Page 61 of Dangerous Rhythm

“Yes,” she finally said. “I can’t really talk about it.”

“You can’t or won’t?”

“Mostly I can’t.” She sighed. “Not the details, at least.”

“Did you lose someone?” Curtis asked, based on his nagging instinct.

Lina turned her gaze up to him. “Why do you say that?”

“Last night, when you told me to go with Raul, you said you couldn’t keep me safe anymore. You said you couldn’t lose me, too. Who did you lose?”

She looked as if she was deciding how much to share.

“A friend.” Her hand fisted on his chest. “A subordinate I was training. Someone I was supposed to keep safe.”

“I’m sorry,” Curtis said, seeing the loss still felt fresh to her, as though it’d just happened yesterday. “He must’ve meant a lot to you.”

“She did,” Lina corrected. “She had so much potential and would’ve been off doing a lot of good things if she were still here.”

“What happened?” he gently probed. He caressed her soft black hair, soothing her nerves as the questions opened a flood of unwanted memories. He almost regretted asking.

“She shouldn’t have been there.” Lina released a long breath. “Her strength wasn’t in field operations. She didn’t need to be there, but she wanted to prove to everyone she could pull her weight. We all did in our time in the service. We all needed to prove to ourselves we could do it as well, if not better than the rest of them.”

Curtis could guess who the rest of them were.

“I understood that and, against my judgment, I let her into the mission.” She continued her story now that the floodgate was open. “Everything went fine. It was an ordinary intelligence-gathering mission. We were supposed to go in, get our info from the informant, and get out.”

Something obviously had gone wrong. Curtis could feel Lina struggle with the rest of the story now.

“Our informant betrayed us. The enemy had a sniper trained on us the whole time. I felt something was off, but I detected the threat too late and she didn’t see it coming. Before I could warn her, a shot was fired, and she was on the ground, bleeding. I got this scar trying to pull her to safety. But she was already dead.”

Curtis’ breath caught in his chest, hearing the anguish in her voice. Wrapping his arms around her, he cradled her close to his heart. “God, Lina. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“I failed her,” Lina said, choking on a sob, trying not to cry. “I should’ve known better. I shouldn’t have let her go.”

Recognizing her guilt, Curtis didn’t try telling her it wasn’t her fault. Even if she wasn’t at fault, she’d still think she was. She’d still carry it. So, he did the only thing he could. He soothed her.

“Let it out, sweetheart,” he whispered as he caressed her back. “Get it all out. Whatever you need to do. Cry, shout, anything. Don’t bottle it up.”

Curtis kissed her forehead as she teared up into his chest. “You don’t have to be strong all the time. Not with me.”

twenty-six

“You made decent eggs, Mr. Bisset.” Lina bit into her fried egg-topped toast. The warm yolk oozed out, and she tried to catch every bit.

Curtis watched her with an indecent glint in his eyes. “How do you make me hot while eating eggs?”

“You just have a dirty mind,” she retorted.

“That I do.” He shrugged and started on his own breakfast.

Lina couldn’t help but steal a glance at Curtis every few seconds. Last night had been a wonder to her. She felt a newfound lightness, as if a heavy load had been lifted from her weary shoulders. Who knew someone like Curtis would get her?

She’d told no one about her disastrous last field mission except for Marcus. But even with her mentor, she could never let her feelings out the way she had last night with Curtis. Having him just hold her while she’d cried her heart out was something she hadn’t realized she needed.

Lina watched Curtis throw a grape up into the air and catch it with his mouth. She shook her head with a chuckle. Underneaththat silliness lay a sensitive man no one saw. He’d called himself immature and selfish before, but that kind of person wouldn’t worry about his family and friends, or let her disgustingly wet his chest with tears and snot. A selfish man also wouldn’t make sure he pleasured her first thrice before he got to his.

The back door opened and slammed shut. Lina jumped out of her seat and warned Curtis to stay put with a look. The man knew when to follow orders.

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