A text from Maddox, and—Izzy caught her breath—the viewable first line read: Are you going to handle her—
Izzy couldn’t read the rest of the text without tapping on it and she felt that if she did she was crossing the trust line. The phone chirped again. Another text from Maddox.
She’s the only way—
Izzy knew who she was. Maddox was right; Izzy was the only way to get deep enough, even after what happened last night, to get the goods on Boris.
Swallowing hard, Izzy tapped the icon and read the thread that began the previous morning. Right after Maddox texted Flynn notifying him she was safe at the hotel.
He’d watched her go, knowing all along Maddox would check in with him?
As she continued to read, her heart stuttered to a stop and her jaw dropped.
Oh, dear God! Alex was alive? She was alive! Izzy’s heart swelled with such happiness she couldn’t take a breath.
“Thank you, Lord,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
As the news settled within her, Izzy’s smile slowly receded.
And Flynn knew?
How could he keep this amazing news from her?
Why?
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Flynn’s deep voice asked from the doorway.
Izzy jumped, his voice startling her. For an instant she couldn’t speak, because if she did the words that would come out would forge a wedge so deep between them there would be no coming back. She couldn’t not say them. Not if her self-respect meant anything to her.
Angry tears stung her eyes. “I trusted you,” she whispered.
“I haven’t betrayed that trust, Isa,” he said, stepping closer to her.
“You did!”
“How?”
“You knew they found my sister, and you didn’t tell me! Why? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Wordlessly, Flynn reached for her. Izzy shook her head vehemently, backing away.
“She’s my sister! I know how you feel. You don’t approve. But that gives you no right to cut me out of her life or her out of mine! You’re not in charge of my life, Flynn! How could you?” She was hysterical, losing it. He’d lied to her. The man of her dreams had lied to her!
“Isa,” he warned. “Settle down.”
“No, I won’t settle down!” she shrieked. “I can’t stay here with you. I won’t stay here with you.” She turned to run.
“Do not run, Isa.” Flynn commanded.
He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. “You promised me you wouldn’t run when shit got hard.”
“And you promised never to lie to me!” She pounded his chest with her free hand. “You ruined everything!” she screamed. She scratched his bare chest. “I hate you for ruining everything! I wish I’d never met you!”
Wrapping his arms around her, Flynn let her vent as heartache poured out of her. She could never forgive him. He’d lied. “You lied to me,” she sobbed.
“Isa,” he said, quietly. “I didn’t lie to you.”
“You know where Alex is, and you didn’t tell me!”
“We don’t know where she is, only that she’s presumed alive.” His arms tightened around her. “Listen to me, damn it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want that imagination of yours to go crazy with scenarios. I didn’t tell you because if the intel didn’t pan out, I didn’t want to see you hurt again. I didn’t tell you because I knew if I did, you’d insist on confronting Boris.” Flynn paused for breath, then said, “I didn’t tell you, because damn it, I love you, Isadora Fuentes, and I can’t bear the thought of losing you like you lost your sister.”
Her world stilled.
He loved her?
Alex was only presumed alive?
“Hate me all you want, but I stand by what I didn’t tell you. I’d do it again. A thousand times. Your safety comes before anything, including your sister’s well-being.” He notched her chin up. She could barely see him through the haze of her tears. “Do you understand that?”
“I understand that you feel you have to protect me, Flynn, but you can’t keep me out of the loop. You can’t make my decisions for me.”
“I can when your safety is threatened.”
Exhaling, feeling drained, Izzy nodded that she understood, and moved out of his arms. She needed to process this. If he was touching her, she’d give in to his physical persuasion.
Straightening, she kept her eyes level with his, realizing he was butt naked.
“Why were you going through my phone?” he asked bluntly.
“I wasn’t snooping, I wanted to look at the syrup video, but Maddox texted you, and—” She should have felt validated because of what she discovered, but she didn’t. “I shouldn’t have.”
“As you figured out, my code is your birthday. I have nothing to hide from you, Isa.”
Shaky, she sat down at the table. “I need time to process all of this.”
He shrugged as if as far as he was concerned there was nothing to process. That was the problem! He strode to the sink where she had put the dishes and started to rinse and stack them in the dishwasher.
It concerned Izzy that she was actually considering conceding Flynn his points. What if she was justifying his bad behavior so that she could stay with him? What would happen the next time he kept important information from her? Would she justify it away again and so begin the journey on the no-trust road?
“Stop overthinking it, Isa,” Flynn said. “My reasons were legit. My only motive was your safety and peace of mind.” He put the last dish into the dishwasher, dried his hands, and took a bottle of water from the fridge. “I’m not a liar, I’m not a cheat. I gave you my word I’d help you find Alex. I haven’t backed away from that. I’m doing all I can, but I swore to myself that the minute you were in physical or emotional danger, I was pulling the plug. So I did.”
Pushing the phone across the table toward him, she said, “You can’t control me through your fear. I want you to call Maddox.”
As if he didn’t hear her, still standing at the counter, Flynn opened the bottle of water in his hand and chugged it. Once it was empty, he set it down onto the counter. Then he leaned back and crossed his legs at the ankle. Raw strength emanated from every pore of him.
Her gaze dipped down his contoured chest to the dark hair that gathered at his navel and traveled south, pointing to his beautiful penis. Though he wasn’t erect, he was swollen and he looked good enough to eat. Shaking off his come-to-me-now pheromones, Izzy grabbed the phone from the table and walked toward him. She wasn’t, she decided, overanalyzing this. He was wrong. But she understood his motivation. A man like Flynn didn’t change overnight. In this regard he might never evolve. She wasn’t going to give up now though. Not when she had worked so hard to get here.
Smiling, she said, “So, you love me, huh?”
His eyes darkened. “A little.”
“Just a little?”
He shrugged, not budging. He was going to make her come to him, was he? Well, she’d see about that.
Extending the phone to him, she said, “I think you love me more than a little.”
When he refused to accept the phone, she leaned into him. Instantly, he swelled. “I’m sorry for saying I hated you. I’m also sorry for going through your phone.”
“Go through it, I have nothing to hide from you.”
Izzy exhaled, preparing for the next round of truth or consequences. “Since we’re putting it all out there, were you going to tell me Maddox got the warrant for the drive?”
“No.”
Argh! “Why not?”
“Because it’s irrelevant.”
Pushing off him, she set the phone on the counter. “It’s very relevant!”