Page 134 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

“Then it’s just that: the past.”

“While we’re on the subject, stop using the past tense when you’re talking about us. We’re still working this shit out.”

“The end is inevitable.”

“Only in your head. Neither of us is ready to play happy families. We both have demanding jobs at the moment. Instead of me dating my right hand and you picking up lonely men in hotel bars, we could try a different option.”

“People always leave me. My father left before I was even born.”

“My father didn’t want me either.”

“But my dad didn’tnotwant me. At least, I think so. He sent money my whole life, but we never met.”

Cole wiped something off my cheek. A tear. Dammit, it was a tear.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Plus I live in Vegas. You’ll move back to San Gallicano in a year.”

“A year is a long time. Who knows what might happen?” He kissed my hair, the asshole. “Live for the moment.”

His lips met mine, and I couldn’t find it in me to push him away. I still had secrets, of course I did, but the biggest one was out in the open now. I kept waiting for Cole to change his mind, to pull back and tell me reality had finally sunk in, that I was a savage.

“These clothes are disgusting,” he murmured.

Agreed. “I needed an outfit that wouldn’t stand out in the dark.”

“Can they go now?”

I wriggled out of the jacket and toed off the boots, then Cole tugged off the sweatpants. He was already hard, his cock tenting his shorts, but when he picked me up, I protested.

“Not here. The forensics team will be all over this area soon, and cum stains would be hard to explain.”

Cole slid my bikini bottoms to the side and nailed me in a dusty office at the front of the building. It reminded me of the night we met, those frantic first hours together, and in a way, it was the same. Masks had been stripped away. Cole was meeting the real me, and I was seeing a new side of him too. But some things didn’t change. He gave me what I needed—a red ass and his hand around my throat as I came. He followed, releasing deep inside me as he groaned my name.

Jezebel.

I did love him.

I did.

But I kept the words to myself. We still had challenges to overcome—retaking theCrosswindand dealing with AceInTheHole—and for the first time in my life, I was scared of rejection.

CHAPTER 46

COLE

“If you want to stop me, you’ll have to shoot me.” Cole stood his ground at the dock, the wind ruffling his hair, and he couldn’t deny he was nervous. “But you won’t do that.”

He wasn’t scared of Bella. He was scaredforher.

Had he been right not to break things off? Yes. So many things made sense now—the distance she’d always tried to keep, her insistence that their relationship was casual even as her body told a very different story. Her interest in him, and her reluctance to talk about anything personal. The expensive diving gear. The confidence in herself versus her distrust of everyone else.

While he was floating around in the Mako, he’d considered two futures—one with her, and one without. Her job was…a shock. She’d admitted that she killed people, but she wasn’t selling her services to all and sundry. Bella had said enough that Cole knew she worked for the US government, and if she’d been in the regular armed forces, folks would hail her as a hero for making the world a safer place. Soldiers rode around in tanks while Bella’s tactics were sneakier, but was the endgame really so different? Surgical precision had to be better than dropping bombs, didn’t it?

If Cole left her, he’d forever compare all future girlfriends to the one who came before. If he stayed, he’d have an independent woman who wouldn’t blow up his phone if he had to work late. He’d have a smart, resourceful partner who treated him as an equal rather than a meal ticket. Okay, so he wasn’t equal to Bella, but she’d never made him feel second rate. And he’d have a guardian angel.

In the end, the decision had been a simple one.

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