Surprisingly, none of it mattered. Jaden felt alive being back in the field. Even though the woman sleeping in the next room played tricks on his emotions. He couldn’t ignore the simple fact that she picked at the chinks in his armor. She threatened to bring parts of him back to the light that had long since been buried…and were better left dormant.
Lauren stirred. He glanced over and then moved to her side. He took a knee.
She was so close his fingers tensed from wanting to go rogue and trail the curves of her back, get lost in that fiery mane. He swallowed hard as he strained painfully inside his shorts. The traitor was back.
“Wake up, sweetheart. Not sure how much longer we’ll be able to stick around here.” He wanted her to eat.
She looked groggy and small as she sat up. He smiled. Small was the furthest word from his mind when it came to describing her personality.
“Has to be safer than out there, right?” she asked through a sleepy yawn.
She stretched those long, lean runners legs, looking sexy as hell.
A sudden urge to kiss the small freckle above her lip overcame him. Not the time, soldier. Pointing to clothes neatly stacked on a side chair, he said, “Wasn’t sure about your size. Looks like they’ll fit.”
Her focus bounced from the pile of clothes back to meet his. Hurt darkened her eyes. “They’ll be fine. At least they’re dry.”
Jaden rest an elbow on his knee. He didn’t blame her for looking at him like that. Especially when they were back on the rocks and he’d all but accused her of working with the cartel. The pain of his accusation had sizzled in her eyes ever since.
Regret formed a lump in his throat. Why was it easier to push her away than to face the rogue feelings inside him?
He stood and moved into the kitchen, filling a plate for her.
“Eat something.” He walked to her and handed over the items.
“Those windows don’t look safe,” she said taking a bite of the roll as if it were a steak dinner. “Think they’ll hold?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Guess we’ll figure it out soon enough,” she said.
Her gaze appraised him suspiciously. He didn’t like it. But he couldn’t deny he deserved it. If he’d trusted her, he would’ve told her the truth already about her brother.
Gaining her trust was mission-critical but he couldn’t bring himself to trick her into talking. He’d had no problem using whatever means at his disposal to turn an asset before. So why all of a sudden was he developing a conscience?
“I was honest with you before,” he said. “I really don’t know who ultimately hired me. I don’t always know.”
“Then how can you be sure you’re working for one of the good guys?” she asked after taking a sip of the water her brought over for her.
“That much I can tell you. We take assignments from the government and large corporations. We bring down cartels, terrorists, governments, and bad guys.”
She repositioned herself, sitting a bit straighter against the couch as she stopped chewing.
“Criminals like my brother?”
“Yes. Like Max. And a lot of other types of evil.”
She dropped the roll, didn’t speak.
“I’m sorry. You might be related, but he’s one of them,” he said.
“I know. Believe me, I know. I hate what he’s become. I do. It’s just hard to hear. I’ve turned my back on it for so long now. Pretended it wasn’t happening. And look where that got me.” She glanced around, wincing when thunder clapped loudly. “I’d still rather not know, to be honest.”
“Look. There’s something else I need to tell you about Max.”
Chapter 10
Lauren sat up, rigid, her back ramrod straight now, her brown-gold eyes wide. “Which is?”
“He was planning to testify against a dangerous criminal group.” Why did he feel the need to tell her this? He’d always played his hand close to his chest.
A look of pure disbelief darkened her features. “And you didn’t tell me that before?”
“I had to know that I could trust you first.” Her reaction couldn’t have hurt more than a knife to Jaden’s heart. “Which bothers me because it makes even less sense why they kidnapped him.”
He resisted the urge to wrap her in his arms and take her confusion away. She’d probably fight back. And he deserved it. He momentarily forgot she was part of a case again, which wasn’t like him at all. He’d never compromised an assignment by getting emotional with an asset.
“Can you actually get away from bad men like these?”
He nodded. “It’s rare though and not without consequences.”
Lauren set the plate down beside her and got to her feet quickly. She paced as thunder rolled in the distance. “He called a couple of times recent. I ignored him. I should’ve—”
“Look. Don’t do this. I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want you to blame yourself.”
“We both know you didn’t tell me because you didn’t trust me. Even so, I had a right to know,” she said, her eyes practically shooting daggers at him.
Jaden didn’t speak. A slip of conscience niggled at him. She was right on both counts.
“Then why? Why did they take him?”
“That’s the game-show-winning question. It wasn’t to kill him. They would have done that already.”
Her pace quickened, and she chewed on her thumbnail. “Is it because of the money? They wanted more. Maybe he owed them or had to buy his way out?”
These guys didn’t usually kidnap for cash owed. Ordinarily, they chopped men up and buried the pieces deep in a South American jungle. That information he would keep to himself. “Not their usual style of collection.”
“So there’s more to it.”
“Which could be tied to my agency,” he admitted.
“When they called, they put him on the phone. He begged me not to come. Said they’d just kill me too.” Large round droplets were spilling from her eyes now. “He sounded resigned to dying and thought I would, too.”
“That couldn’t have been easy to hear.”
