Page 105 of Until the End

He did want a future with her. This wasn’t a casual fling for him. Thank goodness he wasn’t gathering her things and shooing her out the door when he had every right to. What he asked for was more than reasonable. Practical even. She nodded.

“I need to hear you say it,” he said. “That you understand.” Something in his tone struck her, resonated in her chest as if a bell had rung, and she stiffened in hesitation.

He kissed her then, his lips warm, his hot tongue dancing over hers, chasing the prickle from her skin.

She had to stop expecting the other shoe to drop, for everything to go up in a puff of smoke. If she couldn’t make this work with a man as amazing as Bruce Sanborn, someone steadfast and principled, damn near a saint, she might as well join a convent because it meant she was too damaged and incapable of giving something good a chance to flourish.

He pressed a palm to her cheek, held her gaze, waiting.

She nodded, this time to herself, and said, “I understand.”

37

Gray Box Headquarters, Northern Virginia

Tuesday, 1:00 p.m. EDT

“I’m confused about the plan,” Kit said, her gaze flickering to the Gray Box facility and back to Castle.

That ruggedly gorgeous action-star face, his light-brown skin set off with blue-green gemstone eyes, and the sexiest bald head. She wanted to run her palms over it again while he was nestled between her thighs, his mouth bringing her pleasure.

His expression was hard now, his brow furrowed. Tension bracketed his mouth and fatigue deepened the creases around his eyes.

She would’ve given anything to read his mind. “If you’re not letting Cutter protect me—”

“I’m not,” he snapped out, his demeanor steely with determination.

“Then what are we doing here?” She gestured to the building. “What’s the answer? All I still see is the problem.”

“Kobayashi Maru.”

“What?” He was making absolutely no sense. “How much sleep have you had in the last few days?”

He hadn’t gotten any during her first night at his place, not a wink on the ride up to Cambridge or on the way back since he’d insisted on driving. When they’d trudged into his town house, they’d showered together, made love under the water, and found themselves entangled in bed, kissing, going at it again. They’d squeezed every bittersweet drop out of those twenty-four hours.

She’d prepared herself for him to cast her aside and move on, despite what he had said. Only he was sticking by her, even though it wasn’t in his best interest, and now he was delirious from exhaustion.

“Kobayashi Maru,” he said, “is the no-win training exercise in Star Trek.”

“I know what it is.” What real Trekkie didn’t? “I’m just failing to see its relevance here.”

“Sanborn put me in a situation that I couldn’t win if I cared about you and played by the rules. The only way to win is for me to cheat. The same as Captain Kirk.”

Oh, she did not like the sound of that. Think outside the box, sure, but Sanborn struck her as the type who didn’t abide cheating. “What exactly do you mean?”

“If I tell you, you’ll worry.”

Too late. Anxiety had her stomach seesawing like a roller coaster ride. “I’m already worried.”

“I’m not leaving your safety up to Cutter, a guy who works a desk and hasn’t proven to me that he can handle someone like Bravo out in the field.” Castle shook his head. “Not going to happen. Trust me, that’s all you need to know right now.”

Her roiling insides protested, but Castle looked resigned to keep her breathing himself. It was pretty hard to argue against that, so she gave up trying.

They went into the building, passed through security, and once on the Operations floor, he took her to the Intelligence section.

“Wait here for me.” He gestured for her to sit in a chair. “Don’t go anywhere without an escort.”

She nodded, taking a seat at a table near Cutter’s workstation. There was another computer on nearby and Kit assumed it was Doc’s. There was medical information on the screen and a mini statue of Buddha on the desk. The only thing missing was a Ziploc bag of homemade granola.