“Do tell.” She pushed the button for the elevator.
“I’m heading over to Kauai.”
“Nice. We’ve been talking about going over there, but Kap has to work next week. So, you aren’t going out?”
He blinked. “What?”
“It has been ages since I have seen or heard about you dating someone.”
“What is it about people that when they get serious with a partner, that we all need to do the same? I am perfectly happy with my lot in life.”
He had too many enemies in his past and he knew that one day it would come to back to bite him in the arse.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying you should get serious, but maybe…you know…”
She made a motion with her hand.
“What is that?”
“Sex is good for you.”
Her face had turned bright red and he laughed. “Say hi to your man for me.”
“My man.” She laughed, delight filling her expression. “I will.”
Then she stepped into the lift and headed off for her weekend of bliss. He didn’t begrudge her the happiness they had both found, but damn, he was starting to feel a little envious. Which was odd for him. He wasn’t one to think of settling down. He’d lost his mother when he had been barely eleven, and he didn’t want to go through the hell that had caused both he and his father. But lately…he just felt as if something were off.
Pushing aside those thoughts, he walked down the hall to his office. He still had a few things to do before he could take off to Kauai. He settled behind his desk just as his phone vibrated.
Unlisted.
Heat flared through his entire body. Of course.
“What do you want, Sam?”
“You’re welcome.” He opened his mouth to answer her, but she beat him. “Again.”
“You don’t have to watch over me. I can handle my own life.”
There was a beat of silence. “Is that a fact?”
Something was off in her voice. There was no biting sarcasm, or even playful mocking. There was not one ounce of emotion. It left him feeling cold.
“Yeah. You probably have all kinds of things to do.” He powered up his laptop and punched in his code. “There’s no reason to watch over me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
He paused for a long moment waiting to see if she would expound on that. Silence greeted him. “What the bloody hell does that mean?”
“Let’s just say I’m fulfilling a promise.”
That was more than she had ever told him about why she always seemed to guard him. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but then, he realized that she had seemed to step in whenever he needed help. And that had started before he’d left MI-6 a couple years earlier.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re hinting at?”
“Can’t. Not safe.”
That had him pausing again. “For you?”
