Page 65 of Second Chance Savior

Then she faced forward again and rubbed her hands along her pants.

I was still halfway into her seat, looming over her. My thoughts and my heart rate a chaotic mess.

There was something cathartic about having the truth out there on the table. Finally.

“We can’t do that again, though,” she said.

I ignored the way my blood fired up, wanting to change her mind. “Are you ready to get on the road now? No more talk about splitting up?”

“Seems like you won’t take no for an answer.”

“About this? You’re damn right I won’t.” My words wereharsh, but I’d tried to deliver them gently. I wouldn’t abandon her. She was the one who’d told me I hurt her by leaving her behind in the past. Choosing my career over her friendship. “I know this is frightening, but I’ve got you, okay? You let me carry you through the rain once. Let me do it again.”

Her eyes softened, and she nodded. I added a kiss to her forehead before I backed away and shut her door.

My eyes slid closed. Deep breath.

Charlie had never loved me. And she never would. I’d accepted that fact long ago. ButIhad felt a hell of a lot during that kiss. All the way down to my center.

Three days ago, before all this had started, I would have claimed those feelings were in the past. I had loved her once, but not anymore. Bullshit. With that kiss, I had proven tomyselfthat I was utterly fucking hopeless.

Yet that passion hadn’t been one-sided. Maybe she didn’t feel the way I did, but Charlie wanted me. Even if she’d wisely decided we couldn’t act on it further.

Remember your job.Get back to the mission.

I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, my usual smile back in place. “You know I’m not actually kidnapping you, right? No matter what I just confessed, this is not me dragging you back to my lair for my own selfish purposes. Just to get that out there.”

She laughed. Maybe a littletoohard. “Just drive. Take me back to your lair. I’m dying to see it.”

An hour into the drive, Charlie’s hand snuck over to my side of the cabin. Her fingers twisted with mine.

I glanced over, and she was still studying the view through the window. But this felt like a peace offering. Anacknowledgment that, no matter what we had just said and done, we were okay.

I liked being able to touch her. It grounded me. Solidified my resolve and helped smooth out the adrenaline still coursing through me.

I was in control.

I still had no faith in my ability to give her what she needed on an emotional level. I wasn’t boyfriend material. But protecting her life was well within my skill set.

“Another hour until we get there,” I said.

“Okay. Is this a cabin or something?”

“Yeah. Originally a hunting cabin. I bought it right after I moved to Hartley and made some improvements. It’s off the grid.” Also small. One bed, no couch. But she’d see that once we arrived.

She nodded. “Off the grid sounds good.”

Now that we’d gotten this far, I felt confident we wouldn’t run into anyone else. I had all the routes in and out of this place memorized. We hadn’t seen another soul in many miles.

“The mission has gone a little sideways so far, but I’ve had worse.”

“You’ve been accused of being a terrorist before?”

“I’ve posed as a terrorist. I made it out just fine. The bad guys didn’t.”

The particular cargo I was carrying now, though? She meant more to me than all my previous ops combined. I’d failed to anticipate the kidnapping angle, and I couldn’t screw up again. I couldn’t get any more distracted than I was already.

What I really needed was to get online, talk to Cerberus, then the Protectors. Find something to use against Stillwater. Not waste headspace fantasizing about finally having Charliethe way I’d always wanted. In the one bed in my remote cabin.

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