“I don’t know.” She went quiet for a moment. “I should never have gone to your ranch. Let myself get caught up in what it’d be like to be part of your family.”
The impact of her words had him lifting his foot from the gas pedal for a second. Part of my family. It has a nice ring to it. And it may have been crazy, but that was what he wanted . . . her in his life for much longer than one case.
When he’d been singing to her earlier that evening, his heart exploded in his chest watching her with his loved ones. She did belong there, and there was nothing she, or anyone else for that matter, could say to change his mind about that.
“Your parents, your town, they’ll hate me. You saw how your brother looked at me.”
“They’ll get over it,” A.J. protested, not wanting her to have any reason to turn her back on what they had—and they did have something. And for once in his life, he had no intention of running, so like hell would he allow her to run.
“Where are we heading anyway?” Ana asked after a few more minutes of heavy silence. They’d turned off the radio, purposely avoiding the news for the time being. So now, nothing but deep thoughts filled the air.
“I was wondering when you were going to ask.” A small smile touched his lips. “We have a place outside Atlanta so we can be near the safe house in Carrollton. My team will rendezvous with us there tomorrow.” If we go to Carrollton. He wasn’t so sure Porter could be trusted, and he didn’t want to walk her into a possible trap.
Ana’s body visibly relaxed at his words, seemingly comforted by the fact they were still going to the safe house given what he’d said back at Grant’s. He just wasn’t looking to argue with her after what she’d had to deal with between the news and his overprotective brother. “Why didn’t we, or your teammates, stay there in the first place?”
“You didn’t tell us the location of the safe house until we arrived at Grant’s,” he reminded her. “And my team preferred to be close by in case—”
“In case I was a threat. No more solo ops, right?” Her voice dipped lower. “Oh, God, what if we had been followed from D.C. by Volkov agents, and they’d shown up at your parents’ ranch while we’d been there? I could have put your family in danger. I’m putting you in danger now.” She covered her mouth with a shaky hand and looked away from him out her side window.
He slowed down and came to a stop. There’d been no cars in sight for miles, so he parked on the side of the road.
“In hindsight, I probably should have declined my mom’s invitation to lunch at the ranch, if that’s what you could call being bulldozed by Deb Hawkins. Should have left Grant’s right then, too.” He reached for her hand on her thigh and squeezed it. “But I got caught up in the moment. Wrapped up in the idea of what it’d be like to have you in my life under normal circumstances. I made the decision. I can’t blame the bump on my head or seeing ghosts for the choices I’ve been making. And I can’t sit here and tell you that today wasn’t one of the best days of my life when it was. Having the woman I . . .” A.J. swallowed when her eyes swung his way. “Having you with my family was a slice of heaven I never knew I needed until today.”
“You’re a good man, Alexander James,” she said with a shaky voice, her lip quivering. “I don’t know if I deserve—”
“You deserve everything I have to give and more,” he cut her off and leaned over the console, maintaining a grip of her hand. “And you and I are only just getting started, you hear me? After this case is closed, I’m taking you to my sister’s wedding.”
Shame cut across her face. Worry clouded her eyes. Fear of judgment from his family.
“My family is fiercely protective of their own. My town, too.” He brought his mouth close to hers. “And once they know what you mean to me—they’ll have your back, too. I promise.” He set a gentle kiss to her lips. “And, Ana, I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A.J. reached his arm out to the side as he lay on his back in bed, only to find Ana’s place next to him empty. He’d slept like a log all night and had no idea what time it was, but as far as he was concerned, there was still too much sunlight in the bedroom of the two-story cabin they were using as a safe house.
He sat up in bed slowly, kicked the covers off him since they’d slept with the A/C blasting, and lifted his watch from the bedside table. “Ten?” Holy hell. When was the last time he’d slept until ten?
Memories of making love with Ana at Grant’s house flew back to mind as he dropped his bare feet to the wood floors. He’d planned on a round two and three, but then his brother had shown up and everything changed.
When they arrived at the new safe house last night, he and Ana were emotionally and physically spent, so they’d crawled into bed. He’d wrapped her in his arms, waited for her to sleep, then allowed himself to pass out.
But where was she now?
He grabbed the sidearm he’d stowed just beneath the bed for emergencies and left the bedroom. The aroma of coffee hit his nose as he neared the stairs. The smell of eggs and burnt toast, too. When did Ana get food?
He went down the steps two at a time and halted in the entryway to the kitchen at the sight of Ana, Chris, and Finn sitting at the small round table in the breakfast nook that overlooked the forest behind the house.
“So nice of you to join us,” Finn said, catching A.J.’s eyes first. Finn’s greeting had Ana turning in her seat to peer at him.
She had on a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting black top. Her hair was down and wavy, still damp from a shower, and her cheeks had a healthy glow now that she’d had some sleep. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
Chris stood and stretched his back, coffee mug in hand. Then reached into his pocket, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and slapped it into Finn’s extended palm.
“Told you he’d join us in his skivvies and holding a gun,” Finn said with a laugh, accepting the payout.
A.J. dropped his eyes to his red cotton boxers as he strode farther in, then set his gun on the kitchen counter off to the side. “When did y’all get in? I didn’t hear you.”
Finn winked and stood, going for a refill of coffee. “Stealthy like that, bro.”
A.J. opened his mouth to crack a wise-ass comment, but he lost his train of thought when Ana padded his way.
“Good morning.” He wanted to pull her against him, but he had Echo Three and Five watching his every move. There was probably another bet about whether he’d already hooked up with Ana.
Just wait until you fall in . . . He cleared his throat and blinked a few times. “Where’s Roman and Harper?”
“On the phone with Jessica in one of the rooms down the hall. That or making out.” Chris walked by Ana, then shoulder-checked A.J. as he made his way to the coffee pot as well.
“Yeah, right,” Finn said. “That man will never get his head out of his head for that to happen.”
“His ‘head out of his head’?” Chris glared at him with an amused expression. “I swear, brother, you’re way more John Krasinski The Office than you are John Krasinski Jack Ryan.”