Rules of Protection (Tangled in Texas #1)(102)

Jake had been my compass for the last few weeks, guiding me and pointing me in the right direction. Now it was time to take matters into my own hands. Even if it meant changing course. Jake had protected my body, but only I could protect my heart.

I smiled tearfully at the marshal. “I don’t do good-byes.”

…

Two Months Later…

“Someone get the door,” I yelled from the kitchen.

Gina and Dale continued sitting on the couch, watching a movie, as if they never heard me.

Irritated, I walked past them. “Seriously? First, you two refuse to help me unpack. Now I have to make popcorn and answer your door?”

Gina flashed me a grin. “It’s your door now, too.”

“Yeah,” Dale agreed, “The rules state the newest household member has to answer the door.”

“Whose rules?”

“Ours.”

“You can’t make up rules as you go along,” I said, swinging the door open. I froze as my eyes raked over Jake standing in the doorway.

He glared at me with stormy eyes of fury and a throbbing vein bulged out of his neck. “Okay,” he grumbled, “Who the hell are you, and what did you do with Emily? Because the Emily I knew never followed anyone’s rules.”

At first I stood there, robotic, unable to react. Jake’s commanding presence had a bewildering power over me. My buried emotions clawed their way to the surface and came out in the form of a two-month-old grudge.

“My name’s not Emily. It’s—”

“You’re still Emily to me.”

“What can I do for you, Agent Ward?” I asked, my tone sizzling with attitude.

“Don’t give me that crap. We need to talk,” Jake said as he started to enter the apartment.

I blocked his entry with my arm. “No, we don’t. There’s nothing left to say.”

“I just spent two very long months looking for you.” He gave me a look that sent a chill through my bones. “I disagree.”

I sighed with impatience. “Jake, what do you want?”

“What I want is to fit your ass with a transmitter or a homing device,” he said, still eyeing my arm on the doorjamb. “Are you going to let me in or what?”

“Do I have a choice?”

He lifted an eyebrow and grinned.

“Fine,” I told him as I stepped to the side. “You get two minutes.”

Gina and Dale had turned completely, watching us with their arms hooked around the back of the couch. Apparently, this scene was better than the one on TV.

“Do you guys mind giving us the room?” I thought asking them to leave was safer than being alone with Jake in a bedroom.

“Man, you always spoil our fun,” Dale said.

Gina grinned. “It’s okay. We’ll go to my room and listen through the door.” They disappeared into her bedroom.

I turned to Jake. “I’ve been out of federal custody and back in Chicago for less than twenty-four hours. How did you find me?”

“I didn’t,” Jake said with a smirk. “I had your friends call me the moment you got back.”

“Tattletale!” Gina called out from the bedroom.

Jake reached for me, but I pulled away, making him grunt in disapproval. “Emily, I went crazy when I realized you left. No one would tell me where you were. They said it was at your request. Why would you block me from finding you?”

“Because I obviously didn’t want you to find me. Not that I thought it would matter,” I said, shrugging. “After all, you have your own personal Indian tracker.”

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, and his jaw tightened with a grimace. “Chief Dumbshit wouldn’t help me. He said you needed to come back on your own. That it should be your choice, not mine.”

“Good man,” I said with a smirk.

“He said to tell you hello, and Floss wanted me to thank you for the flowers.”

I smiled with delight. “She knew I sent them?”

“I don’t know how, since the card was signed from God. But, yeah, she knew.” Jake shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Everyone misses you.”

I didn’t want to cry, but knew I was on the verge of it. “I think I’ve tainted all of their lives enough,” I said in a callous tone as I moved farther away.

Jake snagged me up by my elbow before I could get out of reach. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that? You don’t just burn bridges. Oh, no, not you, Emily… You have to blow the sonofabitches up.”

I shook my arm loose from his grip. “Well, then I guess it makes me no better than you. I don’t appreciate you using them to get to me. If you have something to say, then say it.”

“Fine.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet on the floor. “Why’d you leave me?”

“Leave you?” I asked, confused. “Jake, you’re making it sound like we broke up. It was a fake relationship. We weren’t dating, remember?”

“Well, what the hell would you call what we were doing because we damn sure weren’t playing Scrabble in that bed.”

Dale snickered from the other room. Great. I’d never live that one down.

“You ran while I was in surgery, knowing I wouldn’t be able to chase you,” Jake accused. “Pretty chickenshit, if you ask me.”