Executive Protection(23)

“I feel silly,” she said.

He went to stand before her. “Don’t. You were attacked the other night. You have every right to be cautious.”

She met his eyes as she registered that he’d seen a lot of terrible things in his line of work. He’d seen what rape did to a woman. Some worse than others. And then there were the countless murders.

“Well, thank you for coming over.”

“Do you have a family member or friend who can stay with you for a while?” he asked.

“I just moved here. My husband took a job in Raleigh last year.” She averted her gaze, but he could see her disappointment at the thought.

“Where are you from?” She didn’t have a Southern accent.

“Utah. Salt Lake City. I grew up in Park City. My father ran a bar there. Popular ski town.”

“I’ve heard of it.” He liked that she came from a mountain town, small and simple.

“That’s how I met my husband. He came to Park City to ski.”

And then moved her to Salt Lake and then Raleigh.

“I met my wife at a grocery store.” He grunted a laugh. “She was buying okra. That should have been my first clue that she wasn’t right for me.”

“Ugh. Okra.” Avery made a face and waved a hand in front of her nose and mouth.

And then another awkward moment passed.

“Would you like something to drink?” she asked.

“Sure. Might as well make it coffee.” He’d have to go in to work after this.

He followed her to the kitchen and waited while she prepared a pot of coffee.

“So, what happened with you and your wife?”


As a familiar pain gripped him, he couldn’t answer right away. She turned with cream and sugar, putting them on the kitchen island as she noticed what must be on his face. Regret. Sadness. Bitterness.

“She found someone else,” she said.

Darcy nodded. “Pretty common, I guess.”

Avery poured two cups of coffee and came to sit next to him, dumping cream and sugar into her mug. “It shouldn’t be.”

He dumped cream and sugar into his coffee, too. “I don’t want to get married again.”

It took her a bit to organize what must seem to her a blunt thing to say. She was probably wondering why he’d said it.

“Is this your first divorce?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Mine, too. But I’m not going to let it ruin the rest of my life.” She sipped her coffee and looked straight ahead. “Marriage is the least of my concerns right now. It hasn’t been long enough. I still need time.” Then she turned back to him. “Why don’t you want to get married again? I mean, how do you know you don’t want to?”

This time he faced straight ahead. “When I married my wife, I felt sure she was the one I’d spend the rest of my life with. I loved her and I believed she loved me.”

“I felt the same about my husband. That’s what makes it so hard. It’s the betrayal that hurts. You were sure, but they weren’t and never told you. They weren’t truthful with you. That’s what keeps going through my mind. Why did he marry me if he wasn’t sure?”

“Some people convince themselves that they’re sure,” he said.

“Right. Maybe your wife didn’t foresee herself being drawn to someone else. Maybe she had good intentions starting out and couldn’t admit to herself that she’d made a mistake until it was too late. I bet she never really meant to hurt you. My husband didn’t mean to hurt me. Yeah, they should have confronted the issue sooner and been open with us, but they weren’t. They made a mistake. It’s a mistake, that’s all. Getting married to us was a mistake for them.” She had a soft way of soothing his angst.

“I’m against marriage now, too,” she continued. “But someday I hope my heart heals enough to let someone else close. I’ll be a lot more careful, but someday I’d like to have what I thought I had with my husband.”

“You’re a brave woman.”

“Give it time. I bet you’ll change your mind. Especially if you meet someone who feels the same as you.”

Her words rang true between them. So far they seemed to feel exactly the same. Except about marriage. He was dead set on never exposing himself to that again.

Still, as he met Avery’s eyes, something disagreed inside of him. Resisted what his mind demanded. And that was dangerous ground for him.

He stood up. “I better get going.”

When her face sobered and she glanced around the apartment, he saw that she was still afraid.

“Maybe you should consider moving back to Utah,” he said. “You’d be close to family there.” And far away from him.

“I like it here. I like my job. I like my new apartment. I can fly to see my family.” She faced him, rubbing her arm the way she had when he’d first arrived. “I won’t let what happened chase me away.”

He understood that. Unable to move toward the door, he waited.

“This is going to sound forward,” she said, and he half expected her to say what came next, “but will you stay until morning?”

It was already morning. “Sleep on your couch?”

“No. With me. In bed.”