He hoped it did because he didn’t envision moving in steps away from Camel and Bailey. Plus he’d have to break his lease, which wouldn’t be ideal.
“That would be great. I’ll love being across the street from Chloe.”
“You two are close, huh?”
“Closer than I would have expected, but we hit it off when I went to work at the salon.”
She didn’t say anything more but he figured part of the reason they were close was the shared experience of having had men who’d tried to hurt them in their lives.
“Do you want something to drink?” she asked. “I don’t have any beer, but I have some white wine.”
“Thanks, but no. I’m fine.”
“The remote is in that basket on the table. I’m going to change if you’d like to find something.”
He went over and sat on the small couch, found the remote, and powered up the television. She had Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. It was nearly fifteen minutes before she returned. He was beginning to wonder if she’d bailed on him, but she walked into the room wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a loose knit top. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She went over to the kitchen and got a glass of wine then came over and sat at the opposite end of the couch. She put a bottle of water on the coffee table and slid it toward him.
“Just in case.”
“Thanks.” He nodded at the screen. “What do you want to watch?”
“Oh, I don’t care. Anything.”
He grinned. “Looks like you watch a lot of home decorating shows.”
She flashed him a smile. “I love how pretty everything is in the end. They take an old rundown house and before you know it, boom, gorgeous new space. Kinda reminds me that you can makeover the ugly parts of your life at any time if you’re determined enough and work hard enough.”
He liked that thought. “You want to watch one now?”
Because he’d watch whatever made her happy.
“That’s okay. Let’s find something we both like.”
In the end, they settled on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Neo watched it with increasing amusement as the main character navigated the Special Ops world. It wasn’t that the show was bad or that the actor wasn’t good. He was good, and Neo enjoyed that part. But some of the stuff that went on….
Neo shook his head. Those guys were practicing some very bad operational security at different points of the show.
“Is that what you do?” Kayla asked at one point when the hero had single-handedly taken down a terrorist.
“Not entirely, but it can get dicey sometimes. I have a team, though. We don’t typically go it alone.”
She was looking at him with wide eyes. “That’s good. But how do you do it?”
“Depends on the situation.”
She shook her head. “No. How do you face that kind of thing and not get scared? I’d be paralyzed with fear.”
“It’s not that we aren’t sensible enough to fear for our lives,” he said, thinking how best to phrase it. “But we don’t stop to think about it. Our training kicks in and we do what we’ve practiced thousands of times before.”
She toyed with the edge of her knit top and didn’t look at him. “I could almost wish you were an accountant or something.”
“If I were an accountant, I’d be pretty useless against the Kings of Doom MC.”
She looked at him, her eyes shining. “I suppose so.”
“And that’s not what you want, right?”
“No.”
He reached for her hand, wrapped it in his. She didn’t try to pull away. “Maybe we should turn it off, huh?”
“Okay.”
He exited the show and set the channel to one of her decorating shows. “We’ve still got some things to decide, beautiful,” he said as somebody on the television swung a sledge hammer at a wall.
“I know.” She sighed. “I just—I don’t know what else to say yet. It’s happening fast, which is what I wanted. But there’s still so much to think about. We can apply for a license Monday, and we can get married as soon as we have it, so this week. And now I’ve got to convince Bailey I’m madly in love and this is the right thing to do.”
“Or you could tell her we’re doing it for your protection. It wouldn’t be the first time someone on the team got married to protect his wife. Camel will understand that logic, believe me. And he’ll convince her.”
She shook her head. “No, I can’t. It’s four weeks to her wedding. I won’t spoil her plans or her big day.”
“Okay, beautiful. We’ll do it your way. I won’t lie to my team, though. If they need to know the truth, I have to tell them.”
“I know.” She kept toying with the shirt and he let go of her hand and stood.
She tipped her head back to gaze up at him, a question in her eyes.
“It’s been two hours. I should probably get going.” He held out a hand. She took it and he lifted her to her feet. “Walk me to the door.”
The apartment was small so it was only a couple of steps away. He slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her in close. She came freely, putting her hands on his chest and resting them there. She was small, but she fitted against him in all the right places. It’d been a long time since he’d held her, and he’d missed it.
“Are you going to kiss me goodnight?” she asked.
“Do you want me to?”
“I think it’d be nice.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Nice? The last time we kissed, things got a little out of control. It was a lot more than nice.”
Her skin colored and she dropped her gaze. He tipped her chin up with this fingers, forcing her to look at him. “Now’s not the time, but I think we’re going to have to talk about that too. Don’t you?”
She
