“That’s a good reason,” Jude said. “Plus they’re sexy as hell on you.”
He stopped us on a landing and held a finger to his lips. Nicholas and Inda waited on the stairs, Bobby right behind them. Nicholas still carried the skillet, and I had a feeling Bobby knew he’d get whacked in the head if he tried to run. Or maybe he was afraid he’d get shot by one of the Russians.
Jude put his ear to the door, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “We need to wait here for a minute.”
I didn’t ask why. He knew what he was doing.
“My grandparents raised me and they were wonderful,” I whispered, close to his ear. “It was really hard on them, though, because they didn’t expect to be parenting a young child again. But there wasn’t anyone else. I didn’t have any other family. They did their best, but I was alone a lot.”
“What happened to them?”
“They both died the same year. Grandma first. Ovarian cancer. Grandad didn’t last long after she passed.”
He gently touched my face. “Oh, Cameron.”
“That was when I quit my job. I wanted to do something my grandma would have been proud of.”
Eyes locked with mine, he stroked my cheek.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the video,” I whispered. “I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want you to find out.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry I lashed out at you. And you’re not just a job.”
Tears stung my eyes again—damn it, that kept happening—and one slid down my cheek.
He glanced down for a second and when our eyes met again, his were filled with emotion. “I left the CIA because a fellow operative was killed.”
“Oh god, please don’t tell me you lost the love of your life in a tragic mission gone wrong, because there’s no way I’ll ever compete with that.”
“No, I didn’t lose the love of my life. I’m looking at her.”
I bit my lip and nodded.
“His name was Micah Strickland. I’d worked with him for years. It shook me up when he died. I decided I needed a different life.”
I touched his face, feeling his rough stubble against my palm. “It’s hard to lose people.”
“Yeah.”
“We shouldn’t be having this conversation now, should we?”
His lips hooked in a small smile. “Probably not.”
“I’m in love with you.”
He leaned in and planted a hard kiss on my lips. “I’m so fucking in love with you. We’re going to talk about this later.”
“Yeah.”
“First, I’m going to get you out of here,” he said, clasping my hand again.
We continued downward. Several of the floors were blocked off, the doors boarded up. Another had no door at all, but a pile of debris spilling onto the landing made it impassable. Jude took us down to what I assumed was the ground floor, although most of the floor signs were missing.
“What do we do now?” Nicholas whispered.
Jude leaned close to the door, like he was listening. “We’re going to walk out.”
“You guys obviously have this covered,” Bobby said. “I can take my own car and head home.”
Jude leveled him with a glare.
He swallowed hard and nodded. “Right. I go with you.”
“Now,” Jude said.
He opened the door and led me through, gently grasping my hand. I walked tall beside him, my hair a mess, my wrists and ankles ringed with rope burns. The fear that had threatened to overtake me was gone. Not just the fear of being killed by the mob. I wasn’t afraid of that either, not with Jude at my side.
More importantly, I was no longer afraid to love him.
Jude pulled us up short as a group of armed men ran in from both sides, forming a line in front of us, blocking our way out.
“Oh god,” Bobby whimpered.
“Don’t piss yourself,” Nicholas said.
Inda was behind me. “Stay with me, Nick.”
“I’m with you,” Nicholas said. “Love you always.”
The boss man strode out in front of his men, flanked by two more. He stopped, his dark brow furrowing, his eyes on Jude.
“Ellis,” he said, a slight lift in his intonation. Was he surprised?