Page 50 of Fast Kill

The thoughtful gesture touched her so much it put a lump in her throat and for a moment she couldn’t speak. Barely anyone in her life had ever made her feel like she mattered, let alone enough for them to take notice of the things that made her happy. And last night, the one good person from her past had tried to kill her.

She swallowed hard. “Thank you. How did you know I liked these?”

“Saw them on your coffee table the other night.”

She bit the inside of her lip and looked away. Was he for real? A guy wouldn’t go to all this trouble just to get her into bed, would he? She placed the books gently on the table. Try as she might, she couldn’t figure him out.

Turning her attention back to him, she watched as he polished off his dinner. “Can I ask you something? It’s personal.”

His eyes swung toward her. “Sure, ask away.”

There was no delicate way to put it. “I’m trying to figure out why she left you. Your ex.”

His eyebrows shot up and one side of his mouth twitched. “So basically you’re wondering exactly what’s wrong with me.”

She gave him a guilty grin. “Sort of, yeah.”

“Wow, okay. Didn’t see that one coming. But fair enough.” She opened her mouth to mutter an apology but he waved it off. “No, it’s fine. Like I said before, we were just too different. And we both had different expectations. I expected her to be more secure and independent after we were married, and she expected me to suddenly settle down and live the whole white picket fence lifestyle. So we were doomed right from the get-go.”

Taylor nodded, considering all of that. “Unrealistic expectations.”

“And then some. My undercover work made it extra tough. Put an additional strain on an already crumbling relationship. I wasn’t ever going to be the kind of guy to work a desk job nine-to-five. She decided she wanted that more than she wanted me. We fought a lot. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I think I was perfect. But once all the messy stuff was behind us, we could both see that we’d made a mistake in getting married.”

“What did you love so much about undercover work?” It was so dangerous. Not that his current job was any safer.

His eyes lit up. “The challenge. The rush of it. Working as a team with the best of the best. Knowing I was taking risks for the greater good.”

“Is that why you wanted to join FAST?”

He nodded, that hot gleam still in his eyes. “Pretty much. I knew I wanted out of undercover work after a bust that took down someone I’d gotten close to. FAST had always been my goal, so as soon as I was able to leave undercover I applied to the program and started training.”

“Did you make it in the first time?”

“No. Second. And the only reason I even made Bravo this year was because they lost a member to permanent disability a few months back. Poor bastard landed wrong during a jump and fractured three vertebrae in his lower back.”

Taylor winced. “Oww.”

He nodded. “Gave me my shot, though.”

She propped one elbow on the arm of the couch and rested her head in her hand. “And do you love it as much as you thought you would?”

His answering smile was pure, sexy alpha male. God, he was so delicious. “Oh yeah. Love it so hard.”

Taylor laughed and shook her head at him. “And I’m over here loving my spreadsheets and paperwork. I must seem so boring to you.”

“Boring? No, not even a little. You’re a complex puzzle I’m still trying to figure out. Like an impossible Sudoku.”

She shot him a disbelieving look. “Me?”

“Mmhmm.” Even the way he murmured that was sexy.

It was ludicrous. Her, a Sudoku puzzle he couldn’t figure out? She was nowhere near that complicated, but maybe a little hard to get to know. She was choosy about who she let into her inner circle. Logan definitely tempted her to let him in.

She straightened and turned to face him more. He’d opened up to her, and since they were…kind of seeing each other, she supposed it was only fair that she open up to him a little too. “All right, then. What do you want to know?”

Logan hid his surprise at her offer. He hadn’t expected this. Taylor was so guarded, even if she had become much more open with him, it surprised him that she was willing to do this. “You sure?”

“Yes. Fire away.”

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