Page 13 of Wyatt

But she grabbed his shirt with a fist and held on. And in a glorious, beautiful, breathtaking moment, her mouth softened and she kissed him back, as if she missed him too.

He gentled his kiss, moved his arm around her, pulled her against him. She’d always been such a perfect fit in his arms, and even now, the old feelings rushed over him, hot, a strange sort of homesickness he hadn’t tasted in years.

Coco. He’d take a thousand more hits at goal for this moment, to feel her body relax against his. To know—

She leaned away, shaking her head, her hands pushing against him. “No, Wyatt…no, no—”

He let her go, her words like fire, flashing over to scorch him. “Coco,c’mon—”

“You can’t kiss me and then just walk out of my life.” She pressed her hands to her mouth, shaking her head. “Don’t—it’s not fair.”

Not.Fair—? “Walk out ofyourlife—what are you talking about? You’re the one who left! Who…”Broke my heart.“You leftme.Twice—no,threetimes.”

She looked away. “Twice because once you didn’t even notice I’d left.”

He stared at her.What?“Coco, I don’t get it. I don’t understandanyof it. Why you came to me in Russia two years ago. Why you even left Montana in the first place. You…” And then, he couldn’t take it. “You broke my heart, okay? I thought after we…” His voice wavered, and he swallowed hard. Fought the urge to reach out to her again. “I thought we meant something to each other.”

Her breath hiccupped. “We did, Wyatt. But…” She shook her head.

The kiss was right there, lingering between them, and the way she kept looking at him, half fear, half hope.

A huge part of him could swear she wanted him to kiss her again.

But maybe he couldn’t read her anymore.

Still, he couldn’t let it end again. Not like this. He fought to school his voice, away from desperate, back to rational.

Nobody played well with their emotions spilling out everywhere.

“Listen. I know we have something. We always have, and I…I want you to come to America. With me. I want us to be together. Behappy.”

Her jaw tightened at his words, her eyes sparking. “Yeah, well, guess what. Life doesn’t give us what we want. And happily ever afters don’t exist and…our best hope is to survive. I appreciate that you came all the way over here, Wyatt. But I can’t go with you.”

“Why not—”

“I can’t!” She clenched her jaw. Swallowed. “Listen. I’m sorry, but…you should just forget about me.”

Forget—?

“Take this home and clear your sister.”

She shoved the USB drive into his hand and closed his fingers over it.

Then she met his eyes.

His had started to blur.

“Goodbye, Wyatt.” She swept her hand across her cheek. “And, by the way, great game. You deserved to win.”

Then, while he gaped at her, she turned and ran out of his life.

Again.

So, that wasn’t at all how her clandestine meeting was supposed to go.

With Coco blubbering her way through some flimsy explanation that probably made no sense, shoving the USB drive into Wyatt’s hand, and for the third and probably final time, fleeing.

Apparently, that’s what she did best. Run. From the only real family she’d ever known, from the love of her life. She’d even run from the shadow existence she’d pieced together in Moscow as the personal computer genius-slash-hacker for one of the most powerful generals in the Russian military.

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