Page 97 of Locked In Ice

“Because—” Lane stopped.

The door to the study opened.Ophelia stepped out and frowned at them.Then her gaze hardened.“Dad, you are not grilling him again, are you?We talked about this.”She marched to her father.Poked him in the chest with her index finger.“Lane is important.He’s my partner.He’s here to stay.”

To stay.Those words rolled through him.They’d signed on for a month.That had been the deal.But suddenly…

I want to stay.He knew it with certainty.He’d found a place where he actually felt like he belonged.Not drifting from door to door.Ophelia’s home had been open to him from the beginning.No hesitation.She’d drawn him into her home.

And it felt like—crazy as it seemed—theirhome.He’d even thought of it that way when he’d been going down the stairs.

“Just having a chat with the man,” her father murmured.“You jump to so many conclusions.”

“Wonder where I get that from?”She backed up to stand at Lane’s side.“You ready?”

Lane nodded.

“When you come back,” her father said, “bring your partner over for dinner.Your mother has been wanting to meet him.”

Ophelia’s lips parted.“I-I will.”A small stutter.Very un-Ophelia.

Her father fired a warning glance at Lane.“You keep her safe.”

They should just be clear.“I would die before I let anyone hurt Ophelia.”

“Then we understand each other.”Her father turned and, still carrying the cat, he walked out.

The door clicked closed behind him.

“No.”Ophelia’s voice.Her angry voice.“No, that bullshit can just stop right here and right now, you understand me?”She grabbed his arm.

He gazed into her eyes and saw her fury staring back at him.

“You will never,everdo that for me, do you understand?”

“Ophelia—”

“I already had someone die for me.I live with that guilt every single day of my life.I will not do it again.Sure as hell not with you.”Her eyes glittered with tears.“So take it back.Right.This.Second.”

“Uh, Ophelia—”

“Take itback!I get that some people toss that expression around to sound big and bad and dramatic, but not you.You say what you mean.And you are not—not ever—going to trade your life for mine.I won’t have it.I won’t do it again.Not with a stranger, and certainly not with someone I—” She stopped.Her eyes widened.And when they widened, a lone tear trickled down her cheek.“Shit.”She let him go.Jumped back as if an electric shock had jolted through her.

“Ophelia?”Worry filled her name.But he wasn’t taking anything back.Sure as shit not something that he’d meant.Did she seriously think he wouldn’t take a bullet for her?He would.Ophelia’s safety meant everything to him.

“I told myself I’d always say what I felt.In this life, you don’t know if you’ll get a chance again.You have to say what you feel.I lost my chance before.”Her hands fisted.“How is this happening?Why?” Her eyes squeezed closed.

“Ophelia, I’m not planning on dying.”

“No one plans it.It just happens.”Her eyes flew open.“We are not friends.”

He sucked in a breath.They…were.He viewed her as one of the few friends he had.Dammit, probably his best friend even though Memphis had clearly been vying for the job.And the sudden rejection sent a pang through him.“You’re not going to make me mad so that I’ll stop wanting to protect you.You can say whatever you want to hurt me, Ophelia, but I will still protect—”

“I love you.”

His mouth hung open.

“We are notjustfriends.And I haven’t felt this way about anyone since…” She shook her head.Her hair flew over her shoulders.“I knew it was coming.I could feel it.I wanted you too much.I believed in you too soon.I hurt for your past.And I wanted you to have such a better future.It happened too fast.We were too fast, but it’s there, and it is absolutely terrifying me.”

Lane knew he should speak.But knowing it and doing it were two different things.

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