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If she wanted faster, he wasn’t going to say no. Ryland picked up his pace and a minute later, they both broke at exactly the same moment. They flew over the precipice together, joined in every way, then floated back down to reality.
Ryland dotted light kisses along Harper’s collarbone. “I…” he licked the hollow, “...love…” swirled his tongue, “...you…”
He’d never told any woman those words except his mother and sister. And that had been a very long time ago. He may have only known Harper a short time, but he knew what he felt for her. It was undeniable and incredible. Even more spiritual than catching a tube. Because he knew without a doubt that Harper had barreled him. One-hundred and ten percent.
“I—” Her voice caught and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“What?” Ryland traced a finger along her jaw then pressed a kiss to her lips. “Tell me, sweetheart. What’re you thinking?”
“I know you guys came up with some sort of plan. But you haven’t told me yet, and that worries me.” She hesitated then asked, “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
He’d been dreading this moment and seeing her tear-bright eyes killed him. Heaving out a sigh, he said, “Harper, I need you to understand the gravity of what we’re planning to do. We’re setting up our base ops in a small, remote town about halfway up the coast. The rules suck, but make sense: burner phones only, and only when absolutely necessary; no credit cards, only cash; and no talking to anyone in our past, including family and friends.”
She frowned, hooking her finger in his silver chain. “Wherever you go, I want to go, too.”
“There’s more,” he said hesitantly. “It’s not going to be easy to find and eliminate our targets while constantly looking over our shoulder as they’re simultaneously hunting us down. So we made a decision.”
He locked gazes with her.
“Tomorrow morning, the team is boarding a private plane. The flight plan will say we’re heading to Mexico, but halfway there, we’re going to jump out of the plane before crashing it in a remote desert location. The world will think we died. No survivors. It’s the only way to keep the people we love safe. Otherwise, The Agency could use them to try to track us down.”
Harper’s jaw dropped and she released the necklace. “You’re going to fake your deaths so they stop pursuing you?”
Ryland nodded, brushing a strand of golden hair back off her face. “And then we’re going to hunt down every single bastard behind Tanner’s death and eliminate them one by one.”
She considered his words then said, “I want to go with you.”
“I can’t ask that of you. Your sister would be devastated.”
“What about your sister?” Harper prodded.
Ryland scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “That’s complicated.”
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t told you anything about Addie yet because we’re not on the best of terms right now.” Ryland considered his next words carefully and Harper waited patiently for him to continue. “My older sister takes after our mother.”
“Meaning?”
“She’s a world-class thief. Remember when you mentioned my lockpicking skills?”
Harper nodded.
“Courtesy of good ol’ mom. And my middle name?”
“Vincenzo.”
“Named after Vincenzo Peruggia, arguably the greatest art thief of the 20th century.”
“What made him so good?”
“He managed to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.”
“Seriously? How?”
“That’s the funny part. He worked there and didn’t have any kind of elaborate plan. Just hid in the museum one night, took the painting off the wall, put it under his jacket and walked out. Got caught when he tried to sell it two years later.”
“I assume he went to prison.”
