Page 89 of Ice Covered Heart

“Hunter. Put me down. Now. This is not funny.”

He put her down, let her feet touch the hardwood floors, but when she would have sprang away from him, he caged her between his body and the wall. “I wasn’t laughing.” He’d been dead serious ever since the freaking explosion. “I don’t happen to think it’s funny that you could have been blown into a thousand pieces right in front of me.” Rage cracked in his voice as he thought of those flames...

His vehicle.

His client.

His world. Because she wasn’t just a client. She never, ever had been. He’d been so confident that he could keep her safe.

He’d never considered a freaking car bomb. What in the hell? First a bullet, now a bomb? Who was this bastard after her?

She shook her head, sending locks flying around her face. Her chin lifted, that determined lift she did so well. “I wasn’t blown into a thousand pieces.”

“Because of pure luck.” His palms shoved into the wall on either side of her head. “You’re not getting rid of me.” She just needed to think again on that score.

“You could have died in the SUV, Hunter! If you’d been in there with me, you could have died!”

Uh, hadn’t he just said that she⁠—

“If you’d been in there with me, if we’d left that location together in your SUV, then we would have both blown up. But you wanted to talk to Jonah and Gabriel, and I got out after you—you staying to talk with them saved⁠—”

“No.” Growled as he cut into her words. “You don’t get it, Shelby.”

“Then make me get it, Hunter.” Her eyes blazed at him.

Oh, baby, what you do to me. “Two options.” He inhaled and drew in her scent…her scent and the left-over scent of ash. Fire. Hell. “Option one, someone put a bomb on my ride with a timer. And that means the bomb would have gone off whenever the timer got down to zero.”

She nodded.

“If we’d both been inside when the timer finished its countdown, then we both would have died.”

A heaving inhale. “Yes.”

“Highly unlikely scenario. Because that would mean the car could also explode when no one was inside, and what good would that do? Why would the perp go to all the trouble of planting a bomb only to have it kill no one? Makes no sense.”

Her tongue snaked out, wetting her lower lip.

“Option two.” His eyes were now locked too hard on her mouth. Nothing he could do about that. She had a delectable mouth, and he wanted it. “Option two is that our bomb had a remote detonator on it. Meaning the perp could choose when it would explode.”

“Hunter?”

Jaw tight, his eyes lifted. Caught hers. “That means he was there, baby. Right there. Watching. He knew you were in the SUV. He knew I wasn’t. The bomb went off because it was supposed to kill you. You, not me. I basically put you in a fucking coffin, and I left you to die.”

Her head shook. “No.”

“Yes.” Bit off. “I rushed you into that house after the explosion because I feared he was still out there. Since the bomb didn’t kill you, I didn’t want to risk him taking another shot at you.” Literally, another damn gunshot. “I told Jonah what I suspected before I left the Shiloh estate. He had his men combing the area around the house. I stayed close to you. I was not letting you out of my sight.” Even though he had wanted to hunt the bastard himself. “I didn’t trust any of the cops with your safety. I don’t know them. As far as I’m concerned, everyone in this town could be a suspect.”

“Not…not Jonah. He was right there⁠—”

“He could’ve had the detonator in his pocket. Could have linked the bomb to his phone. It could have been him. It could have been Gabriel. Or it could have been some bastard watching in the woods. I don’t know, and that’s what is eating me alive. I was right there. I let this happen.”

“You didn’t⁠—”

“You want to end our partnership.” Not happening. No way.

“I didn’t think of the risk to you. It’s not right for you to be in danger because of me!”

“I don’t care about fucking risk or danger. I care about you.” He knew his tone was too rough. Nothing Hunter could do about it. “There have been two attempts on your life so far.” He was aware of every hard beat of his heart. “And a girl is dead in this town. You really think I’m just going to turn away, walk away, and leave you to face a killer on your own?”