the next part of his makeshift plan.
Her eyes wide and darkening with fear, she complied, hugging her child to her chest without taking her focus from him.
He was tempted to lift his hand and cup her face—to comfort her—but that would lead his emotions in a direction he couldn’t go. Wouldn’t go, especially when he needed to stay focused. He had to keep his mind on the man pursuing her. “I’m going to kiss you and hope this guy thinks we’re having a little fun back here.”
“But—” She tried to ease away.
Footsteps closed in on them, now only a few yards away. Derrick held his gun at the ready while sliding his other hand into the soft silkiness of her hair to stop her from squirming away. Keeping enough distance between them so the baby could breath, he lowered his head. Gina closed her eyes, the long lashes settling on high cheekbones.
At the touch of their lips, years melted away and he was instantly back at Southern Oregon University the night before she’d left in their senior year. Her citrus scent wrapped around him, and it took everything he was made of not to deepen the kiss.
With sheer force of will, he pulled his mind from her and watched out of the corner of his eye. A figure emerged from the fog yet hung back in the building’s shadows. Tall and bulky, he stilled his feet at the sight of them, darkness fully cloaking his face.
Derrick felt the man’s eyes linger on them. He gripped his gun tighter, his finger on the trigger, ready to use. His muscles tensed as he waited for a bullet to fly through the night. But he stayed his course, even when a crash of adrenaline urged him to flee.
Suddenly the man huffed out of the shadows. Six-two, maybe three, he wore an oversize jacket, his hood up. He focused on his feet as he walked and pulled the hood tighter to his face, preventing Derrick from catching any identifying features. He hurried past them and down the alley.
If Derrick was alone he’d go after the man, but he had Gina and a baby to think of. Gina. She was here now. In front of him. Connected to him.
He lifted his head. When her eyes fluttered open, he stared into the warm brown color and wondered what to do next. The danger of a gunshot may have passed, but it had taken only one kiss to expose his heart to a danger he’d barely survived once and wasn’t sure he’d survive again.
TWO
Shaken, Gina let Derrick hurry her through the spitting rain to his SUV.
“Normally I’d wait for the police to arrive,” he said as he opened the passenger door. “But your attacker is still in the area, and it’s better to move you to a safe location.”
She climbed in and settled Sophia on her lap. Her hands trembled as she tightened the Pooh blanket around the sleeping child.
She’d opened her eyes in time to see Lilly’s killer in the alley. He’d come close—too close. The sight of him had frightened her enough to close her eyes again and lean farther into the man shielding her. If not for Derrick...
A shudder claimed her body and she forced the thought away. He had responded and he was here now. That was all that mattered.
She watched him run around the front of his vehicle, the streetlight highlighting his sandy-blond hair. He carried himself with more confidence than she remembered, and when the creep had closed in on them, she’d seen an internal strength Derrick hadn’t possessed in college.
Jaw clamped tight, he slid behind the wheel and jerked his door closed with a resounding thud. He was angry or irritated or both. He didn’t say a word but cranked the engine and shifted into gear. Sophia stirred and Gina stroked her back. How close Gina had come to losing her.
She bowed her head. Thank You for keeping her safe, Father. Please keep watching over her. Over us.
Derrick clicked on the signal, drawing her attention.
She looked around. “Where are we going?”
“We’ll start by driving around to make sure we’ve lost him. Then head to my place to regroup.” He turned onto a major street.
Gina suddenly realized Sophia wasn’t in a car seat. “I’m grateful for your help, Derrick, more grateful than you know, but I don’t want to take Sophia on a highway without a car seat. Can you please stay on side streets?”
“I won’t leave the area,” he said, not bothering to look at her.
He clearly wasn’t glad to see her, but then she’d expected that reaction. She hadn’t expected this terrible remorse for asking for his help when she’d treated him so poorly to well up and bring tears to her eyes. Being a stand-up guy, he had no alternative but to come to her rescue. She knew she’d put him in a difficult position.
Could she let him assist them under those conditions? Could she afford not to, despite the way she felt? Given any other choice, she’d handle this herself as she did everything else in life, but she couldn’t risk Sophia’s life.
Like it or not, she needed him to protect them. Plus he could help find her brother, Jon’s, killer.
She glanced at the set of his jaw, his rigid posture. Still, she wanted him to choose to help them and not feel forced into it by his chivalrous nature. Now that the immediate danger had passed, she needed to give him an easy out.
Praying he wouldn’t actually take her up on her offer, she faced him. “You could drop us off at the nearest MAX station and I can—”
“You’re kidding, right?” He whipped his head around to stare at her. “A man kills your friend then comes after you, and you think I’m going to drop you off at a public train station? Un-be-lievable.”
“Once you’re sure he hasn’t followed us, we should be safe until I can find another investigator.” She tried to imbue her voice with her usual confidence, but she couldn’t manage it.
“Look.” Derrick tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. “I get that you don’t want to be around me, but I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you’re okay. So sit back and relax while I keep a watch on the streets.” He jerked a hand free and cranked up the heater.
Sit back and relax—right. Like she could unwind when a man had tried to kill her. Twice. Or chill out in any way with Derrick at her side. She’d gotten what she’d wanted, though. He’d willingly agreed to help them, but that meant they’d be thrown together and clearly he still had an effect on her.
Sophia shifted and Gina knew she owed it to the baby to at least try to calm down. If she didn’t, she’d burn out, and Sophia needed her. She concentrated on the heat flowing under the dash. The temperature had dipped a good ten degrees below normal February temperatures from what she could remember of her college days in Oregon. She moved her soaked shoes under the flowing air, then settled deeper into Derrick’s jacket and inhaled his woodsy scent clinging to it.
She drifted back to their college days. To that last day. Breaking up. Saying goodbye. Her heart a mass of pain.
What would her life have been like if she hadn’t broken things off with him? Would Derrick have stood by her when Jon died, leaving Gina to raise Sophia alone, or would he have run like her recent ex-fiancé, Ben?
Waste of time to think about it.
Sure, they’d loved each other in college, but she’d soon learned that he couldn’t commit to a long-term relationship. Why, she wasn’t sure, and it didn’t matter. Men who couldn’t commit and broken promises were the story of her life. Starting with her minister father, whose church was more important than her. Always more important. Then Derrick and Ben.
Three strikes and she was out. She was over trying to find a man who’d be there for her. So over it.
It’s been nine years. Maybe Derrick changed.
Didn’t matter. Not even if she was interested. And after Ben’s recent rejection, she wasn’t