Page 48 of Tactical Lies

Which she probably would have.

Because she was finding it increasingly difficult to think logically around him.

The desire to just curl up on his lap and let him take care of her, make everything okay, was too strong.

Just as strong was the fear of him letting her down again.

“It’s really you?” She was hesitant to believe it even though it would mean she wasn't in danger. The fear of being alone out there with Connor and what that would do to her was almost as bad as the fear of what those men would do to her. They could destroy her body but only Connor had the power to destroy her heart.

“I’m going to knock on the cabin door five times so you know it’s me.”

Five slow, loud, deliberate knocks echoed through to her in the bedroom.

It was Connor.

And she didn't know if she wanted to throw her arms around his neck or tear into him for scaring her like that.

Anger won out as she carefully stood and hopped to the living room, throwing open the front door.

“You scared the life out of me,” she grumbled, taking a half-hearted swing at him, her knuckles glancing off his muscled shoulder and causing him no damage at all. “What were you thinking?”

“That I had to see you,” he answered, looking appropriately chastised for scaring her. “I should have texted at the gate, I was going to surprise you.”

“Some surprise, you terrified me, I could have shot you.” Although now that she knew she wasn't in danger, and her heart rate was calming, she wasn't as mad as she felt she ought to be.

“In my defense, I did bring you these.” He held up a box of her favorite chocolates, a bouquet of her favorite flowers, and a funny-looking little penis-shaped plushie. It was a running joke between them ever since they first started doing … stuff … when they were teenagers.

Laughing, she reached out and took the little penis stuffy. “Don’t think this is going to get you out of trouble,” she warned. It should be weird holding this in her hand, knowing she’d had the real thing in her mouth just days ago, but for some reason, given their long history it wasn't weird at all.

“Noted. Can I come in?”

“What are you really doing here, Connor? You didn't come all this way just to give me a silly plushie and some chocolates.”

“And the flowers.”

“Right, and the flowers, because there’s not an entire wildflower meadow out there. Why are you here?”

“Because someone talked some sense into me. Told me that I’d left you alone once when you were vulnerable, and I couldn’t do it again.” Pain filled those sky-blue eyes she knew so well. “We found out just before I came to find you in Cambodia that Mom was raped. There was proof, that’s why they had Dad and his team killed and set Mom up to look like a traitor.”

Her heart went out to the woman who had been a second mom to her growing up. “I'm so sorry, Connor. I hate that your mom went through that. Is this proof why they’re trying to silence you all? So you can't find it and expose them and the conspiracy?”

“Yeah.”

“I hope you have this proof tucked away somewhere safe.”

“The proof is Cassandra.”

It took a second for his words to sink in, for their meaning to click. “Your mom was raped, and Cassandra is the product of that rape,” she said, pain and sorrow filling her heart for the girl she remembered. “That’s why you were vague about Cass not being there yesterday. You have her tucked away someplace safe.”

“No one can get to her where she is,” Connor told her. “She called and I told her about the baby, about how I reacted when I found out, and she told me that I had to find a way to make it up to you. I already knew that, but maybe I needed to hear someone give me permission to come to you before I could allow myself to do it.”

“Why would you need permission?”

“Because I hurt you, Becca. I freaked out, I left you alone, I didn't fight for you.”

Remembering his question, her chest tightened. She wasn't ready yet to decide one way or the other. “Connor, I can't …”

“I'm not asking you for anything more than to let me stay here with you,” he told her. “That’s it.”

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