A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(9)

They were silent as they danced, and though she figured she should probably wonder or care if Iker was watching them, she had eyes only for Nathan. But as she looked into his dark eyes, it was a reminder of all she’d lost. She was the one who’d ended things with him because of her own cowardice and deep-seated issues. She’d been so ashamed back then, so immersed in her own pain at what she’d lost that she’d brutally cut him out of her life. It was one of her biggest regrets.

Pain she thought she’d locked up bubbled to the surface, clawing at her insides. If she thought too hard or long about everything that had gone down between them, she’d slip into a funk and not be able to get out of it for a day or so. She couldn’t do that now.

Still moving in time with the music, she looked at his chest instead of at his face. It made it easier to breathe.

“Are you going to say anything to him?” Nathan finally murmured.

She figured she understood what he meant. Would she tell Iker that his name was Nathan? She didn’t even have to think about it. No matter what, she could never betray him. It didn’t matter how many years had passed. He was the boy—now man—she’d lost her virginity to. The first person she’d ever loved. Hell, the first person who’d ever loved her, because her mother certainly hadn’t. “No, but you will give me answers.”

“Not here,” he said simply. Since he hadn’t said no, she understood he meant to tell her later. Which just piqued her curiosity even more. “You look beautiful,” he continued, his grip possessive.

Slight irritation popped inside her at the way he held her. “Thank you. You look good too.”

His lips quirked up almost playfully. “Just good?”

Seeing him almost smile did something strange to her insides. She should be pushing him for more answers but found herself giving him a half smile. “Would ‘handsome’ make your ego feel better? Or maybe . . . ‘pretty’?” She snickered at the dark look he gave her. When they were together he’d gotten grief from plenty of the boys in her neighborhood for being “a pretty boy.” Until he’d kicked the ass of more than one of them.

“Are you and Mercado serious?” Nathan’s gaze grew even darker, all traces of amusement fading.

She shouldn’t tell him a damn thing. He wasn’t even using his real name. Still, she couldn’t seem to stop the truth from coming out. “It’s our first date.”

Though it was marginal, his grip on her relaxed. “Good.” There was a wealth of meaning in that one word.

“When do you plan on answering my questions?” Because she had plenty.

“Meet up with me after the auction.” He wasn’t even bothering to ask her, just ordering.

It pissed her off. Despite her curiosity, she pursed her lips and met his gaze dead-on. “If I’d ever had a mother who cared about me, I’m sure she would have told me not to meet up with strangers. And you, Miguel, are a stranger.” A stranger who’d seen every inch of her naked.

His jaw tightened in annoyance. “I’ll answer your questions, I swear.”

There was no real way she was just walking away after missing him and wondering about him for twelve damn years. She couldn’t even pretend not to be rabidly curious. “Can you remember my phone number if I tell it to you?”

He nodded, so she quickly rattled off her number. It was slight, but she felt him relax a fraction. As the song ended she stepped away from him, surprised at the feeling of loss as his arms fell from her. She quickly turned, making her way back to her date.

Iker was talking to two men, but he frowned over her head, likely at Nathan, as she made her way to him. She pasted on a smile for Iker when he met her gaze, though, hoping it looked real.

Unfortunately all her thoughts were on the man she’d left on the dance floor and the answers she’d soon be getting from him.





Chapter 3


Spook: jargon for the word “spy” or someone involved in espionage. It is a synonym for “apparition.”





Amelia shut the bathroom stall door behind her and locked it before sitting on the already closed toilet lid. She’d tried to mingle and make small talk with Iker and his associates, but after a while it had become impossible. Feeling too edgy, she’d stopped drinking champagne and had switched to water.

Seeing Nathan had brought up too many memories, most unwanted. Though it was almost harder to stomach the good ones, because they just reminded her of all she’d lost. Of what could have been. She should have just been honest with him back then. Of course her older self had a lot more maturity and years under her belt, so it was easy to say that.

As she tried to steady her breathing, she stared at the shiny tile floor. An image of blood covering another bathroom floor flashed in her mind. She shuddered and blinked, trying to banish the image. It was no use, though. Seeing Nathan—or whatever he was calling himself—had opened up a wound inside her. One she’d kept patched up since she was seventeen.

For a moment that was all she could see. Dark crimson pooling on the floor and coating her legs as she collapsed, curled up in agony. That floor had been dingy, the bathroom a lot smaller. And the pain . . .

She jerked her head up at the sound of heels moving over tile. Someone else was here.

The interruption pulled her back to reality. She would not have a breakdown at this event. Nope, she’d save that until she got home. Nathan had said he’d contact her, but she wasn’t sure she even believed him. Maybe he’d just said he would answer her questions so she wouldn’t tell Iker his real name. Not that he should ever fear that. She felt a loyalty to Nathan, whether he was a criminal or not.