The relief that he thought so, too, was overshadowed by the terror of the situation.
“You know what I mean.”
He checked the chamber of the weapon that was still in his hand to see if it was loaded before covering the remaining distance separating them.
Taking precious seconds they didn’t have, he cupped her face with both hands and made sure she was looking into his eyes before he spoke.
“Yeah, I do know what you mean. Problem is, you’re not understanding whatI’msaying.” The hardness in his eyes softened. “It doesn’t matter if it’s been one week or one hundred. Not to me.”
Oh, my.
“Trace—”
“Emma, my whole life, I’ve done everything I can to avoid this.”
“This?”
“Allowing myself to care about someone this much.” His throat worked as he swallowed. “But then I met you. I’ve gotten to know you, and I...” He sighed. “I’ve been so scared of this and everything that comes with it. But now that I’m here...now that I’ve found you, I...”
“You what?” she asked, her heart feeling as though it would pound straight out of her chest.
“I—”
Glass shattered behind them. A bullet whizzed past Trace’s head slamming into the wall next to them.
“Get down!”
Emma was shoved to the floor.
Using the gun still in his hand, Trace fired back. “Come on!” Standing in a crouched position, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the bathroom doorway.
“Here.” He held out the gun for her as he pulled his own pistol from its holster.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going after the son of a bitch.”
She shook her head. “Trace, no—”
“We don’t have time to argue! I need to find whoever’s shooting at us, but I put us both at risk if I’m distracted. Just stay here and keep the door locked until I get back.”
Damn it, Trace was right. He was trained for this sort of thing, and she wasn’t. If he was worried about her, his focus would be divided, which could put him in even worse danger.
“Okay.” Emma took the gun.
“There’s no safety. So someone besides me comes through that door, just point and shoot.”
Trace started to leave, but she grabbed his wrist at the last second. “Be careful.”
With a hand on the side of her neck, he promised her, “It’s going to be okay.” Then he kissed her hard before turning and walking away.
Knees trembling, Emma did as she was told and locked the door behind him. Moving back to the farthest point in the room, she sat on the edge of the bathtub and waited.
Over the next few minutes, she heard more gunfire. Eventually, it got quiet again. Eerily quiet. Then...
A sound reached her ears from the other side of the door. Someone was in the bedroom, but she had no way of knowing who.
Emma’s ears filled with the rushing sound of her terrified heartbeat as she kept the gun pointed toward the door while she waited. She wanted so badly to call out for Trace, but she didn’t, for fear it wasn’t him.