“Yes, you can. You have to. For me. I’m going undercover too.”
He hated the sound of that. “For sure?”
She nodded but didn’t meet his eye. Where was his confident woman? The one who trusted him.
“Well, I mean, it’s in the works.” She raised her gaze. “Carla doesn’t know.”
Alex stood up and started pacing. The dogs watched for a minute before they returned to the porch. Chewie sat at Sylvie’s feet and she absently ran her hands through his fur.
“I need you to accept this about my life,” she said quietly.
He reached the far end of the porch and turned on his heel to face her again. “I can accept you going undercover, Sylvie. I can accept that you can’t always tell me everything. But it’s the disrespect you’re facing,” he held up a hand, “even if you insist that it’s only because they’re undercover. It’s the thought that you’re getting in over your head and you won’t let me help you. Won’t even let your partner know. This is not how I do things. Not how Watchdog does things.”
“I’mnotalone. Frank will have my back.”
Alex couldn’t help it. He couldn’t keep the doubt from his expression.
“Here we are again,” Sylvie said. “The same argument. Watchdog is different. You guys do things differently that you can’t tell me about. But I’m not pushing you to quit them.”
“I’m not asking you to quit your job. I’m telling you to be sure of what you’re doing—” The words were out before he realized how they sounded. “Sorry. I still can’t get over the other day, the way you put yourself in danger.”
“You had my back.”
“And I’m asking to have it again.” He knelt in front of her and took her hand. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone—not even my ex-wife when we got married. I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“Am I coming in tonight?” she asked, her tone clipped as she avoided the subject.
His cock twitched against his will.God fucking dammit. “Sylvie, I don’t even know what to say right now.”
“Say you still want me, even though you’ve never been angrier at me.”
Fuck. His cock hardened further. “I’m angry because I love you and I don’t like what happened yesterday.”
“Well, I love you too and I don’t like what’s happeningtoday. For the last time, let me handle this. Now, am I coming in?” She jerked her chin toward his front door.
“Areyou?” he countered.
She blew out a breath through her nose. “Well, I guess not, huh?” Sylvie studied him. In the shadows cast by his porchlight, he couldn’t read her eyes but it felt like she was taking him in one last time. Weighing her decision.
“I should go,” she finally said.
“Sylvie—”
She gave Chewie one last ear scratch and stood up, resolute.
Alex stood. “Fine. I can’t change your mind. But please, just let me know if you do go under. No details, just…let me know somehow. Look, I’ll be at the festival tomorrow night. I want to see you there after your shift.”
Come on, Sylviehe thought.Let me back in.
All she gave him was a single nod. “I’ll let you know.” She looked at her car waiting in the night. She took a step toward the porch steps.
Then he was moving fast, reaching out and grabbing her around the waist, turning her and pulling her back in one move. He took her mouth in a desperate kiss. Alex poured his soul into it, his passion, his need for this extraordinary woman who kept him on his toes, who fired up his cock and his heart and his mind in equal measure.
She returned every ounce of passion, every bit of need and desire.
He pulled away to see her lips trembling, her eyes shining.
And behind them, a wall of steely resolve.
