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She didn’t look up, didn’t want anything or anyone but Connor. She’d thought Tom was being cool under pressure, but now she had to wonder if he hadn’t just been playing them bo
th. He would have let Kiki kill her. She would never have let that happen to him.
“Lara, come on. You can’t hold that against me,” Tom whined.
“Hold what against you?” Connor’s voice sounded as warm as an arctic breeze.
She brought her head up. “It doesn’t matter. Get me out of here.”
“What did he do?” Connor turned to face Tom. She noticed the Secret Service agents who had previously been standing at her door were in the apartment. One of them kicked away the gun in Kiki’s hand, though Lara could have told him it was useless.
“Connor, I’m going to ask you to stay calm. I can work a lot of miracles, but I would hate to have to pardon you for murder.” Zack Hayes stood outside the door, another Secret Service agent at his side. “Lara, are you all right?”
“Yes, sir.” She nodded his way, suddenly grateful that someone could keep Connor in check.
“We’ve got a team on the way, Connor,” Zack said. “We’ll make sure this doesn’t hit the press.” He turned to Tom. “Young man, do you know who I am?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” he stammered.
“Then you know what I’ll do to you if you don’t follow instructions. If you make my friends’ lives difficult, I’ll do the same to you. Who do you think is better at that?”
“You,” Tom replied. “I’m sure you are so much better at it than I am. I don’t have any desire to ever tell this story. I swear. Any cover-up you want to use, I’m here for you.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Connor, I don’t think Lara needs to be here. Everly is packing for her. Bring her to the limo with me and we’ll get you both home. She needs rest and care. It can be a terrible thing to find out the people we care about aren’t what they seem.” Zack headed for the door and two of the agents flanked him.
“I can handle this. So far the cops haven’t been alerted. We’ll call it a suicide. Naturally since the president was visiting his friend, the Secret Service investigated.” The agent looked at Tom. “You’re her friend?”
Was anyone really friends when the chips were down?
“I’m whatever you need me to be, sir,” Tom replied.
“You broke down the door when you heard the gunshot. You’re terribly upset, of course.”
“So upset,” Tom agreed.
The agent nodded to Connor. “Go with the president. There’s no need for her to stay.”
She could tell from the set of Connor’s jaw that he really wanted to say a word or two. She hugged him close. “Please, can we go?”
He immediately softened. “Of course.” He looked back at Tom. “Know that while the president might be very good at threatening people, I’m equally skilled at torturing them. If I find out you’ve caused Lara a moment’s distress, you’re going to see just how good I am.”
“Not at all. Lara and I were in that together. Kiki was the crazy one.”
Connor started walking and she looked over his shoulder, wondering if she’d ever really known her friends at all.
FIFTEEN
Connor looked at Lara across the table. In the morning light he could see how pale she was. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, she was still the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. It had been so damn hard to leave her alone the night before. After they’d been dropped off at his house, he’d tried to talk to her, tried to get her to eat, to have a glass of wine. Anything. She’d wanted a shower and to go to sleep, but he suspected she’d been up most of the night working, researching that series of names she’d been given in connection to Natalia. He’d sat up most of the night watching the light under her door, wishing she hadn’t closed it between them.
The morning had brought no sudden reversal. A cup of coffee sat in front of her, but she hadn’t taken a sip. She’d simply nodded when he’d taken Lincoln for a walk. Now she was so quiet he was beginning to get worried. Gone was the chatty, positive Lara he knew, and in her place was a ghost. She responded when someone spoke and did what was asked of her, but there was no animation behind her calm facade.
“Do you want me to call your father?”
She looked up from her laptop. “Why would you do that?”
She sounded slightly accusing, and Connor held in a sigh. “Because you went through something terrible yesterday. You need to talk to someone and you won’t talk to me.”
“Do you talk after a mission?” A brow arched over her right eye. “Do you come in from killing a few people and feel the need for emotional closure?”
She seemed determined to lash out at him, but he understood the impulse. He was the only one here. He was also the person who’d hurt her in the first place. Despite everything that had happened, he knew at the core she was still angry with him. “I don’t talk about it because no one would care. I’m a weapon. No one particularly wants to know how a weapon feels after being used. Besides, this isn’t an Agency debrief. This is a man who’s worried about his woman.”
That arrogant brow came down and she swallowed. “You’re not a weapon to be used.”
“I am. I have been for a long time. I’m necessary and when I leave, someone else will take my place because this country needs weapons. I just hope there’s some reward for doing my duty.”
“What kind of reward?”
“I would love some peace, Lara. I’ve been at war most of my life so I would like some peace. And normalcy. Please talk to me. Tell me what happened. You haven’t cried.” That was the worst part. She was bottling it all up, shoving it deep where it would fester. “You don’t know what not dealing with this will do to you.”
“Maybe it didn’t affect me as much as you think.”
“I think you watched a person you thought was a friend turn on you in the most vicious way possible.” He’d seen it before, even experienced it in a way, though he’d never thought of those people as friends. He knew who his friends were. But Lara hadn’t lived in the same world. Lara looked at everyone she met as a potential friend.
“She called me princess, too. I guess you both agree on that.”
His heart sank. “My feelings have nothing to do with hers.”
“You both think I’m entitled and ridiculous.”
He shook his head. She didn’t understand at all. “I don’t mean it like that when I call you princess. When I first saw you, I thought you looked like a cute little pixie. Like a fairy princess. I thought you were the kind who would jump from flower to flower and wave your little wand and make everything all right. That’s why I call you princess.”
Her eyes watered. “Really?”
Finally he was getting to her. “Really. The whole time I was lying to you, I thought about the fact that I was the troll in that story.”
She snorted a little. “Yes, because trolls are known for being ridiculously handsome.”
No one ever made him feel the way she did. He couldn’t lose her. “I want to talk about everything, Lara. I want to apologize and ask for your forgiveness.”
“That’s not fair.”
It wasn’t fair. He was getting her while she was vulnerable. “I am a ruthless bastard, but if you let me, I’ll be your ruthless bastard.”
“Connor . . .” Her eyes found the screen again. “I can’t yet. Everything just hurts right now.”
“Then we don’t have to talk about us tonight. We’ll talk about you.”
She shook her head. “I’m not ready. How about we discuss the case? I think I found the connection.”
Right now, he didn’t give a damn about the connection. “And we’ll get to that. But I care about the fact that you went through something horrible and you’re shutting down.”
Her eyes zipped up and this time they flashed with anger. “This case is the entire reason you met me in the first place. I would think you would be thrilled that I’ve almost cracked it. You’re going to get everything you want.”
He had to make her understand. The mission goal had changed. At some point, finding Natalia had become secondary to securing a place in Lar
a’s life. “The only thing I want is you.”
She shook her head. “What would a man with as much power as you need with little old me? Connor, I’m cooperating. As soon as I
