She glared.

“Who’s the woman?” She snapped.

“An FBI agent. She’s going to help us catch this man. She’s been posing as a new patient who moved here because her husband was transferred to another police department…but I’m not sure that’s going to work too well now since I was supposed to be that police officer,” I told her honestly.

She glared.

“And what does being a fake husband make you have to do?” She asked, clearly not happy with my answer.

I shrugged. “Go to doctor’s appointments. Be seen with her in public. Stay in the same place at night.”

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline.

“And what about my appointments?” She asked.

I saw where she was going with it, and I knew she wouldn’t like my answer.

“I can’t go to them.”

And I couldn’t.

Not if this was to be authentic and believable.

“What about the birth of our child…will you be able to come then?” She asked calmly.

“If he’s caught,” I said carefully.

She dropped her hand from my face and stood there, looking up at the ceiling.

Her tears had never abated, and I felt about six inches high.

“Please get off me,” she said. “Please.”

“We can have each other at night,” I told her. “I love you.”

Those words seemed to make her snap.

She pushed me away from her with enough force that I fell backwards, my ass planting on the ground solidly.

And I was also far enough away that she almost had the door open.

Almost.

“This doesn’t change anything,” she growled, yanking on the door.

I slammed my hand down to stop her progress.

“It has to look real!” I yelled at her.

“You want to have real, use me! I’m real! You put this baby inside of me, maybe you should use me since I’m actually yours!” She yelled, waving her hands in the air in true Pena Tantrum fashion.

My eyes narrowed, then I moved forward until I could only make out the whites of her eyes.

“I can’t use you. Because you’re mine, and I don’t ever want you on that man’s radar,” I hissed, crowding her into the dirty, grunge covered wall once again.

She pushed at my shoulders, but I didn’t budge.

“Get off me!” She screamed, drawing the attention of the entire bar I was sure.

I pulled back and let her escape, and immediately saw Dane.

Dane had taken my place on the Lisette’s arm. He looked at me in concern, but he didn’t intervene.

Nobody did, in fact.

I followed Nikki out of the bar.

Then followed her to her car.

Then followed her straight to her apartment.

When I got to her front door, I tried the handle, and was surprised to feel it unlocked.

So she wasn’t too mad at me, otherwise she would’ve locked the door.

Right?

Wrong.

When I pushed the door open to her apartment, I was startled by what I saw.

She was on her knees in the middle of the living room.

She was facing away from me, her chest up tight to the coffee table as she looked at something with such focus that I wasn’t sure what to think.

“Nikki?” I called, walking up behind her slowly.

She looked over her shoulder at me, and I read the determination there.

The understanding.

The resignation.

“Come look at this, Michael,” she said softly.

As I made my way up to her side, I looked down, and my knees went weak at what I saw.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked softly, dropping down to my knees beside her.

My knees sank down into the plush carpet.

The pretty purple carpet that Nikki just ‘had to have’ when we were at Lowe’s one weekend looking for paint thinner.

And I thought to myself, ‘this’ll look good in the baby’s room.’

“You need to choose, Michael. The killer and your duties, or me. Because I can’t do this anymore. I can’t put my life on hold, wondering how long it’ll be before you come back. Wonder if you’ll make it to the birth of our little girl. Wondering if this killer will take you from us. I just can’t Michael. So choose. Them, or us.”

I closed my eyes, and made the easiest decision of my life.

“I gotta go.”

Chapter 17

Run like Dean just saw you crash the Impala.

-T-shirt

Nikki

My emotions were swirling around me like a black funnel cloud of doom.

I’d given him my ultimatum, and he’d chosen.

It hadn’t been what I thought he’d choose, but he’d chosen, nonetheless.

I walked up to the elevator from the parking garage, and depressed the button that would take me down to the ground level, allowing me to the cross the breezeway to my destination.

Another doctor’s appointment.

This would be my four month checkup, and the gender reveal.

Even though I’d technically had that two weeks ago when I’d gone to Georgia who’d insisted on doing an ultrasound.

See, it turned out, that we saw each other quite a bit, working in the same hospital.

I’d started my job on the labor and delivery floor a little over a month ago, and I’d had a freakin’ blast doing it.

So far, I’d delivered twelve babies.

All of them happy and healthy.

The elevator dinged when the doors open, but I was in my own little world thinking about my job, which meant I didn’t see the man standing in the elevator until he spoke.

“Going down?” An amused male voice asked.

I looked up, and my heart started to race.

“Michael,” I breathed, tears starting to form in my eyes.

He smiled, and held out his hand.

“Come on, or we’ll be late,” he said laughingly.

I blinked, but took his hand and made my way into the elevator.

“How’d you know where I would be?” I asked softly.

My eyes stayed firmly planted on the floor, though.

Because I didn’t want to believe he was here, and look up to see that I’d imagined it all.

That would be cruel, but life was a bitch like that.

“Your best friend,” he said.

I could hear the smile in his voice, and if Georgia had been in the room with me right then, I’d have punched her for not telling me.

We rode the elevator in silence.

Me not saying anything because I just didn’t know what to say.

Him not saying anything because I was sure he was waiting for me to flip out on him.

Something I wouldn’t do at my place of business.

When the elevator doors opened, I made my way out with Michael directly at my back.

I could feel his warmth from the top of my shoulders to the backs of my thighs.

“Nikki, wait,” he said softly.

The pain in his voice had me turning sharply, looking at him in worry.

“What?” I asked.

He closed his eyes, and I realized just how tired he looked.

“I told them I couldn’t do it. And I’m sorry. I knew if I stayed there with you last night, I’d put it off, and I needed to get it done,” he answered.

“Michael, I wouldn’t say what you did didn’t hurt, but I understand. I gave you the night to think it over, and I meant it. I knew you’d make the right decision,” I told him.

He nodded, his eyes shifting from my eyes to my lips where I was currently worrying the bottom one with my teeth.

“I love you,” he said again.

My heart melted at those words.

The same ones that had come out of his mouth last night.

The ones I hadn’t returned because I couldn’t.

Today, though, knowing he would be staying with us. Giving us a chance.

I said it back to him.

Meaning it with all my heart.

“I love you more,” I said simply.

His rumbled laugh warmed my insides when he pulled me into his arms.

“I’m gonna fuck up,” he promised.

I snorted.

“You and me both, big boy,” I shot back.

“I don’t know anything about kids.” He informed me.

I looked up into his eyes and said, “Really? You’re pulling that card?”

I turned on my heel and started walking inside, very aware of the man at my back.