Nomar
By the timewe make it back to the house, the rising sun bathes the streets in a pale orange glow. Griff opens the gate, and Austin backs the Land Rover into the carport. Aazar promised to meet us outside the market at eleven forty-five with maps showing every shortcut and side street we can take between there and Raziq’s home.
No one believes he’ll bring Mateen with him. And though the idea of that bastard evenlookingat Lisette makes my skin crawl, it’s the only way we’ll get Amelie and Philippe back.
“Zephyr’s been analyzing the real estate photos of Raziq’s house half the night. She sent us rough blueprints,” Griff says as we trudge through the door.
Austin stifles his yawn. “That’s why I pay her the big bucks. I’m taking two hours. Nomar, you should too. I want to be in position by ten.”
If I don’t get some sleep, I’ll be a liability to the whole mission. I stagger over to my ruck and fish out a bottle of eyedrops. The cool liquid feels like heaven, but it’s nothing compared to the warmth of Lisette’s hand on my arm. She’s touching me. Willingly. “I need to talk to you.”
“I’ve only slept six out of the last forty-eight hours, sweetheart. Can it wait?”
She chews on her lower lip. Are those tears in her eyes? Fuck. I push to my feet with a groan. Leo catches my gaze and jerks his head toward the bedroom.
“Come on.” I take her hand, surprised she doesn’t pull away, and once we’re shut away from the others, I realize someone moved a bed roll and a light in here. “What’s wrong? Besides…fuck. Besides everything.”
Lisette tugs me down onto the thick wool blanket, close enough our knees touch. I’m afraid to say a word and shatter this moment where it feels like shewantsto be with me.
“What happened two years ago?” Her voice trembles, and I think she’s on the verge of tears. But the one thing she isn’t? Angry. With me.
“Leo told you, didn’t he?” I should go out there and kick his ass, but I need him—and more importantly, I needher.
“A little. But I want to hear it from you, Nomar. I…would not let you explain last night. Or…was it two nights ago?” She shakes her head, and a tear balances on her lower lashes. “I was wrong.”
I cup her cheek, desperate to soothe the pain in her eyes. “Everything was—is—fucked, sweetheart. We don’t have to talk about this now. It can wait until we have Mateen back.”
“No.” Lisette swallows a sob. “I will not survive this, Nomar. Raziq will kill me. I pray you can rescue Mateen. Amelie and Philippe. But—”
I haul her into my arms and slam my mouth to her lips. She opens for me. My tongue sweeps over hers, searching and desperate. Lisette melts against me. I willnotlose her. I can’t.
We’re both panting when I break off the kiss, and I touch my forehead to hers. “Youwillsurvive this, Lisette. You and Mateen will be free. Even if I have to take out Raziq’s men one by one, with only a dull spoon, I’ll do it.”
Sorrow swims in her green eyes, though she manages a wobbly smile. “A dull spoon is not a very effective weapon, Nomar. Did no one teach you that in spy school?”
Laughing with her feels so right. Like we’ve been together for a lifetime, not a week. “Do you remember the night we spent in that old mosque?”
“You and Mateen were both so sick.” She links our fingers. “You tried to be strong, but I think you were in terrible pain.”
“I told you more about myself that night than I’d shared with anyone in years. And then you asked me if my job was ‘really that dangerous’ or if I ‘simply wasn’t very good at it.’”
“Merde.I was so rude.”
Smiling, I brush my lips to hers. “That’s when I fell in love with you.”
Her eyes widen and she presses her hand to her heart. “Nomar! You barely knew me.”
“I knew enough. I knew you were brave as fuck. I knew you were a fighter. A survivor. I could see what ten years with that asshole had done to you. But underneath all that fear, I sawyou, Lisette. I fell in love withyou.”
The next few seconds are the longest of my life. I need to know I still have a chance with her. That my past hasn’t doomed us completely.
“You saved us,” she says softly. “But more than that, you saw me when I could not see myself. I needed you. That is why it hurt so much when you left.”
“I’ll apologize every day for the rest of my life—”
Lisette presses her finger to my lips. “If you had stayed, maybe we would have loved one another then. I cannot say. But the woman I was could not have given you forever. A lifetime should not be based on need. When you came back, I no longer needed you. Iwantedyou. I still do.”
Dragging a knuckle along her jaw, I memorize the feel of her skin. The flush to her cheeks. The way her lips part for me. Even here, in this dusty room with no windows and three of the deadliest men in the world on the other side of the door, whenever I look at her, everything else ceases to matter.
