Page 71 of Guarding Bristol

“You hungry?”he asked, pulling his shirt down over that sculpted body that had just been plastered to her.

“I’m...A little.”She tucked a lock of wet hair behind her ear.

“I made coffee if you want some.”

“Sure.”She watched him go to the kitchen, wondering what the hell to do or say now.Were they really going to leave it like this?After everything he’d said and everything they’d just done?

He poured her a mug and handed it over.Their eyes met, and she saw the indecision in his.The regret.

Her stomach dropped like a concrete ball.

A phone rang on the counter.He snatched it up, spoke to whoever it was on the other end.She could see the tension building in his shoulders as the conversation went on.

“Yeah, got it,” he finally said, and turned toward her with that same look in his eyes.“Is CPS en route?”

For her, he meant.He must be talking to someone with the DEA.

Bristol tightened her fingers around the mug.She wasn’t going to blurt out her feelings if he was about to leave.

“Okay, good.I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” he said, and the words echoed with a terrible finality.One that told her this was probably the last time she would see him.

Ending the call, he tucked his phone away into his jeans pocket and faced her from across the room.“I have to go.”

She nodded.“I know.”She wouldn’t beg him to stay.Or to take her with him.Or ask him to come back to her when this was over.No matter how much it hurt to watch him walk away.

“I have to leave now.This is our one shot.If I’m not there in time, deal’s off.”

Don’t go.Don’t do it.“What about me?”

“CPS is on the way here now.You won’t be alone for more than a few minutes, but I can’t wait...”He looked so torn.

She dug down for the courage to ask more.“And then what?”

“Then you stay safe.”

To her horror, tears flooded her eyes.She blinked fast.Tried to nod again, hating that this was going to end with her humiliation.

TJ cursed under his breath.A moment later she was being crushed in his arms, his voice low and urgent next to her ear.“Don’t cry over me, Slugger.I’m not worth it, believe me.”

She jerked her head back to glower up at him, gave his shoulder an angry shove.“Sh-shut up.I’ll c-cry if I w-want to.”Because he definitelywasworth it.Whether he saw it or not.

His hold eased.He cupped her face between his hands, his thumbs wiping her tears away.He shook his head, a rueful but almost proud look on his face.“I knew you would be trouble the first time I saw you.”

She frowned, struggling to process his meaning.“What?I was t-trying to h-help you.”

“I know.”His expression sobered.Turned deadly serious.“You stay safe, understand?I have to know you’re safe.”

“W-what about y-you?”He wasn’t meeting this CI alone, was he?His cover was blown.Surely the DEA or some other agency would back him up for safety reasons.

“Don’t worry about me.”

Screw that.“Too late.”

Something shifted in his eyes at her response.Something unguarded and vulnerable that was there and gone before she could decipher it, replaced by a veil of indifference.

“Be safe,” he said quietly, the finality in his tone sending a chill through her.

This was it.This was goodbye.

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