Page 110 of Hold Your Breath

“Okay?” He looked a little startled. “That was, well, easier than I expected.”

“There are conditions.”

“Ah.” Sitting back, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Shoot.”

“I want to contribute. Financially.”

He grunted. Lou was beginning to be able to translate his nonverbal sounds. That grunt was not agreement. She narrowed her eyes. “Nonnegotiable. You know, my neighbor has this nice little pop-up camper parked by his woodpile. I bet he’d let me buy that baby for a song. It’s only, what, fifty years old or so, and once I got the packrats to move out—or at least tamed them a little—it’d be a cozy little nest for me.”

“Fine.Somefinancial contribution.”

The emphasis on “some” concerned her, but she accepted the concession. “I’ll need complete control of the whiteboard until we solve the Willard situation.”

His grin was back. “Agreed.”

Tapping her chin in thought, she gave a nod. “Okay.”

“That’s it?”

“For now.”

He still looked wary. “I’d never try to take away your independence. You know that, right?”

“Of course,” she said. “In the hospital, I had a lot of time to think, and I realized that loving you doesn’t make me weaker. To save you, I dove into a frozen reservoir, killed a guy, and almost died.” He flinched, and she gave him an apologetic grimace. “Loving you actually made me into kind of a badass.”

He extended his hand, as if to shake to cement their deal. When she put her hand in his, he pulled her toward him instead. This time, the kiss was even longer and more thorough. It didn’t end until someone cleared their throat. Loudly.

Pulling back, Lou put on her customer-service smile as she turned to look at the throat-clearer with eyes that didn’t want to focus. “Sorry about that. What can I get… Oh, Ian. Hey.”

He gave a short nod. His expression was grim, even more so than it had been at the bar in Liverton. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Callum stiffen, as if bracing himself for trouble.

“Lou. Callum.” Ian practically growled the terse greeting. “We’ve got a problem.”

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