“So, when you got shot…?” My fingers find their way to his side, and I trail them lightly over the fresh scar.
“One of the guys we work with on occasion was high-level Air Force.” Pausing to lock eyes with me, he adds, “He was forced out—long story—and went to ‘find himself’ in Mexico. He found love instead. And orchid poachers.”
“Um,orchidpoachers? Who’d want to steal orchids?”
Ronan laughs, and my heart flutters. Honest-to-Godflutters. It’s never done that before, and shit. I want it to happen again. “Some orchids are worth up to twenty-five thousand dollars.”
It’s a good thing I’m sitting down. “So the poachers were after him? Your coworker?”
“The woman he fell in love with. She’s a botanist at the Smithsonian. When they came back to the States, Austin wanted 24x7 protection for Mik. I was part of that team. The assholes came after her, and they weren’t havin’ anyone in their way.”
I must look worried, because he smiles and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “They were armed, but we had a former CIA sniper with us, and he doesn’t miss.”
The lethality of Ronan’s tone silences the fluttering of my heart, sobering me in an instant. “Sniper?”
“Dax is former Special Forces. Trevor’s the sniper. Ford was in the Marines. Everyone I work with has military or law enforcement experience.”
Shit. If his boss finds out what Ronan’s doing—harboring a known fugitive—I’m dead. Hell, we’re both dead. My palms start to sweat, and I pull away. “Ronan, this is dangerous. How long until someone comes to check on you? Demands you report in? Hacks into the DMV to find your new address?”
Ronan turns toward me. “This is my first solo assignment. Up until now, I’ve been backup to one of the other senior investigators. My guess? Dax is goin’ to ask me for an update later today, but he’ll leave me be if I tell him I’m workin’ an angle. Wren—she’s about the best damn hacker in the world—could find me if Dax ordered her to—but he’ll give me a hell of a lot of chances to come in on my own first.”
“You’re not making me feel any better,” I say.
“I’ll not sugar-coat the truth for you, Zephyr. Which is why I need to know everythin’ you can tell me about the Strauss Cartel and why they set you up.”
Oh, yeah. That.
I was so exhausted last night, hecarriedme to his bed rather than press me for more details, and there’s so much of my life—my story—he doesn’t yet know. “I could still run.”
“But you won’t.” Linking our fingers, he squeezes gently. “It’s hard, yeah? Bein’ alone all the time?”
I haven’t cried—truly cried—since I escaped that small, dark basement. Bleeding, broken ribs, electrical burns, scarred inside and out in ways that will never fully heal. But in this moment? I’m close. He’s right. I’m so fucking lonely. Having to doeverythingon my own. Watch my back every step. Hide who I really am fromeveryone.
“Zephyr, I know provin’ your innocence won’t be easy. Or without risk. But I brought you back here because I looked into your eyes and I saw how much you neededsomeoneto believe you.”
A single tear fights to escape, but I blink hard, forcing it back where it came from. If Ronan gets hurt, that’ll be the end of me. Maybe not my life—though that’s possible—but of something just as precious.
Hope.
Chapter Eleven
Ronan
After breakfast,which Zephyr attacks like she hasn’t eaten in months, we sit next to one another on the couch with her laptop in front of us. “Dante will expect me to check in.”
The venom in her voice tells me she’d rather string the arse up by his toes and torture him. Slowly and painfully. Before this whole mess is over, he’ll regret the day he was born. Snagging my phone from the side table, I groan. “He’s messaged me three times since last night.”
Zephyr snorts. “Probably hoping you bled out in a ditch somewhere after Theo shot you.” Her eyes widen, and her entire body tenses. “Please tell me your phone isn’t trackable.”
“What do you take me for? I told you last night I wasn’t that daft. What about your laptop?” If she wants to doubt me, she’ll have to defend her own tech as well.
She answers with an eye roll, then seems to think better of the action. “Sorry. This is all new to me. Trusting that someoneelseknows what they’re doing.”
I nudge her thigh with mine. “We’ll work on it, luv.”
Fuck me. Where the hell did that come from? We’re not even friends, let alone…more. But she’s wearing my clothes, smells like my soap, and she’s barefoot, quite obviouslynotwearing a bra, and the longer I spend close to her, the more I wonder what it’d be like to kiss her.
Her cheeks flush bright red, and she boots up her laptop. “I’m sure Theo reported in. So Dante knows I wasn’t at the comic shop when you got there. Did he see you pack up my stuff?”
