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Itilted my head under the spray and let the hot water from the shower soothe the ache in my muscles. After repairing Edith’s fence the day before, Zach and I had spent the rest of the afternoon chopping firewood and tying it into bundles to be sold to the fishermen for their firepits. It had been hard work and had left my muscles burning, but just like all the other jobs I’d done around the lake, it was more fun because of the company I’d had.

Zach was smart and sexy and fun to be around, and I looked forward to our time together, probably more than I should. In fact, I knew I shouldn’t be getting as close to him as I was, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. When I was away from him, I spent all my time thinking about him and when I was with him, I was happier than I could ever remember being. He had some strange sort of hold on me that I’d never experienced before, but I had to admit that I kind of liked it.

It was getting harder and harder to hold back from what I really wanted to do, which was grab him and kiss the hell out of him. I’d come very close the day before. Listening to him talk about being a stray that Edith had taken in had nearly killed me. I’d wanted to pull him into my arms and tell him that he was one of the most amazing men I’d ever met.

Zach had pulled away before I’d gotten the chance and, while I was disappointed, it was probably for the best. After all, I was there to do a job and I had yet to determine whether Zach was actually Zane or not. Micah was counting on me to find him and bring him back to Chicago, but the more time I spent with Zach, the more the lines got blurred. If Zach turned out to not be Zane, it would kill me to have to leave and continue my search, and if he was Zane…well, I suppose I’d just have to cross that bridge when I got to it.

I quickly finished washing then turned the water off and reached for a towel to dry myself. After shaving the scruff from my face and brushing my teeth, I went to my room to get dressed. I’d just finished pulling my clothes on when my laptop binged, letting me know that I needed to log on for my weekly video conference with the guys. I sat down on the edge of my bed and set the laptop up on the table beside me. Soon, I could see the faces of my friends and I smiled as we all greeted each other.

“Hey! How’s everybody doing?” Micah asked. After we’d all confirmed that we were good, he got down to business. “Most of you are out on assignments right now, so I’d like to go through the group and see what’s going on with each of you.”

I listened as, one by one, my friends gave us a brief rundown of their assignments. Carlos was still assigned to the politician from hell, while Nolan and Josh were working together to figure out who was threatening a popular all-girl band. Brandon was at home in Chicago, setting up a new security system for a business that had been robbed. We continued around the group and when it was my turn, all eyes turned to me.

“I don’t have much to report. I’m still working at the lake, but I haven’t been able to clearly identify Zane yet,” I told them.

“Have you gotten close to him, so you can start pressing him for information?” Micah asked.

I knew that Micah was anxious to have everything settled, and that he’d been patiently waiting for me to find Zane and take him back to Chicago, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pressure Zach for information. I could tell that he was finally starting to trust me, but that trust was fragile. He didn’t give it away freely and I didn’t want to ruin anything by moving too quickly.

While all that was true, there was another part of me, the selfish part of me, that just wanted more time with Zach. I knew that once I figured out if he was Zane or not, everything would change. I’d have to take him back to Chicago and then he’d face whatever it was Micah wanted him for. Whether it was jail time or something else entirely, I had no clue, but I knew that it would change things, and I liked how things were. I liked the direction our friendship was headed, and I was curious to see what could happen between us. So, I did the only thing I could do, I lied.

“We don’t really see each other all that much. The job’s been keeping us pretty busy, but don’t worry, I’ll keep trying,” I said.

The lie tasted bitter on my tongue. I hated lying, but lately that seemed to be all I did. I was lying to Zach by not being honest about why I was there, and I had just lied to my closest friends, the people who I considered family. And they believed me because they trusted me.

Guilt weighed heavily on my shoulders as they continued on with the meeting, but I saw Brandon giving me a strange look. He was my best friend, and probably knew me better than anyone else, and I wondered if he’d been able to tell I was lying. I quickly averted my gaze, focusing my attention on Greg, who was the last one to speak.

“Alright, guys, I’ve got a busy day, so let’s wrap this up,” Micah said when Greg had finished.

“You ever going to tell us what’s going on?” Greg asked him. “You’ve been sneaking off for all these early morning, private meetings lately. I know you’re not just getting down and dirty with that sexy husband of yours because you usually take long lunches for that.”

“That’s true, but can you blame him? I’d be taking long lunches every day if I had a man as hot as Landon,” Nolan teased, waggling his eyebrows at our boss.

Micah rolled his eyes. “Okay, that’s enough. Quit perving on my husband.”

There was no heat to his words. Micah knew they were only teasing, and besides, he was always the first to tell people how lucky he was to get to share his life with Landon. They had met on one of Micah’s assignments when he was hired to guard Landon’s rock star brother, and they had ended up falling madly in love.

Landon was an incredible man and if I wasn’t so happy for Micah, I’d probably be completely jealous of the relationship they had. But I was happy for both of them. Too many people went their whole lives without ever finding their soulmate. The fact that the two of them had gave the rest of us hope.

“Fine, I’ll tell you guys because you’re going to find out soon enough anyway.” Micah drew in a deep breath and puffed his cheeks as he blew it out. “Around Christmas, last year, Landon and I decided we wanted to adopt. We’ve been meeting with an agency and we’ve been approved as good candidates. Now, we just have to wait for our baby to come along and choose us.”

There was a round of cheers from those of us not there with him and those that were shook his hand and gave him slaps on the back. We were all thrilled for him and we made sure he knew it. Landon and Micah were going to be amazing parents and any child would be lucky to have them.

We ended the meeting after that and I closed my laptop and fell back on the bed. I hated lying to Micah and the other guys, but there was something about Zach or Zane or whoever he was that called to me. I’d never experienced anything like it before, but there was definitely something happening between the two of us, and I could tell that Zach had felt it too. I just needed some more time to figure out exactly what it was before I told him the truth, and everything went to shit.

I rubbed my hands over my face and then sat up. Looking at the time on my phone, I knew I’d have to hurry if I didn’t want to be late for work. There was no time for breakfast as I grabbed my wallet and keys and headed to the door. I wasn’t sure which one of us was more surprised though when I flung the door open just as Zach put his hand up to knock.

“Shit!” I shouted, jumping back. Zach gasped, but then he started laughing.

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

I laid my hand over my chest, trying to slow my racing heart. “That’s okay, I just wasn’t expecting you to be standing there,” I chuckled.

“Well, I figured it was my turn to pick you up,” he said. I glanced over his shoulder at the older truck that sat idling in the driveway. There was a large tank in the bed of the truck, like farmers used to haul water for their crops.

“Where’s your truck?” I asked, looking back at him. I took in the fullness of his bottom lip as he smiled and the way his T-shirt brought out the blue in his eyes and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“Don’t need it today, not for where we’re going,” he said as he turned and started down the steps.

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