She sighed. “It speaks so well of you that you have no intention of being a deadbeat dad. But on the other hand, that would foster an even greater dependence on you, and I don’t want to need you because of your money.” She rubbed her forehead where a headache had started to bloom. “Also, I have a mother who’s been a bitch to me, but she’s getting elderly. Maybe she’s thought better about how she’s always taken Austin’s side. I don’t know, because I don’t have my old phone, and I haven’t dared to access my email. And I lived in Atlanta a long damn time. I have friends, and I know people. They deserve to know what happened to me, and I should be able to use my real name again.”

“You’d be putting both yourself and the baby in danger!”

Breathing hard, she glared at him. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You’ll be actively courting weeks of continued danger that I’m supposed to accept without question, because… what, I’m supposed to be happy that you want to date me—later—at a time that is more convenient for you and your coven? But when I want to assert my right to take back control of my life, you get to dictate that it isn’t okay? You say you want a negotiation, but I’m not buying what you’re putting on the table.”

He roared, “You can’t defend yourself—you haven’t any training yet!”

“Well, I’d better go back and start getting some, hadn’t I?” She wanted to touch him so badly it almost broke through her resolve, but she stiffened her spine and held her ground. “You want time? Great. You’ve got your eighteen weeks to clean up your shit, and then I’m coming home. And if you think you’re good enough to take out this mysterious bad guy of yours, then you’re good enough to keep me safe while I’m there, so maybe this will be what you need to shake something loose. It will sure as hell be your opportunity to step up.”

“I’m too angry to talk right now,” he said over his shoulder. His voice had gone hoarse. “Get the fuck out of my face.”

Her lips tightened. “Right. I’ve got a plane to catch anyway.”

“Don’t go,” he whispered.

She had planned it all carefully. She would fly in only to see what he had to say. She wouldn’t stay, she wouldn’t weaken and sleep with him again no matter how much she was tempted, and she would be back in her wonderful turret bedroom before dawn.

But now she hesitated. What if this was the last time she saw him? He would be pushing harder than ever to finish what he had started before she returned to Atlanta.