Free Whirlwind (SAI Book 2) by Lea Hart Page B

crisis. How old are you?”
    “I’m thirty-four, and it’s not a midlife crisis. I’m falling for you because you smell like home…my home. I want to spend time together and see what we have.”
    Pressing her hand against her throat, she tried to take in the enormity of his words, and she couldn’t. “My heart is beating out of my chest. I’m not ready to deal with the idea of an us .” Nothing about her current circumstances would allow her to pursue anything with him.
    She was in the sights of one of the most dangerous criminal organizations on the FBI’s list. Anyone she got close to was going to be a target as well. The fact that she was already attracted to him made the whole thing unbearable. Men like Grady didn’t come along very often, and the thought of passing him up was depressing. “I can’t. I’m up against a difficult situation, and I can’t involve anyone.”
    “That’s the other thing…I’m going to take care of that for you. I figured if you were worried about somebody killing you, then it might make it hard to think about falling in love with me.”
    “Just like that?”
    He shrugged and then replied, “Yeah. It’s not that complicated. I’ve got Lance working on it, and the team is meeting next week to come up with a plan. SAI has seven offices around the country, so I called Hank in Chicago, and he’s working it from his end. We should have enough intel by Monday. We’ll put an initial plan into place, and then we can adapt as more information comes in.”
    “What the…what?” Standing, she stomped away and then stomped back. Her hands went up and then came down. “Of all of the overbearing, autocratic things I’ve ever heard of, this is the worst.” Sara stared at him and waited for him to back off. Then she waited some more while he drank his coffee. “I’m waiting.”
    “For what?”
    “For you to back off. Why are you butting into my life and trying to take over?” She watched him carefully set his cup down and stand up. A satisfied grin filled his face, and he remained eerily calm. Backing off didn’t seem to be within his capabilities.
    He clasped her hands and then kissed her quickly. “I’m taking care of a problem that’s relatively easy for me. I want to kiss you as much as I can, and I know you won’t let me do that until you feel safe.”
    Spinning away, she started to pace. “You have lost your marbles. That is, if you ever had any. Your behavior suggests that perhaps you were never given any.”
    “I have plenty of marbles, and they all work. When you take a breath and calm down, you will realize that I’m right.”
    Heat suffused her face as her heart tripped over itself. She thought about killing him herself. There was no need to wait for him to get in the sights of Louie Tomatoes, because she was going to take care of him herself. She pointed to the door. “Out!” Stomping over, she opened it and waited. “I suggest you leave now, before I lose my temper.”
    “This didn’t go the way I planned.”
    When he stood in front of her, he tried to take her hand, and she wouldn’t let him. How dare he tell her to calm down and then say that he was right? Those were not words that allowed a man to live very long. “Never tell a woman to calm down, unless you plan on an early death.”
    “Is that where it went south?”
    “It started before that, but that drove the nail into the coffin.”
    “This isn’t over. We have a bump in the road. I’ll come back in an hour so we can go over to CA. You can beat up on me and get your frustration out. And then we’ll come up with a plan together.” He kissed her cheek and then stared into her eyes. “I want you, Sara. Just know I’m never giving up.”
    As he strode down her walkway, she felt like screaming. It was too much to handle. He was a bloody land mine. First the confession about his feelings and then the declaration about him handling her situation, and then he told her to calm down when she