After a quick shower, he climbed into bed and curled up next to Charlie’s sleeping form. He hadn’t lied about watching her sleep.
She was naturally beautiful, but there was more to it than that. Having seen her in the midst of a heartbreaking nightmare, Derek loved that lately, her nights had been filled with peace.
That same peace was threatened last night when she woke up to find someone had been in the apartment. He could only imagine the fear she’d felt when she saw those cans arranged that way.
It was that fear that had driven him to fly to New York to confront the bastard. Unfortunately, he didn’t get that chance.
Derek had planned to force Porter to tell him how he’d pulled it off. The guy obviously couldn’t be in two places at once, so he must have done what Charlie said and hired someone to do his dirty work.
His thoughts turned back to last night.
Like Porter’s building, there were no cameras on the individual floors here. It was something Derek intended to change as soon as he got the chance.
Then, there was the fact that there were no signs of forced entry. No obvious scratches on the lock...nothing. It was as if whoever came in had used a key.
He made a mental note to check with the building manager tomorrow to find out who has access to the extra keys. He was also going to do a more thorough background check on all the building employees, looking specifically for any possible connection to Porter.
“You’re thinking awfully hard over there.”
Charlie’s slurred, drowsy voice broke through his racing thoughts.
Derek smiled down at her. “Just thinkin’ about how lucky I am.”
Rolling over to face him, she looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes. “How’d you manage to get back so soon?”
He told as much of the truth as he could. “The job was a bust. Turns out I wasn’t needed. The problem was already taken care of by the time I got there.”
God, I hate deceiving her.
“They couldn’t have told you that before you flew out?”
Derek huffed out a silent chuckle. “They didn’t know until right before I got there.”
“So, what did you do, just turn around and come right back home?”
“Pretty much.”
She snuggled into him. “Well, I’m glad. I was worried about you.”
His heartstrings tugged. “You know, we really haven’t had much time to talk about my job. What it entails.”
“So, let’s talk.”
He ran a hand down the back of her hair. “There are going to be times I’m gonna have to be gone. Sometimes for a few weeks, maybe a month.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “I can live with that.”
A sliver of relief broke through, but he hadn’t really told her the worst part about what he did. If they were going to have any kind of future, she needed to know now, rather than waiting until something happened to him.
“My job can be dangerous, Charlie. Sometimes we get hired out by Homeland to do ops that are a lot like the ones I did as a SEAL.” He swallowed. “You need to know what you’re signing up for.”
She leaned up and kissed him. “It’s okay, Derek. I’m fully aware of what I’m getting myself into with you.”
He rested his hand on the curve of her hip. “You are?”
Charlie smiled. A little more awake now, she nodded. “I accepted the idea of being with a military man a long time ago. Also, the night you slipped your card into my pocket, I looked up as much as I could find on R.I.S.C. Granted, there isn’t a lot out there for public knowledge, but between what I found and what I’ve seen from you and your team, I pieced it together. Most of it, anyway.”
“And you’re okay with it? With what I do?”
