Page 49 of Fearless Protector

“I’m sure she’ll call you back, and when she does, you can make arrangements to go. But for now, let’s just finish what we came here to do.”

“It’s not going to take one morning,” she argued, feeling like he was oversimplifying things as usual.

“It will work with my plan.”

“Nick, it’s important we don’t tell him why we are here or who we are associated with. We need to learn as much about him without him knowing anything about us.”

“And we’re going to. Just trust me.”

It was a familiar ask and something she’d started doing recently without a second thought. Now everything was a spinning carousel of thoughts, going around and around until she was dizzy and confused.

“I’m not sure.”

“I know you’re not,” he said in a gentle voice. “I’m sure enough for both of us right now. I’m not looking to corner you and tell you why you shouldn’t leave. It’s work. Let me get you a coffee, you get ready, and we go get it done.”

It wasn’t a game. The way she was making him wait for her answer wasn’t some strategy to play with his heart. She truly didn’t have a strategy. “I—what if.” She closed her eyes. “Just get the coffee, and we’ll figure it out from there.”

“Put on one of your power suits.”

When he was gone from her door, she checked her phone again. No call back from Layla.

Cleo was resigned to toiling away at her job, traveling wherever they needed her to, and making do with what she had. Any higher ambition of finding people to love and trust was just too lofty.

The shower stung her eyes where she’d wiped the tears away all night. Nothing about it felt as if she was being rejuvenated. Maybe it was because she was letting the water run cold over her, feeling unworthy of any warmth.

By the time Nick was back, she was dressed and trying to dab some makeup on her puffy eyes.

“Your room is better than mine,” he joked as he handed over her coffee and sat on the end of the bed.

“Don’t do that,” she begged.

“Do what?”

“Be nice to me. Act like nothing happened and we’re just going to go back to joking and playing. I can’t deal with that.”

“I’m a nice guy. You’re going to have to deal with it.”

“I feel like maybe you don’t get the gravity of what I said. Or that maybe you think you can come up with some grand scheme to get me to change my mind.”

“I completely understand the gravity of this.” His expression was subdued but broke into a smile. “And I also plan to think of some grand scheme.”

Cleo rolled her eyes. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“If you had a dollar for all the things you wished I didn’t do since we met, you could buy your own private jet to get out of this place.”

“I can buy my own ticket out of here whenever I want. I would just like to know Layla has a job for me to go to.”

“You will.”

“Are you going to let me in on why I’m dressed like I’m going to court?”

“One, because it’s my favorite look you have, and two, it will be the perfect in for talking to Clark.”

“How is that exactly?”

“Clark doesn’t have a record, but he’s moved around a lot. I think whatever he’s done, he’s good at not getting caught and leaving town before it catches up to him. That’s where most people go wrong. They stay around even when the heat gets turned up on a crime they did.”

“That’s a bit of a long shot,” she said, pretending not to imagine pushing him backward on the bed and straddling him.

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