Page 32 of A Soldier's Temptation
Chapter 8
“Call me Ari, most people do. Are you sure you want to help? You’re probably going to be sorry when you hear about the mess I’m in.”
“Riot filled me in on what he knows. Something to do with your ex-boyfriend? But I’d rather you tell me what you know.”
“Yes, it was my ex. Apparently. I’m a pretty poor judge of character. He was stealing information for the MSS. I can’t believe I was so stupid…” Just thinking about it made her want to curl up in a ball and hide.
“Hey, none of that. These people are trained to hide in plain sight. It would have been almost impossible to know what he was doing. Don’t beat yourself up, Baby,” John said as he pulled her onto his lap.
It should have seemed weird, but it didn’t. Then again, she’d been secretly mooning over him for months, so it was more like a dream come true. If only Paul hadn’t ruined her life.
As she squirmed to get comfortable John moaned. A flush of satisfaction heated her cheeks. Knowing she’d turned him on made her feel a little better. After finding out Paul was only using her for access to her top-secret work, she wondered if she was attractive to men at all.
“He’s right, Ari. You weren’t the only person he deceived. Try and remember that,” Chase said.
“Maybe not, but I was the person he tried to frame.”
“Riot mentioned that but he didn’t have any details. Can you fill us in?”
Ari turned her head to look at John. He nodded his encouragement. She wondered if he’d change his mind about her when he realized how stupid she’d been.
“He asked me out about three years ago. We both worked for the same contractor on base and we saw each other a lot at meetings and company functions. But we didn’t work on any of the same projects, most of mine were and are classified.”
“What happened after you started dating? Was there anything suspicious about his behavior at that time?”
“Nothing that I can remember. We didn’t move in together until about a year after that. In the beginning, everything was great. He was great, everything a woman could want. That should have been the first indication something wasn’t right.”
John rubbed his hand up and down her back as she spoke. It was encouraging and comforting. It also made her sad. If she could only have met him before all this crap, they might have had a chance at something. But now she was probably a threat to his career as well as her own.
“When did it change?” Chase asked.
“Probably about six months later.” Ari couldn’t stay still any longer. She needed to move around, to wring her hands, to do anything but be surrounded by John’s arms. Dredging up the past reminded her how naïve she’d been, which quickly changed to aggravation and then embarrassment.
The comforting words didn’t matter. When it came down to it, she was just as much to blame as Paul. Ari had been through months of training and paperwork to get her top-secret clearance. It still amazed her that she’d only been on probation for six months before they cleared her. She should have lost her job or at least her clearance. Then she’d really have been screwed.
Mr. Darcy’s head rubbed against her leg and surprised her. She hadn’t realized he’d gotten up. It was amazing how in sync they were. He was the best thing that had happened since this mess started, well him and John. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve them but she couldn’t have been more thankful they were there, for as long as it lasted.
“Ariana, baby?” John’s voice startled her, she’d been lost in her own little world.
“What happened next, Ari?” Chase’s voice was kind, like John’s.
“Just little things that made me wonder about him. Going out alone to meet up with friends I didn’t know. Lots of phone calls. If I was in earshot he’d hang up and go outside. It was just weird.”
“Okay…” John prompted when she stopped talking. She hated rehashing the whole thing. It would have been easier to have Colin explain it all.
“I thought he was cheating on me. I asked him and he denied it. After that, the calls weren’t as frequent and he stayed home in the evenings for a couple of weeks. Then it all started again.”
“Did you ever find out who he was talking to?”
“Nope, never. It wasn’t until the FBI questioned me that I realized it wasn’t his regular phone that the calls were on. It was different, not a smartphone. I have no idea why I didn’t realize it at the time.”
“Do you know if the FBI got both of his phones?”
“I have no idea. They weren’t very friendly at the beginning, they assumed I was the one stealing the information. They didn’t even come for Paul. They scared the shit out of me when they burst into the apartment and cuffed me.”
She’d been rubbing Mr. Darcy’s fuzzy head for comfort. When she stopped he licked her hand and she smiled. Thankfully, he hadn’t let any rip since they’d been at John’s. But she knew it was only a matter of time, and that made her smile. Maybe she did have an evil streak.
“Okay. Go on,” Chase prodded.
