Page 4 of Critical Mass
And now Hudson was in deep—too deep.
Everything was converging on a single point—every secret, every lie—and Natalie was the one who would pay the price when it all blew up.
CHAPTER
TWO
The more Hudsongot to know Natalie, the more certain he’d become that she had no idea what her father was up to.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get caught in the crosshairs her father had created.
That thought was nearly unbearable. She deserved better than this life her father had built, a life that made her guilty by association.
She wasnothinglike her father.
Timothy shifted. Their meal—crab cakes for him and broiled mahi for her—was finished. Now he and Natalie were just talking, letting their food digest, and watching people on the boardwalk—one of Natalie’s favorite pastimes.
He wished he could enjoy this moment, but he had things he needed to know.
Time was running out, lives were on the line, and he had to become more assertive, to stop dancing around issues. Yet, at the same time, he needed to be very careful not to blow his cover.
“Nat—” he started.
“Listen, I know we haven’t defined what this is.” She waved her index finger back and forth between the two of them. “ButI need you to know that whatever this is, it matters to me.Youmatter to me.”
The weight in his chest grew heavier, and a lump formed in his throat.
Natalie looked at him with those wide, trusting eyes, and all Hudson could think about was the past three months together. About how he wasn’t supposed to actually fall for her.
But how he had.
Then he remembered the surveillance photos he’d seen, the ones that were now in the temporary apartment he’d set up in Norfolk. He remembered the dossiers he managed to copy from her computer. Remembered the recordings of her phone calls with her father as he tried to find evidence of her father’s wrongdoings.
None of those things made Natalie look guilty. No, she was innocent in all this.
But she would feel betrayed when she discovered who Hudson really was, and he couldn’t bear the thought of that.
He reached across the table and squeezed her hand, remembering the sincerity in her sweet words. “You matter to me too, Natalie.”
He meant the words, but that didn’t dissuade the guilt.
Natalie beamed.
Nothing made him happier than seeing her so happy.
He just . . . he just needed this to be real.
But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.
He’d been warned by his superiors at Blackout Tactical to make sure this was all an act. He’d thought the assignment would be easy. After all, he didn’t let himself get too close to people.
Not after what Claire had put him through. Not after she’d broken his heart.
But he’d never expected Natalie to be this wonderful either.
Their server carried their empty dishes away, breaking the moment. But the easy intimacy of earlier had already fractured.
Something had changed with that phone call, and he needed to know what. Little did she know that all her calls were being recorded. When he went back to his apartment, he’d be able to listen, to find out.
