Brushing a hand over her sweaty forehead, she pushed to her feet, her knees aching with the movement. Mitch was sitting on the floor across the room, a box between his legs, flipping through papers with an intense expression.
Part of her wanted to know what he’d found. Another part just wanted a break. From everything.
“I’m gonna go make some tea. Do you want any?”
He grunted a response, one that could have been a yes but could have also been a no, but didn’t look up from what he was currently studying. With no energy to get into it with him at the moment, she headed for the stairs.
Floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she descended into the living room. She could go to Montana. She’d always wanted to see that part of the country. There was lots of open land for a person to get lost there. She crossed to the gas fireplace and kicked it on, hoping to take the chill off the room. She’d banked money, just in case she and Shannon ever had to disappear. But eventually she’d have to think about a job. In a new field, of course. If the Cyphers knew she was now a lawyer, she wasn’t going to be able to practice again. They’d be watching.
The thought of starting over in a new career field sent her mood spiraling down even more. Focus. Plan. Execute. That was all she needed to do. She found a teakettle in the kitchen cupboard, filled it with water, and set it on the stove. While it heated, she moved to the pantry and searched for something to fill her empty stomach.
“You loved him.”
Mitch’s raspy voice slid over her skin, sending a shiver down Simone’s spine. Her hand froze against a box of oolong tea on the shelf, and her pulse picked up speed. Slowly, she lowered her heels to the floor, turned from the small pantry, and glanced at him, then wished she hadn’t.
The intense look she’d seen in his meadow green eyes upstairs was still there, but now it was fixed on her, his hair ruffled as if he’d run his hands through it several times, his jaw tight and filled with the same damn stress she felt. And in his hand he was holding a picture, one she recognized at first glance without even getting a close look. One of her and Steve and Shannon laughing in the sun at Hershey Park on Shannon’s fifth birthday.
It wasn’t a question but a statement, and she didn’t know how to answer. But she was done lying. And she was done running from uncomfortable situations, regardless of how they made her feel. “I did.”
“When we were on the mountain, you made it sound like you went into WITSEC with him because you didn’t have any other choice. That you resented him for that.”
“I did,” she said again.
He held up the picture. “This doesn’t look like someone who’s resentful.”
“I did resent him. For a long time. But eventually”—she glanced at the photo and Shannon’s beaming face, remembering how her daughter had squealed in delight on the roller coaster, how Steve had bought them all an ice cream to share, and how, at the time, Simone had felt it was the best day ever—“I grew to love him. He was a good man. Regardless of what he had or hadn’t done, when he was with us, he was a different person. The guy Ryan talked about, the one who kept secrets and double-crossed a secret society… I didn’t know that guy. I knew the one in that picture. And yeah, I loved him.”
Mitch looked down at the photo in his hand. He was clear across the kitchen, but she felt the heat rolling off him in waves, as if he were right next to her, warming her skin, making her ache for his touch even more. She wanted to add that what she felt for Mitch wasn’t the same, that it was more intense, more exciting, and so much deeper, but she pursed her lips, holding the words back. Because she’d spilled her feelings last night and it hadn’t seemed to help. And right now, this wasn’t about her. It was about Steve. And finding a solution for the mess she’d created.
“I want this,” he said quietly.
“The photo?” Shoving her emotions into a box where she could lock them away tight, Simone moved to the counter. Outside, sand pelted the windows from the storm but darkness had settled in, making it impossible to see more than a few feet onto the beach. She opened the cupboard and pulled out two mugs. “You can have it, I guess. I don’t think there’s anything there, though, that’s going to help us.”
“No. I want this. What he had and gave away.”
Simone’s hand hovered over the kettle. “What?”
For a second, Mitch didn’t move, just stared at her, and in the silence, her pulse shot up even higher. Then he set the photo on the corner of the counter, stepped back, and muttered, “Shit.”
Something wasn’t right. Had he found a file or some kind of evidence upstairs? Her pulse raced, and her hands grew sweaty with anticipation, excitement…and dread. Swiping her palm across her jeans, she moved out from behind the counter, all the while telling herself to play it cool, to stay calm. That his finding something was a good thing, not bad. “Mitch?”
He scrubbed one hand through his already messy hair, rested the other on his hip, and stared down at the floor like he didn’t want to tell her. Which only shot her anxiety up even more.
“Mitch, if you found something, you have to let me know.”
“I found that.” He dropped his arm and motioned toward the photo. “I want that even though I don’t deserve it. I want photos like that of you and me and Shannon. Together. The way we were before but more. But mostly I just want to make you smile instead of frown and be miserable like you’ve been with me this whole last week.”
Of all the things he could have said, that wasn’t what she’d expected. Especially after last night and this morning and the way they’d been avoiding each other all day. Synapses fired in her brain, but they didn’t connect, and though her heart was racing against her ribs, her mind was having a hard time catching up.
“I don’t…” She pursed her lips, trying to find the words, afraid of saying the wrong thing, because that seemed to be her pattern. “Um… You might have to explain that to me, because I don’t think my brain is working just yet.”
“I want you,” he said quietly. “I want us. I know you’re not looking for a husband and that Shannon doesn’t need a new dad, and I thought I could be all tough after last night and keep my feelings to myself, because telling you would just confuse things even more, especially with so much still up in the air, but after I saw this…”
He gestured to the photo again. “After I saw it I realized, that son of a bitch was so damn lucky. He had you. He had Shannon. He had everything I’ve wanted since I met you, and he let you go without a fight. I’m not gonna make the same mistake. I’ll hate myself if I do. Even if it makes things worse, I want you to know the truth because it’s the only thing that really matters.”
He drew in a breath, shifted his weight and focused on her with that intense, heated, single-minded look she knew so well and had come to love. “Simone, there’s something I have to tell you. What your—”
She closed the distance between them, her heart pulsing with warmth and so much damn love. Tears blurred her vision as she threw her arms around his neck. “I want that too. I want you.” Her fingers grazed the stubble on his jaw, and she pulled his mouth down to hers. “I want us.”
Her lips met his, and she kissed him the way she’d wanted to do all day, the way she’d dreamed of doing all week. His arms caught her just as she fell into him, pulling her tight against his body until she didn’t know where she stopped and he began. And then he was kissing her back with an urgency that mirrored her own, pressing all his warm, muscular heat against her, encouraging her, consuming her, infusing her with a strength she’d been missing her whole life.