“I don’t know. It could be a few days, maybe a week. I don’t know.” She lifted her shoulders.
“Look, baling shouldn’t take more than a few days, and they don’t know if Matt’s out of commission for sure. With him, he’ll be out there doing something. Dad’s there, he can run the tractor. I’d be surprised if they weren’t mostly done by the time I’d fly there, anyway. Let’s not make concrete plans just yet, okay? Let’s get you to Texas, sort out what’s really going on, and take it from there, okay?” Riley couldn’t say for sure what his schedule was going to be or where he was going. It was the downside to living like he did. He couldn’t offer more than a vague idea of what the future could hold to her.
“I don’t know...”
“Please, just give me one chance? One that’s all I’m asking for. If I blow it, fine. Whatever. I screwed up. But give me one opportunity?” He’d never begged a woman for anything in his life like he wanted this. It was new and scary territory.
Erin stared up at him for several long moments.
“One chance,” she said.
“I’ll take it.” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her brow. “What did I do to deserve you?”
“Nothing that I’m aware of.”
“Ouch.” He covered his heart with his hands and winced, earning a chuckle and a half smile from Erin. Her smile was what drew him to her picture in the very beginning, and now it was what he lived for.
He was going to show her he was worth taking a chance on. How, he didn’t know, but he’d figure it out.
15.
MONDAY. TRANS-ATLANTIC Flight.
Erin took her laptop from Riley and set it up on the tiny tray table in front of her. Her ears kept trying to pop without success as the massive air bus reached cruising altitude.
“Anything I can do?” he asked.
“No. Everything we salvaged was digital.”
“You want me to go through it? You could watch a movie.”
“Thanks, but I should do this. I mean, what if there’s confidential information or details about a new site? We don’t know what we’re looking for.”
“If Mark was involved...”
Erin swallowed. The possible connection to Mark had her nervous. There wasn’t anyone else who operated in Erbil with the kind of equipment or manpower that had issue with her. Before, when she’d thought this was a personal attack against her, she’d understood what was going on, even if the how didn’t make sense. With Mark factored in it was obvious he’d put her kidnappers up to the job.
But why?
She had no idea.
But she had eleven hours to figure it out.
“If you don’t need my assistance, I guess I’ll watch a movie.” Riley lowered his tray table and set the bag of rescued discs on it in easy reach for her.
“One of us should be having some fun.” She blew out a breath and plugged the first drive into her laptop.
If Mark had organized her kidnapping, it wasn’t a huge leap to assume he’d also killed her coworker, Osman Elahi, which landed this information in her lap. That made a lot more sense. If Osman had something on Mark that resulted in her death, she was an even easier target for Allied Security. If he was willing to kill for the information, then whatever she had was something worth dying for.
She worked her way through the first thumb drive, clicking through folders, opening reports. It was all mundane things for projects she’d already begun working on. Some of it she saved to file away later for whoever took this job after her. There was no reason to recreate work now that she’d found it, but there was nothing damning on the drive.
Erin switched it out for another, pausing for a moment to stare at Riley’s screen. Whatever he was watching had a lot of explosions. It was a hell of a lot more interesting than geology reports. She focused her attention on her laptop and continued clicking away.
After a certain point her fingers and mind started working independently of one another. She didn’t have to be dialed in to know that Mark didn’t give two fucks about maintenance reports, the vehicle roster or any number of the other mundane things she was looking at.
Her mind drifted to the man sitting next to her.
Riley.
She’d gone and gotten involved with someone she shouldn’t, and now she wanted him. He couldn’t promise her things, and she was grateful he didn’t try. That was actually a point in his favor, though she wasn’t going to admit that. She could tell herself that if they didn’t set expectations, she couldn’t get her hopes up and the hurt would be less if he disappointed her. That was a lie she’d tell herself to feel better, because the truth was the moment they were apart, she’d begin to miss him. The pain would begin, and she’d slowly break into a million pieces. She’d avoided heartbreak like this for years, but there would be no escaping it now. The decision she had to make was, did live the fantasy while she could? Or cut it off?
There was no denying that the smartest thing to do would be walking away from him. She needed to get her head and life sorted out before she brought anyone else into it. Yet she couldn’t convince her heart to stick with that plan. Which left her in flux. And that was never a good idea.
Flux meant binge watching movies that reminded her she had feelings. It meant eating whole pints of ice cream and finding the exact soap he used so she could go to sleep with his scent on her skin.
This was why she never allowed herself to truly date while living in Erbil.
The available men were either only there temporarily, or wanted a woman who adhered to strict religious ideals. Erin considered herself spiritual, but she would never be the kind of women they wanted. Which left her