He reached over and took Grace’s hand.He could feel her uncertainty in the stiff way she unfolded her arm.She wasn’t making it easy, but that had been their entire existence.He threaded his fingers through hers.“My boss brought up a legitimate concern, and as much as I don’t wanna believe it, you need to hear it.”
“Let’s hear it then.”
“It really holds water, considering you haven’t been with anybody since your ex-husband.”
“Quit stalling and tell me.”
“Everything you’re feeling about me is because you’re in danger, and I’m the guy that can save you.”Silence ticked by long enough that he looked over, gut churning and not thrilled with how long it was taking her to refute that point.“Grace?”
She pulled her hand into her lap.“Do you want honesty?”
Fuck.“Yeah, babe.Rip off the Band-Aid just like you did your shirt.”
“Somehow the shirt was easier.”
“Woman, you are killing me right now.”
“You were the first boy who ever made my stomach flutter.”
Every part of his body tingled.He wanted to grin, but didn’t trust what she might say next.
“Then those flutters turned to much more.The older I got, God, I wanted your attention so badly.Especially in high school.”
“Eh, high school,” he admitted with a sheepish nod.
“You were so much older than me, and it was never gonna happen.”
He was a senior when she was a freshman.Even if he looked—and he wouldn’t admit if he did or not—their age difference had been too much.Now that they were adults, a couple of years didn’t matter.
“When you came back from West Point, I literally didn’t think I could want you any more.”She ducked her face into her hands, half-laughing.“I was wrong.”
Why hadn’t he opened his goddamn mouth?He probably would have screwed it up, but God, he had killed himself when it came to her during college.“I could be saying the same thing.”
“I’m still not convinced of that, because I was hopelessly, obsessively, head over heels for a man who didn’t notice I existed as a woman.”
Every part of him ached to rewrite the past.He spent years tamping down the pull he felt for her because of the unwritten bro code and his rule-following moral compass.Regret bubbled in his lungs.“Trust me.I noticed you.”
Just days ago, he’d told Grace their lives would have been different if they’d gotten together before she met Dominic.He’d said it like a cocky line, but in his gut, he knew it was true.
Everything would have been different if he had said something and crossed that stupid imaginary boundary.He had no doubt she wouldn’t have married Dominic, and he hated himself for not saying a thing.Hindsight was going to be the death of him.
But that was then.He needed to be damn sure about now and hear their connection wasn’t just a damsel waiting to be saved and bedded.“You haven’t been with anyone in years.All of a sudden, I’m here, and your rules have changed.”
She twisted her bracelet and pulled the beads until they clicked.The silence dragged on.“It’s not that they changed.”
“Then what?”
“You’re different, Callum.You always have been.”
Every doubt he had about them was officially gone.He loved this woman.Maybe he always had.
Chapter Twenty
Callumdouble-checkedtheGPSand turned onto a nondescript driveway curving off the side of a mountain.The term driveway was a bit of a stretch.This was more like tire tracks, partially marked with crushed rocks.Tall grass and brush reached the truck’s side mirrors.Weeds ran down the center.They had been cut back, but not within a week or two.
Grace twisted her bracelet around two fingers.“You know that Dominic’s people were able to get to a guy in witness protection.”
She hadn’t said much since their bare-all discussion.In the last few hours, their conversation revolved around whether the air conditioning was too cool or if she needed a pit stop.“I agree, though Viv said the feds don’t.”
