To Love and Protect Read Free Page B

him, making him ache. He was hard and ready, and damn it all to hell if he didn’t have a plane to catch.
    “This is crazy,” Liz whispered when he pulled back. “We just met.”
    He was pleased to see that her eyes were dilated and her breathing just as fast as his own.
    “Some things don’t take very long,” he said. “When they happen fast, they’re usually right.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never reacted this way. Have you?”
    He brushed his mouth against hers. “No. Not even close.”
    She shivered. “Hold me. Hold me for as much time as we have left. Please.”
    He tugged her close and draped his arm around her shoulders. They talked some, kissed some and mostly watched time slip away. At a little past eight, they walked out to the parking lot and got in his rental car. He headed back to the Children’s Connection parking lot where they’d left her car.
    Liz couldn’t believe how sad she felt. She’d only known David a few hours, but it seemed more like a lifetime. The thought of him going away, of never seeing him again, broke her heart.
    When he pulled up beside her aging sedan, she turned to him. “Do you really have to go?” she asked softly.
    He put the car in Park and faced her. “It’s my job, Liz. I’ve been working for this assignment since the day they hired me.”
    She ducked her head. “I know. That was silly. If anyone understands giving it all for a career, it’s me. But I just…”
    “Me, too.” He touched her chin, raising her head so she looked at him. “I can’t decide if we should stay in touch or make a clean break.”
    “I don’t know, either.”
    Her chest tightened until it was difficult to breathe. She wanted him—not just sexually, but in so many other ways. She wanted to learn everything about him. She wanted to meet his family and talk about goals and have dates and fights and make memories. If it wasn’t completely crazy, she would swear she’d fallen for him.
    “Take me with you,” she said impulsively. “To Russia.”
    He cupped her jaw. “You don’t know how that tempts me, Liz. We could keep each other warm through the long winter.”
    It could work, she thought frantically. As a freelance illustrator, she didn’t have to punch a time clock. “I could work from there and send my drawings back to my clients,” she told him. “It would take me a couple of days to wrap things up here but I could—”
    He silenced her with a kiss. The sweet pressure of his mouth told her his answer even as she struggled not to believe him. Her eyes began to burn.
    “I know, it’s crazy,” she whispered.
    “But a great dream.”
    A dream. That was what this was. A beautiful, perfect dream that could never be real. Take off for Russia? For a guy? Never. Not that David wasn’t great, but what did she know about him?
    Torn between what was sensible and what her heart cried out to claim, Liz opened the passenger door and forced herself to slide out into the night.
    “Thank you for a terrific afternoon, David Logan,” she said as she fought tears. “I don’t think it could get better than this. We should probably keep the memory intact and not try to repeat it.”
    He nodded. “You’re right. But if you ever find yourself in Moscow…”
    “I’ll look you up. And when you’re back in Portland, you do the same.”
    “Right.”
    She stared at him, at his face, his eyes. She was making the right decision. They both were.
    “You’re not the one who got away,” she said firmly.
    “Neither are you.”
    As she closed the car door, she knew they were both lying.

Two
    Nearly five years later

    D avid Logan generally avoided recreational social events at the embassy. His work required more than enough cocktail parties at which he either had to keep his eye on someone dangerous or extract information without the person in question knowing. He no longer found the endless chatter relaxing or fun. Give him a good covert kidnapping or prisoner