Page 10 of Island Holiday

True gratitude was low on her list right now. The moment the door closed, she rounded on him. “What the hell did you mean?” She didn’t shout, but it was a near thing.

“Can we unpack first?”

She folded her arms and stared him down. “There’s plenty to unpack right here. Start explaining yourself.”

“I’m not a stalker.”

That wasn’t what she’d expected. She waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “Well, don’t stop there.”

He set down the bags and shoved a hand through his hair. “I was the researcher when you blew the whistle on your boss,” he said in a rush. “Hannah was too close to the situation, according to Gamble and Swann.”

“Obviously.” Sonya was tempted to let him off the hook, but after the stalker comment, she wanted all the details. “She’s told me her side of that whole thing,” Sonya said. “She didn’t mention you.” Well, she had, but only in passing. It wasn’t until over a year later, when Sonya worked her first case with Connor, that she really gained an appreciation for his skills.

“Of course she didn’t. She knows you and loves you. My name was irrelevant.”

“Go on.” She ignored that little hitch near her heart that he understood that core dynamic between her and her friends. They shared what was important, and above all, honored the boundaries and limits for each other. It would’ve bothered Sonya immensely back then if she’d known how many people had been involved with rescuing her from her former boss.

“You went off the radar, even once things were clear,” Connor was saying. “The bosses had me search for you.”

True. Overwhelmed, even after the case was closed, she’d accepted Harper’s offer to lay low, far from the public eye, at a smaller Ellington property in Georgia. She’d trusted Harper not to share her location with anyone, only to offer assurances that Sonya was safe. “Harper wouldn’t have broken her promise,” she murmured.

“She didn’t,” he said. “Neither did Hannah. She insisted you were safe.”

“But Gamble and Swann wanted evidence?”

He rolled his shoulders. “I don’t claim to know the motive—”

She snorted at that nonsense. “They were already hoping to recruit me.”

“That’s a safe bet.” He bent and picked up the bags. “Can we setup now?”

“Almost. Finding me then doesn’t explain how you know my past.”

“Oh.” To his credit, he maintained eye contact.

“Connor, I’m a private person for a reason. I don’t volunteer information about myself before college.”

“I’m not asking you to do that,” he said. “I know how to mind the fences.”

“Pardon?”

“The boundaries,” he clarified. With a sigh, the bags hit the floor again. “Gamble and Swann were concerned, so I dug in. Per my orders. Harper knew what she was doing with hiding you, because my first pass through all the expected places came up empty. So I dug deeper. Yes, I confess that rabbit hole led me to your family and where you grew up.”

“My only family is—”

“Hannah and Harper,” he finished for her. “I get it, believe me.”

There was something sad in his eyes that made her want to comfort him. She resisted. Somehow. She needed to know if what he’d found colored his expectations of her. No, not her. She couldn’t care about his personal opinion. She did, however, need to know that he’d respect her skills on this case.

“I’m sorry, Sonya. If it makes a difference, that information is a footnote in a file, secure on the Guardian Agency servers. I didn’t share any details. Not even with the bosses. They wanted you, in the present. When it was clear you didn’t come home or connect with any old fr—acquaintances—I shifted my focus.”

“And eventually found me.”

“Eventually, yes.” He rocked back on his heels. “And since then…” His voice trailed off as he shrugged. “Well, I kind of developed a habit of keeping tabs on you.”

She folded her arms. “Which sounds like a stalker.”

“No.” He sighed. “Maybe. It comes down to intent. I kept track out of concern. Once you ventured out of hiding and joined the agency, you moved around all the time.”

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