“Don’t see any weapons, but they have coats on.”
“How many?”
“Five. Two by the vehicle and three on their way here.”
The three men came up to the truck, and A.J. rolled the window down a fraction. “Do you have the money?” he asked.
Taylor swore and held up the briefcase for A.J. to see.
“Pass it to me through the window.”
A.J. took the case and set it in the seat beside him, never taking his eyes off Taylor or the other two men just behind him.
The passenger side door was jerked open. A man with a gun stood silhouetted against the moon. Sienna kicked out and the man grunted as the gun discharged. She was up and out from under the dashboard, hitting the man’s nose with the heel of her hand. She heard glass shatter as he went down in a heap. Racing around to the other side of the truck, she was faced with another of Taylor’s flunkies. With quick and efficient movements, she brought him down, too.
The two by the car had already jumped in and sped toward the exit, only to be blocked by the FBI cars pouring onto the scene.
A.J. was still seated, struggling with a man who’d shoved a gun through the broken window.
The gun went off in a series of loud blasts. As the hammer clicked against an empty chamber, A.J. opened the door and knocked the man to the ground where Sienna held him immobile with her gun.
A.J.’s head whipped around, looking for Taylor.
“Don’t do it. Wait for backup,” she ordered.
“Sorry, Sienna, but he’s mine,” he said. A.J. took off and Sienna’s eyes followed him. Taylor was heading for a boat at a nearby pier.
Sienna called out to A.J., but he didn’t heed her. She felt as if her heart was being split in two. The thought of losing him cut her so deep, she gasped.
The FBI agents arrived, and as soon as an agent took over for her, Sienna headed after A.J.
Sienna spotted A.J. as he reached the end of the pier. Taylor stopped, a gun materializing in his hand. A.J. never slowed and his momentum took them both off the pier into the water below.
When she reached the edge of the pier, they were nowhere to be found. She lived a lifetime in those few moments, knowing that loving him would kill her, knowing that the thought of him in danger every day would be too much for her to endure.
Finally, he surfaced, and relief flashed through her. Although he was safe, Sienna knew that he had been hers to take, but he could never be hers to hold.
* * *
The next few hours were filled with paperwork and booking the perpetrators, talking to the FBI.
Finally, they were free to leave.
“Come to my apartment, Sienna. I want to make love to you all night on the beach.”
“I can’t.”
“Later?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What are you saying?”
“All this time you’ve been bucking procedure and doing what you want. Taking risks. It wouldn’t work between us, A.J. Just leave it at that.”
“I’m not leaving it like that. I love you. Don’t you get it? Nothing means more to me now than you do.”
The look on his face broke her heart, but the emotions inside her were too overwhelming, swamping her like a tidal wave. She felt as if she were drowning in them. “I can’t be with a man who risks too much.”