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“I wish, I wish…” She took a shuddering breath, and a few tears slipped down her cheek. I caught them with my thumb. “If everything, and I mean everything, were different, I could…I could see myself fall—f-falling in…” A sob ripped from her throat, cutting off the rest of her sentence. She spun from my arms and hunched into a ball, arms wrapped protectively around her middle.
I longed to reach for her but didn’t. Each quake of her shoulders shaking with silent sobs resounded through me. She’d left the word love unsaid, but it was on the tip of her tongue. And it was on the tip of mine now too.
The full-blown realization of what was at stake rocked me. I could fall. Oh, hell, I already had. I was madly, desperately, blindly in love with Lee. Given half a chance, I’d make her the center of my life, but she wouldn’t give me that opportunity.
No, I would have to steal it.
Stubborn woman.
A black town car with tinted windows pulled to the curb, and the driver rolled down the window. “Ms. Vance? Franklin Wright sent me.” A man in a dark suit got out and walked around the car to open the back door.
Trapped in my thoughts, she was already stepping into the car when I reached for her.
She paused a moment before looking up at me. Tears glistened on her lashes. “Boy Scout. Thank you. Goodbye.”
She slid into the dark interior of the car, and I vowed this wouldn’t be goodbye. Not even close.
I was watching where the taillights of the town car had disappeared when my ride arrived a few minutes later. I opened the door, and a wave of Latin pop music washed over me. The music did not match my mood, but I didn’t say anything, grateful the noise would stop me from having to chat with the driver. I sank into the back seat of the subcompact Kia and closed my eyes, the salsa beat pounding into the back of my eyelids.
My driver was happy to let me wallow while she fought Miami’s rush-hour traffic. The morning commute was gearing up to full power by the time she pulled to a stop in front of the gate at The Smith Agency’s downtown office.
“Thanks,” I offered as I unfolded myself from the small back seat.
“Hope you have a better day.”
I groaned.
“Heypapi, look on the bright side. You’re out of jail.“ She gave me a wink and thumbs-up, laughing as she pulled away from the curb.
I dug out my phone, opened the app, and gave her an extra-large tip and a five-star rating as I walked into the office. Someone should have a good Tuesday.
Quinn sat at the front desk with a circuit board in pieces on the surface and a soldering iron in her hand. She looked up and shoved her magnifying glasses on top of her head to inspect me.
“You look rough. Go shower and change. I’ll handle breakfast. Egg-white burrito or doughnut?” She was already on her feet, getting ready to hit the break room and get me food before the morning meeting. When one of us pulled an all-nighter, Quinn handled morning-after triage.
“Burrito.” God, I really was a fucking Boy Scout. “Actually, I’ll take both.”
She froze mid-step and turned around slowly, one eyebrow raised comically high. “Both?”
I shrugged like it wasn’t unusual, but I never took the doughnut. Not once in all these years had I taken the doughnut. But today I was doing it. Fuck moderation. And rules. And all the rest. I’m going balls out. Step one: eat the doughnut. Step two: save Lee.
“Alright then, one egg white spinach burrito and one glazed doughnut.”
Showered and fed, I found my way to my normal seat at the conference table. John gave me a long look when I entered. I was sure one of his contacts at MPD had filled him in on my evening’s activities. And I didn’t know how I felt about that.
The meeting was mind-numbing. Or maybe I was exhausted. Could have been both.
Sydney O’Connor wasn’t in attendance. She phoned in her report about last night. Her excuse, not enough sleep. Shit, if I’d known that was an option, I’d have gone home.
“Thanks, Sydney, get some rest. Good work last night.” John clicked end call on the speakerphone in the center of the table. “Derek, you’re up.”
My mind went blank, and for a moment, I almost plunged into an explanation of Lee’s situation. But that wasn’t why we were having this meeting. It was to recap the Leck situation. I refocused my brain and ran through a quick operational postmortem. Highlighting what worked and what could have been better. I was a perfectionist, and O’Connor would hear about some of her transgressions from last night when I could get her alone.
My part completed, I sat down and gave Quinn the floor. She ran through a few other items of general office business with our regular clients and the details of an international private security conference she was attending virtually.
I zoned out, my mind fixated on Lee’s concern that I didn’t belong in her world. But two men sitting at this table did. And damnit, they were going to help me. And her.
Chapter 34
