Page 68 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

“That still doesn’t solve the problem that my girlfriend thinks—”

“Then change her mind,” she urged, stepping up beside me. “Make her understand, and if she’s not willing to listen, then she’s not the woman for you.”

I huffed out a laugh at how ironic it was that I finally found a woman that matched me in strength, and it could be that very strength that could drive us apart. “Eva doesn’t trust anyone. She’s too warped by what happened to her.”

“We’re all too warped, boss. It’s part of our charms.”

I finally turned and looked at her. “If you were in my position, what would you do?”

“I don’t think you want to know that answer, but I would walk away. But I’m not a big believer in second chances. However, your situation is different. If I were you, and not the twisted version of myself, I would say you should go talk to her. Explain to her why you did what you did. If she’s not willing to listen, then she never really would have been a good match for you.”

That was easier said than done. I wasn’t afraid of anything really, but at this moment, I was terrified that if I tried to talk to Eva, she wouldn’t understand and I would lose her.

“We should get back,” she said after leaving me alone with my thoughts for a few moments. “I need to check in on the search I was running.”

That snapped me out of my self-pity. Whether or not Eva and I ended up together, we still had to protect her. We were too involved in this to just walk away, not that I could anyway.

“Right, let’s go,” I said, turning away from the mountains in the distance.

“She’ll understand,” Rae added as we headed back.

I really hoped so, but I shoved that out of my head for the moment and switched gears to our current problem. “How’s Dash’s progress in getting the Nevada operation set up?”

“Well, he’s Dash, so of course he’s being a big baby about all the extra work.”

“You could lighten the load.”

“I could, but I have my own work to do. Besides, I pretty much did everything for him before they arrived. Any word on how bad the damage was?”

“Eli talked with the fire department the other day. The building is a loss. We’ll need to rebuild, but I was thinking we should relocate.”

“Why?”

“After everything that happened with Sinner, it might be a smart move.”

“But then we’d still have another location where people could find us. What’s the point?”

I grinned to myself. I had been going over this in my head for two days, and I actually thought it was pretty brilliant. “I was thinking we’d leave the main office in California, but we’d build somewhere else, someplace hidden.”

“Hidden? You want to hide from potential clients?”

“Not hide exactly, but I want us to have a higher level of security. It’s too difficult at our current location. We could check out Nevada or Texas maybe. And we’d still have two people working in the office, but they’d basically be a front for us, so we can continue to work, but out from under the constant threat.”

“And who’s going to protect them?”

“I didn’t say it was all worked out,” I grumbled.

We finished walking back to the house, and when I stepped inside, I was a little surprised to find Eva passed out on the counter. “What the hell is going on?”

“Well…she twisted my arm, boss. She wanted to drink.”

“And you couldn’t stop her?” I shot Fox a look.

“It went something like this,” he continued. “I’m having a drink.And then I said, I don’t think the boss would like that.And then she said, I need a drink.So, you can see my dilemma.”

“Yes,” I nodded sagely. “Clearly, she was too much for you to handle.”

“She’s a fighter,” he said, blowing out a breath. “Better watch that one.”

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