Fatal Pursuit (The Aegis Series) (31 page)

She stepped close, laid a hand over his warm, solid chest, lifted to her toes, and kissed his cheek. Before he could touch her or react, she lowered to her heels and stepped back. “Thank you for saving my life tonight. I may act tough on the outside, but every girl wants a knight in shining armor now and then. Tonight you were mine. I’ll never forget that.”

She turned and headed for her car, parked at the end of the circular drive, needing to get away from him, from her father, from everyone, and just
be
for a while. Behind her, he didn’t call her name, didn’t try to stop her, and she forced herself not to look back.

Inside, though, she knew she was always going to remember this moment. And the way it felt to walk away from the love of her life.

“
Sounds good. Call me if you have any problems.” Jake hung the phone up on his desk and flipped the folder in front of him closed. Raleigh Stone was heading to Honolulu to run a security test on a client’s new property in the islands. For a fleeting moment, Jake had considered taking the assignment himself and getting away from everyone and everything, then changed his mind.

He had too many responsibilities, too many people depending on him. And with his new assistant so green on the job—she’d only been working for him for three damn days—he didn’t feel comfortable leaving the office just yet. Not when she could fuck everything up and make matters worse for him.

Almost as if she’d heard his thoughts, Allison Witlock wandered into his office, wearing crisp black slacks, a white blouse, and a slim jacket, her hair twisted into some kind of knot, and small silver balls twinkling at her ears. She set a stack of neatly organized papers in front of him. “These are the day’s reports on each of the operatives stationed in the field. I’ve created preliminary overviews on the two potential clients you have scheduled next week, and I organized the State Department’s contract on Richard Burton, which you mentioned you were considering bidding on. Oh, and don’t forget you have a meeting with the contractor at two p.m. to discuss the remodel.”

Jake glanced at his watch, then up at her in utter disbelief. It was nine freakin’ a.m. on a Wednesday and she’d done more in one hour than he did all day. Who was this chick? Wonder Woman?

“I’m heading to the break room to get some coffee,” she said. “Can I get you any?”

And
she was getting him coffee. Jake’s irritation with the wonder assistant ticked up. No, he didn’t want any coffee. If he wanted coffee, he could get it himself. He wasn’t an invalid, for crying out loud.

“No, thanks.” He clenched his jaw so he didn’t say something he’d regret, then waved his hand so she’d just leave. “That’s all for now, Marley.”

“Allison.”

His irritation got the best of him, and he dropped his hand. “What?”

“My name is Allison, not Marley.” She turned for the door. “Buzz me if you need anything. I’m going back to reorganizing the personnel files. I can’t believe where some of those records were filed.”

She disappeared into the hall, and as Jake watched her go, all he could think about was the fact she was right. She wasn’t Marley. She was never going to
be
Marley. She was efficient and logical and professional and she didn’t challenge him with cute blue eyes or call him out when he was being a jerk. And even though she was everything he’d ever wished for in an assistant, all he wanted to do was scream at her to stop being so precise.

He let go of the papers, sat back, and rubbed his fingers over his eyes. He had to stop comparing her to Marley. Had to stop thinking about what he’d lost. It was for the best anyway, right? If Marley had wanted him, she would have given him a chance.

He slumped back in his chair, swiveled to the side, and kicked his legs up onto his desk, trying to make himself relax, trying to think about something other than her. But he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering, and his memories kept skipping over that night in the jungle. When the fire had been roaring in the middle of the camp and he’d watched Marley dance and laugh and smile his way as if she were dancing just for him. As if they were the only two people in the world. As if he was all that mattered to her.

She’d been so beautiful that night. Beautiful and alive in a way he’d never seen her before. And she’d been happy. So happy when she’d dragged him in, when she’d kissed him, when she’d stopped worrying about everything else and let herself go.

He’d been happy, too. Happier than he could ever remember being. Yeah, they’d both been a little high, but that jungle juice hadn’t done anything but lower his inhibitions. It hadn’t changed what he felt. That night he hadn’t been worrying about the future, hadn’t been worrying about the past, hadn’t been focused on anything but her. And for a moment, for one precious night, everything had been perfect.

His gaze dropped to his dress shoes on the surface of his desk, then his socks where his slacks had ridden up, and finally the bulge beneath the houndstooth pattern. Leaning forward, he pushed his sock down and stared at the braided leather band around his ankle.

His throat grew thick, his palms damp. Emotions raced through his chest. So many he couldn’t name them all. But the strongest, the one he knew had been there for a long time but which he’d been too afraid to face, was love.

He already did love her. He loved her smile and her laugh, loved the way she put him in his place and never backed down from a fight. Loved that she organized things in bizarre ways and challenged him even when she knew he wasn’t going to give in. He even loved that she was stubborn and bullheaded because it made her passionate. But most of all, he loved the way she cared about him—loved the way she cared
for
him—because no one else really ever had.

He wasn’t his father. Not yet, anyway. But if he sat back and let her go without telling her how he really felt, he would be.

Hand shaking, he dropped his feet to the floor and reached for his phone. His fingers hovered over the keypad as indecision warred inside him. If he called her, she’d just let it go to voicemail. He had to do this right. Had to prove to her that this time things were different.

He dialed her father’s cell, but Mason didn’t answer. Biting his lip, he thought through who at Omega might be willing to help, then remembered Olivia.

He found her number in his phone and hit Dial. Olivia answered on the third ring. “Hey, Jake. I was just about to head into a training class. What’s up?”

“Hey.”
Play it cool
. “Is Marley at the office? I’m trying to find her. My new assistant has a question about . . . stuff.”
Stuff? Shit.
That was so
not
playing it cool.

“I’m sorry. She’s not here. She decided not to work for her father.”

“She
what
?” Panic pulsed in Jake’s chest. “Who is she working for?” He hoped like hell she hadn’t already packed up and moved to DC. There were a number of firms there he knew would jump at the chance to hire her. And thanks to the fact it had taken him so freakin’ long to figure out that he was already crazy in love with her, he knew if she’d already taken one, getting her back was going to be nearly impossible.

“I don’t know. I don’t think anyone yet. I’m pretty sure she’s taking some time to herself.”

Jake released a breath. Okay, time to herself could work. “Thanks. I’ll try her at home.”

“She’s not at home. She’s in Carmel. At your house.”

“I have a house in Carmel?”

Olivia laughed. “Yes, you do. A pretty nice one, too. It’s one of the properties you told Marley to list.”

“What’s she doing there?”

“Finalizing details with the realtor, I think. I’m not a hundred percent sure. I think it was also a good excuse to get away.”

Carmel. She was in Carmel. At
his
house. She hadn’t let go of him, not completely, not yet. Not if she was working on something that wouldn’t benefit her in the least, but him. He still had time to make her believe he loved her.

Plans, details, a future—all of it swirled in his mind, lifting him out of his chair with hope. “Do me a favor, Olivia?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Don’t tell her we had this conversation.”

“Okay. Why not?”

“Because I want to surprise her.”

“Well,” she said with a smile in her voice. “It’s about damn time.”

It was way past time. He tugged the phone from his ear, then drew in a deep breath. And prayed he could get to Marley before she made up her mind for good.

Marley closed the front door of the beach house and dropped her purse on a chair in the entryway. She’s spent three hours wandering the shops on Ocean Avenue in downtown Carmel, hoping a little shopping therapy would bolster her mood, but it hadn’t. Blowing out a long breath, she kicked off her flip-flops and carried her shopping bag down the hall toward the massive kitchen at the back of the house.

It really was an awesome house, and part of her wanted to kick Jake for even considering selling it. He hadn’t even seen the place, but she knew if he did, he’d fall in love with it as much as she had. It was all natural wood and glass and granite and stone, situated on a rocky cliff that overlooked the Pacific. A wide deck ran across the back of the house, and steps led down to the beach. And the view out across the water . . . her pulse slowed just thinking about seeing it again. It calmed her when nothing else these last few days had done anything to make her relax.

She stepped out of the hall and into the combo great room and kitchen with its wall of windows that faced the ocean, then stilled. A man stood on the porch past the windows, hands on the railing, looking out at the view. A man dressed in faded blue jeans, a loose light-blue T-shirt, and—yes, even—blue flip-flops. A man who
never
wore flip-flops.

Almost as if he’d sensed her, Jake turned and looked at her through the glass. And Marley’s pulse shot straight up into the triple digits.

He crossed the deck, pulled the sliding glass door open, and stepped into the house. “Hey. This place is pretty amazing. Why didn’t you tell me it was like this?”

Hey?
Hey?
That’s what he had to say to her? She’d come here to get away from him, not to have him track her down like he’d done in Colombia. This was supposed to be the one place he never wanted to visit.

She set her shopping bag on the kitchen counter and told herself not to let her emotions get the best of her. Those emotions were the reason she was in this mess in the first place. He was obviously here for something that had to do with Aegis, so this time she’d listen, stay calm, and not get worked up.

“What are you doing here, Jake?”

“I was planning to ask you the same question.”

Crap. It was his house. She’d forgotten that for a moment.

“The realtor needed me to sign some papers.” She pulled the milk she’d bought out of the bag and turned to place it in the refrigerator. “I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

“You don’t work for Aegis anymore, though. Your signature won’t be valid.”

Dammit. He was right. Her excuse didn’t hold an ounce of water. “I didn’t think of that.” She closed the fridge and turned to face him, reminding herself to stay calm. “Is that why you came all the way to Carmel? To tell me that?”

“No.” He moved up to the other side of the counter and eyed her over the sleek black granite surface. “I came to tell you that I love you.”

For a moment, the words hung in the air, and she wasn’t sure she’d heard them right. But she was listening this time, not with her heart, but with her head. And sure enough, the words were definitely there.

“I know you love me,” she said quietly.

“You do?” His brow lifted in complete surprise.

“I’ve known for a long time.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

She reached into the bag and pulled out the eggs and cheese, surprised that she wasn’t falling apart. “Because it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

She opened the fridge again and slid the eggs and cheese inside, then closed the heavy wood door that matched the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen and jerked back. Jake was standing right beside her.

“It does matter. It’s the only thing that matters, and I should have realized that sooner but I’m—”

“Really fucked up?”

The words were out before she realized they’d escaped, and she pursed her lips as she stared up at him and berated herself for reacting with her heart instead of her head.

One corner of his lips curled. “Yeah. That. I am. As you well know.” His smile faded. “But I need you to know why.”

Dammit, she didn’t want to hear this. It wasn’t going to matter anyway. She turned back for her groceries. “Jake—”

“Eight years ago, when I was in the navy, there was this woman. She was an officer with the CIA, focused on uncovering the whereabouts of high-ranking al-Qaeda officials. She worked with our SEAL team on several occasions, providing intel on ops and terrorist locations. We hit it off. It wasn’t anything serious, I mean, she was stationed in Kabul and I was all over the damn world, but there was something there. Whenever she was back in the States and I happened to be on leave, we’d hook up. But Gabby was . . .”