Page 23 of Rhys

Rhys was quiet for a stretch before asking her, “What about me?” His features hardened. “Where did I fit into it all?”

“You didn’t,” Vanessa answered honestly. “You were an unexpected…development.”

“Development.” A muscle in his strong jaw bulged. “I see. So you’re telling me you didn’t plan to run into me at the coffee shop that day?”

That’s how they’d met. She’d been rushing to get back to the aid camp in time to make the next supply delivery but had been up late the night before running surveillance on her asshat of a leader. Desperate for caffeine, she’d made a quick stop at a tiny coffee shop near her hotel, and in her haste, she’d slammed right into the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on.

Spilled coffee led to introductions. They clicked immediately, and as these things tended to do, one thing had led to another.

Vanessa shook her head in earnest. “The only thing I’d planned for that day was to check in with what I’d found so I could get the hell out of Afghanistan and back home. But I was running late, and I didn’t realize anyone had walked up behind me while I was waiting in line.”

It was the God’s honest truth. Not that he was ready to accept it, apparently.

“Awfully convenient, don’t you think?” Rhys’s question proved her point.

Pushing himself up, he grabbed his plate and walked over to the sink. Dumping the remnants of a piece of crust down the garbage disposal, he then flipped the switch and waited for the discarded food to wash down the drain.

A classic stalling tactic if she ever saw one.

He’s trying to decide whether or not to believe you.

Allowing him time to mull over what she’d just shared, Vanessa slid from the stool and picked up her empty plate. Carrying it over to him, he took it from her hand and rinsed it off before opening the dishwasher and placing both dishes inside.

She waited while he closed the door and faced her to talk again. She needed him to look her in the eye when she said this next part.

“I could have been on a plane out of Kabul about a week after we met.”

The tiny lines between his brows bunched together with a frown. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I was able to gather enough evidence against Young well before I pulled the trigger on the op. The intel I had at that time was solid. Most likely it would have been enough to put him and the others away for the rest of their lives. But I held back and waited for more.”

His onyx eyes searched hers for the answer. “If you could have pulled out of Afghanistan months before you did, why wait? What kept you from making the call the second you had what you needed?

“You.” Vanessa took a tiny step forward, the toes of her socked feet nearly meeting the soles of his boots. “That day in the coffee shop…the reason I was in such a hurry was because I was late for my weekly phone call with Faraday. I was going to tell him I’d done it. That I had what I’d gone there for, but then…” She drew in a calming breath and let it out slowly. “Then I spilled my coffee down the front of a handsome stranger’s shirt. An American who, as it turns out, shared my love for pizza and old black and white movies.”

Heat filtered into his guarded gaze, but then he blinked all traces of it away. “You expect me to believe you drug out a CIA investigation unnecessarily for months, just so you and I could keep hooking up?”

“Don’t do that.” She shook her head.

“Do what?”

“Don’t stand there and act like what we had wasn’t special. Like what happened between us was nothing more than a meaningless fling or a part of my cover.”

“You told me you loved me.” He leaned in closer. “The night before you left, you looked me square in the eyes and said that you loved me.”

“Because I did love you.”I still do.

Rhys kept his intimidating stance a second longer before straightening his spine and backing up a couple of steps. “See? That. That right there is the problem. Yousoundlike you’re telling me the truth. Hell, part of me even wants to believe you, but—”

“Youcanbelieve me, Rhys. I swear to you, the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you. The last thing I wanted to do was to leave.”

“Then why did you?”

Just tell him.“To protect you.”

He threw his head back and laughed, side-stepping past her and exiting the kitchen. “Right. Got it.”

“Gotwhat?” She followed in his wake. “And why are you laughing?”

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