Page 192 of Exposé

Turning, the thick tropical air refused to find my lungs as I laid eyes on him dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. "Nate..." I breathed out.

"Hey, my little recluse." He sported a healing cut under his eye with yellowing bruising surrounding it.

My legs moved faster than my thoughts. The street narrowing, the crowd noise dulling to a murmur. I ran, arms outstretched, the market’s colors blurring.

When I reached him, my body collided with his chest. A rough, breathless laugh rumbled from him as his arms wrapped around me, pulling me close.

My toes left the ground—the world steadying.

His warmth, the pressure of his hands at my back, the faint smell of sweat and ocean salt—it all settled something deep inside me. When my feet found the ground again, I clung to his neck, my fingers sliding into the short hair at his nape.

His mouth curved into a crooked smile, his lips brushing my ear as he muttered something I couldn’t quite catch. My voice wavered when I finally spoke. “I can’t believe you’re here. I thought I lost you.”

Nate pulled back and met my gaze—his grin widening. “It’ll take more than a corrupt agency to keep me away from you.”

I rose up on my toes and pressed my lips to his. His hands found my waist, pulling me closer as his lips moved against mine.

I’d imagined this moment so many times, I could have sworn I’d dreamed it. But the way he held me, the way his breath hitched when I tangled my fingers into his shirt—it was all too vivid, too present to be anything but real.

When we finally broke apart, I stared at him, my chest heaving, words tumbling out before I could stop them. “Wait—what happened? Was the story posted? Were you caught?”

Nate exhaled a short laugh, one hand brushing a strand of hair from my cheek. “I’ve got one hell of a story to tell you.”

A twenty-minute walk to the traditional home and a change of clothes later, I sat cross-legged on the bamboo floor, leaningagainst the bamboo bed frame—my thoughts churning as I stared at Nate.

He's here.

After everything...

I can't believe it.

He sat a few feet away, his elbows resting on his knees. He kept glancing toward the open door as if expecting someone to burst in. His bag rested against the doorframe with a swinging barn-style door, the woven walls with burned-in designs, allowing for a fresh breeze to seep through.

“Your article spread faster than wildfire, and all hell broke loose, basically overnight.” His jaw tightened as he spoke, the lines around his mouth harder than I remembered. “At first, it was a few reports, a couple of news stations picking it up,” he went on. “But then it snowballed. The agency wasn’t a shadow anymore. People saw it for what it was. They couldn’t hide what they’d done.” He shook his head. “I had to go into hiding. Ended up in this rundown cabin out in the middle of nowhere. No electricity, barely enough firewood for me, and a radio picking up the fallout.”

"Did they believe it?"

He nodded. “There was an investigation—huge, not just in the states. International organizations got involved. Didn't you hear about it?"

I glanced around my temporary home. "I don't exactly have a TV or radio here. Did they make any arrests?"

Nate cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, Mayor Haynes, a judge he'd been chummy with, a few senators, and some scientists.” He stood and paced.

“And Keith?” I swallowed hard, his name bitter on my tongue.

Nate’s shoulders stiffened. He turned, looking out the window, his hands on his hips. “I found him.”

My pulse quickened. “Did you...”

Nate turned back, his expression set like stone. “He’s not going to bother us.”

The finality of it hit me, sinking into my chest.

He scooted over to me and took my hand, his fingers warm and solid around mine.

“It might look on paper like this is over, but they'll never stop hunting us—the ones who didn't get named. You understand that, don't you?”

I nodded and gulped. "I don't care." Wrapping my arms around him, I climbed into his lap and straddled him, his warmth a soothing comfort. "As long as you're here with me, I don't care."

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