Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(81)

Was that fair? What really was the truth? It was all subjective. He cared about her. Did it matter that they started out in a way she didn’t completely understand? He cared about her now. He chose her.

God, he chose her. He loved Jamie. Jamie had been his brother, but he was going to choose Faith.

As it should be, my brother.

Something settled in Tennessee Smith and in that moment, he let his brother finally rest. Justice. Not revenge. He would go after justice.

And Faith. He would get his small part of the job done and then he would take Faith home. He would leave all this shit behind and start over. He would be the man she needed him to be.

For the first time in his life, he understood what it truly meant to belong.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN



Ten watched as Faith stepped onto the balcony. The light from the massive moon made her skin glow. It was late, but he didn’t want to sleep. There was a restless feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Hey, I woke up and you weren’t in bed,” she said.

No, he’d slipped out shortly after she’d fallen asleep and he’d been standing here, trying to ensure the evening’s operation went as planned. Theo had kept Hope up, playing chess over a couple of fingers of Scotch while Erin had claimed she was tired and gone to bed. He and Faith had done the same. Once Faith was asleep, he’d texted Erin with the go-ahead and then watched from the balcony as she made her way out of the house. She’d been nothing more than a shadowy figure, staying close to the buildings and hugging the dark spaces. If he hadn’t known what to look for he never would have seen her.

Not ten minutes before he’d seen her make her way back to the main house.

Safe and sound. She’d texted him good night—code that told him the operation had been successful. She had the data Hutch would need to crack the security system.

Once Hutch was satisfied he could get someone in, Ten could walk away. He trusted Big Tag. Ian would get the job done, and all Ten would need to do was take care of Faith. He could take her someplace private and they would ride out the scandal that would engulf her father.

She didn’t have to know how close he’d come to destroying them all.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He opened his arms and she walked right into them, nestling against his chest. Yes, that was what he needed. That felt right. He kissed the top of her head. “I stared at you for a while, but then I decided that was probably creepy, so I came out here for some air.”

“I think I’ve gotten too used to sleeping next to a furnace,” she mumbled. “I woke up because I was cold. It never gets cold here.”

She’d put on a robe, but he could get her out of it soon enough. He let his hands cup her shoulders, running down her arms and up her back. He didn’t fight the urge to touch her anymore. She was his and she was going to remain his.

He felt his cell vibrate. Likely Theo giving him hell for leaving him to watch Hope. Her creepy fascination with the youngest Taggart meant Erin pretty much had the run of the place. The staff was minimal and most went home at night. Hutch had already hacked into the security feed, so Hope had been their biggest issue.

He ignored the text. The ringer was off. He didn’t want anything to interrupt his time with Faith.

He kissed her, letting his mouth play against hers. He could take his time, make it last. They had nowhere to go tomorrow. They would play on the beach and have some fun. He would keep them here and then Big Tag would call with an excuse to get them back to the States before the senator was due.

He simply had to make sure that when he needed to go home due to an emergency, she packed up and went with him.

When he let her up for air, she looked up at him, concern in her eyes. “I actually can’t sleep for a couple of reasons.”

Did she know about the fire? He’d noticed she’d been distracted earlier in the evening. At dinner, she’d been fairly quiet, only commenting when he prompted her. When he’d taken her to bed, she’d gone willingly into his arms, but she hadn’t slipped into subspace the way she normally did. Something was going on in her head, and he’d let it play out. He hadn’t mentioned it because he was supposed to be backing off. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. Not when she was potentially in danger. It looked like Hope was getting everything she wanted, but Ten couldn’t take the chance that she was lying in wait. He smoothed back Faith’s hair. She was the loveliest thing he’d ever seen and he had to wonder why he’d fought her. If he’d been born a different man, he would have dropped to his knees the minute he met her, but he was stupid and took his time. He’d still come to the same conclusion.

She was the one for him. She was his prize at the end of this hellish nightmare.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?”

“I know I said some things to you that night when we fought over my sister.”

So she did know. He wondered how she was going to play this. It didn’t matter. He would take care of her any way she went, but he wanted so badly for her to ask him. He wanted for her to need him. “It doesn’t matter. We worked that out.”

“It kind of does now.”

“What do you need from me, Faith? All you have to do is ask.”

She looked up at him, seeming to search his face. “Really? You’re not going to make me grovel because you were right and I was wrong?”