The next day, Ashley sank into a hot bath and rested her pounding head back on a soft towel she’d rolled up to use as a cushion. She’d found one of Amber’s bath bombs and had thrown it into the tub. She smiled when the sweet scent of spring hit her full force.

Her mind drifted to her sister and her success. Amber was probably having a lot of fun on her honeymoon. Being one of Hollywood’s sweethearts had always been her sister’s dream, as had marrying Tom. Now her sister had both. Ashley was so proud of her.

Then her mind turned to her own dreams. She’d always wanted to paint, and she’d always dreamed of being with Cole. For years, she’d given up on the latter. Being tossed in the friend zone early on in grade school had killed her dream of anything more happening between them.

Back then, she would have never guessed that one day they would be this close. Or that he’d look at her the way he had last night when he’d told her that he loved her.

She couldn’t get over it. It still seemed like she was dreaming it. Being here with Cole, having him tell her he loved her.

She moved wrong and her headache doubled. She was definitely not dreaming. She never could have made up the amount of pain the bump on the back of her head caused her.

The stitches were supposed to stay dry, but she was dying to wash her hair. It was matted next to her scalp and oily. She tried to dip only the front of her hair into the water for a few minutes, but then she gave up. Now her hair hung in front of her face in a heaping mess. She dumped a bunch of conditioner on it so she wouldn’t have to fight the tangles and rinsed it as best as she could. Then she leaned back again and relaxed some more.

She was just about to drift off to sleep in the warm water when there was a light knock on the door.

“Are you doing okay in there?” Cole asked from the other side of the door. She glanced over and realized she’d locked it out of habit.

She couldn’t see what she looked like, but she was sure it was a mess. She didn’t want him to see her like that.

“Yes, fine,” she said softly. She rested her head back once more, which caused the bump to vibrate somehow, and her eyesight wavered. Her stomach rolled.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

“No.” She jerked a little in the water then relaxed when she remembered the door was still locked. “I’ll be out soon.” She closed her eyes when her stomach bubbled.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. She could hear the worry in his voice.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll be out soon. The water is cooling off.” She felt a shiver and stood up. She reached for a thick towel, and her head did a quick spin. The room was blasted with a bright blinding light.

She didn’t remember falling or hitting the floor. What she did remember was hearing Cole’s screams and the sound of wood breaking.

Then she was lifted and surrounded by warmth. Everything was dark.

She woke with a startle. It was the silence that caused her eyes to flutter open. She was sure the room had just been filled with noise, but now there was an eerie emptiness.

She opened one eye and then the other and was a little surprised to see how dark the room was. She could tell that, under the heavy blankets, she was still naked.

She glanced around the room and was surprised to see that she was alone. She would have thought that Cole would watch over her like a hawk. Scooting up, she listened to the rest of the house. It was so quiet, she felt a shiver run up her spine.

There was a dark brown robe lying across the foot of the bed. She reached for it and quickly tied it around herself. She moved to get up and groaned as her head started to spin.

“You scared me half to death,” Cole said from the doorway of the bathroom.

Seeing his dark form standing there when she hadn’t expected it caused a scream to escape her lips. The high-pitched sound pierced like a knife through her brain, but she couldn’t control the fear that had jumped inside her at the memory of seeing the other man in her home. Her body shook as she glared at him in the bathroom doorway.

She grabbed her head and groaned louder than she’d screamed as her vision went fuzzy and her head spun even more. Her breath was coming faster and she couldn’t seem to slow her heart rate down. Even after telling herself that it was just Cole, the memories of seeing the dark figure in her house made her body shake uncontrollably.

“You okay?” she vaguely heard beyond the fog.

“Damn it!” It came out as a whisper. She felt his hands on her shoulders as he nudged her to sit back down. Her eyes were closed tight and even then, bright lights flashed behind her lids.

“I’d forgotten you’ve got some lungs on you.” She heard him chuckle and opened her eyes to glare at him. She gasped when she saw that her eyesight was so fuzzy, she could only make out a dark blob in front of her.

“Cole.” The tone of her voice made his fingers tighten on her shoulders. “I…” She was blinking fast, trying to clear her eyes, as if it was only sleep blocking the view. “I can’t see.”

He was silent. “The doctor said your sight might come and go. Why don’t you lay down? I’ll grab your medicine and some water for you.” He nudged her back onto the bed. She’d heard the worry in his tone, and knew he was trying to calm her down.

She rested against the headboard, straining her eyes to see anything clearly.

“Don’t stress your eyes. Close them, it’ll help. Trust me.”

“How would you know?” she asked, doing as he suggested.

“I’ve had a few concussions myself.” She could hear him moving around the room and relaxed back against the pillows.

“How did you get hurt?” she asked.

She felt the bed shift next to her. “Here,” he said softly. “Open your mouth. I’ll drop the pills in.”

She did so, then reached out and took the bottle of water. He helped her take a drink.

“The first time—”

“You’ve had more than one concussion?” she interrupted.

“Three,” he supplied with a chuckle. “First two were in school, one was football, the other baseball.”

She remembered then all the times Cole had been injured playing the sports that made him one of the most popular boys in school.

“What about the third time?” she asked, feeling her entire body starting to relax again.

“It happened shortly before I ran into you in Paris.”

“And?” she asked when he didn’t continue.

“How about I head down and heat us up some dinner? I’m starving.” He started to get up, but she reached out and, as luck would have it, grabbed hold of his hand.

“Cole, what happened?”

He sighed as he shifted back onto the bed.

“I was in an accident in Moscow.”

“Russia?” She sat up a little.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “It’s not as bad as—”

“A car accident?” she asked, not letting him finish. Images of him being chased by bad guys as they shot at him in an Aston Martin flashed in her mind.

“Stop.” He chuckled and she could tell he’d guessed what she was thinking. “I wasn’t being chased.”

Something in his voice told her that he was lying. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head.

“How can you do that with your eyes closed?”

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.” He chuckled. “Okay, so I was being chased, but no one was shooting at me.” He shifted, and the bed dipped.

She could hear he was telling the truth this time.

“I had an asset that needed to get to the embassy. We got caught up in traffic and somehow ended up in a fender bender.”

“If you suffered a concussion, I’d wager it was more than a fender bender.”

He sighed. “What are you, like, a lie detector?”

She smiled and leaned back again. “So, did you get your… asset to the embassy?”

“Yes. I had to carry her the four blocks.”

“Her?” she asked, feeling a little jealous of the unknown woman.

“Yes.” She could hear the smile in his tone. “Her intel was the reason we went to Paris.”

“Oh?”

He took her hand. “Enough story time. I’m really hungry now. Besides, you were supposed to take those pills with food.” He leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I like this look.”

“What?” she asked, half-heartedly.

“The tangled curls. The just-got-out-of-the-shower look. It’s good on you.” He kissed her once and she heard him leave the room. Then she remembered that she probably looked like a drowned rat and groaned when she realized there was nothing she could do about it until her eyesight returned.

---

Cole pulled a pan of lasagna from the freezer and followed the instructions Mrs. Anderson had taped to the top of the container. His heart still hadn’t settled down after hearing Ashley fall in the bathroom or seeing her in a small heap on the cold tile floor.

After putting the pan in the oven, he leaned against the counter and closed his eyes as the scene flashed again in his mind.

He knew what to expect with a concussion, but seeing her suffer the effects was a lot different than going through it himself.

He should be up there with her now, watching her. But he knew that if she could hear his lies in his voice, she would hear the concern as well.

He needed some time to compose himself and put the mask he’d grown accustomed to wearing back in place. He’d trained long and hard to keep his emotions out of his face and voice. Knowing that Ashley could hear his lies in his voice was disturbing.

He took a couple deep breaths and tried to settle himself. His mind focused on the task at hand as he pulled out some homemade bread and the fixings for a salad.

He grabbed a beer from the fridge and sipped it while he waited for the food to heat. He had no doubt they were safe here, at least for a while. After the last few days, he wasn’t prepared to drop his guard again anytime soon.

His first concern was making sure Ashley recovered from the ordeal. Closing his eyes, he leaned back again and the image of her unconscious body on the floor flashed again.

“Damn,” he said softly as he reached for his beer.

By the time he carried the tray of food up the stairs, his mind was clearer.

He had added a glass of juice to the tray for her since her medicine wouldn’t allow her wine. He had wanted another beer, but he didn’t dare allow himself to get too comfortable.

“Here we are.” The first thing he noticed was that she’d tried to fix her hair. It was piled on top of her head in a messy bun with strands of it falling around her face. The second thing was that her eyes tracked him as he made his way across the room.

“How’s the head?”

“Much better.” She smiled. “You’re a dark blob instead of everything being grey.”

“Good.” He set the tray down and then looked into her eyes. They were unfocused, but he could tell she was feeling better.

“I got up too fast,” she said.

“Right.” He handed her a plate, then sat next to her on the bed. “So, what kind of movie do you want to listen to tonight?” He reached for the remote.

Ashley finished half of her plate and, only a few minutes into the movie, had fallen asleep.

When he felt he could, he gently removed himself from the bed and made his way around the house once more, checking every camera angle, every window and door. Finally satisfied, he climbed the stairs, wrapped his arms around Ashley, and drifted off.

He jerked awake some time later after realizing Ashley was no longer by his side. The bed was cool to his touch and he lay there, listening for any sounds. His heart sped up with each second of silence. Then he heard the toilet flush and relaxed.

When she walked back into the room, he smiled.

“You’re looking better today.” He shifted from the bed and ran his eyes up and down her. Her hair was still a tangled mess, but she’d tied it back in a loose bun. Her eyes looked clearer, which meant that the pain meds had worn off. He could still see some discomfort behind them but knew she wouldn’t want to be under the influence of the heavy pills again. She wore one of his T-shirts, which he must have left in the bathroom. It hung down to just above her knees, and he took in the silky softness of her legs.

Wrapping his arms around her, she smiled up at him.

“My eyesight is back to one hundred percent. I feel better. Good enough to take a walk.” He could see the plea in her eyes.

“I’m not…” She stopped him by placing a finger over his lips.

“The doctor did say that light exercise was allowed, and a short walk to the end of the road wouldn’t hurt.” She leaned up and replaced her finger with her soft lips and he melted. He would have given her anything at that moment, feeling her body pressed up against his. His hands ran slowly over the shirt as she took the kiss deeper.

He didn’t know how his hands ended up tangled in her hair, but when he nudged her head slightly to one side, he felt her entire body stiffen.

“Sorry.” He dropped his hands quickly and took a giant step backwards. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I’m fine.”

When she opened her eyes again, he could see the pain behind them. Getting an idea, he took her hands. “Why don’t we shower and eat something, then see how you feel?”

She nodded slightly. “I could use someone’s help with this mess.” She brushed her hair away from her face. “Do you know how hard it is to shampoo your hair when you can’t get a section of it wet?” She groaned and touched the white bandage covering her stitches.

It was going to be complete hell showering with her and not being able to touch her the way he wanted. But he knew, after the pain he’d caused her with just a simple kiss, that it was too soon for anything more. She needed time to recover, which meant keeping his hands and his desires under control.

All the years he’d trained and sacrificed hadn’t prepared him for the torture he was about to go through.