Page 386 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Good. Hold on to me, Addie.”

He’d said the same thing to her before, fifteen years ago.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “We have to get out of here.” But she couldn’t move. There was no way she could get off this counter and walk across the floor knowing there were bugs everywhere. It was too much like before.

“There aren’t that many.” He shook her, just a fraction. Enough to get her attention. “Look, Addie.”

She shook her head as best she could when he had those warm fingers on her cheeks. Nothing had ever felt the way he did. He was her lifeline.

Only she’d relied on him entirely too much. Even before they were rescued, he’d pulled away, and she had no idea why. Some kind of recoil when he’d hit his limit and been unable to handle it—along with trying to be there for her the way she’d tried to for him. Then after they were rescued, he walked away completely.

He might be familiar, but it wasn’t a place she could be sure of.

“Look.”

Her eyes fluttered open. She shouldn’t have squeezed them shut so hard. Now everything was blurry. Or was that the smoke in the room?

She stared at the insects dispersed across the floor. “That’s your idea of not that many?” She wanted to tuck her feet up on the counter with her. Curl into a ball as tight as possible and pray nothing came anywhere near her.

Bugs were the last thing she wanted to deal with.

She looked back at Jake.

The expression on his face was something like yearning. She stared at those eyes. Saw in them everything she’d ever needed. A whisper of promise that she was worth sticking around for.

Until it all went wrong.

He moved closer, just a fraction. She felt the warmth of his breath on her cheek.

“Jake.”

He was going to kiss her.

Addie needed to figure out if she wanted that. Even while she considered the fact she always would.It’s always been you.

No matter what else happened, that would be true until the day she died. No matter who else became part of her life.

“I feel it too.” But he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he moved away an inch.

Out of reach.

“What’s happening?” Addie asked him. “This is too bizarre. Too similar.” Ideas wanted to coalesce in her mind, but there was too much terror to sort through it.

Maybe they would always have crazy chemistry. It didn’t mean there was anything between them after all this time.

“Whoever is outside wants us trapped. They know how both of us feel about bugs.” He shuddered. She felt it under her hands, even though she was squeezing the life out of handfuls of his shirt.

She tried to unclench her fingers. “Tell me about that way out you have. I don’t want to be in here. We need to be outside.” She gasped. “I can’t breathe.”

Even though they were going to walk across the floor covered with skittering bugs. Swat away the ones that flew around trying to escape the smoke.

One flew toward her face, and she made a noise in her throat she wasn’t proud of.

You’re an FBI agent. Act like it.

But those old fears reared their heads and drowned her good sense.

“The alternative is waiting for someone to call the fire department, and we don’t know how long that will take.” He kissed her forehead. “We might not have enough time to wait. Even if going outside could mean we get picked off by a bullet.”

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