Page 36 of Kyle

The gruffness of his voice made my eyes sting. This was it. I’d never see him again.

Why couldn’t I just tell him what I wanted? Why wasn’t I strong enough to ask him if I could stay with him?

“You, too, Kyle.” I rolled to my toes and brushed my lips against his. I hadn’t meant for it to be more than that, but at the last second, I realized I’d never see him again and for once in my life I was taking what I wanted. My tongue came out and licked the seam of his mouth, his came out and brushed against mine and fireworks exploded in my chest. One taste, that was all I’d ever have. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He held my eyes for a beat, conflicted and confused, before he cursed under his breath, then let me go.

With a small jump, I was in the back of the truck.

Kyle rolled the door down and I watched as he closed it, unable to look away as I lost sight of him. I heard the latch lock and I scrambled to the door, placing my hand on the metal. The truck jerked and we were moving.

He was gone.

My heart shattered.

Chapter 10

Dec was giving me a wide berth.

The moment I’d closed the door behind Anaya, I knew I’d made a mistake.

Arguably the biggest one of my life.

I’d let her go even after she’d kissed me.

The only conversation that had passed between me and Declan since I’d watched Anaya being driven away was him informing me Tex had already arranged a local organization to come in to handle the girls who had been left at the orphanage.

I had to stay on target and stop thinking about how sweet Anaya tasted. How hard I’d fought the urge to deepen the kiss. How I’d wanted to throw her over my shoulder and run away with her. How I never wanted her to leave me.

She was gone and I’d allowed that to happen. It was for her own good—now our only objective was to take out Preston Lockhart.

We’d been in Cambodia ten hours and had already recon-ed the area.

“There’s only three guards,” Declan unnecessarily told me.

“I guess they feel safe with the area being so remote.”

“That’s my take, too.”

“Preston will be there for the buy, that makes four. Possibly more if one of the men on the premises isn’t the boss.”

“Tex said Preston is travelling alone. We’ll take him out en route.”

“Agreed.”

Declan leveled me with his stare and I braced. “We should talk about Anaya.”

Nope. That was the last thing I wanted to talk about.

“Nothing to talk about,” I told him.

“You didn’t—”

“I did, Declan. You were right. I wasn’t thinking. Bringing her along would’ve been too dangerous. She’s safer where she is.”

“We’ll be back home in a few days, her a couple more after that. You could—”

“Could what?” I snapped. “Call her? Ask her out on a date? We’ll be in Maryland, she lives in San Diego. Then there’s the fact she’s off to South America for two years and we’re at war with Omni.” I wanted to tug at my hair in frustration but I refrained. “I’m not cut out for that shit anyway.”