Page 18 of Love Undercover
“Youbroke into my house!“ She stood abruptly, moving a few feet away from him, and notably toward the door again.
He watched her, his expression open and contrite as he leaned forward on the counter as if to make himself smaller, less intimidating. “Yes, I did.”
But it was true that he’d never aimed the gun at her. She hadn’t realized it until he’d pointed it out. And he’d apologized before shoving her into his trunk. What kind of kidnapper apologizes before kidnapping someone?
“Those men,” he said, quieter this time, “work for someone named Zimmerman. What you’d call a white-collar mobster. He’s got his hands in corporate America. None of the street stuff you’re probably used to, what you see on TV.”
She said nothing, but she was overly aware of the way her lungs filled with air, how her heart rushed as she absorbed his words.
“They followed us.”
The fear that flashed through her made her flinch.
“I had to make them believe you were being abducted. And I had to take the circuitous route from hell to lose them.”
She barely took a breath. “Why did you want them to think you’d kidnapped me?”
His mouth flattened into a line. “So they’d believe I’m on their side.”
Sothey’dbelieve. . .
“But you’re not?” The words came out haltingly. “On their side?”
“I can’t answer that.”
But he wanted to. He hadn’t moved, but it was like some invisible force strained toward her with every fiber in his being, and she felt it like it was corporeal.
She took slow steps back to the chair she’d vacated, a desire to trust him winding inside her, but the logic wouldn’t fully relinquish its hold.
So she settled on finishing the eggs. It’s not like she could get far with him right there watching her, anyway. And sustenance was necessary if she wanted the stamina to run.
If she got the chance again.
6
Spill the Beans
Sadie ate her eggs silently while everything in Chase fought to tell her the truth. Never had he felt the compulsion so strongly before.
Sure, there’d been others who needed help to escape the clutches of whatever organization Chase was working for undercover. But he’d never felt such a need to make them understand his intentions.
Usually, they’d figure it out, though. Those desperate to escape were already poised to trust someone who promised to get them out.
Sadie wasn’t connected to this life, to what her ex-boyfriend was mixed up in. The man had gotten a taste and dug deep, though Greg was a more recent player in this game. He’d been tapped as a low-level peon to help cook the books in Zimmerman’s schemes. But it didn’t appear that Sadie had been aware of any of it.
He wondered if maybe because they had this random overlap in their past, he felt the need to explain it all to her. It didn’t help when that gaze of hers drilled him with wariness. He inexplicably wanted to see her unmitigated trust.
They were only a couple of feet away from each other since she’d come to sit again, and he was still leaning over the counter. But he found himself drowning in the depths of her honey-colored eyes, and he had to look away.
“Does it hurt?”
He swung his gaze back to hers as she reached to touch his cheek. He sucked in a sharp breath when the tender spot sang with pain under her fingertips.
“Only when someone touches it,” he said wryly, frowning. He hadn’t even realized it was there. He’d been too busy catching his breath after their tussle that morning.
“I have something for it,” she offered, her voice taking on a husky shyness he found simultaneously confusing and enthralling. “It’s in my purse.”
He nodded his head toward the table next to the couch where he’d set her bag.
