Page 96 of The Blonde Identity

“Zoe?”

The sound must have scared her because she whirled and tried to step back but there was no place to go and she banged into a tree.

“Sweetheart?” Sawyer tried to keep his voice low as he dropped the phone and held up his hands. “I’m gonna give you something, okay?” Slowly—very slowly—he pulled out his Glock and tossed it on the ground in front of her. “That’s for you.”

But Zoe just stood there, staring and confused. “That’s your favorite gun.”

“I know.” He laughed softly—something he hadn’t even known he could do until he met her. “It’s yours now. Shoot me with it if you need to, okay?”

She didn’t stoop to pick it up, but she kept it between them, like it could protect her, there on the ground.

“Are you okay?” he asked again because nothing else mattered.

“I’m fine.” She sounded tired and annoyed and he wanted to kiss the little crease between her eyes until it smoothed away. “Is my sister okay?”

“She’s alive. She sent me to find you. Those were her exact words:find her. So I’m here. And, for the record, I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” He heard pain in her voice. Not fear.Fearhe could have handled. But he thought about a baby no bigger than the palm of his hand. He thought about a four-year-old in a hospital gown. She was fearless. Of course she was. She was never going to be afraid of him. He was nothing in comparison.

“Zoe, please...”

“Listen,” she snapped. “The drive Kozlov has is a fake.”

And for a second, the whole world seemed to freeze. The music went away and the crowd stopped milling. “I... I know. But how did you...”

“Alex had two boxes at the bank, and I accessed both. The real drive was in box number two. So—” She threw her shoulders back and stood a little straighter. “I’ve got a message for your boss.”

“He’s not my boss, sweetheart. He’s my mission.”

“Funny. Because that’s not how it looked when yougave him the flash drive.”

“I gave up the flash drive to keep you safe!”

“You kept yourself safe.Ihad to jump off a mountain!”

“Because I gave you the idea!”

They were inching closer and closer because they always did—they always would. He couldn’t stay away from her any more than a compass could stop pointing north.

“You didnotgive me the idea!” Oh, she was annoyed. And indignant. And glorious. Right up until she realized—“Wait.Didyou give me the idea? No. You just wanted me out of the way for your mission—”

“I wanted you safe because I’m in love with you!”

Sawyer couldn’t hear the sirens anymore. Not the sound of the wind or the cries of the crowd. There was nothing but those words, floating in the frigid air. He wanted to pull them back. And he wanted to shout them louder. Because Alex was right. He was in love with Zoe.He was in love with Zoe.Zoe, who was just standing there, gaping. Stammering. “You... You...”

“I know, sweetheart—”

“I’m not your sweetheart!”

He shook his head. He had to make her see. Did she really not see? “You’re my everything.”

A tsunami of emotion washed across her face. Anger and fatigue and hope? Fury and rage and longing. It was like she was experiencing a lifetime of feelings in those five seconds, running the gamut,the spectrum, trying every single emotion on for size before settling on—

“What gives you the right to give certifiable movie kisses and say certifiable hero lines and stand there with your certifiable hot guy smirks while telling me you just wanted to save my life? What gives you the right... youabsolute jerkface!”

Sawyer gave it a second then shouted, “I don’t know what that means!”

“It means I’m in love with you, too!” she shouted even louder and the wall of ice inside of Sawyer slowly began to crack. And then he was reaching for her. Because he needed to hold her and kiss her and tell her again. He was never going to stop telling her—showing her. He was never going to stop.

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