Hayley first."
"Yes. And I have a lot of respect for Dan and my fellow agents in New York; they'll do a great job even if I'm not there. I just really want to catch that guy, too."
He stared at her, a niggling feeling in his head that he couldn't quite shake. "It's so strange that Johnny went to such lengths to lure you back here. It seems like a very roundabout way to do it. Why impersonate this other kidnapper? How would he know for sure that you would come, that the Chicago agents wouldn't just handle the case?"
"Because I was on the national news during the last incident—I would assume. Maybe that's when he saw me, when he got the idea."
"But he'd have to have known about Hayley and then seen you and then concocted this plan."
She frowned. "You've been the one pushing for Johnny to be the kidnapper all along. Now you're having doubts?"
"Not doubts exactly. I still think, in light of Baker's appearance on the scene yesterday, that Johnny is involved. The setup just doesn't quite make sense to me."
"It has always felt off to me; that's why I was slow to jump on the Johnny bandwagon. The threatening phone calls were one thing, even the girl on the train. But why send me to the shelter, why give me that photo of me at the charity fashion show? What did that mean?"
"Well, the photo was ripped, which was threatening, too. He wanted you to know he knew a lot about you, where you came from, where you lived, what you did."
She nodded, but there was still serious doubt in her eyes. "I would have thought Johnny would be more direct."
"Maybe someone else brought the creepy creativity to this plan."
"Someone else…" she murmured, grabbing on to part of his statement with a new light in her eyes.
"What are you thinking?"
"Sierra. You said she's with Johnny now. She definitely hated me at one point."
"She hated a lot of people. I was fairly high on the list of enemies as well."
"That's because you didn't want to sleep with her."
"I definitely did not," he agreed. "But I have to say that Sierra was not a particularly smart girl."
"She could be cunning and sneaky. I need to find her, Nathan. Sierra could be our way in."
"If she's with Johnny, she'd never turn on him."
"That might depend on what we have to offer."
"What do we have to offer?"
"I don't know yet. I have to think about it. But since I can't confront Johnny directly without going against agency orders, I have to try someone else, and she's a good choice."
"She'll go straight to Johnny."
"It's a risk. But at this point, I have to take it. I have to trust my instincts, and unfortunately, so do you."
"I do trust you. I let you drive my truck, didn't I?"
A slow smile spread across her face. "I think I took that decision out of your hands."
"Yeah, and my truck will never be the same."
"It needed a good, fast run," she said with a laugh. "Blow out the cobwebs."
"You are a very good driver now."
"I was one of the best at Quantico."
"What was training like?" he asked curiously, still having a little trouble seeing how she'd gotten from the girl she'd once been to the woman she was now.
"It was intense. I didn't expect them to get into our heads the way they did. There were a lot of mind games, a lot of ripping down of emotional barriers. And when you're living and working with people twenty-four seven, you get to know them really well. It's an incredible bonding experience. My best friends in life right now are from my training class."