Take the Key and Lock Her Up (45 page)

“Coward,” she accused.

He dropped his head to his chest. “What do you want from me, Em?” His voice was so
low, so anguished, she barely heard him.

“The truth. Is that really too much to ask? When you left me the way you did, I thought
maybe I was wrong about you. The way you treated Ace . . .” She shivered and rubbed
her hands up and down her arms. “It scared me. But now, now I understand.”

He turned. “What do you understand?”

“I understand that you’re a good person, deep inside, but that you don’t see it. You
don’t think you deserve to be happy, and you don’t think you deserve
me.
But you’re wrong. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you. But I’m not as noble as you
are. Because I’m not going to give you up. Not if . . .” She swallowed hard, ready
to bare her soul, to go all in. “Not if you love me the way I love you.”

A pained look flashed across his face. “Don’t say that.”

She cupped his face in her hands. “I love you.”

He shook his head. “No. You don’t. You love some stupid hero on a white horse who
doesn’t exist. I’ve hurt people,
killed
people.”

“I love you.” She pressed a whisper-soft kiss against his lips and waited.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “God help me. I love you too.”

He kissed her like he’d never kissed her before. If she had any doubts about his feelings,
that hot, wet but achingly sweet kiss dissolved those doubts. He poured all his love
into that kiss, telling her with his body what he could never tell her with just words.

When he pulled back, he smiled,
really
smiled, a sexy, full-blown grin that finally reached his eyes for the first time
since she’d met him. She drank it all in, the happiness she’d somehow miraculously
been able to give this amazing, strong, protective man who had more honor than anyone
else she’d ever known.

“I think I’ve finally found what I’m good at,” she said.

“Kissing?” he teased.

“No. I mean, of course, but that’s not what I was going to say. I’ll never be a doctor.”

He shuddered dramatically and rubbed the shoulder she’d drunkenly operated on.

“I’ll never be a good cop.”

“Thank God for that.”

“I’m your conscience, Devlin.”

“My . . . my what?”

“Your conscience. I stopped you in the clearing. I made you realize what you were
doing was wrong. You didn’t kill Ace.”

“That doesn’t mean I won’t when I catch him again.”

She shrugged. “We’ll see.”

His shoulders slumped. “You’ve ruined me. I’m no longer a badass assassin.”

She put her arms around his neck. “You’re still my badass. And I haven’t ruined you—I
saved you.”

He pulled her against him, his smile reaching his eyes once again. “Yes. You did.
I love you, Emily, more than I ever thought possible. And I want you, always, forever
in my life. But it won’t be easy. The future will be dangerous. I’ll do everything
I can to protect you, to keep you safe. But it’s a leap of faith. With no guarantees
except that I’ll always, always love you.”

“I know exactly what I’m getting. And the answer is yes. I love you, and I’m ready
to make that leap of faith with you.”

When he finished kissing her this time, they were both panting.

“When I get you in a bed again, I’m going to keep you there for a week,” he breathed.

“Promises, promises.”

He pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket and opened the window.

Emily looked out. A rope hung from a hook on the other side of the glass and snaked
down the wall to the yard below. Devlin set the gloves on the windowsill.

“Are you sure you’re ready to take that leap of faith with me, Em?”

“I trust you. I’ll follow you anywhere.”

“Then let’s leap.”

She put her hands on the windowsill and raised her leg to climb out.

He grabbed her and pulled her back, laughing. “Whoa, whoa. I was teasing. We’re not
going out that way.”

“But the gloves. The rope.”

“I’ll explain later.” He winked. “But first, I need a pen and paper.”

A
N HOUR PASSED
before Pierce lost his patience and went upstairs to check on Devlin and Emily. He
didn’t want to intrude in the middle of a fight—or something more intimate—but he
couldn’t sit downstairs any longer, wondering whether they’d worked out their problems
or whether they’d killed each other.

He knocked on the bedroom door. No answer. After knocking again, he twisted the knob
and pushed the door open a crack.

“Everything okay in here?” He stepped inside. The room was empty, with nothing to
prove that either of them had been there except for a sheet of paper lying on the
middle of the bed. A note, written in Devlin’s chicken-scratch handwriting.

Pierce, Emily decided she couldn’t live without me, so she’s coming with me.

Pierce
,
Devlin decided
he
couldn’t live without
me.

Thank you for everything. We’ll try to check in from time to time. Just know that
we both love you and the others very much. Dev and Em.

He grinned, relieved and happy that Devlin had been blessed to fall in love
twice
in one lifetime, and that he was finally getting another chance at happiness. Even
with the tremendous obstacles facing the two of them in the future, at least they
would spend that future together.

Since he’d been sitting in the main room on the first floor, with a full view of the
staircase, he knew they hadn’t come down the stairs. Which left only one way out:
the window. He couldn’t imagine Madison ever agreeing to do that. Who was he kidding?
She was the type who would probably suggest it.

He crossed to the window to lock it and saw a pair of gloves sitting on the outside
ledge. He slid the window up and looked out. Sure enough, the rope Devlin and Emily
had used hung from a hook all the way to the ground. Crazy, absolutely crazy. After
hauling up the rope and dropping it inside, he grabbed the gloves, only to notice
a note tucked inside.

Did you seriously think I would scale a wall and climb through a window when a perfectly
good door was available? You might want to check with an architect about your home’s
original blueprint. These old houses are riddled with secret passageways. All my love,
Devil.

Pierce smiled and shook his head. “Godspeed, little brother. Godspeed.”

Epilogue

A
FEW WEEKS
later, Devlin stood just inside the tree line, looking through his binoculars across
the field. White trucks with the familiar red B&B lettering on the side clogged the
road to the construction site. Banging hammers and whining electric saws shattered
an otherwise quiet morning.

Emily slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “How’s
the house coming along?”

“I’ve never seen so many people working on one building at the same time. Braedon
must have canceled every other project B&B had to get this much manpower. Alex should
be able to move back in by the end of the summer.”

“It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they work together.”

The hidden meaning in her words wasn’t lost on him. He lowered the binoculars, dropping
them to the ground so he could cup her face in his hands. “You’re not going to stop
bugging me until I say yes, are you?”

“Nope. Never. You might as well give in now before I drive you crazy.”

“Okay.”

She blinked. “Okay? Just like that? You’re going to let me help you try to bring EXIT
down?”

“Against my better judgment, yes. But only because I know that if I don’t take you
with me, you’ll end up going after them on your own, and that would absolutely terrify
me. But you have to agree to my terms. We’re David against Goliath. It will take careful
planning and training. You’ll have to be patient. I’m not about to rush into this
and risk you getting hurt, or killed.”

He shuddered at that horrible thought and pressed a quick kiss against her lips. But,
as it always seemed to happen whenever he touched her, his brain shut down and want
and need took over. The kiss deepened until his pulse was slamming in his ears and
his hands were shaking at the thought of getting her naked in his bed.

Forcing himself to break the kiss, he drew back, shaking his head in wonder. “Sometimes
I think this is a dream. Because there’s no way I deserve someone like you. I’m too
broken, too flawed.”

She cupped his face with her hands. “It’s not a dream. And you’re wrong about not
deserving me. Both of us have our faults. We’re not perfect. We’re just perfect for
each other.”

He drew her into his arms and held her tight, resting his chin on the top of her head.
A long moment later, he drew back and gently kissed the healing bright pink scar on
the side of her face. She was self-conscious about the mark, but to Devlin, she’d
never been more beautiful.

That scar was a badge of honor, proof of the tremendous courage and sacrifice she’d
made defying Ace, refusing to scream to draw Devlin out until it was physically impossible
not to. Most women he knew would have given in long before that lighter had been held
against their skin.

“Why don’t you get the air conditioner going in the car? I just need another minute,”
he said.

She looked past him at what had once been his father’s house and soon would be again.
“To say good-bye. I understand. Take all the time you want.” She smiled and headed
into the trees toward the side road where they’d parked their car.

Devlin reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a wallet-sized picture. He crouched
down beneath a tree and used a twig to rake away the dirt. When the hole was deep
enough, he tossed the twig away and carefully placed the picture in the hole.

His past stared up at him, her blonde hair shining in the sun filtering through the
trees, her smile tugging at his heart as it always did. But the pain that little tug
caused wasn’t as sharp as it once had been. He barely felt it at all anymore. He would
always love Arianna, but their time was over, and he was finally ready to move on.

He sprinkled the dirt back into the hole until he could no longer see the picture,
then rested his hand on top of the small mound.

“Good-bye, Arianna,” he whispered.

He grabbed the binoculars he’d pitched to the ground earlier and stood. After one
long, last look over his shoulder, he wiped the dust of the past from his hands and
headed toward his future.

Author’s Note

Savannah, Georgia, is one of my favorite places to visit and is the setting of this
book. I love the historic flavor and small-town feel of this beautiful city on the
Savannah River. I’ve ridden the paddleboats, gone on the trolley tours, and spent
days just walking the squares, touring old houses, and taking pictures of potential
places to include in the books that I set there.

One of the places featured in this book is the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police
Department. There are three main locations for SCMPD, including the headquarters on
Habersham Street, a delightful old brick building that features antique police cars
out front. While I adore this old building, it didn’t quite work for my story, so
I took the liberty of creating my own fictional version of the SCMPD headquarters.
There are, sadly, no antique cars in front of my fictional police department. There
is a bustling diner across the street from mine, which I think is cool—but is not
true of the real police station. Also, the fictional headquarters houses the coroner’s
offices in the basement. The real Savannah, Georgia, Coroner’s Office is located in
a separate building on East 67th Street.

There’s more to EXIT Inc. than meets the eye . . .

Keep reading for a sneak peek from

EXIT STRATEGY

the first book in Lena Diaz’s thrilling new series

coming Summer 2015 from Avon Impulse

An Excerpt From

EXIT STRATEGY

S
ABRINA STAGGERED INTO
the dark living room and grabbed a couch for support. But her hand, slippery with
blood, slid across the leather and she crashed to her knees on the hardwood floor.
She bit her lip to keep from crying out. Moonlight filtering in through the heavy
drapes revealed the blood running down her arm, dripping to the floor.

You have to stop the bleeding. You’re leaving him a trail like a neon sign saying
H
ERE SHE IS
. C
OME AND GET HER
.

There had to be something in this room she could use to bind the wound, something
to stanch the bleeding. But the room was just as she’d left it this morning before
going to work—clutter-free, everything neatly in place without even a throw pillow
or an afghan lying across the back of a chair. For the first time ever, she wished
she wasn’t “just the in-law,” as her sister-in-law Denise would say. Sabrina wished
she
were
Denise.

Denise would have several blankets tossed on both of the couches, or a pair of socks
lying on the floor, maybe an entire basket’s worth of discarded clothes waiting to
be picked up throughout the house. She’d have her choice of things to use as a makeshift
bandage and wouldn’t be bleeding all over the place.

Who was Sabrina kidding? She didn’t wish she were her sister-in-law. Denise wouldn’t
have lasted five minutes with an intruder inside the house. She would have curled
up in a ball the moment the sound of breaking glass downstairs had awakened her.

Why hadn’t the alarm sounded? Or automatically notified the police of the break-in?

She clasped her left hand over the cut on her right bicep, hissing at the fiery pain
that shot all the way to her shoulder. Lurching to her feet, she stumbled as a wave
of dizziness nearly drove her to her knees again. How much blood had she lost? She
drew a deep breath, then another, until the dizziness subsided.