“Shh. It’s okay.” Zach brushed a hand over her hair. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you tonight. I promised to keep you safe, and I failed.”
“No. It’s not that,” she said through ragged breaths. “It’s… We could mess this up. We could?—”
“Don’t think about the bad stuff. I’m here, and they’ll have to kill me to get to you. I won’t go down easily, angel.”
She grew up in this life. Her parents spent their days and nights at parties like the one she’d attended with Zach tonight. How many times had she woken up to her parents passed out on the couch and strangers asleep in the living room? It was everything she was afraid of—and she’d walked in by her own free will.
It was for a good cause. They just had to keep up the act and stay focused. Zach held her until the tearsstopped, then she straightened and brushed her damp hair away from her face. “I think I’m just really tired.”
She slid beneath the covers on one side of the bed, and Zach laid on top of the covers on the other side. She turned, facing him, while he lay on his back. The dim light from the bathroom cast shadows over his face. With one arm behind his head and the other resting on his chest, she could almost imagine he was getting ready for a peaceful night of sleep.
“Zach,” she whispered.
“Hmm.”
“Thanks for getting to me so quickly.”
He turned his head, directing his dark irises at her. “I wish it hadn’t happened.”
“I’m fine. I was scared more than anything.”
“You’re not fine. I hate that guy, and I would have choked the life out of him if…”
“If you didn’t have a conscience now?” she finished.
“Killing someone would have upset you even more. And you wouldn’t have looked at me the same again.”
She reached into the darkness and rested her hand on his shoulder. “You’re right, but I think that’s the Holy Spirit telling you something.”
Zach swallowed hard. “Maybe you’re right.”
She rubbed her thumb over his shoulder, needing the link between them to settle her unsteady heart. “You were different tonight. Like the old you.”
“I had to be.”
“I know. It was like you hated everyone though.”
He covered her hand with his, slipping their fingers together like two pieces of a puzzle. “I’m sorry I treated you like that when we met. I shouldn’t have walked away all those times, but I didn’t know how to be that close to you. It was never hate. Not with you.”
A silent tear slipped from the corner of her eye, disappearing as soon as it touched the pillow. “I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too, angel. Get some rest.”
Sleep should have been difficult, but she drifted off with the strong assurance of Zach’s hand over hers.
43
Lauren
Asiren was blaring, but Lauren was tucked deeply into the trenches of sleep. She was wrapped in a warm cocoon, and there was no way she was leaving the perfection of this spot.
Zach’s heavy arm lifted from her, taking its warmth with it as he rolled over to turn off the alarm.
Oh, right. She’d slept next to Zach last night, and the peace she was wrapped in was his arms. Her back was cold where his chest had been keeping her toasty for hours. It was all shockingly domestic until the events of last night came rushing at her like a freight train. They were in Eric Cross’s house, and they were spying for the police and other government agencies.
Zach stretched beside her. She’d never slept this close to a man before, and the intimacy had her cheeks warming. She rolled onto her back and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
“Good morning, angel,” Zach whispered.
