Page 77 of The Spy Ring

TWENTY-SIX

Jagger

“That was awful,” Tiffany said as she flopped back on the bed.

Only moments ago, we had come back from the club after collecting Henrik and Morgana. Tiffany and I took a detour to pick up David at Diego’s place. He was upset that he couldn’t spend the night with his friend like they planned, but Tiffany wanted to keep her son near.

Alex rented one of the upper floors of the Bluff Hotel on the Magnificent Mile for everyone. David even got his own room adjacent to Tiffany’s.

I’m standing in her room willing myself to leave. Alex got me my own room, but as I watched Tiffany squirm around on that bed, I hesitated. Her dark, lush hair against the crisp white bedspread inspired lurid thoughts and compelled my eyes to travel her body.

“I don’t think we were that bad,” I said as I watched her roll to her side, propping her head in hand.

“I mean finding out Alex’s mom escaped. How are Morgana and Henrik supposed to enjoy their day knowing a crazy woman is on the loose and gunning for their friends?”

I took a step closer. Tiffany hadn’t noticed, as she was lost in thought. I inched farther until I was sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Emma Hawthorne is probably long gone by now. When criminals, especially rich and powerful ones like Alex’s mom, escape from prison, they flee to another country. She’s probably in Europe or somewhere in Asia by now.”

Tiffany sat up and came to the edge of the bed next to me. She twisted and bit her bottom lip as I stared. “You’re probably right. I just worry, you know?”

A small chuckle escaped my lips. “Yeah, I know. You care, Tiffany. I hope they know how lucky they are to have someone like you to care for them.”

I would feel like the luckiest guy in the world if Tiffany saw me the way she saw her friends.

“Who? My friends?”

“Yes.” I nodded as I dared to reach out to her thigh, placing my hand on the bit of skin that poked out from her pink skirt above her knee. “I wish I had someone who was as concerned about me the way you are for them.”

“I care about you, Jagger.”

Her hair had fallen, covering the side of her face so I lifted my fingers to pull it back, rolling a few strands between my thumb and finger. It’s soft. She’s soft.

I let the strands fall, along with my eyes.

“But you regret—”

“I regret marrying you, yes. But you left before I could explain myself.”

When Tiffany turned her head, her eyes glittered with something that refused to let me go.

“I don’t know you, Jagger. I regret marrying a man I didn’t know. For risking my life, even my son’s future, by doing something so foolish. And even now as we sit here, I still don’t understand who you really are.”

She was right. I had spent much of my working life—first as a CIA agent and then as part of the ITA—keeping people away. Because if anyone got close, they would ask questions. And my job didn’t allow me to answer them.

“Maybe I was afraid you wouldn’t want to stick around when you found out who I really was.”

Maybe I let my job protect me from letting people into my life. My skin tightened in the best way as Tiffany’s fingers combed through my hair. Thoughts of wrapping myself around her and letting her warmth ease away reality filled my head. In the end, I settled for kicking off my shoes.

“Jagger, life is so much more beautiful and so much more terrible than most people can fathom. We can’t help what it throws at us, but we can choose to stop running. I think I ran for a long time by declining any extra help. I don’t know how many times my neighbor or Henrik, over the years, would ask to watch David so I could have some moments to myself. Almost every time I said no.” Tiffany wiped away a tear.

“I felt guilty. That it should have been me in that car and not my husband. Or, I should have insisted he wait to get a Christmas tree when I was feeling better so we could go as a family. Or the millions of other arresting thoughts I had in the last ten years. All excuses for what a terrible mother, a terrible person, I was. I didn’t deserve to be happy. I certainly don’t deserve to have a man like you want to be with someone like me.”

I grabbed her wrist and pushed the palm of her hand to my lips, I flicked my eyes to hers before brushing it with a kiss.

“You deserve so much, Tiffany. You are worthy of all that is good and sweet and body tingling and anything that can produce that beautiful smile.” I pointed to her lips as they began to curl.

Sighing, I reached under my shirt and pulled the ring out from underneath, removing it from my neck.

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