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It was late by the time they made it back to the hotel. When Joe threw the door of the suite open, he found Ed pointing a gun at him. The relief on the older man’s face was palpable.
“Am I glad to see you.” He put the gun away. “We tried calling.”
Joe scanned the room behind him. “Lost my phone.”
Patricia came rushing up and wrapped Joe in a hug. “Are you hurt?” She held him at arm’s length and looked him over. The same way his mother had done when he was a kid.
“A bit beaten up, but good.” He stepped around her. “Julia?”
Callum strode into th
e room behind him, followed closely by the rest of the team.
“Um, Joe?” Patricia asked nervously, backing away from the newcomers.
“My team.” As far as Joe was concerned, that was enough introduction. “Where is Julia?” The demand cut through the chaos around him. Silence fell, all eyes on him.
Patricia stirred first. “She’s fine, Joe. She’s fine. She went into our room earlier, saying she needed some peace to think.” Her face softened. “She’s been very worried about you.”
Joe was already striding towards one of the twin rooms. “She’s staying in my room from now on,” he called over his shoulder, uncaring as to what anybody thought about his declaration. All he could think about was getting to Julia.
As the volume rose behind him, Joe let himself into Julia’s room. One small lamp let off a yellow glow beside a pristine bed. The other bed had a suitcase on top of it, with clothes scattered over the surface. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which bed belonged to Julia.
Joe scanned the room. Somewhere small, that was where she’d be, if she was feeling insecure. The bathroom door was ajar, and he covered the distance to it. No Julia. That left the closet. He opened the door, saw the light from her ever-present iPad and felt something settle inside of him.
“Hey, you.” He crouched in front of the open door.
Julia was sitting on the floor, staring at her iPad and hugging her knees. “Joe?” Her eyes went wide. The iPad fell to the floor.
“Hey, baby.” He smiled at her, burying his need to grab her and hold her, in case he spooked her.
“Joe!” She launched herself at him, making him land on his backside.
Julia straddled his legs and wrapped her arms tight around him. She pressed her face in the crook of his neck, and he felt the wetness of her tears. He held her fast against him as a deep peace flooded his body.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m okay.”
Her sobs were quiet, as though she was afraid to be heard. Joe scooted them back until he was leaning against the end of the bed. The soft light wrapped around them like a blanket and everything felt right with the world. Joe was vaguely aware of the murmur of voices outside the bedroom door, but all that mattered was the woman in his arms. He cooed nonsense to her as she cried, soothing her with his touch, breathing her in and letting the warmth of her body ease his lingering tension. He let her cry it out even though he knew there were people outside waiting to talk to them. None of that was as important as Julia. Nothing was as important as Julia ever.
“I thought you’d been killed.” Her words were a trembling breath against his throat.
He stroked up her back until he clasped her head. “I’m hard to kill.”
“You scared me,” she whispered.
“I know. I’m sorry.” He pressed her closer to him, merging their heat.
“You can’t die.” It was a desperate declaration. Joe stilled, his instincts hearing something in her words that his brain told him was simply wishful thinking.
“Why’s that?” he murmured.
It felt as though his heart was pounding hard enough to hear.
“Because you’re Joe.”
He would have been disappointed, but he heard something more in her voice, something she wasn’t saying. Something he had to hear her say.
“Is that it? That’s the only reason?” He kept his tone soft, a gentle tease.
