Targeted

Chapter 24

Uncle: headquarters of any espionage service.

Sophie held out her arms for the third time as another man wearing a gray, nondescript security uniform patted her down. “Do you really think I’m carrying a weapon?”

The man shrugged as he straightened. “Sorry, ma’am. Simply following procedure.”

Gritting her teeth, she yanked her purse off the security scanner and hooked it over her shoulder. She was beyond her patience limit. She wanted to see Jack and she wanted answers yesterday. “I’m here to see Wesley Burkhart.”

“I know why you’re here, ma’am.” The guard sounded as if he was humoring her—which was just insulting. “Please follow me.”

At this point she wasn’t exactly sure where here was. After Jack had disappeared onto that helicopter, she’d been ready to rip him a new one. Until she’d heard one of the men talking about Jack being arrested. Then anger had dissolved into panic when she realized the gravity of exactly what he’d done for her.

Ever since then she’d been trying to get ahold of Wesley. Like a maniac, she’d threatened the director of the NSA with bodily harm—very descriptively—if he didn’t help her. Wesley had finally called her back and offered to fly her to his office. So now she was somewhere in Pine Mountain, Georgia, wandering around the most boring building she’d ever seen. On the outside, the building was a drab gray. After a security check just to get past the building doors, she’d had to go through another scan in the lobby, and after the incredibly long elevator ride she’d just endured, another pat-down. Where did they think she was hiding these supposed weapons?

She stayed close to the guard as they walked down a hallway that actually had decent Renoir and Monet prints. After they took a left, the guard stopped in front of the first door on the right. He knocked once, then turned back the way he’d come.

“Come in,” Wesley’s familiar voice barked.

She stepped inside and closed the door firmly behind her.

Wesley stood and motioned for her to take a seat.

With shaking hands she pulled out one of the maroon chairs and perched on the edge. “Thank you for agreeing to see me.”

In response, he nodded. “What can I do for you?”

Really? He actually had to ask? She bit back a growl of frustration. “I want to see Jack. Now.”

“That’s impossible right now.”

“Nothing’s impossible. . . . Is it true he’s been arrested?”

Wesley shrugged noncommittally. “Why do you want to see him?”

“It’s important.”

“That’s not an answer.”

She shifted against the seat, unwilling to tell this man what she’d come to see Jack about. She wasn’t going to tell a virtual stranger that she was in love with Jack and needed to apologize for the awful way she’d behaved toward him. “I just really need to talk to him. He saved my life.” Before she could continue, the sound of the door opening interrupted them. Her stomach did crazy flip-flops when she saw Jack standing in the doorway. It had only been two days, but he looked leaner. His sharp face seemed even more angular. That hungry look in his pale eyes was still there, but he was somehow different.

Wesley said something, but she wasn’t paying attention. She was vaguely aware when he walked past Jack and shut the door, but she had eyes only for Jack. Abruptly she stood, knocking her purse to the floor and spilling the contents, but she didn’t care. “Are you okay?”

“I think that should be my line.” He didn’t take any steps toward her.

Okay, she deserved that. She’d accused him of betraying her when he put her first. Even before himself. The frustrating man had been willing to go to jail for her. He’d been protecting her, just like always. His familiar scent was intoxicating, but she forced herself to focus. “I guess you’re not arrested?”

He shook his head. “No. After what I pulled, Wesley had to bring me in, but with the information we recovered from Chadwick, they’ll probably give me a medal.”

Relief punched through her. “So you caught that Abu whatever guy?”

“Not yet, but they’re closing in on him. With Vargas dead and your former assistant in jail, there aren’t any more loose ends.”

She shifted on her feet as they stared at each other. The last two days without him had been calm and uneventful. Well, with the exception of filling out a novel’s worth of paperwork for the NSA, things had been quiet. She’d also been living in a suspended state of pure hell without Jack. She hadn’t even realized anything was missing from her life until he’d barreled into it. “I’m so sorry for not believing you. I didn’t know what you’d put on the line for me.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets but still didn’t make a move in her direction. That’s when she noticed a light sheen of sweat had formed across his forehead. Under the most intense gunfire, the man barely flinched. Now he was sweating?

“Why did you come here?” he rasped out.

“Because I love you.” Saying the words released the pressure around her chest. She’d never said those words to a man before. Not even Sam. She’d loved him but had never found the courage. Saying them now should terrify her, but after everything she’d been through, it was a relief. She’d spent a decade running from anything resembling commitment, and it was time to stop. If any man was worth risking her heart, it was the brave one standing in front of her.

His lips curled up at the corners in an almost smile, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe she’d made a mistake in coming here. Maybe he was nervous because he didn’t know how to let her down easily. He might have told her that he wanted her forever in the heat of an intense moment, but now that everything had settled down, he could have realized she wasn’t what he wanted. Even if that was true, she wouldn’t let herself regret telling him.

She averted her gaze and bent to retrieve her fallen purse. Stupid tears stung her eyes, so she kept her head down as she reached for a tube of lip gloss. She stilled when Jack’s strong, callous hand clasped over hers. She hadn’t even heard him move toward her.

“I love you too, Sophie.” The words were so low she wasn’t sure she’d heard right. “I know we still have stuff to work out. We need to talk about . . . Sam.”

It was a little weird the way Jack talked about himself in the third person, but she thought she understood it. He’d shed that life and started a new one when he became Jack. Sam had been the old him. The truth was, she didn’t care what name he went by as long as he stayed in her life and let her be a part of his. But before they went any further, she needed to get some more stuff off her chest.

“When you . . . when I thought you died—in Afghanistan—there was so much I wanted to say to you. I had so many regrets. You were the one real friend I had and . . . I’m so sorry for the hateful things I said. I know what I said, but I never actually hated you. I loved you back then, but I felt dirty, ashamed of what had happened to me. I thought you’d eventually realize I wasn’t good enough and push me away, so I pushed you first. I was just trying to survive.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Jack said, his voice rough with emotion.

“Yes, I do. You were going to war and I know you had that ring for me and . . . I was horrible. Everything I said to you—” Her voice broke off as a tear escaped.

“Stop. You were seventeen, hurting, and dealing with being raped. I never held what you said against you. I might have hated myself, but never you.”

Her throat was tight with so many years of regret, but now it seemed they were getting a second chance. Or she prayed they were. “So what do we do now?”

A slow, seductive smile spread across Jack’s face. “Whatever we want. I quit my job.”

Her eyes widened at his admission. “You love what you do.”

“No. I love you. This is all I’ve ever known, Sophie. I want . . . Hell, I don’t know what I want. I never thought much about it until you were back in my life. The only thing I do know is that I want to come home to you every night and wake up to your face every morning. Everything else, we’ll figure out together.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he held a finger to her lips.

“I’ll give it a year. If I’m miserable, I’ll find a job in some sort of law enforcement, but I’m not going back to this kind of lifestyle.”

“This is a big decision to make so suddenly.” Despite her protest, joy pulsed through her at the thought of starting a life with him.

“This is the easiest decision I’ve ever made.”

The sincerity in his voice slammed through her. Smiling to herself that they’d been lucky enough to get a second chance against all odds, she leaned forward and touched her lips to his.

The kiss was tentative at first, and then his animalistic side took over. Their lips and tongues collided in a hungry frenzy. She wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his hair, until a loud slam pulled them apart. They both turned at the sound.

Wesley shook his head and stepped past them. “I didn’t leave the two of you alone so you could go at it on the floor of my office.”

Sophie fought the heat she felt creeping up her cheeks. Jack, however, was completely unfazed.

In one swoop he gathered the rest of her things, shoved them in her purse, and took her hand before standing. “Don’t worry, we’re getting out of here.”

With her hand clasped in Jack’s, Sophie’s heart swelled to ridiculous proportions. They were both jobless and she had no clue what the future held, but this was the happiest she’d been in her entire life.