Page 52 of Kyle

“This feels like more than getting to know each other,” I told him.

“It does,” he confirmed. “And I have to tell you I’m pleased as fuck you see it that way. It’d suck if I was the only one feeling it.”

What man says that?

I thought men were supposed to hide their feelings.

“What happens after tomorrow?”

“We go back to Maryland and figure things out.”

“Is that where you live?”

It was so totally bizarre that Kyle and I had had a conversation about sex and what sounded like to me starting a relationship, yet I didn’t even know where he lived. Hell, I didn’t know much about him, period. But strangely I knew all the important stuff. I knew he’d drop everything he was doing if I needed help. I knew he was honest and trustworthy. I knew he had a heart for service and he was humble about it. I knew he was kind and gentle and was willing to put up with all my crazy. That was good enough for me for now.

“At the moment, yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve spent the last few years overseas. There was no point in paying for a house or apartment when I wasn’t going to use it. So I don’t have one.”

How did I forget about that? My eyes drifted closed and my heart started to hurt. He travelled for work. I travelled with the Peace Corps. How would a relationship work? Phone calls? Emails? Long distance and time between us? I didn’t like that thought at all.

“Maybe—”

“Don’t say it, Anaya. We’ll work it out. Headquarters is based in Maryland and I’m stateside now. The contract we were working is done and Zane, my boss, knows the team doesn’t want to spend another two years in the sandbox.’

“Earlier you said there were issues with your job.”

“Told you about Harry Landry and his ties to Omni,” Kyle started and I nodded because I remembered. It still freaked me out that a man who’d made a large donation to NCMEC was actually a sex trafficker. “Right before you and I met, the team was finishing a mission. Emerson, who is married to one of my teammates, Thad, was kidnapped and taken to Mexico. After we rescued her, we found a note threatening the company if we didn’t pull back.”

“And these Omni people are the ones that threatened you?”

“Yes. Not just my team, who’d been tracking them, the company as a whole. The note mentioned some of the wives.”

“You didn’t want to bring me into the middle of that?”

It doesn’t sound like I want to be in the middle of that mess.

“I won’t lie to you, these men are seriously fucked-up. Their reach is far and wide and we only know the half of it. But, and this is the part you need to trust me on, we will not let anything happen to you. I won’t let anything happen. That was why I thought I was making the right decision letting you go, told you I was wrong about that. I’m not perfect, I fuck up, but I never make the same mistake twice. You have a choice; we can stash you away in a safehouse until this is over or you can trust me to keep you safe and stay with me. But you have to know, the endgame is the same. We’re gonna explore what’s between us. We can continue that now, or hit the pause button and wait. Either way, I’m not letting you go.”

“A safehouse?” I whispered.

“We have many. You’d be completely cut off from the outside world and guarded twenty-four-seven.”

“But you wouldn’t be that guard?”

“No.”

Kyle said I had a choice, but I didn’t. Not really. I didn’t want to be locked away in a safehouse somewhere without him. I wanted to explore a relationship with Kyle. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t waste another opportunity, and a safehouse, while it may’ve been the smarter of the two options, felt a lot like hiding. Something I’d done too much of.

“I wanna stay with you.”

“Yeah?” He sounded surprised and I didn’t like it.

“If you say you’ll keep me safe, I trust you.”

His body relaxed and his eyes had gone lazy. The new look made him incredibly sexy. A look I wanted more of—a lot more.