Page 333 of Lars

But…

I killed terrorists for a living.

Unconsciously, I did hold him to that standard, even though I didn’t want to. Even though it wasn’t fair.

And the fact that Alistair was clearly afraid of Lars…

It made me despise him all the more.

Lars would have never been afraid of anyone.

And he would have never backed down from a fight.

“You can’t tell him I’m here!” Alistair insisted, his voice almost an octave higher than normal. “Or that I’m your fiancé!”

The fact that he didn’t want to admit to being engaged to me disgusted me even more.

“Why does it matter that we’re – ”

“Just DON’T!” Alistair snarled, pivoting from weak to angry. “He could be unhinged!”

I’d had enough.

“FINE,” I snapped, then turned and headed for the front door.

My heart beat wildly in my chest as I walked into the foyer. I felt more panicked than on missions when my life had been in danger –

And then I opened the door.

Lars had been about to walk away –

But he turned back to me.

My breath caught in my throat.

He was impossibly gorgeous.

He mostly looked the same as when he’d disappeared… but there was something new in his eyes. A hardness… a world-weariness. An element of danger that hadn’t been there before.

However, I still felt like I was seeing a man I’d thought was dead…

The ghost of someone I’d buried long ago.

“Rachel,” he said. His voice cracked with the emotion I could see on his face.

At least he’d missed me.

“What are you doing here?!” I hissed. I didn’t want Alistair to overhear our conversation, although I had no choice. If he clicked a button on the kitchen monitor, he could hear everything we said.

Lars frowned like he was taken aback by my less-than-happy reaction.

What the fuck did he expect?

For me to do cartwheels of joy?

“I came to – ”

His gaze suddenly dropped, and a look of nausea washed over his face.

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