I wasn’t surprised. I’d seen Agent Howard a couple of times since I’d quit, and every time he’d asked me two questions.Do you talk to Duke? Why do you like him?
My responses were always the same. I replied no to the first question, and the second one was even easier to answer. I saw a side of Duke only a few people had seen. Take away the criminal component and there lay a man who wanted help, could love deeply, was compassionate, and cared.
“Duke won’t return to his old ways,” I told Gwen confidently.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure about that?”
I glanced around the now-empty hallway. “He wanted redemption. Of course, some people can regress. Prison isn’t a surefire way to take the criminal out of the person. But I know in my heart, Duke will be a changed man, and if he’s still in love with me and wants a life together, I will do whatever it takes to make sure he never reverts to his old ways.”
“You really are that in love with him,” she said.
“More so than ever. I’ve had enough time to think, and each day that passes, I fall more in love with him. The day he was officially arrested, I knew then I would wait for him.”
“I’m happy for you, Fallyn,” she said, sounding downtrodden. “Envious too.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why? I fell for the enemy. Surely, that isn’t the reason.”
She snorted. “Not because of Duke, but you stuck to your moral code during your assignment despite how you felt for Duke. I couldn’t have done that.”
I sighed. “Gwen, you’re a badass agent. You’re selling yourself short.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I should go. We need to meet for dinner. I miss you.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “You’re a good friend. Why don’t we plan a day next week? I need to get into class. I’ll text you if I see Duke or hear that he’s out.”
As she started to leave, she hesitated. “How’s your dad?”
I grabbed the handle on the door. “He’s doing great. He met someone.”
“Really? Good for him,” she said.
I was happy for my dad. Between his dog, Rosie, and Charmaine, a pretty brunette who adored Dad, I didn’t have to worry too much anymore. He and I had long talks about love and the future. He was slowly coming around to the idea that I had feelings for Duke and the possibility that Duke and I could be together one day.
Gwen’s phone rang, which was my cue to head into class.
The rest of the day was one big fog, while I wondered if Duke had been released from prison. In between my afternoon classes, I tried calling Denim, but he didn’t answer. Grace wasn’t even in class. That led me to believe that the rumor about Duke was true.
Goose bumps blanketed my body at the thought that I might see Duke after eleven long months. But as the day ended and night set in, I was a basket case. I didn’t want to rush over to Denim’s or Dillon’s place, acting like a crazy lady. I stopped by Grace’s dorm, but she wasn’t there.
If Duke was, in fact, a free man, then I suspected he was catching up with his family, and I had to take it down a notch. Or maybe he didn’t want to see me. That thought made me nauseated.
I had my messenger bag crossed over my body, my purse around my shoulder, and two eleven-by-seventeen envelopes of test papers in my hand as I walked to my car. I stopped halfway between the building and my car and fished the keys out of my purse, something I should’ve done before now but forgot as I left my office.
Once I had my keys in hand, I resumed my trek to the parking lot, looking around, a habit I had from my days with the ATF. To always know your surroundings wasn’t just something that the ATF taught. My dad had ingrained that in my head as far back as I could remember.
When I reached the sidewalk along the building, I looked left first and froze. The envelopes dropped from my hands, my purse glided down my arm to fall beside the test papers, and my stomach pitched and rolled like a boat in high seas.
Standing against his SUV beneath the campus streetlight was Duke—the man I was so in love with that it pained me to think about him at times. Anything could’ve happened to him in prison, including death and a longer sentence that might have doomed him to life behind bars.
A twisted smile spread across his face, and instantly, my body went numb. My feet were rooted to the pavement, unable to move as I blinked several times to be sure I wasn’t seeing things. After all, I’d been in a fog since Gwen had come to visit me.
He was even more handsome than I remembered. His sandy-brown hair was cropped close to his head, accentuating his chiseled features. He looked relaxed, happy, and ready to conquer the world.
He watched me watch him as my heart pounded against my breastbone like a caged animal desperate to be set free.
Then he pushed off his SUV and strode toward me with a predatory grace, hunger steeped in his eyes. But the closer he got, the more I could see it wasn’t hunger but love and desperation.
“Hi,” he said in that raspy voice that made my body hum and sing hallelujah.
