Page 79 of Shadow Operative

Emotions suddenly seemed to seize her, and she stood. “Well, I should get to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

Gage stood also and nodded. “Of course. You should get some rest.”

But she couldn’t ignore the tension stretching between them as they said good night.

chapter

thirty-seven

Gage awokethe next morning feeling restless.

He hadn’t been able to sleep much—he’d only gotten a couple of hours of shut-eye at the most. But he was used to surviving on little to no rest. It was part of his training.

Thoughts of his conversation with Nia had kept him up for most of the night.

He tried to put himself in her shoes. To imagine what she’d gone through with Mario.

Every time he thought about it, a surge of anger rushed through him.

Guys like Mario gave men a bad name.

It wasn’t even that Gage wanted a relationship with Nia. He’d resigned himself to being single. With the job he did, it was better if he remained unattached. But every once in a while he imagined what it would be like to settle down and have a normal life.

His friend Jonah Gray had done it. He’d left theShadow Agency, and now he worked on an idyllic island off the coast of North Carolina. And he was engaged. And he seemed happy.

Was it even possible to have that kind of life while still working for the agency?

Gage had heard rumors that Larchmont didn’t want to let people go.

But Jonah had somehow gotten out, so it must be possible.

Gage turned over again, unsure where these thoughts were even coming from.

He loved his job. Loved the adrenaline rush when he tracked down bad guys.

At least he used to.

Right now, he wasn’t sure—and being unsure bothered him.

Realizing he wasn’t going to sleep, he stood from the couch. The place had only two bedrooms, but Austin had taken one and Nia the other, which was fine.

Gage took a quick shower and threw on some fresh clothes.

By the time he got out, Nia was sitting in a chair reading from the Bible left on a table in the hotel room.

When she looked up at him and smiled, his whole world seemed to stop.

Okay, so maybe he was lying if he said there was nothing between them. That he didn’t feel anything. Because he clearly did.

But it was better if he didn’t get close to anyone. That motto had kept him alive and thriving for a longtime. His life was a small sacrifice to make for the safety of his country.

That mindset had been drilled into him when he went through training for Project Elevate.

His black-ops missions had been intense. Failure would lead to the government denying his affiliation with them.

Then the program had imploded.

He and his teammates had been forced to try to blend in with society—a challenge in itself considering all they’d been through.

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