by Janie Crouch
She stepped back so he couldn’t touch her. “You’ve told me the least amount of lies, but somehow yours hurt the worst. Stay away from me.”
She turned and walked out the door.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Rachel took a cab home. It wasn’t that she was mad at her cousins or even Seth. But she just couldn’t be around them right now.
She was afraid if one more thing shook her world it might completely break apart.
She had spent the rest of Saturday putting her house back together from where Lydia’s partners had torn it apart looking for the microchip. She’d gotten a call from each of her cousins and Seth. When she hadn’t answered, they’d switched to texts. She had assured each of them that she was fine. That she wasn’t mad. That she just needed space. That she’d see them soon.
Well, she didn’t tell Seth that. She’d thought about Lydia’s venomous words suggesting that Seth had just used her. Rachel had almost let the words get the best of her, but had stopped herself. Seth had proved multiple times over, in his bed when they were alone and it wouldn’t have done his case any good, that he was attracted to her. More than attracted to her.
But she still needed to give that whole situation a lot of space. Because she knew for sure she couldn’t be with a man who had to lie to her all the time. Even if it was for her own protection.
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
Quoting Shakespeare was easier than thinking about what may or may not ever happen with Seth.
Saturday afternoon a cleaning service showed up —services already paid for— to help Rachel get her big items re-situated. They were a huge help and had to have come from Seth. He was the only one who knew there were a number of items in her house she couldn’t lift or move herself.
It was thoughtful and made Rachel more confused than ever.
On Monday when Rachel went back on campus to teach her classes everything was in utter chaos on the computer engineering floor. Multiple offices were blocked off with police tape: Lydia’s, Ryan’s, the lab, the break room.
Rachel knew she’d eventually be brought in to give a statement. She wondered if she’d see Seth then. At least to tell him thank you for sending the cleaning crew if nothing else.
After class as she made her way back up to her office in the elevator —everyone had to face their fears sometime— she saw the custodian cart as she rounded the corner. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing Seth again.
But when the custodian stepped out of the office Rachel realized it wasn’t him. It was someone else. Someone older. Someone trying to figure out why she was staring at him.
She said hello then fled to her office. Of course Seth wasn’t here. Seth wouldn’t be working here ever again now that the microchip was safely back where it belonged.
She had just put her teaching materials down when she got a call from Juliet. Rachel knew she couldn’t keep ignoring her family. Sooner or later they’d just show up if she did.
“Hey Jules, how are you?”
“Hey cuz. I’m actually downstairs in front of your building. Got some time to go in to my office and do some official stuff?”
“Right now?”
“You’re done with your classes, right?”
“Yeah. How’d you know that?”
She could hear the smile in Juliet’s voice. “I work with someone who is pretty familiar with your schedule.”
Seth.
“Oh. Um okay, I’ll be right down.”
Rachel expected her cousin to drive her to a police station but instead Juliet took her to a nondescript building in the middle of the business section of D.C. It looked like dozens of other buildings all around it. Rachel wasn’t sure she could even pick it out again if she had to.
Then she realized that was the point. Nothing about this building even whispered law enforcement.
Juliet took Rachel inside where she and her ID were scanned and studied by a guard. The man obviously knew Juliet, but was still thorough with checking out Rachel, before finally letting both women pass.
Juliet had to do a fingerprint and ID card scan in order to open the elevators. Then they went up.
“Am I here to give my statement?” she asked.
“We’ll need a written and verbal statement from you, but first we needed to go over some other stuff.”
Juliet led her out of the elevator and down the hall to a conference room. All her cousins were there, even Dylan, who hadn’t been a part of this weekend’s shenanigans. Rachel didn’t really know what was going on.
But she smiled at Dylan. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find you here either.”
Dylan wrapped her in a huge hug. “I don’t work here. Not any more. Not since Fiona died.”
Dylan’s pregnant wife had died due to a mugging gone horribly wrong years ago, or so Rachel had thought. Maybe there was more to that story too.
Cameron cleared his throat. “We brought you here because we wanted to formally apologize for having to lie to you for all these years.”
“I know you were doing your job.” Rachel couldn’t stay mad at them. They were her family. The only family she had left.
Sawyer grinned and reached over to give her a one-armed side hug. “We knew you were too sweet to stay mad at us, but we still wanted to apologize.”
“We worked all day yesterday to get this packet approved,” Juliet said, sliding a stack of papers across the conference table. “Once you sign those, we can tell you more about what we do. Where you are.”
“It’s like a non-disclosure agreement or something?”
“Yes. We got approval for you to get clearance about our job. Parts of it anyway. What you sign there is an agreement to tell absolutely no one about it,” Juliet explained.
“And if you do, you go to jail,” Cameron smiled, but Rachel knew his words were serious.
“If you don’t want to sign, don’t want to know, it’s fine,” Sawyer cut in to lighten the mood. “Nobody is going to take you out back to kill you or anything.”
Part of Rachel wanted to put the papers down. To just smile at her family and say no thank you and leave.
To put her head back in books where it had always been. Safe. Boring.
But if she wanted any chance of being a part of Seth’s world, this was a step she’d have to take.
“Okay, I’ll sign.”
The ink wasn’t even dry on the paper before they all said, “Welcome to the covert operations division of Omega Sector.”
She laughed. “You’re going to have to explain to me what that even means.”
“Actually sweetie, we’ve got someone else who will do that.” Juliet reached down and kissed her on the cheek. “We’ll see you in just a little bit.”
Probably some sort of orientation or something. She hugged her cousins in a big group hug.
“I love you guys.”
“We love you too, hun,” Cameron whispered. “And I’m thinking we may not be the only ones.”
Before Juliet could ask what he meant, they filed out the door.
Seth walked in.
He looked good in gray pants and a white collared shirt with the sleeves turned up. He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. She saw the heat in his eyes and knew that she’d been right not to let Lydia’s words upset her.
This man definitely wanted her.
#
Seth took a step closer to Rachel. It had been so difficult to keep away from her for the last thirty-six hours. Everything in him had screamed to go to her. To make sure she was alright. To explain and hold her while she processed it all.
But he couldn’t. Not until she’d been cleared and the paperwork had been signed. Now it had.
“I work for a covert section of a law enforcement agency called Omega Sector. There are many divisions, but the one we’re in right now specializes in undercover operations. That’s why everything we do is top secret.”
He took a step closer to her, relieved w
hen she didn’t take a step back or flinch away.
“I couldn’t tell you, Rachel. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lie to you, but it was part of the job.”
“Seth—“
He didn’t want to hear what she had to say, afraid it was still a rejection. That too many lies had passed between them. That he’d used her.
All of it was true.
“Rachel, please forgive me. We couldn’t take a chance on that microchip falling into the wrong hands. It could’ve caused the loss of thousands of lives. I know I stepped over some lines with you—“
“Seth.”
“—And I’m sorry. But I don’t think I would change anything even if I could go back—”
She kissed him.
He wasn’t expecting it, and the air swooshed from his lungs as she pushed him back against the closed conference room door.
The heat was instant and he had his arms wrapped around her in moments, pulling her closer.
“No more lies between us,” she murmured in her sweet voice. “If I ask you something you can’t answer, you just tell me you’re not at liberty to say and I won’t press you any further.”
“Got it, Dr. Almost.” He pulled her in for another kiss.
“I can promise you this,” he said after a few passionate moments. “I never faked my attraction to you. Not once. Ever. You are everything I want.”
“That’s good because I think you’re going to have a hard time getting rid of me. Janitor or secret agent, you’re all mine.”
That was one mission he’d be glad to fulfill.
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