This couldn't be right.
Are you sure the intel is solid?
As solid as it can be.
He stared at the picture. The hair matched the woman across the room, but those eyes–those were the same ones he fell in love with. There was no way that Taylor was the one contacting Lysander.
I'm going to make contact.
He could feel his phone vibrating as he slid it into his pocket. He was sure that his handler was waving him off. Reminding him that Lysander was the one they wanted, not the mole.
The man was still talking with Taylor. When he leaned into her space, Kam felt himself closing the gap faster than was probably necessary. The man reached up to touch her face, but Taylor grabbed his wrist and brought his arm down before pushing him away. Kam was close enough to hear them now.
"I said I wasn't interested in dancing. Now, if you don't mind, I need to use the ladies' room." Taylor spun right into Kam's path.
He caught her arms to straighten her. "I'm so sorry. I–" Kam cleared his throat and turned on his billionaire charm and fake accent. "Well, I was coming over to rescue you from a man whoforgot how to be a gentleman, but I see my services are not needed."
Taylor stared at him, blinking slowly. How he missed those eyes. They were somehow more beautiful than he remembered. The way the dark brown melted into a golden ring around the outside mesmerized him.
She shook her head and took a step out of his reach. "You are quite right. I don't need you." She looked over Kam's shoulder, then back to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Ryan McNite." The lie rolled off his tongue, but this time it tasted bitter. How he longed to just be Kam King. To go back to being in love with Taylor Ertz. To have a family and three little ones of their own.
Taylor stared at him a moment longer. "I'm Tina Miller." They were both pretending to be someone different tonight. She extended her hand. Instead of shaking it, he lifted it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Electricity crackled through him at the feel of her hand pressed against his lips. The small gasp from her told him she felt something too.
"I have to go." She spun on her heels.
"I'm not great at dancing, but I like long walks on the beach." The first words he had spoken to her all those years ago had the desired effect because she stopped mid-stride and faced him. She tilted her head, looking him over. A shine came over her eyes, and she blinked it away.
"I prefer to sit and read a book." She took another step away from him. "I do have to go."
She called over her shoulder as she walked away, "Don't die before I get back. I have so many questions for you."
He watched her weave through the crowd and slip through the side door. His phone was vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out to see who was calling him. Silencing the phone, he shoved it back into his pocket. His handler could wait. He needed to figureout who was framing Taylor. He broke so many rules tonight, but he didn't care. No one was going to get away with letting Taylor take the fall for their deeds. He'd do anything to get a second chance at his life again.
"If I had known dyingyour hair and getting you to wear that ridiculous dress would have forced you out of your no-dating funk, I would have told Schulz to send you undercover a while ago." Paul's voice in her earpiece was usually a comfort. Letting her know she wasn't alone. Right now, he was acting more like the annoying older brother that she never had.
"Shut it, Paul. We have a mission," she bit back. They had to make sure the files stayed secure. She had been working for the senator for a week, and she still wasn't completely sure who the mole was.
McNite walked back into her mind. How did he know Kam's terrible pick-up line? Did he know where Kam was? The man would make any woman in the room swoon with his sandy-blond hair and bright blue eyes. He had nothing on Kam, though. In her dreams, she could still feel the velvet softness of his short-cropped hair and his dark chocolate eyes that always seemed to hold a bit of mischief.
Taylor shook her head. She had been searching for her dead fiancé for the past three years. She was about to give up on her crazy notion that he was still alive when Nalani sat with a sketch artist last month and Paul confirmed that that was Ian's right-hand man. The scar on his neck was new, but Gregor Petrov looked eerily similar to Kam. Now tonight McNite told her words only she would be able to connect back to Kam. It was like Kam was close by or trying to send her a signal.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts. She needed to focus. Failure was not an option tonight. "I'm almost to the stairs."
"You've got a shadow." Paul's words stiffened her spine.
"Tina. Wait." McNite. She needed to get rid of him. It sounded cliché, but it was quite literally a matter of national security. If she and her team failed tonight, enemies of the United States would have gained access to sensitive military information. Information that would spell trouble for all of America.
She spun to face him. "Look, I can't…"
"You're in trouble." He cut her off.
Taylor blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I don't know what is going to happen tonight, but my sources tell me that you are going to be the one to blame for it all." McNite squeezed the back of his neck. "And I couldn't let you continue without warning you."
McNite's voice changed, and it punched her in the gut. It couldn't be. Could it? "Kam," she whispered.
