“Thank you,” she murmurs, taking two white pills from my palm. She swallows them, winces, and downs more water before leaning her head against the padded headboard. “My head is telling me that I’ll never drink alcohol again.”
“At least not that much,” I suggest.
She rolls her head, grimaces, and asks, “Are you not hungover?”
“A little,” I admit. “But I think my tolerance is better than yours.”
Jaime manages a nod that I can tell hurts, then scoots closer to rest her head on my shoulder. “So, we’re really and truly married?”
“We are.” I reach down and pick up her left hand, admiring the simple band we purchased right at the chapel. I have a matching but slightly wider ring.
“Any regrets?” she whispers, looking at our hands together.
Shifting, I look her directly in the eye. “No. You?”
“No,” she replies with a sweet smile, which then slides off as her eyes widen. “But oh my gosh… my parents are going to kill me.”
“We could keep it a secret,” I suggest. “Do a proper engagement, let them have the wedding. Only you and I would know it was done earlier.”
She shakes her head, which causes another grimace of pain. “No. I couldn’t lie to them, plus… I’m not ashamed of it. I just know my mom had dreamy plans about me getting married, but she’ll get past it. Or she might demand we do a wedding.” Concern flits across her face. “Would you mind that?”
“Seeing you in a pretty white dress and eating good cake?” I give her a roguish grin. “Wouldn’t mind a bit.”
Jaime’s eyes sparkle with happiness, her fingers lacing with mine. “What about your parents? Will they be mad?”
“My mom is a southern traditionalist. She’s going to be shocked at the least, but she’s also going to love you once she meets you, so all will be forgiven. We’re going to need to plan a trip there soon to break the news.”
“I’d love that,” she murmurs. “I’ll be so nervous, but I would love it.”
She settles back against me, stays still for a moment before popping back up. “We have some things to figure out. Like I assume we’re going to live at my apartment, right?”
“Definitely.” I can’t let her live at Jameson as that would be a dead giveaway for my lies.
“And I’ll have to get new identification with your last name. Oh, and we need to compare health insurance policies and see who has the best benefits. And I’ll need to get you a key, make room in my closet for your stuff, and—”
Leaning across her, I shut her up with a kiss. She sighs and then giggles as I pull away.
“Relax,” I assure her. “It’s going to be fun figuring it all out.”
Her smile is as bright as the lights of Vegas in the middle of the night.
I hate that I’m going to take that away. “But I have some bad news.”
Her beautiful brows angle inward. “What’s that?”
I take in a breath, hating myself for another lie, and say, “My boss sent me an email. He wants me to go to a classic car auction tomorrow down in Georgia.”
At least there’s some tiny truth. I will be heading to Georgia before Colombia.
“Oh,” she says with surprise. “I didn’t know car salesmen traveled so much.”
I laugh, hoping it doesn’t sound forced or nervous. “It depends, I guess. But since we sell used cars, you have to go to auctions to purchase new stock. Especially for the classics.”
Fuck, I’m getting so good at lying. I’m just making shit up on the fly, and it sounds plausible.
“So,” I continue, bringing her hand up to my mouth to kiss the wedding band there. “I’d like to try to catch an earlier flight back to Pittsburgh if you don’t mind.”
She smiles, then nods her agreement. “Of course. How long will you be gone?”
Fuck if I know. If all goes well, I could be back by the end of the week. If the ELN proves to be hard asses, it could be a lot longer. But I can’t tell her that.
Instead, I roll the dice and promise, “I should be back by Friday. Then we’ll be able to really start our lives together.”
I’m rewarded with her arms around my neck and her mouth on mine, telling me that she’s looking forward to it.
CHAPTER 16
Cage
I woke up early, kissed my sleeping wife, who didn’t stir, and left her apartment.
Our apartment, I guess.
We had made it back from Vegas to Pittsburgh, then spent the rest of the evening just chilling at her place. We ordered pizza and watched movies. While I’ve probably done that a million times by myself, it was magical doing it with Jaime. I love how she snuggled into me on the couch, and even more when she fell asleep on me and I carried her into bed.
She was exhausted, given our lengthy travel over a weekend, a night of hard partying, the adrenaline rush of a spontaneous wedding, and a hangover while traveling back to Pittsburgh. What I wouldn’t have given last night—and even this morning—to make love to her, but she needed the rest, and I’d have the rest of my life to do that.
It’s been more than twenty-four hours now since we tied the knot. Still, I don’t have a single fucking regret about it. I thought that might come at some point, but, so far, I’m glad we did it. Someone could argue with me until they were blue in the face, but I’ll never believe for a single moment that we weren’t already destined to arrive in the state of holy matrimony at some point.
I’ve been at Jameson since seven-thirty. Jaime thinks I left early to head to the airport for the “car auction” in Georgia. Now that lie I do regret, same as the others, but there’s somewhat of a balm over it in that I had intended to tell her the truth this weekend. It’s just with me going away for several days on a mission, well, I could not drop that bomb on her and leave.
It will, however, be the first thing I do when I return at the end of the week. Or, at least, that’s hopefully when I’ll return. If the mission goes longer, I don’t know what I’ll do.
After a long workout, a quick shower, and a quicker breakfast, which was downing a protein shake, I head down to the second floor. We’ll have a logistical meeting in a few hours with the team that will be joining me in Colombia. It will be Malik, Jackson, and one of the other agents who is fairly new here, Ladd McDermott. We’ll also have the backing of the Colombian army as well.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spy Anna coming out of her office.
“Anna, Anna, Anna,” I call out to get her attention, weaving my way through desks over to her.
“Hey,” she exclaims, a bright smile on her face that says she’s happy to see me.
I look around the second floor, noting most agents are at their desks with heads bowed over laptops, then grab Anna by the elbow to lead her back into her office.
“Hey,” she grumbles, trying to pull away.
I hold her firmly. “Sorry. But I really need to talk. It’s an emergency.”
Once in her office, I release her arm and pull the door shut behind us. Because I’m vibrating a bit with nervous energy, I start pacing back and forth. Her office is so small that I only get two steps before I have to turn around again.
“What’s wrong?” Anna demands.
I jerk from her words, my head snapping her way. She’s not going to like what I’m about to tell her. My gaze moves to the door. Maybe I should just leave.
“Cage,” she snaps, and I can tell she’s lost her patience. “Tell me what it is, and I’ll help you fix it.”
The expression on her face is pinched and worried. I bet she thinks I robbed a bank or something. Better disabuse her of that. “I got married.”
“You what?” she exclaims.
“I got married,” I repeat, a little softer as I drop into a chair.
“Got married,” she says slowly as if she doesn’t quite believe she’s heard me straight. “To whom?”
I roll my eyes. “To Jaime.”
Anna crosses her arms, one eyebrow cock
ed. “You told her the truth about what you do, right?”
Christ, every time I’m reminded of my lies, it’s like a knife twisting in my chest. I shake my head in response.
“What in the hell were you thinking?” she screeches.
I jump in my seat, hoping never to hear that sound from her again.
She lowers her voice to almost a hushed whisper, bending to get in my face. “You cannot marry a woman unless you are in love with her, and she knows the absolute truth about what you do for a living.”
My grin is lopsided, half well-intentioned, half wry. “Well… I got half right.”
Anna straightens in surprise, blinking at me with wide eyes. “You love her?”
Sighing, I rub my forehead. “Regrettably, I do.”
“Why regrettably?”
“Because she’s going to absolutely hate me when she realizes I’ve been lying to her this long, and then let her tie herself to me legally while I’m leading a double life.”
Anna’s hand shoots out, latches onto my arm, and she pulls me bodily from the chair, which is no easy feat as I’m a big guy. “Which is why you need to get your ass out of here right this moment, go to her, and tell her the fucking truth.”
I almost choke over Anna saying the word “fuck,” because it’s so un-Anna-like. Pulling back against her hold, I settle down into the chair once more. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” she demands.
“Because I’m leaving for Ft. Bragg tomorrow on a training mission. There is absolutely no way I can tell her something like this and then leave. If I do that, she’ll be in the wind. She’ll leave my ass so fast.”
Anna makes an exasperated sound. “You can’t continue to lie.”
“Well, no shit, Sherlock,” I say, my voice getting way too loud as I sit up straight in the chair. I spread my arms, a sign I’m repentant but stuck with bad timing right now. “But I need some time and a well-thought-out speech to lay this on her. I’m thinking maybe I can kidnap her, take her somewhere she can’t leave, and force her to love me for who I am.”
For a moment, it looks like Anna considers this to be wise, then her expression cracks and she busts out laughing. It pisses me off, which she can clearly see, and it just makes her laugh all the more.
“You’re not being a good friend,” I mutter.
She snorts, but then manages to get herself under control. Anna smiles. For the first time, she gives me a little empathy. “You’re in a pickle, and I’ll help you figure it out.”
Something loosens in my chest, and just her promise to help has me feeling better. “Thanks.”
“Where does she think you’re going tomorrow?”
“A car auction in Georgia,” I reply.
“And you get back when?”
“Friday.”
Give or take a few days. Fuck, I hope I’m back by Friday.
Anna starts throwing things at me—I need to take her out to a romantic dinner, bring her flowers, and the such. Setting the mood, I guess. “Then you just sit her down, tell her you’ve been hiding something from her, and you need to come clean,” Anna advises.
“Am I telling her the truth, truth?”
Anna looks at me like I’m a dumbass. “I don’t even know what that means, but yes, you are telling her the absolute truth. Don’t hold a single thing back, including your idiotic reasoning for doing it. But then you also tell her the truth of how you feel about her, and that you want to be married to her because you love her.”
“She’ll hate me,” I maintain. I just know this won’t go well.
“Then if she does, she’s not meant for you. I’d hope she’d still love you despite you being a dumbass. If she’s as great as you’re always saying she is, then she’s going to be pissed, but she’s going to forgive you.”
Jaime is so fucking great. That’s a good point. “You think so?”
“Hey… bonus is that you actually have a really cool and sexy job. My theory is if she loves you as a car salesman, she’ll love that you’re a high-speed security agent.”
For the first time since walking into Anna’s office, I give a genuine laugh. Because as dire as this situation is, there’s just as good a chance she might be charmed by it.
♦
My talk with Anna veered off the path of my problems with Jaime right into her own issues. Maybe because I’ve let her in on my secret with my new wife, she felt compelled to admit that she and Malik are seeing each other.
Yeah… I was shocked at first because while I knew they were becoming friends, I sort of thought there was an unwritten rule Anna would be off-limits to any man here at Jameson. Her husband was one of us, and he died in the line of duty.
Anna disabused me of that notion. As I left her office a bit later, I was actually walking with some pep in my step, happy she was happy.
Happy Malik was apparently happy.
They are two people who have dealt with death and torment over these last six months, and they deserve to have happiness.
I head over to Kynan’s office, just two doors down from Anna’s. Except his is spacious, as it should be for the owner of this company.
When I walk in, he asks, “Did you get the file on the Colombia mission?”
I had indeed. He’d emailed it before I even left Vegas, and I read it on the plane while Jaime slept. “I did, and I know it front and back. I’ll be ready for our meeting today.”
“Good,” he replies, bending his head back over his work. When I don’t leave, but don’t say anything either, it lifts slowly again. “Yes?”
“Got a moment to talk?” I ask, sitting in a chair opposite his desk before he says it’s okay. But Kynan’s always had an open-door policy, so I know the answer would be yes.
He leans back in his chair, work before him forgotten.
“I got married this weekend,” I tell him, deciding to get the most shocking thing out of the way.
It’s a very rare occasion that Kynan McGrath can be shocked, but right now, he looks like I could knock him over with a feather. He quickly recovers, though, smoothing out his expression. “Sounds like an interesting story.”
“It is,” I promise, my fingers twisting against the skin where my wedding ring had been. I decided to take it off since I was going on a mission.
I tell Kynan all about how Jaime and I met, how I hadn’t intended for it to go anywhere, so I lied about my occupation, then the series of follies and missed opportunities I could have taken to correct the situation.
“And you thought it was a good idea to get married without her knowing the truth?” Kynan asks, and I can hear the unspoken words he left off in my head. You dumbass.
“There was alcohol involved,” I admit, but then I pull down deep to show him a vulnerability. “But there was love there, too. It was a whim, but it wasn’t a bad decision.”
“Except you’ve been lying,” he points out.
“Yeah, except for that. I was going to do it this weekend in Vegas—Sunday morning as a matter of fact, but then you called with the mission. I knew I couldn’t lay this horribly shocking lie on her and then just leave. The timing couldn’t be worse.”
“So you want out of this Colombia mission,” Kynan concludes.
I’m horror-struck, and I’m sure my expression shows it. “No. God no! That’s not why I’m telling you this. This is my job, and it’s a priority.”
“You have a wife now,” Kynan says quietly.
That hits me hard. Now I’m lying and ranking her in order of importance. Christ.
“She is my wife,” I acknowledge, thinking about what a lucky son of a bitch I am. “But I’m your most experienced operative to lead this mission, particularly with Malik coming along. While he’s been released for duty, he could react badly. It’s important I go on this mission. Besides, I’ve lied to her this long… a few more days won’t change anything.”
Kynan nods, both an understanding of what I’m saying and respect for it as well. “So why are you even tellin
g me all this?”
Right. The point of why I’m even in here.
“If all goes well, we should be back at the end of the week. I told Jaime I’d be back on Friday. I did that knowing full well this could go a lot longer if things turn south.”
Kynan does nothing more than nod again.
“If we’re not back by Friday, I need you to go see Jaime and explain where I am. I won’t be able to explain the complexity of what’s going on in a text, but if you can tell her the basics and beg her on my behalf to please don’t do anything like file for an annulment, I’d be grateful. I hate to ask anyone to do this because it’s my mess to fix, but I can’t have her worrying if I don’t come back when I said I would. I don’t want to do that.”
There’s a bit of sympathy in Kynan’s expression, and he nods. “I’ll do that for you. But I’m the first backup if anyone drops, so if that happens and I have to go to Colombia with you, you better have a backup.”
“Think Joslyn would be willing?” I ask.
While Kynan is the backbone of this company, Joslyn has become its soul. A mother to all of us, despite her not being that much older than us.
“You’ll have to ask her yourself,” Kynan replies smoothly. “She’s her own woman, but I suspect she’d be happy to help you.”
“Thanks,” I reply, standing. I make a mental note to find Joslyn before the end of the day and lay out the story of what a dumbass I’ve been, just as I did to her husband just now.
CHAPTER 17
Jaime
I had no idea how much clutter I’ve accumulated over the last three years I’ve lived in this apartment. I found clothes crammed into my closet I had bought and never even worn. Granted, it was always something I found on super sale, but still… I have a lot of crap.
Each night this week, I’ve tackled something to make room for Cage to move in when he gets back. Only two more nights, and he’ll be here.
We’ll be living together as man and wife.
Just thinking that still sends a thrill up my spine. I’m currently pulling any item of clothing I have not worn in the last six months out of my dresser and tossing it on my bed. I’ll evaluate how much I want to keep the item and go from there. My goal is to have at least fifty percent of the space available to Cage when he moves in. I’d already done the same to my closet just last night.
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