Everything to Lose by Katie Reus

tame her senses.
    “Your quick thinking saved your husband’s life,” he said, apparently not satisfied to let her sit in silence for a few moments.
    She nodded and gave him a wry smile.
    “Lucky shot too,” he continued.
    “There was nothing lucky about it,” Sean announced as he walked back into the room.
    “I’m sorry?” Joseph asked and turned.
    “She’s a crack shot. Could’ve killed him if she wanted.”
    Both men looked at her, the cop presumably for verification.
    She shrugged under the intense scrutiny. “I’m not in the habit of taking lives. Didn’t want to start now,” she murmured and took another sip of the hot liquid. Shooting someone was one thing but actually killing someone wasn’t something she was sure she could live with.
    “Well, it’s a good thing he’s alive because it looks like he’s going to turn evidence against Coleman.”
    “Really? What about the other guy?” she asked.
    “Lewis just used him as a decoy. He thought they were robbing an empty cabin and making a few quick bucks.”
    Despite everything that had happened, she allowed herself a small smile. “He sure got the surprise of his life, huh?”
    Sean chuckled and nodded. Over the rim of her coffee cup, she watched Sean as he turned to the police officer. They started whispering and she couldn’t find the energy to care what about.
    After a few minutes, the officer left the kitchen and she breathed out a sigh she hadn’t realized she was holding. “What did he say?”
    He started to answer when his cell phone rang. Holding up a finger, he turned his back to her and every few seconds his head would bob up and down animatedly.
    Finally he flipped the phone shut and turned to face her. His eyes practically shone good news. “Who was that?”
    “Captain Jones. When Coleman heard Lewis was caught, he started talking.”
    Her brows snapped down. That seemed odd. “Why would he do that?”
    “Coleman isn’t exactly at the top of the food chain. He’s big but he’s still new and he decided to save his own skin in exchange for a reduced sentence.”
    “How so?”
    “He’s turning evidence against some guy down in Central America.”
    “Who’s the guy?” She couldn’t understand why Sean was so excited. Their lives were still in danger.
    “Sweetheart, it doesn’t matter. Don’t you see? Coleman was the only person gunning for us. He wanted to make an example but now he’s just trying to save his own ass.”
    She walked to the sink and placed her now empty mug in it. “So we’re safe now?”
    “Yes.” He moved to where she stood by the sink and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close.
    She leaned against his chest and inhaled his masculine scent, savoring every last bit of him because she knew it wouldn’t last.
    “Now we can go home,” he murmured against her ear.
    In his arms, she stiffened and pulled away. Did he still not get it? “Home?”
    “Well…yeah.”
    “Sean! When someone broke into this house, you locked me up in a closet!”
    His expression darkened. “Hell yeah and I’d do it again too.”
    “And that’s our problem right there. You don’t trust me. I thought maybe we were making headway but nothing’s changed and nothing ever will change. When it came down to it, you pretty much hog-tied me and threw me in a closet.”
    “Someone was in the house,” he said the words as if that explained everything. As if that alone was enough to make up for his behavior. His stupid, typical-Sean behavior.
    “And?”
    “And I was trying to keep you safe.”
    “Keep me safe? You would have been killed if it wasn’t for me.” She placed her hands on her hips.
    His jaw clenched but he didn’t comment.
    “Am I right?”
    “That’s beside the point.”
    “No, that is the point. You don’t trust me to make decisions, period.”
    “That’s not—”
    “Before you finish that thought, yes, it really is true.”
    “What are you saying?”
    She stepped away, fully out of