Shiver

you? Not Sanders, I’m willing to bet. One of the other three.”
    “What does it matter? It’s true, isn’t it?” Although she was giving him one last chance, she did not expect him to say no, and he didn’t. Instead, he looked at her without saying anything at all for a moment, then slowly inclined his head: yes. Okay, well, now she’d had it straight from the horse’s mouth. “The point is, I have to judge this for myself.”
    “I’ve kept you safe so far, haven’t I? You and Tyler. I’ll see you through this, I promise.”
    “Wait a minute. What happened to that whole ‘if I can’ thing?”
    The slight flicker of his eyelashes told her that he remembered his qualified promise when they had first met: I’ll keep you alive. If I can.
    She had no doubt that he was telling the truth: he would do his absolute best. It was the “if” part that was bothering her.
    “Have a little faith in me, Sam.” He said it very quietly. His eyes had gone dark. His face had changed in some subtle way that she couldn’t quite pinpoint, but he looked tough and capable and like somebody she could absolutely rely on in a pinch.
    Have a little faith in me. Oh, God, she wanted to. But if she had learned one thing over the years, it was that the only person she could rely on was herself.
    “I have to think of Tyler,” she said. “He only has me to look out for him.”
    “I’m thinking of Tyler, too. On your own, you two would be sitting ducks.” His eyes raked her, and then when they met hers again they had turned hard. “Look, we can do this one of two ways. I can dog every step you take until the danger’s passed, and by that I mean from here on out I sleep on the floor outside your bedroom door, I eat when you eat, I stand outside the bathroom while you’re in it—” He broke off to give her a malicious smile. “I see from your expression you’re getting my drift—or you can convince me that you’re not just going to grab Tyler and bolt because something spooked you and you think it’s a good idea.”
    She glared at him. “You say that like you think I’m not capable of making a sound judgment about what to do. I am, I promise you. What’s it to you, anyway?”
    “I got you into this. I mean to get you out. And yes, I do think you’re capable of making a sound judgment about what to do. I just don’t think you completely understand the situation.”
    “What don’t I understand?”
    He shrugged. “How ruthless the Zetas are, for one thing.”
    “So, bottom line, I should just trust your judgment and do what you tell me.”
    The faintest suggestion of a smile touched his mouth. “There you go. Bingo.”
    Her lips pursed. She eyed him. “Here’s what I don’t think you understand. Sanders—the marshals—have no interest in protecting Tyler and me. If you were to have to go to the hospital, say, to get your leg treated—”
    “Won’t happen,” he interjected. “It’s getting all better. It’ssore, but I’ll live. A little time, a little ointment, a few Band-Aids, and I’ll be good as new.”
    Sam frowned doubtfully. “Band-Aids?”
    “Band-Aids,” he repeated, then twitched his robe aside so that she could see his leg. As he’d said, instead of yards of gauze over layers of sterile padding, which was what had adorned his thigh the last time she’d seen it, a single large Band-Aid was plastered over the place where the bullet had gone in. She goggled at it.
    “See?”
    From practically the hem of his boxers to the top of his knee, his thigh was black and blue. It still looked slightly swollen and definitely painful, but somehow the Band-Aid made it look much less potentially disabling than before.
    “It looks better,” she admitted.
    “I heal fast.” He frowned at her. “How about you give me your word that you won’t go running off without at least giving me a heads-up first?”
    “You’d stop me,” she objected.
    The flicker in his eyes told her that she’d hit the nail on the head. But he didn’t admit it. “Hell, I’d probably go with you. Because I’m assuming that you wouldn’t go haring off on your own without good reason, and if you come across a reason good enough to make you think you ought to take Tyler and run, then I should probably be hauling ass out of here, too.”
    “You are so full of crap.”
    Again he almost smiled. “Maybe.” His eyes held hers. “Comeon, Sam. Are you really going to make me sleep on the floor outside your door