Page 70 of Avenging Jessie
His hand was warm and reassuring. So was the gentle smile he gave her. She could have lost him. Could have lost Tommy and Tessa.
But she hadn’t, and in fact, may have regained part of her soul that she’d sold to Brewer a year ago.
She squeezed Spence’s fingers with as much strength as she could muster. “You did it.”
He looked at her like she was the only thing in the room worth seeing. “Wedid it. Partners, remember?”
“Forever?”
“On one condition.”
She quirked a brow. “Just one?”
He snorted, then turned serious. “You promise not to go behind my back and make a plan with Tessa again that affects the mission, or our partnership.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah, that,” he said, making a contrary face. “What were you thinking?”
“I wanted to put as much heat as possible on Brewer.”
“I’m afraid he never saw any of it, but you sure riled up a whole lot of people.”
“Including our boss?”
“Actually, just between us, Flynn laughed. He bitched out Tessa, of course, when she took credit for it, but he recognized your fingerprints all over Rat Trap. I expect you’ll get an official slap on the hand when you go back to work, but secretly, I think he’s pleased.”
When I go back to work… Was she going back?
The question pinged around in her brain. What else was she going to do? She was a trained agent, not the girl next door. If the CIA still had a job for her, she’d take it, even if it was behind a counterterrorism desk again. As long as Spence was there, nothing else mattered.
She laced her fingers through his, her grip still weak but sure. “Back at the warehouse, I told you something. I wasn’t sure if you heard me.”
His eyes darkened. “I heard you.”
She swallowed, bracing herself. “I meant it.”
He didn’t look away, didn’t deflect with sarcasm or distance like he usually did when things got real. His hand tightened around hers, thumb brushing along the inside of her wrist. “I’ve been in love with you since our first swan mission,” he said softly.
The beeping monitor and the hall sounds faded away to nothing. She’d known he’d had feelings for her for a while, but not forthatlong.
“I didn’t want to be,” he continued. “You were reckless, opinionated, and way too good at pushing my buttons. And when I thought you were dead, only to discover you weren’t…” His throat bobbed with the words he didn’t say.
“I betrayed you,” she whispered.
“You came back,” he countered. “You chose to come back. You risked everything to stop Brewer. To protect your brother. To protect me.”
The swans hadn’t exactly given her a choice, but they hadn’t had to push too hard to get her to cooperate.
She blinked against the sting in her eyes. “After everything I did, how could you still want me?”
“Because I know who you really are.” His lips twitched with a sly grin. “You never run from a fight, and you’ve never stopped trying to make things right. You’re stubborn and impulsive, but also loyal. To me, to your brother, to saving the world.”
Tears slid down her cheeks. She didn’t bother to wipe them away.
“You’re it for me, luv,” he said. “Always have been.”
Her pulse seemed too loud in her ears, her body too warm under the sheet and coarse blanket. “You’re going to make me believe in second chances, you know.”
