Page 62 of Montana Rain

“Do I say the sweet thing or the funny and asshole-sounding but true thing?”

I felt the quiet vibration of her laugh. “Both.”

My sentiment last night had been the same and perfectly clear. “The funny thing, then—it’s funny you think you had a choice about my coming. I would have come either way.”

She slapped my stomach, but it wasn’t hard. “And the other one?”

Reaching up, I cupped her face with one hand, hiding my mouth behind her ear so the driver couldn’t read my lips. “You never have to thank me for supporting you, Rayne. It’s all I want.”

She shook, fingers digging into my shirt. “I’ll still thank you.”

“We’re almost there,” I told her. “Then we’ll get you back to your life, and me to my exile, and see where we go from there.”

The car pulled up to the curb, a group of agents in suits ready to greet us. I got out of the car first, looking around even though we were surrounded by the Bureau. After everything last year, I wasn’t taking any chances.

Taking Rayne’s hand, I pulled her out of the car, and they ushered us inside.

A whirlwind of activity surrounded Rayne. Paperwork—always so much fucking paperwork—and passing over the flash drive. And finally, they ushered her into an interview room to ask her about everything that had happened so far.

My interview was much shorter, so she was still in the room when I got out, and they let me into the room behind the one-way glass.

The door opened, and Special Agent Bordeaux came in. While I was here, he’d been my supervisor’s supervisor’s supervisor. I nodded to him.

“You did good on this one, Phillips.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said.

He chuckled. “Don’t sell yourself short. You protected an asset and got vital evidence to us in time to make a difference. And you did it when you didn’t have any reason to help the Bureau, so thank you.”

I kept my mouth shut, tempted to tell him that having a reason to help the Bureau shouldn’t matter when you were doing the right thing, but I didn’t. It wouldn’t be useful right now.

“Anyway,” he said. “This puts you in the clear. You already were, but this contribution will drive any shadows of doubt from people’s minds.”

Looking over at him, I tried to see if he was serious. It seemed like he was. “Really?”

“Yeah. When you suggested the leave, brass thought it was good for you to take some time, more for everyone else than for you. Keep you out of sight so the taint of association would fade. But with this? You’re good. If you want to come off administrative leave early and go back into the field, you can. I’ll even see what I can do about a transfer back to Seattle, though we’d love to keep you here.”

“Wow,” I said. “Thank you.”

He looked at me expectantly, and I didn’t know how to interpret what I was feeling. Bordeaux offered everything I wanted. Everything I thought I wanted. But his telling me I could come back and dive back into work didn’t have the shine and sparkle I’d thought it would.

Maybe I was tired from everything that had happened the last few days. Maybe I was disillusioned about what this job actually was. But the truth of my thoughts told me I wasn’t sure the Bureau was where I wanted to be now.

“Would there be any objections to me staying on the admin leave? I have some things I need to see through.”

Bordeaux shrugged. “No, we’ve already made arrangements for it, and that gives us plenty of time to get you set up wherever you want to be.”

I reached out and shook his hand. “I’ll think about it and let you know.”

“Do that. And thank you, seriously.” He clapped me on the shoulder before leaving the room, and I looked back at Rayne, where she was finishing up her interview. A month ago, I would have said that conversation was a dream come true.

Now? Now I thought I might have found some better dreams.

Chapter 27

Rayne

“I think that’s all we need from you,” the special agent across the table from me said. She was organizing her papers. “You’ve been very helpful.”

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