“These crazies aren’t after your country. They want the treasure. And they’re serious. Gun shots today.” He hoped he’d convince her with this next argument. “They were after us, the relic, and wouldn’t have come to the gala…”
“If I wasn’t here.”
He hated to be the cause of guilt, but perhaps she would understand that moving the target shifted the direction their enemies were aiming.
She scooted forward and reached for his hand. “Tell me. Tell me what you’re hiding.”
Brooks thought about Lucan, about his advice to start confiding in Skye. Did he want to change things between them? Did he want her to look at him differently, for her to talk about his work? No, he didn’t. Skye was a refreshing part of his life that had always rested outside of the business. He’d hoped that one day his wife would be kept outside this circle. So that home was a haven, a place where world stresses, dangers, and evil people were far away and not acknowledged.
“It’s a burden.”
“Share with me.” Her fingers were nice on his hand. She laced theirs together and he nodded, though she might not be able to see him in the dark.
“Remember that military school we all have to go to?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I was offered a position in a special opps security team. Not just a position anymore. I run the team.”
She was silent so he continued.
“I took it, and I’ve been working with them ever since.”
Her hand went very still. “What does this team do, exactly?”
“Mostly, my part of it focuses on human trafficking. We’re chasing down the bad guys. We’ve shut down two organizations already.” It felt nice to share with Skye. He was proud of his work.
“Do you, fight, get hurt?” The concern in her tone made him smile.
“We do. The men we’re stopping tend to be desperately defending a very lucrative business.”
“That’s sick.”
“I know.”
She moved closer and his body hummed with awareness at her nearness. “And you have to see them? Deal with these awful people?”
“With my team.” He thought of the depravity he’d seen, of the girls, the sick men who would use them. The photographers. The leers, the cold black eyes of everyone involved. “But I get to save children and women. One at a time.”
She leaned on him. And then wrapped her arms around him, the thinness of her nightdress all that was between them. He swallowed and tried to think of the topic at hand. It was enough to cool any man’s heart. She leaned her cheek up against his arm. “I’m so proud of you. And so sad for you. I had no idea you were carrying this burden.”
“I wanted to keep it separate. Being with you is nice. Without all this.”
Her cheek nodding up against his arm made him smile. “So this is why you know so much about security, and saving people and why you have an ear comm unit?”
“This is why.”
She nodded again. “And you think I should go?”
“I do.”
“With you?”
“No one could keep me from this job.”
She stiffened.
“That’s just a turn of phrase. You’re not the job. Come on. You’re you. Why have all this training if I can’t save my best friend?”