Page 109 of Guarding Bristol

Whoa.Bristol blinked at him.She hadn’t expected him to come right out and say it, let alone in front of the others.But he seemed completely sincere, and maybe even a little regretful.

She darted a look at Liana.How much did she know about what her husband had done?

Liana was watching her silently, with sympathy and kindness.

Bristol cleared her throat, reaching for grace and understanding.She didn’t know what he’d told Liana, but couldn’t imagine he’d told her the whole truth—for her own protection as much as to preserve her image of him—and she certainly wasn’t going to bring it all up in front of Liana.

“Rumor has it you had good reason.”Acting out of desperation to save his wife had a certain element of nobility to it.A twisted nobility.

And he hadn’t hurt her, though he could have at any point.He could easily have killed her to prevent having a witness once TJ had boarded theSea Siren.Instead, he’d left her out of harm’s way in the cabin and had even tried to reassure her a couple of times.

Whatever else he was, he wasn’t a monster.

“I did.”Nico glanced at Liana, and the adoration on his face went a long way toward convincing Bristol that TJ was right.Nico seemed like a good person.

Her nerves eased.She’d come to this meeting hoping for closure and to satisfy her curiosity about Nico and his wife.She hadn’t expected to get both within the first five minutes of meeting them, or to startlikingthe guy.

But she had.Now it was time to move forward.“Anyway, apology accepted.”

Surprise flashed in his eyes.“Really?”He cocked his head at her.“Does that mean we could maybe start over?”

She considered it, surprised it mattered to him.And just as surprised at how much she wanted to erase her memory of him before and replace it with the man sitting in front of her now.“Sure.”

One side of his mouth kicked up, and he reached a hand across the table.“I’m Nico.Nice to meet you.”

She stretched out her own hand, met him halfway.“Bristol.Hi.”She shook with him.

The last of her inner tension melted away.She felt lighter instantly, the weight in her stomach miraculously gone.

TJ squeezed her again, leaned down to kiss the top of her head.“Thank you,” he murmured, too low for the others to hear.She leaned into him in answer.

The server came and took Liana’s and Nico’s orders.Bristol and TJ each ordered another latte.It was all suddenly so normal, the conversation resuming as though the previous exchange between her and Nico had never happened.

Over fruit and pastries, Liana told them about the treatments she had been receiving at the private medical center here—Bristol presumed under a fake ID.

She had so many questions.If the DEA or FBI knew where Liana and Nico were, they hadn’t done anything about it.TJ didn’t know the details either.He’d told her Nico might have worked out some kind of immunity deal with them.But there was also a chance he and Liana had entered WITSEC, and were now living here under new identities.

“So it’s working?”Bristol asked, fascinated by what Liana had told them.She was receiving cutting-edge stem cell technology aided by AI, along with various immunotherapies and brand-new pharmaceuticals as part of the clinical trial.

“Seems to be.”Liana’s teeth flashed when she smiled.“I’m in remission.”

Bristol smiled back.“That’s fantastic.”

“Yeah.The difference is already like night and day,” Nico said, watching his wife with such pride and love it put a lump in Bristol’s throat.He’d risked everything to give Liana this chance.“She’s getting stronger every day.Her appetite is back, her coordination is improving, her energy level is up, and she’s sleeping better too.”

“Speaking of appetite...”Liana peered at the napkin-strewn basket in the middle of the table.“Got any more of the chocolate ones left?”

“I’ll order you a basket of your own,” Nico said, grinning.

Bristol had a feeling that if Liana had asked for the rarest, most obscure delicacy in Switzerland, he would have tracked it down for her.

They visited for almost an hour.The conversation shifted from Liana’s medical situation to TJ and Nico reminiscing about their time at the DEA academy together.

Fascinated, Bristol ate up every detail about what TJ had been like back then, and found herself laughing along with them at times.Meanwhile, Liana ate threepains au chocolat, a large tropical fruit smoothie, and some strawberries.

“This mountain air is really doing you good,” Nico told her, then winced as he checked his watch.“Damn, we have to start heading back.”

“Here, take these with you.”Bristol hurriedly wrapped up the remaining pastries from the basket in a clean napkin and handed them to Liana.“You can snack on them later instead of having to eat hospital food.”

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