On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(27)

“Would it change anything if I asked you not to go?” Eve asked in a perfectly calm voice, as though the outcome didn’t mean a thing to her.

He pulled up to a stoplight. “Why would you do that?”

“Because we can’t move on if you keep bringing Evans in between us.”

“What?”

She smoothed down her skirt even though it didn’t have a wrinkle on it. “He’s always there.”

“Because you can’t forget,” Alex replied, his voice low and sympathetic. “I understand that, angel. You’ll be able to sleep at night if I can take him out.”

She laughed, a deeply bitter sound. “I’m not the one obsessed with Michael Evans.”

He felt his jaw clench, his fists tightening on the steering wheel as he eased the truck forward and turned onto the freeway. Downtown was in front of him, the Omni hotel blinking its symphony of lights as day began to turn to evening. They were surrounded by concrete and facades and lights. He glanced at the sidewalks with their small patches of perfectly kept grass in neat little boxes. The late-afternoon commuters hustled to get to their train stops or parking lots. They were moving, but Alex felt like he was stopped. He and Eve hadn’t really moved in years. They were still having the same old argument. “He’s kept us apart for five years. If that’s not obsession, I don’t know what is.”

“I admit that I was hurt in the beginning,” Eve began. “But he isn’t the one who kept us apart. We both had a hand in it, and until we acknowledge what we’ve both done wrong, we can’t even think about being together again.”

She was dangling the only bait that might be able to lure him away, but he had to be strong. They hadn’t been able to make it with Evans between them. The only way to move forward was to end Evans permanently. “You’re trying to stop me from going after him. That’s the only reason why you’re saying any of this.”

Her fingers tightened on the handles of her purse. “I don’t want you to investigate him. Let it lie, Alex.”

“I can’t. He’ll come after you again.” He saw it every night in his nightmares. Evans would come after her, and she would be alone and vulnerable.

“No. He won’t,” Eve replied, her voice tight. “He has no reason to. He’s moved on to bigger and better things. You’re the one who’s still playing the game. Give the information to Warren.”

“No.” He couldn’t trust anyone else to handle it. Kristen was right. This required a small, very quiet team on the inside. Warren couldn’t put that together in time.

“Then we’re done, Alex. Drop this or we’re done completely.”

His stomach turned over. “We’ve been done for a long time, Eve.”

She went silent. The only sound in the truck was the smooth running of wheels on concrete and the muted sound of traffic beyond the closed up windows. And it struck Alex that this might be the last time they were alone together.

“What did you really want to talk to me about tonight?” Alex asked. The office was straight ahead. He only had another few minutes with her, and he thought seriously about just taking off. Just driving away, away from the office and the case and Evans and both of their lonely apartments.

But he couldn’t drive away from their problems. They were always with them, an anchor dragging them down.

“I wanted to discuss the dissolution of our contract. It’s cruel for me to keep using you like I have been.” She was stiff in her seat, her eyes on the office, her hands folded together.

“That wasn’t what Liam made it sound like.” Liam had sounded hopeful.

“Would it change your mind if I said I wanted to try again?”

She was trying to keep him out of harm’s way. That was all. “No. If you want to try again, you’ll wait for me.”

“And if you want to try again, you’ll let this lie.”

They were at an impasse, but that had been the way they’d lived for years now. Neither one of them had been able to give up or give in. They had wasted years. “Eve, I don’t want to lose you.”

She sighed. “Then don’t.”

The car behind him honked, and he had no choice except to turn into the parking garage. The first car he saw was Eve’s immaculate white Mercedes. He stopped in front of it and prayed for just a little more time.

She was out of the truck the minute it stopped rolling. She looked up at him, her brown eyes weary. “You’re going to go, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He had to.

She nodded. “You’re not doing this for me, you know.”

“Of course I am. I’m doing it for us.” So they could feel safe again.

“Of course you are,” she murmured. “Because you always make the right decisions, don’t you, Alex? You always know best.”

Except the time that he’d ignored her warning and ruined their lives. “Can’t you see I’m trying to make this right?”

She slammed the door, but not before Alex heard Adam yelling.

“Eve!”

She turned and walked toward Adam, a smile on her face. For years she hadn’t smiled at her own husband. Hadn’t let him kiss her or hug her. She had kept him at arm’s length because he’d screwed up, and now she was trying to keep him from correcting the mistake.