My eyes widened a little as I struggled to remember to speak in my American accent. His question was valid. I shouldn’t be here.
“Oh, uh–“
“Sorry,” he interrupted, clearing his throat. “I didn’t mean to sound weird. Are you staying around here?”
“Uhh, I’m just…walking,” I answered, my voice soft.
I felt awful lying to him, but I had no other choice. Besides, he could be dangerous.
“Oh, right, yeah, me too. Just…taking a walk along the beach…thinking.” He bobbed his head–a lot. Probably more than the average person. I found it sort of endearing.
I hadn’t realized I was smiling, but I’d been grinning and now that expression broadened.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked, forcing my words to be slower so I could control my accent.
His eyebrows shot up, eyes going wide. “Huh?”
“You said you were taking a walk to think. What were you thinking about?”
“Oh, right, umm…” He glanced out over the water, running a hand through his hair. “Would it be weird to say I was thinking of you?”
My eyes narrowed a little as I searched his face for the truth of his statement. I’d met my share of people who said what they thought I wanted to hear, but I detected something genuine in his eyes. Something that begged me to believe him.
“Maybe,” I answered.
He winced before he chuckled, his gaze falling to his feet. “Yeah, I get that reaction a lot.”
“Do you?” I cocked my head. “Why?”
He pressed his lips together, giving a slight shrug. “I’m not exactly great with the ladies, you know? I…wear my heart on my sleeve, and I inevitably always fall for the wrong women.”
He huffed out a laugh. “And that was waaaaay too much information to share. No wonder you bolted earlier.”
“Oh, that’s not why,” I said with a shake of my head.
Was that how I’d come across? I’d raced away, but only because I was afraid I’d spent too much time outside of my room. But how could I tell him that?
“It isn’t?”
I heard the hope in his voice, and saw it in his eyes. Maybe I could trust him. Nadia would kill me, but…
I shook my head. “No, I…”
I swallowed hard, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse. “Umm…I just had to run, but it had nothing to do with you.”
“Oh, well, that’s good. I’m glad. Because I was thinking you thought I was so weird that you just ran off so you’d never have to see me again.”
“I’m sorry,” I answered. “After I got back to my room, I realized we had no way to contact each other.”
He raised his eyebrows. “And you were…unhappy about that?”
“Very,” I answered. Maybe I could find some information directly from the source. Nadia’s resources were vast, but we needed more than what would show up on paper. I needed to know if Kyle Carter would be an ally–one willing to do whatever it took to get the result we wanted.
He grinned, but it faded as though he didn’t trust what I’d said. After a second, he dug into his pocket for his phone. “Well, I have my phone here. Why don’t we exchange numbers?”
My stomach twisted into a knot. Should I give him the number for the burner phone? If he was a problem, I could always get another.
I passed my number along to him, and he sent me a text so I had his number.
