“You don’t think we could convince him his intel was wrong?”
Cole tossed the dishrag over his shoulder and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.“In my experience, once Franklin gets something in his head, there’s not much that’ll change his mind.”
She nodded, shifting her glance down before raising her eyes to his once more.“What if we ran?I mean, what if we do what I think Eric did?Run and start a new life somewhere.”
His heart had just started to beat normally again, and here she was, trying to shock it back into dysrhythmia.“Do you mean…together?”
The look she gave him branded him the biggest idiot in the world.“Duh.Of course I mean together!Why would I want to start up a new identity without you?”When he hesitated, her face fell.“You’re worried about the one-night stand agreement, aren’t you?Look, I know you don’t want commitment or a romantic relationship with me.But that doesn’t mean we can’t run away together.Even if it’s just as frien?—”
Cole snagged her by the back of the neck, yanked her into his arms, and crushed his mouth down on hers before she could finish saying that accursed word.How was it possible that her lips felt softer every time he kissed her?He could kiss her for days.Months.Years.
Forever.
But not yet.Because he just wanted to clarify, “You’d truly run away with me?I’m talking about faking our deaths, having Ren create new identities for us, and disappearing together.We could probably find a way to let your parents know the truth, but no one else could ever know the truth of who we are.You’re sure you’d be OK with that?”
The smile that lit up her face was damn near blinding and byfarthe most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.“Yeah,” she whispered.“I’d run away with you in a heartbeat.”
Cole was anything but naïve.He knew they had alotmore to talk about, not the least of which was theiractualfeelings for each other, because agreeing to run from the government together wasnotthe same as a declaration of eternal love.But he wasn’t going to bring that up.
Not when he was so busy celebrating the fact that she wasn’t leaving him anytime soon.
“So, it’s settled,” he said.“We run.I’ll have Ren get started on our new identities.”
That’s when a new voice piped up with, “I mean, that’s the nuclear option.Thereisanother way, though.”
Chapter29
Hadley glanced over to find Tenley, still in her one-piece, black, breaking and entering outfit, hair piled on top of her head in a bun, looking like Catwoman.
“I thought you’d left already,” Hadley said.
She shrugged.“I didn’t have anything better to do.Thought I’d hang out a bit and see how the neighbors behaved when they got back to their place.”
Cole looked over at her but didn’t take his hands off Hadley.“What’d they do?”
Tenley grinned.“Pretty much what you’re doing.Much more naked, though.”
Hadley figured they weren’t naked in the middle of the kitchen right now only because of her interruption.But she tried not to let the bitterness seep into her thoughts.Not when Cole had agreed to run away with her.She was so happy it almost didn’t even matter that they hadn’t actually talked about their feelings.
Almost.
“So, we were right, then,” Cole said grimly.“It’s a real marriage.And if that’s the case, he won’t want to do anything that would blow up Stella’s life.He must’ve retired from the KGB or escaped it.”
“I don’t read Russian, so I couldn’t translate any of the docs I found, but my guess is that he escaped,” Tenley said.“In my experience, the KGB doesn’t like to let go of what’s theirs.”
Hadley’s brow furrowed.“What experience do you have with the KGB?”
She blinked innocently.“We had a little…misunderstanding.No biggie.”
Hadley didn’t consider anything that ran afoul of the KGBno biggie.But she didn’t see the point in questioning it.Something told her Tenley had way better stories to tell when they had more time, anyway.
“You had a better idea than running?”Cole prompted.
Tenley nodded.“Running is always a last resort as far as I’m concerned.”
“Have you ever been blackmailed by the government?”he snarked.
“Just the once,” she answered, completely straight faced.“But that’s not the point.Thepointis that running doesn’t solve blackmail.The only way to go on with your life and not be constantly on the run is to blackmail your blackmailer.”
