Page 98 of Savage

I looked around the lavishly decorated suite, wondering what exactly that opportunity was. “You’re not going to tell me any more than that, are you?”

Lachlan leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine. “Nope.”

“What if I guess, and you just nod if I’m right?”

When Lachlan didn’t immediately nix that plan, I jumped right in.

“Okay, so during my recent tour of this building and my visit to someplace unknown where I met people I have already wiped from my brain, I have made several…observations.”

“Have you now?”

“I have.”

“And what might they be?”

“Well, first off, this private organization, at first I thought it was like a city thing, a New York Athletics Club or the FriarsClub, but I think it’s bigger than that. I think it’s international, you know, since I met that prince that I’ve already forgotten about.”

Lachlan said nothing but nodded once.

“Aha.” I held my index finger up in victory. “I knew it. So that would mean your security company is global, right? You have locations all around the world protecting some of the most important people—like the forgotten prince and maybe a past president’s son? Who I’ve never met in my life.”

Again, Lachlan nodded, and my mouth fell open.

“Wow. So they’re obviously not part of the security company, and yet they were all in that super-secret meeting, eager to help you take down Mick’s drug operation. So are you working for the government?”

Lachlan laughed heartily at that. “No benefits, remember?”

“Okay, so, private contractors?”

Lachlan screwed his nose up, and suddenly it dawned on me.

“You don’t work for others—you work foryourselves.” I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “You’re like a secret team of powerful guys who take down the bad guys.”

Lachlan seemed to ponder that for a moment, then said, “Let’s go with that.”

Was he crazy? He’d just given mewaymore than a silent nod, and now he expected me to be satisfied. Did he even know me at all?

“What do you mean by that? Are they not always bad guys? Areyouthe bad guy?”

Lachlan’s lips thinned and he shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m notalwaysthe good guy.”

My mouth opened, a million and one questions on the tip of my tongue. But instead of asking any of them, I reached for him, trailing my fingers down his stubble-lined jaw.

Lachlan had shared so much with me just now, way more than I’d ever expected. He’d given me a glimpse into his life, to what had helped shape him, and if he had to color outside the lines at times to keep people safe, who was I to judge?

Look at my vigilante, for God’s sake. I had no idea what he’d done to Mick’s guys that night. But if he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been alive to pick up the key card that had led me to Lachlan—andthat, I now realized, would’ve been my biggest regret of all.

Lachlan was such a beautiful man, both inside and out. His face was one of the most breathtaking I’d ever seen. Even as he stared at me with serious eyes that seemed full of warning, all I could seem to do was run faster toward him.

I leaned forward and grazed my lips over his. “So you’re a good guy who occasionally does bad things, but…you’ve always been good to me.”

“I’ll always be good to you.”

“Then that’s all I can ask for.”

32

LACHLAN

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