He took a breath. “I don’t—whatever this is, whatever happens tomorrow, I have to?—”
His phone buzzed against the table.
He didn’t move. Held her gaze, his jaw tight, and for one suspended second she thought he might let it ring into oblivion. Choose this. Choose her.
The phone kept ringing.
He swallowed, reluctant, then looked at the screen, and something shifted in his expression. “I have to take this.”
“Of course.”
He stood, already moving toward the balcony, phone pressed to his ear. The door clicked shut behind him.
And Jayden was alone, trying to remember how to breathe.
She’d kissed him.
She’d kissed him, and it had been real, and she’d meant every second of it.
And she was lying to him. About everything.
She wanted to deserve that kiss.
But that was impossible, right? Tomorrow was Sydney.
Jayden climbed under the covers. She rebuilt the Great Wall, pillow by pillow, and turned her back to Dakota’s side of the bed.
She couldn’t face him.
Because tomorrow the game would end.
And with everything inside her, she longed for time to stop.
TWELVE
“We’ve cleared Blake and Howard,” Ham said. “Riley too. They’re not involved.”
Dakota stood on the balcony, the lights of the city pressing into the darkness, the taste of Jayden’s kiss on his mouth.
Right. The mission.
And he just didn’t care. Not really.
What he wanted was to turn around and keep kissing Jayden, thank you very much.
Instead, he stood in the cold, the wind wrapping around him, and saw her climb back to her side of the bed, put her back to him.
“The Harts are clean too,” Ham continued. “Just tourists. Bad timing, joining the tour right before the attack, but there’s nothing in their background to suggest involvement.”
“Yeah, I already figured that out.” His voice came out rougher than intended. “So who does that leave?”
A pause on the line. The kind of pause that meant Ham was about to say something Dakota didn’t want to hear.
“There’s someone we need to discuss. This woman you’ve been traveling with.” Ham’s voice was careful now. Measured. “Jayden Pierce.”
Dakota’s chest tightened. “What about her?”
“Coco did some digging. She’s connected to multiple aliases. Different names in different countries—some dating back years. Intelligence services have her flagged as a person of interest.”
