“No. It’s personal.”
My heart lurched, coming to life. In one instant, my pulse was beating fast with reckless dreams and aching longing, because what if this wasit? What if he’d finally changed his mind about me?Us.
We walked off the dance floor, going back outside and finding a quiet corner of the deck. Music and lights spilled from the reception. Dean’s fingers were tangled around mine as he turned and faced me.
My hopes were flying up into the starry sky.
I wanted him to kiss me. God, I wanted it so badly. I’d imagined what it would be like so many times. The first touch of his lips to mine. How I would put my hand right at the base of his neck to feel how fast his pulse was thrumming. How my thumb would lightly trace over his Adam’s apple and the leather cord of his necklace.
How he’d taste when his tongue dipped into my mouth. I’d imagined it so many times without any faith that it would happen, but tonight…
Maybe.Maybe.
Please.
“Dean, I?—”
He let go of my hand. Gripped the cord at his throat, the bullet still hidden under his shirt. “I wanted you to be the first to know. I’m leaving.”
My brain took a moment to adjust. “Leaving? Like, the reception?”
“No, Keira.” A soft, humoring smile. His eyes couldn’t meet mine. “I’m leaving Colorado. I got an instructor job for the winter at a resort in Canada. Banff. I have a couple buddies who were there last year and?—“
“Wait, why? What about the Silver Ridge Ski Resort? I thought you loved it.”
“I do. I have loved it, but I don’t usually stay in one place too long. That’s not my thing. Never has been.”
“But you’ve been here for years…”
“Exactly,” he said softly, and that was the instant my heart broke straight down the middle.
Oh, wow. Was I ever stupid. Thinking Dean was finally going to kiss me, like he’d been all tense and weird tonight aboutme, when it was about his new job.
He was leaving.
I wanted to shrivel up and disappear. Maybe I should’ve been flattered he was telling me first, but he probably just knew how I’d take it. As in, not good.
Like a girl with a crush.
So I lifted my chin and smiled for him. Asked more questions about this Canadian resort and when he was going. Dean was my friend, and I was supposed to be happy for him. He didn’t owe me anything.
I listened to him talk about Banff and his plans, nodding in all the right places, keeping that smile fixed on my face even as everything inside me crumbled.
Maybe I was as young as people said after all, hopelessly naive. As if wishing for something could make it true.
As if wanting someone badly enough could make them want you back.
CHAPTER ONE
Keira
“Position Beta,I need an update on our status.”
I pressed the button on my earpiece. “You got an update two minutes ago, Home Base.”
“Exactly,” Trace said in my ear. “This mission is critical. I don’t think I need to emphasize that, Position Beta.”
“These code names are making me yawn,” another voice chimed in. “Keira, you should be Barfly One. And Trace, I’m thinking…Papa Bear. Or Helicopter Dad.”
