Page 28 of Hidden Obsession

Cleo blushed at Caitlin’s words. “Not, here someone will hear you.”

“Fine, we’ll meet you at Mason’s place tonight.” Caitlin pumped her fist triumphantly.

Cleo knew when she was beaten and laughed. ”Fine, but you bring the wine. Now go, I have work to do, even if you don’t.”

Cleo looked up as Shane poked his head around his office door and called to her. “Cleo, can I have a word please?” He eyed the other women, his fiancée included, with suspicion. “What are you lot up to? You look like a coven of witches planning a spell.”

“Did you just call me a witch, Shane Rhodes?” Emme scolded.

Shane walked closer and hooked his arm her around the waist, bringing her into his body. He bent down and whispered in her ear, making the gorgeous British operative blush prettily before kissing her cheek tenderly and letting her go. “You got a sec now, Cleo?” Shane looked at her as the others dispersed, Emme with a dreamy look on her face.

Cleo could well understand how Emme had fallen for Shane. He had a dark, sexy, brooding vibe that was hard to resist. Cleo nodded as she followed her boss into his office, wondering what he wanted.

“Take a seat.” He walked toward his desk and sat in his chair.

Her heart began to hammer as nerves set in. Was she in trouble for getting involved with Mason? “What’s up, Shane?” Her voice remained calm, not betraying her emotional state.

“I wanted to check in with you and make sure you were okay? A lot has happened the last week or so and I know it must be hard.”

Cleo felt relief flooding her system at his words. “I’m okay. Everyone has been wonderful looking after me, and I know it costs money to go after this stalker and take people off paying jobs—”

Shane cut her off and raised his hand. “Don’t! You’re one of us, and we protect our own. Someone comes after you, they come after us all. That’s how this team works. We’re family. We fight, we annoy each other, but we stick together and have each other’s backs. That said, I need you to know when I take someone on, I do detailed background checks on them.”

Cleo felt her throat clog, knowing he knew her secret.

“It makes no difference to me, Cleo. We all have a past, things we’d rather not tell anyone, and I don’t blame you, but you need to tell Mason. Don’t tie his hands and watch him fail. He cares about you. We all do, and if there’s any chance this is connected, you need to be upfront with him.”

“I understand.” Her voice was almost a whisper.

“I haven’t said anything yet, but you need to and if you don’t, I will. I won’t have one of my people hurt because I was protecting your pride or privacy. Have some faith, Cleo. None of the team will judge you for it, I certainly don’t. But if you hide this and something happens… Let me tell you, you won’t forgive yourself—ever!” With that, he squeezed her shoulder and left his office to give her a minute to get herself together.

He and Emme had known all along and not said a word. Standing, she walked back to her desk and began to work as she let the mundane jobs calm her whirring brain. Her mind repeatedly went to Mason as she worked through her list of tasks.

The last few days had been effortless; they gelled as if they had been together for years, but the constant buzz from everything being new and exciting fizzed up every time she saw him or heard his voice. The timing sucked! She had a madman wanting to do god knew what to her, they worked together. More than that she hadn’t been honest with him.

She knew she needed to tell him the truth about Spears and her past. Secrets would only fester and poison what they had started and she didn’t want that. Her instincts told her Mason was already following that lead anyway. A part of that made her angry at him for going behind her back, but the more rational part knew she had left him no choice. If the boot was on the other foot, would she have gone behind his back to protect him from someone who wanted to see him harmed? She thought back to the night she had spent by his bedside when he’d been stabbed and lost nearly half the blood in his body. It had been so close. They had performed CPR on him until they had gotten him into the operating room.

She had been so sure she was going to lose him, and they hadn’t even been more than colleagues although Cleo thought perhaps she’d known Mason was special from the minute they had met.

His dark assessing eyes had traveled over her when Emme introduced her, and she had felt a tremor of awareness like never before. Her body had recognized it even before her conscious mind had taken notice.

Would she have gone behind his back to stop the stabbing that had nearly ended his life? Without a shadow of a doubt, she would have. To expect him to do anything else was wrong of her. They needed to talk, but first, she needed some time to get her thoughts together about what she would say and what better way to do that than spend some girly time with her friends.