Page 49 of Stone
“You would, huh?”
“Yeah, I would.”
I fisted my hands, feeling a tightness in my throat. Another fleeting thought of staying here permanently was shoved aside. “I can’t believe you brought me here. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Go on. Take your time. I’ll be here when you’re finished. Just tell Amanda to put everything on my account.”
“Your account?”
“I’ve picked up a few pieces over the years.”
I turned to face him, struggling with finding the right words of gratitude. “Thank you, Stone. I know being here is such an inconvenience. I hope I don’t interfere with your girlfriend or…”
Sighing, he rubbed his hand down my arm. “Dani. No matter the attraction I have for you, if I was involved with anyone even on a casual level, what happened two nights ago wouldn’t have occurred. I might be a dangerous guy, at least according to your father, but I’m not that kind of man. Like I said, just take your time.” He headed for the door, stopping just before walking out. “And by the way, you aren’t an inconvenience at all. It’s good to have a visitor.”
A visitor.
That was another reminder of the decision we’d made. There would be nothing else between us. Even if there was, my guess was the moments would be laced with regrets.
I couldn’t go through that again. If I did, my heart would finally shatter into a million pieces.
CHAPTER 13
Stone
Here we went again.
Another phone conversation.
Another dead end.
“We don’t have that confirmation, Stone. I’m sorry. But you certainly left a fucking mess to clean up.” Gray’s voice held the same authoritarian tone I’d heard hundreds of times while serving under his command.
I stood on the deck watching the sun finally give way to twilight. From behind me there was music, something I rarely allowed myself to listen to. Dani had insisted. She could be so damn hardheaded when she wanted to be.
Having her inside my home was entirely different than I’d thought it would be. Since stepping foot inside, she’d been so quiet. Even doing something completely normal like making dinner together had seemed so odd.
There’d never been another time when I’d had anyone inside the house for longer than a few hours, let alone staying in my guest room. I could barely take my eyes off her. She’d changed into one of the few island dresses she’d purchased, the simple, light fabric hugging every curve. And dear God, she was a sight to behold.
She’d taken a shower, even putting on makeup and I’d been fucking blown away. The fresh-faced girl that adored wearing her hair in a ponytail had turned into the most stunning woman I’d ever seen let alone met. She had no idea how beautiful she was or how having her inside my house affected me.
I was a fucking mess.
Now she was cleaning the last of the dishes in her bare feet, humming to whatever song was being played on satellite radio. She fit right in and that troubled me more than the off-the-cuff decision to bring her to my home.
Bringing her into my space had been a spur of the moment decision I feared I’d regret.
“Are you listening to me, Stone? Where the fuck is your mind?”
Exhaling, I turned away from her on purpose, leaning over the railing and staring out at the ocean. “I’m right here. What do you mean what is on my mind? This bullshit.”
“Which you volunteered to be a part of. Just so you know, you destroyed a building. That didn’t make Interpol very happy.”
“Interpol? Fuck them and we didn’t destroy shit. Do you think we had a good ole time being nearly blown to bits? And what did you want me to do, Gray? We had fucking twenty-five men after us when you assured me that there wouldn’t be more than six or eight. That gives me a clear indication your intel sucks.How could I know they’d be willing to firebomb the warehouse to try and kill us? That’s another goddamn thing that makes me wonder what else I haven’t been told.”
“What are you talking about? You had a full file on the mission.”
“Did I really? Maybe your good buddy, Bradford Vale didn’t tell you everything. By all rights that goddamn fire should have killed us. We were lucky to get out alive. From there we headed through the woods that supposedly had no security systems monitoring to our vehicles. As soon as we left the house heading to the airport, I sensed we were being followed. How was that possible?”
