Page 23 of Daddy's Naughty Realtor

"Gina?" Jeremy's face transforms from surprise to alarm in an instant. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"There’s a man in the house," I gasp, pointing back the way I came. "He’s wearing a mask and he — he tried to?—"

Jeremy doesn't wait for me to finish. He pushes me gently toward my client, then sprints toward the side of the house, phone already at his ear.

"No! Don't!" I try to call after him, but he's already gone. My client, thankfully more sensible, pulls me toward his car, already dialing 911.

"Are you okay?" he keeps asking. "Did he hurt you?"

I shake my head, unable to form words past the terror still choking me. All I can think about is Jeremy, running toward danger instead of away from it. Jeremy, who might be facing a man with a weapon. Jeremy, who might get hurt because of me.

Time stretches, distorts. My client wraps his suit jacket around my shoulders. I'm shaking, I realize distantly. In shock, probably.

Minutes later… or has it been hours? I can't tell. The police cars arrive, lights flashing. And then Jeremy emerges from the side of the house, unharmed.

"He got away," he tells the officers who rush to meet him. "Went over the back fence. Black clothing, ski mask, medium build."

As the police fan out to search the property, Jeremy comes to me, kneeling beside the car where I'm sitting with the door open, feet on the driveway. His hands frame my face, eyes scanning for injuries.

"Are you hurt?" he demands, voice rough with concern.

I shake my head. My adrenaline is crashing, leaving me light-headed and nauseous.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“I heard a noise in the house. I thought it was an animal so I went to check.”

"What were you thinking?" he scolds gently, as the worry in his voice sharpens to anger. "Going to investigate a noise by yourself? In an empty house? Without telling anyone?"

The criticism stings, especially because he's right. I was reckless, stupid. I put myself in danger.

"I… I thought it was an animal," I manage finally. “I’ve been alone for years. Independent. Able to deal with anything that comes my way. It’s happened before. Animals. Wind. Things fall over…”

"You could have been killed." His hands tighten on my shoulders, a slight shake emphasizing his words. "Do you understand that? If anything happened to you?—"

“If anything happened to me? What? What, Jeremy? You left, without thinking about what would happen to me, out in the world alone thirty years ago. Why do you care now?”

“I was recruited, Gina.” He looks shocked, like he can’t believe he just said that out loud.

“Recruited?” What was he talking about?

“Remember the 1993 World Trade Center bombing?”

“How could I forget?” We’d lived through both bombings in our lifetimes, among other things.

“A year after it happened, the CIA discovered another terrorist plot. They recruited me senior year in college because of my fluency in both Farsi, Pashto, Dari and Arabic.” Learning foreign languages came easy to Jeremy. He loved a challenge and had a goal of breaking the world record for most languages spoken. At the time, it was fifty-eight. He’d only made it a quarter of the way to his goal when he’d disappeared. He’d been a natural athlete, playing multiple sports in high school. I could imagine him as a CIA officer.

“CIA?” I parrot. “Really? And you couldn’t contact me? Tell me you were okay? Breaking up with me would have been better than ghosting me.”

“Everything happened so quickly. I’d intended to call you but the mission became dangerous and I had to go undercover… I know I was wrong, kitten. I know I should have tried harder to reach out. When it was all done and over, I looked you up. You were married and I thought you were better off without me. I know better now. Did you forget what I said to you last month? Before we had sex?”

“You said a lot of things that night.”

“I told you that I was reclaiming you, that I wouldn’t be going anywhere this time. I told you that you belong to me and that I wasn’t going to let anything get between us again. I meant that, kitten. Anything including you. I’ve been patient, more patient than I’ve ever been in my life. Today, my patience is gone. You are mine and–”

He breaks off, pulling me against his chest, holding me so tightly I can feel his heart hammering against my cheek. I cling to him, the solid reality of him keeping me anchored when I feel like I might float away on a tide of delayed terror.

"How did you even know I was here?" I ask when I can speak again.

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