They talked. Talked about their pasts. Talked about things they liked. Talked about music and art and places they’d like to visit. They never talked about the future, though. Then they were quiet. Their shoulders touched as they sat side by side, closer and closer to each other, closer and closer to the end of the day.
“Don’t just leave,” she said.
He glanced in her direction. “What do you mean? I’ll sit here as long as you want.”
“You know what I mean.” She met his gaze with her own.
Yeah, he knew what she meant. This conversation had no place in his world, just like she had no place in his world. All he could ever offer her was a life filled with worry, or danger. Sooner or later that would shatter her self being. She’d lose all sense of who she was and what she wanted. And, if they had children… What then?
He swallowed hard. End it now. End it clean. That’s what was best for her. Didn’t matter what was best for him.
“We both knew I’d have to leave some day,” he said.
“I know.” She nodded weakly. “But I don’t want you to go forever. I read Drake’s note again this morning. Thought about how my mother couldn’t face his life of danger. How she’d been honest enough to tell him she couldn’t.” She kissed Mitch’s cheek. “I’m not my mother. I’m me. And I can face whatever life throws at me. Even love with a dangerous man with a dangerous past and the promise of a dangerous future.”
“I know you can, but…” A shadow of what-if crossed his expression, but he rolled his shoulders and shook it off. “I don’t know what you want me to do, Liz. We—”
“You don’t have to do anything.” She covered his hand with hers. “Just promise me you’ll at least say goodbye. Please promise.”
He sighed long and longer. She’d mentioned love…love with a dangerous man…and that’s what he was. The love he felt for her needed to be tempered, because she didn’t deserve the danger and unknown of an OPAQUE agent’s life. But she did deserve everything he could give her to make leaving easier.
Fingering her hand in his, he pulled it to his lips for a single kiss. “I promise, Elizabeth. I promise to say goodbye.”
“My name is Liz,” she whispered, then sat perfectly still. Slowly, she laid her head against his shoulder. “I love you, Agent Granger. I love you.”
The words shook him, but he kept staring at the water.
During the next hour, life slowed, along with their energy. They still laughed, but not quite as much. Their mood had dimmed. The sun got hotter. Finally, one of the guys brought down a beach umbrella and jabbed it in the sand then walked back to the house. She lay back and closed her eyes.
Mitch went for a swim. Felt good. Rejuvenated him. He figured that’s what she had needed when they’d talked about going outside last night. When he saw her sit back up and franticly look around, he started in to shore.
“Delivery!” Reese plopped a bag of food and a couple of drinks beneath the umbrella. “Us guys got hungry, so I grabbed some wings and fries from the place down the way. Figured you all might want some, too.”
“Thanks.” Mitch toweled off. “We’ll eat and then head back inside.”
Reese nodded and walked away.
“Sound okay to you?” Mitch looked in her direction as he lowered to the beach towel.
She smiled. “Sounds good. Thank you for today. This was nice.”
“I have to admit, it felt good to be outside and—”
“Mitch! Mitch!” Josh yelled from the deck, tossing a secure phone in his direction.
Mitch dug his feet in the sand, sprinting toward the house. He caught the phone on the run halfway to the house and shoved it against his ear. “Yeah?”
“Joey here. Just landed Panama City. Should be there less than hour.”
“Why?”
“You sent an urgent text. Get there STAT. The OPAQUE pilot diverted from the Ft. Myers flight plan and flew us straight here.” Joey talked in the fast-paced clipped manner he always did when time was of the essence. “Plus there are two OPAQUE agents in a PT boat running flat-out across the Gulf from Galveston. Another taking a chopper from New Orleans.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mitch shouted back.
“How did you find out about the CT boat?” Joey questioned without answering. “OPAQUE sonar and radar didn’t even pick it up.”
“What boat? How do you know where we’re at?”
