Page 129 of False Flag

“Where…where was the rose supposed to be?”

“In the drawer where you kept the laptop.”

The drawer had been empty except for the sweatshirts that hid the computer from a casual search.

He’d left a rose for her, a message only she would understand, in the first place she was bound to look.

“Did you get my text? My phone said it was delivered.”

She shook her head, unable to speak as her emotions flailed. Tears fell as she tried to reorganize her thoughts. He might have left a message in flower form, but he had to know about Drew, and he hadn’t come back. She’d built up her hurt and anger to a degree she couldn’t just let it go in an instant.

His gaze probed her face. She’d always loved his smile, but now she realized his eyes were his best feature. She remembered the way he’d looked at her when he told her he was falling in love with her. His eyes had sold it.

Now they were selling a different emotion.

Her feelings surged. Overwhelming. Uncontrollable. Violent. Intense. She gripped his short hair, digging in with her fingertips. They stood there, for a long moment, gazes locked. Then she pulled his head down.

Her kiss was savage. All her emotions unleashed. Fury. Pain. Grief. Plus the thing she didn’t want to name.

He kissed her back, equally desperate, but lacking her hostility and frenzy. He softened the kiss as he whispered, “I’m sorry. So sorry.” He spoke into her mouth, small breaks between strokes of his tongue. “So fucking sorry.”

Anger faded under the pressure of his kisses and apologies, but hurt lingered. She’d had a week of feeling deserted, isolated, and afraid.

He raised his head and cupped her face. “I wanted to come back. I’m…” He swiped at a tear with his thumb. “We never had a chance to talk about him, but Freya told me what Drew meant to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to hold you.”

She finally found the ability to speak through the onslaught of emotion, even as more tears broke. “Why didn’t you come back?”

“My text…if you’d replied, I’d have explained it. I was making progress on figuring out the signal blockers, and if I came back without the boat, I’d be as trapped as you.”

“I lost the phone. Pretty sure Gerard has it. I never saw your text.”

“Glad I didn’t send more than that first message, then.”

“Why did you go? What happened?”

“Casper hinted that the boat was going to be impounded for illegal docking. Honestly, I don’t think he meant to say it, but he was so pleased with himself.”

“Sounds like Casper.”

“Still, I hoped he was bluffing, but then I saw an RCMP patrol vessel nearing the harbor. I used the radio in the security office—Beau was not happy about that—and was told I had ten minutes to move the boat or it would be impounded. I ran to the rose garden and stole a rose, then grabbed the laptop.”

“I didn’t see the RCMP vessel when you were leaving the harbor.”

“They took off as soon as I cast off.”

She took a deep breath. He hadn’t abandoned her on purpose. He hadn’t had time to do more than leave a rose.

She should have known that Beau would guess at the rose’s significance and take it. Should have guessed when she saw him with the flower in his hands. But Beau always unsettled her, upending logic.

She gripped his shirt again and pulled him down for another kiss. Not hostile this time. Not frenetic. No, this was something else. The emotion she’d been holding back.

He responded in kind. A deep, easy kiss. An exploration. Reunion.

She needed this. Needed him.

Her fingers found his shirt, and she began opening buttons, only to be frustrated to find he wore a skin-tight compression shirt underneath. “You need to get naked.” Her words were practically a growl.

“Wait.” He lifted her hands from his belt.