My heart constricted and I thought of Charlotte. Of how close I had come to losing her. I remembered so clearly those weeks spent in ICU, wondering whether Char, like Dad, would slip away. Gone forever.
It had been the most excruciating time of my life.
Knowing Mason had experienced something like that, something worse, was a little unsettling.
I wasn’t sure how I felt, knowing we shared that sort of grief.
Was this why I had hesitated to look deeper into Mason’s life?
Because then I’d see him as more than a means to an end?
I sifted through pages of information, wanting to know everything.
Ineededto know everything.
Now that we were getting somewhere.
I thought of the briefcase.
Of the file with my other name on it.
I rationalized that it was important for me to understand Agent Kohler so I could stay one step ahead of him.
After all, it wasn’t by chance that I had dumped the contents of my purse at his feet.
It wasn’t my vanity that had made me take time with my appearance that morning several days ago.
I was calculating. I had learned to be.
I had known who Mason was before meeting him.
He was chasing a phantom.
I was the ghost who evaded him.
Yet I couldn’t stop thinking ofthatmoment.
The one when lines became blurred.
When motivations were called into question.
And I was starting to rethink the wisdom of a plan that hinged on seduction.
When the heart was in play, there were no limits.
—
I must have dozed off at my computer.
I woke with a start, my face pressed into the keys. The room was still dark as I sat up, blinking sleepily, trying to remember what I had been doing before I passed out.
Mason.
I rubbed my eyes and stretched my back, feeling kinked from sleeping in an unnatural position. It wasn’t unusual for me to fall asleep at my computer. I spent most of my life behind the screen; sleeping there wasn’t unheard of.
A beeping noise caught my attention. I clicked the mouse and the screen came to life. My email icon was blinking.
I opened the new message.
