As if suddenly realizing what he’d said, Trevor stopped talking and broke eye contact. The haunted look that came over him terrified her.
“W-who did you lose?”
Trevor blinked and raised his gaze back to hers. “What?”
“Who was she?”
He shook his head and blinked some more. “I...uh...I don’t...”
Desperate to understand, Lexi swallowed down the last bit of her anger and whispered, “Please, Trevor. Talk to me.”
****
Trevor knew betterthan to push Lexi the way he had. He never should have ordered her away from working. And, God, the way he’d just talked to her...his mother would be so ashamed.Hewas ashamed.
But he’d panicked. The thought of her going back to work while that bastard was still out here, knowing he could get to her again, had sent a bolt of fear through his system unlike any he’d ever known.
She’d been trying to explain why it was so important for her to continue working, but he hadn’t listened. His innate, desperate need to keep her safe had taken over, and he’d acted like a total ass because of it.
He wouldn’t have blamed her if she had walked out and never talked to him again. Thankfully, she was still here, those baby blue eyes pleading with him to open up and give her his soul.
Trevor didn’t want to tell her. He never wanted Lexi to be touched by his sinful past. He realized now, if he wanted any chance at a future with her, he had to.
Swallowing past the giant lump in his throat, Trevor looked at her and said, “I was Delta Force. I don’t know if I ever told you that.”
“No,” she answered softly. “You told me you were former military, but I had no idea you were special ops.”
For some reason, the fact that she knew Delta was spec ops made him smile. It quickly faded, however, as he continued telling her the one thing he never wanted her to know.
“Several years ago, my Delta team was on an op that went bad.”
“You lost someone from your team?”
“Two men...and one woman.”
Understanding mixed with her unshed tears. “I’m so sorry.”
Trevor cleared his throat. “She and I...” he paused. “It was casual. We cared about each other, but it wasn’t like...”
“Us?” she finished for him.
He nodded. “We were friends. Some days...” he paused again, not comfortable discussing this part with Lexi. “Some days, we were more.”
“It’s okay, Trevor,” Lexi offered sincerely. “I know you had a life before we met. I’m glad you had someone you cared about during that time.”
“I did care about her.”
Lexi gave a little smile. “I can tell. What was her name?”
What was he doing? She didn’t need to hear all this. “Lexi, I don’t think—”
“If you want me to understand this sudden and fierce need to protect me, then I need to hear more from you than just an order of what I can or cannot do. I need you totalkto me, Trevor. Please”—she closed the distance between them and put her hand on his arm—“let me in.”
There was no way he could deny her anything when she looked at him the way she was in that very moment. “Lisa. Her name was Lisa. She was a CIA liaison assigned to our group for a specific objective.”
“What happened?”
“We got played. Her asset double-crossed the team, and we walked right into a trap. Lisa was taken. They tortured her before they killed her.”
