And then she would make plans to leave El Paso behind, because the sanctuary she so longed for no longer felt safe.
Sitting in the dark, in her favorite chair, somehow she must have drifted off for a moment. She was awakened to the sound of someone knocking at the door.
With the nightmare memories of the Angel still close, her first thought was for her daughter. She ran to Ava’s room to check on her, and then Kara slipped into her room and quickly unlocked the gun safe hidden in her closet. Her fingers shook as she loaded the Glock and released the safety.
She peeked through the living room window and saw a dark silhouette standing on her front porch. She couldn’t make out the figure.
Kara tucked the weapon behind her back and slowly opened the door. She slammed it again as she faced the past she’d never be free of, and it had nothing to do with the Angel.
Before the door closed, Davis wedged his foot in, keeping her from closing it.
“What the hell are you doing here, Davis? Get out, I don’t want you here,” she managed to whisper, keeping her voice as low as possible in spite of the emotion it carried. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
He shoved the door open and came inside, facing her for the first time in six years.
“Dammit, Kara, I think you know why I’m here. I came because we need to talk about our daughter. Why the hell didn’t you tell me I had a child?”
She’d expected those words since she left DC, and yet hearing them aloud, it was as if her worst nightmare had been confirmed.
She couldn’t hide from the past any longer. She carefully backed away when he got too close.
“I don’t want you here. You made your feelings perfectly clear when you decided The Job was more important to you than I was. Nothing you have to say to me now matters, and I chose not to tell you about Ava because as far as I’m concerned she’s none of your business. I don’t want her part of the work you do.”
Anger flashed in his eyes as he stepped closer and she turned away.
The gun he spotted stopped him dead in his tracks. “You’re carrying a weapon?” In the beginning weeks of working at the Bureau, Kara had detested weapons. She still remembered how Davis had to force her into learning how to use one when they were working the Angel case. She’d taken to it easily enough. Almost as easily as she’d given him her heart.
Kara pushed those memories aside. She couldn’t think about loving Davis now. Not when the flesh-and-blood version of him was standing close enough to feel each heartbeat, reminding her of all the times past when he’d held her close after making love. She needed to remain strong. Anger was the only way.
“Why did you come here, Davis?” she hissed. “Why couldn’t you just leave it alone? I don’t want you here.”
“You don’t want me here?” Davis asked incredulously. He stepped into the light of the TV and looked at her with all the anger and resentment she’d dreaded for so long. “When were you planning on telling me I had a daughter, Kara?”
For a moment, she couldn’t get words to come out of her mouth. Her stormy gaze slipped over him in disbelief.
“Never. I never planned to tell you about Ava.”
He still looked the same. How was that possible? Handsome. Strong. Familiar. Incredibly sexy. But then, she’d seen him each night in her dreams. She knew every inch of him by heart, and every inch of Davis Martin still possessed the power to take her breath away and make her long for him to the point of giving up everything to be with him.
But not her daughter.
She watched Davis struggle with her answer. She wouldn’t blame him if he hated her for not sharing their child. She almost hoped he did. It would make seeing him again easier.
“Dammit, Kara, didn’t you think I had the right to know I’d fathered a child from our—”
“From our what? Our affair? Why?” She stood defiantly before him, refusing to give in to the need to back away