06 Fatal Mistake by Marie Force Read Free Book Online Page B

security on the line. I hope you understand.”
    Sam didn’t need him to confirm where they’d be going. Virginia had suffered significant losses in the war zone in the last year. It stood to reason that President Nelson would ask members of the commonwealth’s congressional delegation to go with him.
    “How will you get where you’re going?”
    “On Air Force One .” His eyes lit up as he said the words. “How freaking cool is that?”
    “Pretty darned cool,” she said, even though her insides had gone cold at the thought of her beloved husband flying into a war zone on a gigantic airplane that bore the flag of the United States of America. “Won’t it be dangerous?”
    He thought about that for a second, probably trying to find a way to answer her question without giving anything away. “Maybe a little, but the trip is top secret. No one will know. Even the reporters that come with us won’t know where we’re going until we’re there.” Tipping his head, he eyed her. “What’re you thinking?”
    “It scares me to think of you flying into somewhere dangerous.”
    “I’ll be on the most secure airplane in the world, babe. Nothing to worry about.”
    “Sure,” she said. “Whatever you say.”
    He put his arm around her and drew her in close.
    She nuzzled her nose into his neck, drinking in the scent of the cologne he’d recently applied. It was one of her favorite smells in the entire world. “Would you stay home if I asked you to?”
    “Would you stay home today if I asked you to?”
    “Yes,” she said with a sigh, his point clear. “But you’d never ask me to.”
    “No, I wouldn’t.”
    “It scares me.”
    “It scares me every time you walk out that door, knowing there’re people out there who hate you just because of the badge you carry. Not to mention your psycho ex-husband who hates you because you love me. It scares me to know that you can nearly get shot in the face when you stop to buy a bagel.”
    Nick pressed a line of kisses over the fading scar on her face, earned during a robbery she walked in on over the summer. When she’d jumped the guy from behind, he’d pistol-whipped her face, laying open her cheek.
    “I don’t like it when you pit your much bigger fears against my smaller, mostly insignificant fears.”
    His chuckle rumbled from his chest as he pressed another kiss to the top of her head. “I’m not a hundred percent sure I can go yet. It’ll take some juggling of campaign events.”
    Was it wrong of her to hope he couldn’t get out of them? “But you want to go. Right?”
    “Babe... It’s the president and Air Force One . Yeah, I want to go—but not just because of the super cool plane. Where we’re going, why we’re going... It’s important or I’d never do it.”
    “I understand.”
    “Do you really?”
    “Not yet, but I’ll try to get there by the time you go.”
    “While you were in the shower I was thinking about Scotty. With Willie being murdered, I might need to stick around for him.”
    “It’s a quick trip, right?”
    “They said we’d be gone about forty hours total.”
    “I can handle things here for forty hours.”
    He squeezed her again and kissed her. “You’re the best wife ever.”
    “We both know that’s not true.”
    “You’re the best wife I’ve ever had.”
    Sam laughed and slugged his arm as she got up. “I walked right into that. Can you and your detail give me a lift to HQ on the way to the Hill?” It was out of their way, but she knew he would do it if he could.
    “Happy to, but where’s your car?”
    “Cruz is meeting me there with it. I didn’t want to stink it up.”
    “So how’d you get home?”
    “I stunk up a patrol car.”
    “You’re all heart, babe.”
    “Aren’t I?”
    “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
    “I’ll be quick.” In the bedroom across the hall that served as her closet, Sam found a clean pair of jeans folded neatly on a shelf that was now devoted to jeans. The unusual