“Exactly why you need to forget about everything for a while.”
“Easier said than done right after hearing there’s a group planning some kind of massacre.” God, she felt like she was running in circles, a futile and exhausting endeavor.
“The kid also said the plan was tied into the vice president’s wife’s visit.” He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “So we have a couple of days. You can take this time to recharge—really recharge—while Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown and however many more Jones and Johnson buddies of his can help out doing their jobs.”
“Why have you assigned yourself to be my babysitter?”
“Honestly, I don’t trust anyone else. You’re mighty damn good at maneuvering people.” He guided her past a long open-air building with a metal dome roof. “I care about you, and I understand you.”
That’s what made this all hurt so much, knowing he still cared. “Thank you for being here, for being so damn good at what you do.”
For caring.
He stopped outside a two-story concrete building, steps leading up to the second floor. She stared up into his eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable jolt of awareness, the delicious shimmer that ignited her nerve endings with the promise of pleasure. An intense pleasure unique to being with Jose.
“Jose?” Was that whispery voice really hers?
“I know.” He cupped her shoulder. “Not easy to just pretend everything’s okay between us.”
Her skin flamed to life, pushing aside the fog of exhaustion. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this, for hauling out all our past baggage again.”>“I can take care of myself.”
But she shouldn’t have to, not all the time. The real question detonated inside him, the one that had been eating him up inside since he’d first stepped into this airplane hangar and saw surveillance images of her on those screens.
He gripped her by the shoulders. “What were you doing inside that compound where you could have f**king been murdered?”
Her brows shot upward, her chest rising and falling faster and faster. She looked away fast, her eyes darting. Avoiding? He didn’t have to be a body language expert to know she was working on what to say, crafting her words.
Finally, she looked at him full-on and blurted, “I came here to find answers about how my mother died.”
There was no denying the hoarse honesty in her whisper. He processed the words with the notion that he’d thought he knew everything about her. God knows he’d shared his secrets with her. He’d assumed she had done the same.
“I thought your mom was an aid worker killed in a car accident.” He recalled everything Stella had told him, how Melanie Carson had spent half of every year in Africa dispensing aid in villages. “In this region, right?”
She nodded. “That’s what we were told, but I think the car accident story was just to cover her injuries so we wouldn’t question why her body was beaten up.”
“God, Stella, I’m not sure what to say.” He touched her cheek, all the comfort he expected she would accept. She had to have some kind of proof. She was too logical to say that about her mother on a hunch, which meant she’d been planning this all along, even when she was with him. “We were together for five months. Why didn’t you mention this to me before?”
And yeah, that stung a little. He’d poured his guts out to her, shared his demons.
She scrubbed her hand over her face, shaking her head slowly. “It’s not exactly romantic pillow talk.”
He knew a cop-out answer when he heard one. “We did more than sleep together.”
“Honestly, Jose.” Her mouth went tight. “You didn’t need to know about my mother, so I didn’t tell you.”
“And you accused me of holding back?”
Her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry I hurt you and I mean that. Being together like this must really suck for you.”
Straight for the jugular. He half smiled. “I’d forgotten how blunt you can be.”
“I’m a factual person—and we only broke up a month ago.” She touched his chest lightly.
“Feels longer than that.” He cupped her face, thumbing the corner of her mouth.
She chewed her bottom lip, her teeth so close to his thumb. “How long are you here?”
“Until the morning. Then I’m out of here. Move on to the next phase.”