The delicious aroma of sweet and sour pork hit her half way down the hall, the scent reminding her of the night she was here with Nate. Gracie looked down at the letters sprawled across her chest and found herself wishing she were wearing it for a whole other reason.
Pushing those useless thoughts away, she decided to focus on the fact that she was safe, and be thankful Nate was kind enough to let her stay here.
“Food’s on the counter, and I set a plate and fork out for you to use. Help yourself.”
“Thanks,” Gracie muttered as she walked past him. Hating the uneasy look in his eyes, she added, “And thanks, again for letting me stay here. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“Of course.”
That was all she got, making her feel even worse for forcing herself on him like she had. Although, he did kiss her back, anddamn.
For someone who wasn’t interested, he sure as hell kissed like he was.
They both filled their plates in silence before taking a seat at Nate’s table. It didn’t seem possible that a week had gone by since she was last here, laughing and joking around.
It’s crazy what a difference a few days can make.
Hating the awkwardness between them now, she tried to apologize. “Nate, I’m sorry. I never should’ve—”
“Tell me what happened at your apartment,” he interrupted. “Exactly. Don’t leave anything out.”
His abrupt tone took her off guard. “Um, okay. Sure. Let’s see, I left the office with Sarah. We went back to my place and hung out for a while.”
“What did you talk about?”
Her heart rate increased. “Is that relevant to what happened?”
Nate shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not, but the more details you can give me, the better chance I have of catching this guy.”
Gracie really didn’t want to divulge her entire conversation with Sarah, given that Nate had been the main topic for the last portion of it.I’ll leave that part out, for now.
“We talked about Craig. I told her some funny stories from my time with him at the hospital. I showed her the pictures…” Gracie cut herself off. “Oh, no. The pictures.”
“What pictures?”
“On my phone.” Knowing she needed to explain a bit further, she added, “I left it in Craig’s hospital room one day when I went to go check on something with one of the nurses. It wasn’t until later that night I realized he’d taken a bunch of silly selfies before putting my phone back exactly how I’d left it. As a joke, you know?”
Grinning, Nate nodded. Gracie couldn’t help but think it was totally somethinghewould do.
Nate surprised her when he said, “I have your phone. I should be able to recover all your pictures.”
“Really? That would be great!” Then, she scrunched her brow. “Wait. Why do you have my phone?”
“When we got back from Ankara…” Nate hesitated, clearly unsure of what he could share about the op.
“It’s okay, Nate. I know where your team was sent. I helped Agent Ryker with some of the arrangements.”
With a nod, he started again. “When we got back from Ankara late Saturday afternoon, Jake and Sarah were waiting for us at the gate. They told us you’d gone missing, and Jake gave me your phone. I restored all your texts and emails to see if there was something in them that could help us find you. I didn’t specifically go in and download the pics, though.”
“There aren’t many, but the ones I do have, I’d like to keep. If that’s possible.”
“I’ll do my best to get them back for you.”
Nate grinned at her from across the table, and Gracie’s heart did that whole skipping-a-beat thing.Focus, Gracelynn. Focus
“Thanks. I forgot to grab it and my purse when I went back to the office that night. I guess I was still so shocked about what happened to Craig, I just grabbed my keys and drove. When I got back home and saw what had happened, I was afraid whoever that guy was would be able to trace my location, so I left it all on purpose.”
There was a stretch of silence before Nate pushed on. “Let’s back up. So, you and Sarah talked about Craig. Then what?”
