Page 181 of Exposé

"How the hell am I supposed to stop?" The jagged words ripped from me without thought. "We're exposing everything. We both know they'll come for us. If we survive, I'm disappearing.Running. Withyou. And I barely even—" My breath choked off, my throat closing like a vice. My hands shook, my chest heaving, my body betraying me as panic swallowed me whole.

But what if I lost him before I ever really had him?

Nate let out a slow breath and pulled me into his firm arms. "You do know me."

I pressed my forehead against his shoulder. "I know Nate Reynolds, not Nate Barlowe."

He tilted his head, his breath warm against my ear, before his lips brushed through my hair. "They're one and the same." His arms tightened around me, his heartbeat steady beneath my palm.

"So you didn’t lie to me about your parents?"

His hand traced small circles against my back. "I told you—I never lied to you. Except that I wasn’t really a handyman, and my real job was to infiltrate your life and make it as miserable as possible."

I let out a sharp laugh. "Well, consider that mission accomplished."

"I tricked you and manipulated you for my mission, but I didn't come out unscathed. I tricked myself, too. I got too close to you." His thumb traced my spine. "The moment I started caring for you was the moment I failed my assignment." He tightened his hold on me, his voice low. "Now I have a new mission—to keep you safe, make sure you survive, and spend every second after proving that no one in this world will ever love you the way I do."

His forefinger brushed beneath my chin, a barely-there touch that sent a shiver racing down my spine. My breath hitched, the warmth of his skin branding mine, seeping deep into the places I’d kept locked away. His stubble, a little rougher than before, scraped against my jaw as he leaned in, his scent wrapping around me. A trace of mint lingered in the air between us.

He loves me.

The words detonated inside me, the impact rattling through my ribs, stealing the breath from my lungs.

He wanted me—wantedus—and the simplicity of it shredded through every carefully built wall I'd erected.

I'd spent my life sprinting from love, dodging it like a bullet meant to take me out. It had ruined my mother, gutted her, turned her into a ghost of herself.

She'd been powerless.

But with him, escape didn’t make sense.

The familiar pull to run, to self-destruct before someone else could, didn’t sink its claws into me. The air was different, charged, heavy with something I couldn’t name.

Nate was the only thing that felt real.

The irony tasted sharp on my tongue.

Was that why he felt inevitable?

Maybe that was why, despite every instinct screaming at me to disappear...

I wanted to stay.

"I—" I swallowed, the urge to utter those three words held in my throat.

"You don't have to—"

"I love you too, Nate."

The tightness in his jaw eased—a grin pulling slow at the corners of his mouth, sending a heatwave through me. His fingers tangled in my hair as he pulled me closer, his possessive grip, firm. Our lips crashed together in a demanding force as though he'd branded his name onto my soul.

I leaned into him, our kiss drawing a twisted desire in my lower stomach, driving me wild with need.

Will this be our last time together?

Nate brushed his thumb over the crease in my brow as he pulled away. "Stop thinking."

"Help me." I breathed out the words, my hands trailing up his strong chest, wrapping around his neck.

---