Gunner, Mr. I Eat Nails for Breakfast, was with delicate Sydney? Before, he’d told Cassidy that he was married to an agent named Sydney. She just hadn’t expected to see the two of them like this. To almost feel the connection running between them.
Yes, that was envy that Cassidy felt knifing through her. Envy because Gunner had emotion blazing in his eyes as he looked at Sydney.
Love.
“I’d like to do some blood work on you,” Dr. Jamison was saying, pulling Cassidy’s attention back to her. “Just some routine—”
“No.” Mercer had a rule about that. One that he obviously needed to pass on to the good doctor here. No blood work was ever performed on Cassidy in this facility. Any checks she needed were privately performed in satellite offices that Mercer set up for her.
Tina’s eyes widened. “But, I, um—”
“Mercer just wants to make sure the locator is fully functional,” Gunner said as he stepped away from Sydney. “Nothing more, Tina. You don’t have to run any extra tests.”
Cassidy forced a tight smile. “Right. Nothing more.”
Tina hesitated, but then she gave a little nod and hurried from the room.
Sydney skirted around Gunner and closed in on Cassidy. Sydney’s gaze was assessing as it took her in. “You’re not what I expected.”
Sydney wasn’t what she’d expected, either. If the lady was with Gunner, shouldn’t she be a little package of death and danger?
But the woman didn’t look dangerous. She was...pretty. Very pretty.
And her hand was lightly rubbing her belly, as if caressing the child inside.
Cassidy pulled in a slow breath. “A party girl, right? That’s what you expected?” Another slow breath. Then she let a big smile take over her face. “I’m just a little tired. Give me a bit...” She forced a light laugh. “And I’ll be back on my game.”
Sydney’s head cocked to the side as she studied her. “You’re very good at that.”
Cassidy kept her smile in place.
“It’s almost like another woman just slipped inside of you.” Sydney’s voice was musing. “I thought you were an asset, but you’d sure make for an interesting agent.”
Cassidy didn’t so much as flicker an eyelid.
Sydney leaned closer to her. “Why is your file sealed?” A whisper that didn’t carry.
Gunner had taken up a position guarding the door.
“What do I need to know about you,” Sydney demanded as steel slipped into her soft voice, “in order to make sure that Gunner isn’t put at any additional risk while he’s on your detail?”
Gunner...who would be a father soon.
Gunner...who looked at Sydney with love.
“Is this about the Executioner?” Sydney wanted to know. “Or is there something more going on here?”
Sydney just wanted to protect her family. What was so wrong with that?
Cale knew Cassidy’s secret.
He won’t tell them.
Mercer sure wouldn’t.
“Gunner is going on the exchange with you tonight. If I need to make sure you have more backup, if I need to change any of the plans, then tell me.”
Sydney sounded afraid.
I don’t want Gunner going with me.
Because it could still be about more than just the nightmare in Rio.
“Why is your file sealed?” Sydney pressed. “Tell me. Or don’t.” Anger. “I can find out on my own—it will just take a little longer.”
But Mercer would have safeguards in place to block access to Cassidy’s file. If Sydney did manage to hack her way through the system, Mercer would find out.
Then what would happen to Sydney?
“I’m no one important,” Cassidy said. No hitch, no hitch. She was working hard to control that tell. “Just a girl in the wrong place.”
Sydney’s gaze searched hers. “At the wrong time?”
She nodded.
“Bull.” Sydney’s blunt response.
Cassidy let her smile fade. “You don’t want to dig into my past.”
“We’ve all got darkness dodging us.” Sydney edged a bit closer. “I just want to make sure your darkness won’t hurt Gunner.”
Mr. Tall, Dark and Scary. Who was obviously smitten with the blonde. “Gunner seems to be a man who can protect himself.”
“He can.” There was absolute certainty in her voice. Then Sydney pressed, “What’s your secret? Will it hurt Gunner?”
Yes. “I’m not an agent, and I’m not an asset.”
Sydney nodded. “You’re a personal link.”
“Yes.”
She’d made the reveal because she wouldn’t let her past hurt these people. Going in blind? No, that wasn’t what she wanted.
Wasn’t it past time that she stopped following Mercer’s orders?
“Personal...to Mercer,” Sydney said, seeming to understand.
It was Cassidy’s turn to nod. Before she could say anything else, the door opened. Cale was there, looking strong and determined and so sexy that he made her ache.
For a few hours, she’d dared to dream of having something more with him.
Then reality had come crashing down on her. The cold press of reality hurt.
“Is Cassidy’s tracking signal set?” Cale wanted to know.
Sydney stepped back, moving with surprising speed despite her pregnancy. “Yes. She’s good. We can find her anywhere.”
“Good.” Cale offered his hand to Cassidy. “Come with me.”
Anywhere. No, that wasn’t what she was supposed to say. She was supposed to keep playing it cool, uninvolved. So what if Cale was the first man who’d actually seemed to want her in years?
Not the false image that she presented to the world. But the real person she kept hidden inside.
Her fingers curled around his.
“We leave in forty-five minutes,” Gunner reminded them.
Cale nodded, and then he guided her from the room. He hurried her outside through the narrow hallway. She wondered if they were going back upstairs to meet with Mercer, but—
But then Cale opened a door on the right. He led her inside the small office and locked the door behind them.
He seemed to fill that space. His scent wrapped around her, and she remembered—too vividly—what it was like to be locked in his arms. To be holding him tight in the darkness.
“Mercer doesn’t want me near you.”
Ah, yes, those blunt words were what she’d anticipated.