Calixte might be a legend in the world of secret service and espionage, but that did not mean the other man was perpetually correct, and his...his situation was proof of it. His friend had completely misread things. He was simply disturbed, and not...that.Because to feel what Calixte believed he was feeling?
Absurdly impossible.
Zacharie had known the girl for less than twenty-four hours. He had no claim on her, wanted no claim on her, and he would eventually be able to prove that, if it became clear that marrying her off to someone suitable would be the best way to keep her safe.
“If that’s how you wish to put it, then ‘disturbed’ it shall be,” Calixte drawled. “Tomato, to-mah-to, right? No matter what we call it, what it is remains the same.”
Zacharie frowned. “That’s not—”
“I’ll give you a call if I find anything.À bientôt.”
Zacharie’s lips pressed together as the line went dead. Why did he have a feeling...that his call had him playing right into his friend’s hands?
****
CALIXTE’S EFFORTS NOTto wake his wife when he returned to their bedroom were all for naught, with Eden already sitting up and waiting for him when he slipped in.
“I woke up,” she said sleepily, “and you were gone.”
“I’m sorry,mon ange.” He slipped back under the covers, and his chest tightened as his wife immediately snuggled up to his side. They had been married for over a year, but it still felt like it was just yesterday when he had first met her. The kindest and bravest girl he had ever known. And one who had saved his life in every way there was.
“I had to take a call from Calixte.”
“And?”
“He’s disturbed.”
Eden had to push herself up on her elbows and take a closer look at her husband’s gorgeous face—oh, so she was right.Hehadbeen smiling when he said that.
“Zacharie is disturbed, and you’re, er, happy about it?”
“How long have you known Zacharie?”
“Almost a year.”
“And if I were to ask you what kind of person is he, how would you describe him?”
Eden tried to recall everything she remembered about Calixte’s friend. “He’s...extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and his goal is to always finish quickly. He has unnerving accuracy with firearms, especially with a sniper. It’s almost as if he can read his target’s mind, and he knows—” Eden stopped talking when she saw the way her husband’s smile had turned into a smirk, and her own lips formed a rueful smile. “I wasn’t describing him as a person, was I?”
“You were describing him as a killing machine.”
Eden winced, and Calixte laughed.
“It’s alright,mon ange.Thatishow he is. Because it’s all he knows.”
“And that’s why you think Zacharie being ‘disturbed’ is a good thing?”
“It’s the first real emotion he has shown,” Calixte said simply.
“So you’re saying he’s like a blank slate this whole time—”
Calixte shook his head. “No, not a blank slate. Zacharie would be more like a painting sealed in black lacquer. And the girl is the only one who can pare it back, layer by layer, for both of them.” Because another thing he suspected was that Zacharie himself did not know who he was, if all the violence in his life was taken away.
In the meantime, Eden was biting her lip in a mixture of embarrassment and adoration. She just loved it so, so much whenever she was granted a rare glimpse of this side of her husband, and he would go all dark and poetic—
A startled gasp escaped her lips when Calixte suddenly rolled her to her back.
“Something on your mind, Mrs. Romano?”
