A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(27)

His arm around her was possessive as they stepped out the front door into sunshine. It was still spring, so the weather was perfect. Low humidity, sunny, but cool enough that she might need a light sweater at lunch.

“You okay?” he asked quietly as they strode across the packed parking lot.

“Yeah, but now we’ve given my staff gossip for a while.” She leaned into him, feeling more like herself as they walked together. Maybe it was pathetic, but she wanted to take advantage of their time together, since she didn’t think it would last. She wouldn’t have to act as if she enjoyed this. Even if it was a combination of heaven and hell. She’d walked away from him and held back something he’d had a right to know. It had taken years for her to come to terms with everything, but it had been too late to be honest with him about what she’d lost—what they’d lost. She could come clean now, but . . . God, she broke out in a sweat even thinking about it. It wasn’t as if she could just blurt it out right before lunch. Not when they were both supposed to be focused.

“You’ve never brought a man you’re dating to work?”

“Uh, no.” And she wasn’t going to expand on that any time soon. Especially not if anyone was listening. “Is it just the two of us right now?” she asked as they reached a silver Lexus. She’d tried to look for an earpiece and hadn’t seen anything on him but needed to know.

His mouth curved up a fraction as he opened the passenger door. “Just us.”

She slid onto the smooth leather seat and had just strapped herself in when Nathan joined her.

“No earpiece, I swear,” he reiterated as he started the engine. Maybe he knew she needed to be reassured. “This part of the op has to remain as if it’s just the two of us. If Mercado suspects anything is off, it could put you in danger. We figured you’d act more natural without a team listening in.”

“Yeah.” And she was relieved.

“You having second thoughts?” He pulled sunglasses from the middle console and put them on.

She didn’t like not being able to see his eyes. “No. I just . . . I think I feel a little bad, which is stupid. If Mercado is a criminal, then screw him, but if he’s not, I feel bad using him this way. And I’ve been thinking about your plan and I’m not sure it’ll work. If he sees us having lunch, won’t that make him more likely to just cut his losses and walk away from me?”

Nathan snorted, the sound so amused it made her smile. “Not a man like Mercado. He’s selective about who he dates, and according to you, he pursued you pretty hard.” When she nodded, he continued. “He’s going to see you out with me—a man he’s already feeling competitive of—and be pissed. Men are simple creatures, Amelia.”

She shook her head. “Is that right?”

“Yep. He’s going to ask you out again. He’ll want you even more when he sees you out with me. It’s a caveman mentality. And it wouldn’t work with everyone, but my team of analysts thinks it will with Mercado.”

“That’s . . . kind of sad.” She wondered if it would work on Nathan.

He lifted his shoulders. “Told you, we’re simple.”

That was bullshit, but it still made her smile, which she figured was his point. “Okay, why does he feel competitive of you?” Because neither Nathan nor Cade had explained what Miguel Ortiz allegedly did for a living.

Another shrug, this one more forced.

“You’re not going to tell me?”

“I can’t.”

“Oh.” That made sense, she supposed. His cover ID would be classified, or maybe there was another reason. Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to push. At least not about that. She knew when to pick her battles and she had a lot more questions, most of them personal. “So, where are you living now?”

“Uh . . .”

“Seriously? You can’t even tell me that. Fine, can you tell me why you left the Corps?” Because it had been a dream of his to enlist and serve his country. She’d thought he would stay in for decades.

The tightness in his shoulders loosened as he paused at a stop sign. “Simply, the right job came along.”

“Do you do a lot of stuff like this, helping missing women?”

He paused, as if contemplating his answer. “Sort of. It’s usually a little bigger scale than this.”

“I’m sure the women will appreciate your help.” Amelia fought off a shiver as she imagined the reasons the young women were being taken.

“Yeah . . . So, how is it that you’re single?” The question sounded casual enough, but there was a tightness to his body once again.

Since “because I never got over you” was a pathetic answer, she said, “Work keeps me busy. Most men don’t want to compete with my job.” Which was actually true. Since she was eighteen she’d been a complete workaholic. Dating and relationships had barely registered on her radar. She’d been determined to be successful, and her personal life had become a casualty.

He made a sort of grunting sound that could have been in commiseration. As if he understood what she meant. Unlike him, she wasn’t going to ask if he was single . . . Was she? Apparently she had no self-control, because the words just tumbled from her mouth. “Are you with anyone?”