“Isn’t she, like, thirty?” Jamie said. “Is this him being overprotective or her being clingy?”
Holly’s voice mumbled as she applied something to her lips. “They live in this insular world where they’re pretty much all each other has. Works for both of them. She boosts his popularity, he keeps her in the spotlight, which promotes her books and TV programs and things. She’s a bit like him—you can’t help liking her but you get this nagging sense that there’s a hidden agenda to everything she does and says.”
“Youlikethis guy?”
“I did once,” Holly said, standing back and assessing her work. “Everyone does, Doc. You’d get an instant boner, I swear. He’s one of these people who connects with everyone—old, young, male, female, rich, poor. He makes you feel like you’re the only one in the room—until you look around and realize everyone in the room is under the same spell.”
Samira hooked up the printer. A bit like Jamie.
“But I’ve seen what happens when people get on his bad side,” Holly continued, “away from the cameras. It ain’t pretty.”
“Indeed,” Samira said, thinking back to the sat phone conversation in the forest.Truth and lies are whatever I say they are.Weird to think that Holly had a personal history with the man who’d for so long been the distant bogeyman in Samira’s life.
“These look great,” Jamie said a few minutes later as the first of the IDs came off the printer. Holly ducked into the bedroom to dress, closing the door.
Samira stood beside him, watching the next three whir out. “They might not pass scrutiny from someone who knows the system, but I’m hoping it’s not those people we’ll need to fool, that with ‘Laura’ with us we’ll pass right by the police and hotel staff.” She picked up a sheet and scrutinized it. “That’s the thing with the VIP life—you don’t open doors, doors are opened for you. You don’t drive a car, cars are driven for you. You don’t carry keys or even a wallet. You just follow the path laid out for you, like a permanent red carpet.” She set the paper down. “And, in our case, hope like hell.”
Jamie lifted the laminator onto the counter. “Have faith, Samira. It’s a good plan and we’ve done everything we can to ensure it works. We know there will be variables—there always are—but we can handle them. It’s what we do, what we’re trained to do.”
She tore the tape from the top of the laminator box. “Stop making me feel bad about being worried. It’s a perfectly reasonable reaction.”
“I know it is.”
She stopped. He was studying her with a serious face. No wry grin, no twinkling eyes. “You do?”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be worried. It’s a very worrying situation. And I’m certainly not trying to make you feel bad—quite the opposite. I’m saying you need to believe in yourself—and the rest of us. You need to back yourself so you don’t end up paralyzed by your anxiety. Yes, you can be worried, you can feel fear. We all do. But don’t let that stop you from thinking and acting rationally.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
He smiled. “You do.”
“Jamie, I’m terrified right now. Look.” She held her right hand straight out, palm down. It trembled.
He folded her hand into both of his, coaxing her to face him. His eyes had faded to gray-blue in the gloomy light. “Despite my failures, I have confidence in the skills I’ve spent much of my adult life working at. Medicine, the military. And so should you. You blow me away with your knowledge and ideas and talents, in things I couldn’t begin to understand. Play to those strengths.”
Something kicked in her chest. What would it be like to have him around permanently—that reassurance, that smile, that sexy body...
That option wasn’t on the table.
He pulled her closer, his chest inches from hers. Why did she always get a flush of guilt over what was happening between them? She was no longer anyone’s fiancée.
“You wouldn’t expect me to hack into a computer system, and I wouldn’t expect you to take someone down in hand-to-hand combat or perform an emergency tracheotomy.” With one fingertip, he circled her ear, leaving a trail of goose bumps. “Your strengths are different from mine, and that’s a good thing. You don’t give yourself enough credit. And, anyway, it’s incredibly valuable to know your vulnerabilities and how to manage them. If you’re blind to your weaknesses, like a lot of people, you’re powerless against them.”
“Idon’tknow how to manage them. You’ve seen what happens when I give in to them.”
“Well, don’t give in.”
“It’s not that easy. It’s not like it’s a choice.”
“I know it’s not easy—but I have immense faith in you. Like you wouldn’t believe.”
His quiet sincerity was killing her. He traced a finger down her jawline, forcing her to inhale. She should step away. How did they so often end up back here, a breath away from kissing? He leaned in, his open suit jacket brushing her chest. The skin on her face prickled.
She pulled away, a sudden tempest churning in her chest, a storm of emotions she couldn’t even define. “Says the man who’s too scared to confront his own weakness.” She flung up her hands. “You’re always trying to fix me. Why don’t you fix your damn self?”
The color flushed from his face, leaving an expression she’d seen only once before, on that horrible morning in France.
Hurt.
