He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not

asked you to get them—”
    “You did ask me to get them. I was supposed to bring your things back to Logan’s where you promised you’d be waiting. Why did you come here?”
    They stood on the front porch as she tried to put her key into the lock on the front door. Riley stood with his back to her, his jacket thrown open to expose his gun. Amanda’s hand was shaking so hard now she couldn’t seem to get the key to work. “I’m sorry about lying,” she said. “It’s just that I’d decided to leave and—”
    “You’re leaving without telling Logan?” he asked, glancing back at her. Perhaps noting her expression, he shook his head. “I see. That’s the point, isn’t it? You’re not a prisoner, Amanda. If you’d leveled with him, he would have taken you himself. And he would have made sure you were safe. None of this was necessary.”
    “You don’t understand,” she said, catching her ring of keys as they dropped from the lock.
    “Here, let me.” He reached his arms around her, shielding her with his body as he unlocked the door. “When we go in, stay in the foyer. If something happens, press the panic button on your alarm.”
    “If you’re trying to scare me, you’ve succeeded.”
    “I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to protect you.” He pulled out his gun and shoved the door back, then entered the foyer with her close behind.
    She entered her security code to turn off the alarm, closed and locked the door behind them.
    He nodded his approval. “Wait here.”
    He glanced into the kitchen, then hurried to the living room and disappeared around the corner. A few seconds later he came back into the foyer. In response to her questioning look, he said, “Clear so far. I’ll check the bedrooms.”
    She nodded and waited.
    And waited.
    Something had to have happened to him or he would have been back by now, wouldn’t he? Part of her wanted to run out the front door, but Riley was here because of her, and she couldn’t deal with any more guilt if he were hurt.
    She chewed her bottom lip. Should she call out his name? If the killer was there, he’d hear her. She began shaking so hard she was afraid the killer would hear her teeth chattering. As quietly as possible, she reached down and picked up a heavy paperweight from the decorative table against the foyer wall.
    Suddenly Riley rushed around the corner from the hallway. As soon as she saw his pale, drawn face, she whirled around and slammed her palm against the alarm’s panic button.
    L ogan braked so hard that his car skidded sideways and hopped the curb before settling to a stop on Amanda’s front lawn. Ignoring the cursing coming from Pierce in the passenger seat, Logan threw open the driver’s door and vaulted over the hood.
    He probably looked like a madman, sprinting across the lawn and taking the porch steps two at a time, but he didn’t care. All he could think about was getting to Amanda.
    He’d already spoken to Riley on the phone. Even though Riley had assured him Amanda was okay, that she’d fallen and bumped her head when he’d frightened her by running around the corner into the foyer, he had to see for himself.
    Once inside, he pushed and shoved his way through the uniformed policemen milling around to get into the living room where the activity appeared to be centered. As he paused to survey the room and find her, Pierce came to a halt beside him. His jaw was set and he punched Logan’s arm.
    “Is this how you protect a crime scene in your town? Let every cop and his brother crawl all over it and compromise the evidence?”
    Logan flushed. He knew Pierce was right, but it still wasn’t going to keep him from getting to Amanda. He glanced around, located Riley. “Riley,” he called out. “Clear the room, secure the scene.”
    Riley nodded and Logan surged through the group of officers surrounding the couch, pushing them aside so he could see what they were looking at. Pierce cursed behind him and Logan knew the man thought he was a backwoods fool. Maybe he was, because nothing else mattered but seeing Amanda, seeing how badly she was hurt.
    Suddenly Pierce was beside him, helping him shove everyone out of the way and shouting at them to quit mucking up the crime scene and to get out of the house.
    If Logan wasn’t so frantic to get to Amanda, he would have laughed at the startled looks on his men’s faces and at how quickly they snapped to attention, obeying the FBI agent as if they’d taken orders