Pregnancy is not this easy-breezy woman thing. I mean they make it look that way, but it’s a serious change in life, and it hits them emotionally. You’ve got a war on two fronts, brother. Don’t forget to deal with both.
She stopped and nodded. “Okay.”
“I had a sad salad,” he admitted. “It was a private plane, so I was lucky the galley had vegetables. I’m afraid that was a plane full of carnivores.” He caught the light in her eyes and put a hand up to ward off what he knew was coming. “I’ve already bought a carbon offset. I know private planes are a problem, but baby, I couldn’t wait to see you. I wanted to come home. I’ve missed you so fucking much.”
That moment when she’d run into his arms…it had felt like the world was right again. And now they were back to cautiously circling each other.
“I missed you, too,” she admitted. “So they’re all going to come here and stay at Seth’s place?”
He’d told her Taggart’s plan while they’d driven back to the cabin. He hadn’t wanted to stay at the festival. He wanted to be alone with her, wanted to be honest with her. He didn’t want to sit on this or tell her in the morning. “Yes, and I’ll let you read the file I have on them. Tag calls them the Lost Boys. They have no memory of their prior lives due to being experimented on.”
“And they’re coming here to look for a CIA black site?” There was so much judgment in that question. “On national forest land.”
“Yes. But I didn’t start it and I never worked there. It was another department,” he said quickly. “That doesn’t make it right. But baby, it’s closed down now and if you protested it, you would probably get arrested and sent to somewhere that would be hard for me to get you out of.”
“But you could…”
“I would move heaven and earth, but let’s protest after the boys get the data they need.”
“Of course. They’ve been through enough,” she replied. “They’re getting in soon?”
“A couple of days from now.” He’d told Tag that they were welcome in Bliss, but he wouldn’t lie to his wife. “Seth’s cleared it. He, Logan, and Georgia aren’t planning on coming back until the holidays. I think the op itself will be a week or two tops. And, my love, it’s classified. They have to have cover. We’re looping in law enforcement, but around town they’ll have to maintain cover.”
“I don’t like lying.” She was quiet for a moment. “I’ll avoid town for a while. I don’t feel like interpretive dance right now.”
It was how she protested lies and being asked to lie. She danced. She was such a gorgeous weirdo, and he loved her with his whole heart. “I’m sorry. I can tell them not to come.”
She shook her head. “No. I understand the need. There have to be all kinds of intelligence agencies after those poor men.”
“Yes, starting with our own.” He had to think about how to reach out. Apparently someone had come looking for him. “But the good news is I don’t think we have to worry about the cartel.”
A prim look came over her face. “Because you killed them all, Henry.”
“That was self-defense.” He wouldn’t have been able to win their hearts and minds through careful dialogue. “I need you to tell me if you want me to defend myself. If I have to choose between your love and respect and my life…”
Her eyes rolled. “Don’t be dramatic. Of course you should defend yourself. I would defend myself. It’s just—it was a lot, wasn’t it? You’re sure you didn’t accidently kill someone who was like a janitor?”
“I promise I left the janitor perfectly alive. I only killed people who tried to kill me.” And unfortunately he’d let one get away. Levi Green could still be dangerous to all of them, but he thought the threat from the cartel might be gone.
“All right.” She went quiet for a moment. “I’m going to be honest. I know you want my answer right this second.”
Not if the answer was get out of our cabin and out of my life. “No. I want your answer when you’re ready to give it to me.”
Tears filled his wife’s eyes. “I think I’m going about this wrong. Mel accused me of treating this like one of my books.”
“Mel knows about the books?” That was news to him.
“Yes. Apparently Mel knows a whole lot about everything. He says he knew about you back when we first got together.”
He doubted that. He was really good at undercover. He probably could have been an actor. But that wasn’t the important thing now. And honestly, her work might be part of the problem. Or rather her lack of work. “What does he mean you’re acting like this is a book? I know how serious this is for you.”
“He said I might be looking at this whole thing like a romance novel where one specific thing happens and there’s a resolution. He might have said that’s not how a real relationship works. I mean it does sometimes, but that’s not the end of the story. We’re not just happy forever. We have to work, and I haven’t been working lately.”
“You don’t have to work for our relationship. I do. I’ll do all the work I need to do,” he promised.
She shook her head. “We both need to work. I said I needed time to think, but that hasn’t helped. I don’t know that I can trust you again. I don’t know that I can go back to the way we were.”
His heart constricted. He had no idea what he would
