Maya Banks - No Place to Run

“She?” he finally said.

Sophie flushed. “I call it ‘her.’ I don’t know for sure. Just a feeling. I don’t like saying ‘it.’ ”

“But you can tell at this stage, right? I mean, you’ve had a sonogram. Couldn’t they tell you the sex?”

She looked down. “I haven’t had a sonogram.”

He nudged her chin up again, and he frowned at her. “But you’ve been to the doctor.”

She shook her head. “Too dangerous.”

His mouth screwed up into a pinched bow. He continued staring at her with those intense blue eyes.

“But she’s mine.”

“Yes. She’s yours. No doubt about it.”

“I see.”

He seemed calm enough, but she could sense the turmoil beneath the deceptively calm expression.

“And you’re just now getting around to telling me.”

She almost laughed. She would have if she hadn’t been so sure it would end up in a fit of hysteria. Tell him. As if it was the easiest thing in the world. Bitterness, sharp and quick, welled in her chest.

“Tell you?” She did laugh then. She simply couldn’t hold it back. As predicted, it ended in a high, shrill sound that was anything but pleasant. “Just how was I supposed to tell you, Sam? You walked out of that hotel room after you told me I wouldn’t see you again.”

His eyes narrowed again, and they glittered dangerously.

“And yet you had no problem finding me. You obviously knew where I was all along, which is more than I can say I knew about you. How is that, Sophie? Just who the hell are you and what are you playing at?”

How quickly his questions turned into accusations.

She rolled, bracing herself for when her injured arm took the brunt of her weight. She struggled to get her feet over the edge of the bed and onto the floor. She stood, and the flannel shirt fell to her knees. Just as well since she was butt naked underneath.

She looked around for clothing, even as her mind rolled with just how to relate everything she needed to say.

“I’ll make this quick and easy,” she said in a bitter voice. “Someone wants me dead, or they will as soon as they get what they want from me. They probably want you dead too, but you’ve been kept alive because you’re the bait. I stayed away for that reason. But they got too close, and I couldn’t take a chance on staying ahead of them any longer. I’m certainly not as fast or as bright as I used to be.”

She gestured down at her belly in disgust. “Not only does pregnancy make me slower, but I swear it sucks all the brain cells.”

“Sophie, you need to calm down,” Sam said as he put his hands out in a placating manner. “Come back and sit down. You shouldn’t be up.”

“Where are my clothes?” she demanded as she looked around. “I need my clothes.” She knew she sounded desperate and irrational. But damn it, she needed something to wear, and she needed to get the hell out of here. Sam said she’d been here several hours. Tomas and company would know exactly where to look for her.

Her gaze lighted on a pair of sweatpants in the corner, and she bent down to pick them up. When she stood back up, pain splintered down her arm, and she bobbled like a drunken party girl wearing stilettos. Sam was there to catch her, but she yanked herself away and edged toward the bed so she could pull the pants on.

They were way too big, but she didn’t care. They were warm and dry. As soon as she got them on, she stood again and reached for Sam, tugging on his arm. He looked at her in disbelief, like he’d look at a crazy woman.

“Come on, Sam. We have to go. We can’t stay here. They’ll come. They’ll kill you. And your brothers. I didn’t know you had brothers. Sorry. I didn’t realize. I thought it was just you and your men.”

Her pulse thudded painfully at her temples, and her chin wobbled as she chattered out the rest. She didn’t make any sense whatsoever, and Sam just stood there staring at her like she’d lost her mind.

She reached again and this time took his hand between hers. She pulled until his palm rested on her belly.

“They were going to kill her, Sam. He had a knife. He said he’d slice me open and let her spill out. I can’t let that happen. I need your help. Please. You have to help me.”

Sam stared at her in horror, then his gaze dropped to where his hand was splayed across her abdomen. He looked so appalled that she stopped for a moment and wrapped her arms around her stomach, trapping his hand there.

“Sweet mother of God,” Sam muttered. He pulled his hand away and then yanked her into his arms.

It hurt like hell, but she didn’t care. She didn’t protest and she didn’t try to pull away. She wanted to absorb him right into her soul. Finally she felt safe. Like maybe she wasn’t so alone .

For just a moment she stood there, but reality crept in despite her wanting to indulge in the fantasy.

“We have to go,” she whispered.

She pulled away, but he held her firm.

“Let me go,” she protested. “We have to get out of here, Sam. Your brothers. They have to go too. They’ll kill them.”

He grasped her good arm, and with his other hand he gripped her chin and held her so that she was forced to stare back at him.

“Let’s get a few things straight here, okay? One, you’re not going anywhere. Period. Two, I need answers, Sophie. A lot of damn answers. Three, no one is going to hurt you or my child. Four, if you knew where I’ve been all this time, you damn well should have come to me the moment you knew you were in danger.”

She stared at him in disbelief. Then she laughed. It was all she could do. He was so determined, and how like a man to try and simplify matters.

“You don’t get it, Sam. I can’t stay. I won’t put my baby in danger,” she said fiercely. “I barely managed to escape the bastard last night. He shot me. He would have killed my baby. I’m not giving him a second chance. I’ve stayed ahead of him for the last five months.”

“And now he’s caught up to you,” Sam said calmly. “Sit down, Sophie. You and I have a hell of a lot to talk about. I want to get the personal stuff out of the way first. Because then I want my brothers here when you tell me all this other shit.”

The fight left her and the pain overwhelmed her senses. She sagged onto the edge of the bed and dropped her head in defeat.

Sam knelt in front of her and carefully placed his hand on her belly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She glared at him again. “You didn’t act like a man who wanted to know. You lied to me about everything from the moment we met.”

“And yet you know everything about me. How is that, Sophie?” he asked in a dangerously low voice.

She stared stubbornly back at him.

“I came back for you,” he said, surprising the hell out of her.

She furrowed her brow and frowned hard at him. “What are you talking about?”

He ran a hand through his hair and looked briefly away. “I was there undercover. I couldn’t tell you things, Sophie. I couldn’t share anything more of myself than I did. But when it was over, I came back, but you were gone. Disappeared. I searched, and it was as if you didn’t exist.”

Her cheeks warmed under his scrutiny, but she refused to feel guilty. She hadn’t had a choice but to run and run hard. She’d spent the last five months hiding. All because she’d helped him. And betrayed her father in the process.

“Look at me and tell me she’s mine,” Sam said fiercely. “I have to know. Don’t jerk me around about this.”

She raised her gaze until she stared levelly at him. She let calm invade her because she had nothing to hide when it came to this. Oh, she had plenty of secrets, but in this, her conscience was clear.