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“Be careful.”
“Right back at ya.” She smiled, then ended the call and said to Colton, “Costa will meet us there.”
He scowled. “Costa.”
“If Will trusts me, he trusts Costa.”
“The leak is probably from the fucking feds. I can’t believe you trust those people, and after everything Bryce Thornton put you through?”
“I trust Matt and my team. They have never let me down.”
She let the unspoken truth hang between them: Colton and everyone else she once trusted had disappointed her.
“Forgive me, Kara. If there had been another way—”
“There was another way.”
“I love you, K.”
She couldn’t believe he was doing this now. Here. “Bullshit,” she said.
“We have something.”
“We had something. But it wasn’t real.”
“What wasn’t real? I know you, Kara. Better than anyone.”
Last year she would have believed him. Hell, three months ago she would have believed him, been so relieved that he was alive and well that she might have forgiven him. But now? Kara was finally beginning to know herself. And that was because of Matt—not Colton. Matt saw her—not the woman she wanted people to see, but deep down to who she actually was. He saw who she wanted to be. No one had ever needed her like Matt.
She had never needed anyone, until Matt.
Need was the wrong word. They had a symbiotic relationship. They were stronger together.
With Matt, she felt like she had someone standing for her: standing behind her in support, standing in front of her to protect, standing at her side to join her in the fight.
For the first time, she had a hint about the true meaning of love.
She said to Colton, “We’re not having this conversation. Not now, not ever. I’ll get the keys to the rental car and—”
He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder. “I have my bike.”
The Harley was parked illegally on the street. She couldn’t help but smile. That was so much like Colton.
But if he thought reminding her that sometimes they had fun together, that sometimes they were good together would bring her back to him, he was wrong.
That part of her life was over after she thought he had been killed when she wasn’t there to protect him. She might be able to forgive him, but she’d never forget the deep, painful guilt, sorrow and rage she harbored when she thought he was dead.
They walked around the diminishing crowd and he said, “Campana is sending out a memo to everyone that I’m alive and kicking and have been in deep cover. My part is over and done with.”
“Scheduled, or because of all this bullshit?”
“It would have been out after I testified in front of the grand jury,” he said. “But now that they—” he waved toward city hall “—are closing ranks, I won’t be able to get much more even if I stayed on the streets.” He slipped onto his bike, handed her the extra helmet. She put it on, climbed behind him.
“I missed you, Kara,” he said and, without waiting for a response, started up the bike and pulled into traffic.
Will was pacing the First Contact office when Kara and Colton arrived. Gina and Fletch were sitting at the table drinking coffee and looking nervous.
“You didn’t tell anyone you were coming down?” Will said.
