Friday. Aegis Group Headquarters, Cairo, Egypt.

Alec stared into the camera, willing Joe Neilson to remain calm. Panicking in this situation would accomplish nothing.

“Your sister is safe and in CIA custody. That’s all we know,” Alec said.

“You told me she could be home by now.” Joe’s voice was clear, even, until the last word. His voice broke and ten years worth of anguish over his missing sister fractured it.

“Could be,” Alec reminded him. “Our estimate was that it would take two to seven days to bring her home. She’s in US custody. She’s almost home. The CIA won’t allow her to be taken again.”

The rest of Alec’s team sat around the long table, not saying a word. Things had happened fast since the airport and were still racing out of control.

“Joe?” Ryan leaned forward and Joe’s attention shifted off Alec. “What matters now is that Jules is safe in America custody.”

The two men stared at each other, some invisible communication passing between them. After the events that had gone down in Seattle, the Senator and Ryan had a strong bond of trust. If he wouldn’t take Alec’s word that Jules was safe, he hoped Joe would listen to Ryan.

“What happens next? When will I see her?” Joe’s voice was back under control. He was a kind man with the uncanny ability to make anyone trust him. Probably because his platform was built on honesty, even when it hurt him.

“We don’t know,” Ryan said slowly then glanced at Alec.

Damn.

Alec blew out a breath and braced his forearms on the table. It was hard to say, and he didn’t want to make promises to the Senator, but they had to give him something.

“I have an idea.” Alec nodded at Ryan, their unofficial leader for this op. Ryan flicked his fingers in a permissive gesture. “The CIA is going to assess her medical condition first. Then they’re going to want to know everything she can tell them about where she was held and who she saw. There’s a possibility she knows things that could be valuable to the intelligence community. She spent so much time with these people, there’s a good chance they forgot to be careful around her. After that, they’re going to take credit for the rescue and deliver her home with a lot of media coverage.”

“No. That’s not what Jules would want. I’m going to call people. I’ll find out.” Joe’s image on the wall groped around his pockets for his phone.

“Senator, the key point in all of this is that Jules is safe,” Ryan reiterated.

“But she’s not home. I can’t believe she’s safe until she’s with us.” Joe’s voice trembled again. The man had risked everything for one shot at saving his sister and it had nearly ended his life. He had to be going through a new kind of hell listening to them. “I need to go.”

The video conference cut off.

Alec blinked away the floating specks of light.

The room collectively exhaled.

He dragged a hand over his face. They had some answers, but they didn’t know everything and probably ever would.

“What’s our next move?” Paxton asked. They didn’t have assigned roles for this job, but Paxton had been working on logistics with the home office, getting them from place to place. It made sense he’d want marching orders.

All Alec wanted was Vara and some time horizontal.

“We ship home,” Ryan said.

Alec stared at the table. He didn’t like that answer, not without knowing if Jules was on her way to being reunited with her family or not. And there was the matter of Vara’s team to deal with, both the men who’d betrayed them and those left high and dry here in Lebanon.

“What about our guest? What the hell happened with her?” Ryan swiveled to face Alec.

Oh, boy.

Alec had been waiting for this inquisition. From the moment they’d been picked up he’d briefed his guys and upon arriving they’d gone straight into this teleconference. He knew things would eventually circle back to Vara. He just didn’t have anything to say.

“I don’t think I can talk about that,” Alec said slowly, deciding to be as honest as he could. It was a page out of Joe’s book.

“She’s CIA, isn’t she?” Paxton snapped his fingers.

“Shut up, Pax,” Alec snapped.

“If she were CIA, she’d be with Jules undergoing debriefing,” Silas said slowly.

Paxton scowled at his friend. The two had worked as a sniper team and did their best jobs together even now.

Again, Alec stuck with the truth. “Jules and I wouldn’t have made it out without Vara. I don’t know everything about what she was doing in Syria, but I owe her my life.”

“Then what is she?” Paxton asked.

“Not our problem.” Ryan pushed to his feet, ending that discussion. “If she wants to hitch a ride with us home, we’ve got an extra ticket now. We have the rest of today to pitch in and help with the outstanding tasks here. Let’s all lend a hand, okay?”

A murmur of agreement went around the room.

Alec didn’t know what tasks these were, but he hoped they didn’t take long. He hadn’t liked the look in Vara’s eyes the last time he’d seen her before heading into the teleconference.

“Hey.” Ryan placed his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “Take it easy. Everyone else got a day and a half to sit around and do nothing. It’s your turn. Let me know if Vara tells you anything you can share, okay?”

“What makes you think she’ll talk to me?”

“Just thought you might try.” Ryan lifted his hands and backed away.

Alec was going to try. When they’d left the airport, she’d been shell-shocked. Pale, eyes wide, disoriented. She’d stammered out a few things, but nothing that made any sense. Since her mission and his were separate, he hadn’t pushed her to tell him more. They had different objectives. Now that the team was briefed he was free to focus his attention on Vara and prayed he could help her.

No, he wasn’t going to be able to take this op over the finish line. Jules wouldn’t be reunited with her family by them, but he had little doubt that would be the end result with the CIA involved. With Joe’s connections he was likely in communication with someone part of the team that had Jules right now.

Alec pushed to his feet and walked out of the room, bringing up the back of the pack as everyone filed out to do their tasks. He was the only one that turned and headed up the stairs to the rooms above.

The Aegis Group Cairo offices had once been a lavish household complete with a courtyard and heavy-duty gate. They’d re-purposed the first-floor rooms for operational needs. Storage. A medical room. Garage. The caretaker had her own set of apartments there as well. The second floor was where they ate, worked and some of them slept. The third floor was all sleeping quarters. Since the company’s expansion they’d had to add beds to each room save for the largest one, which they left for clients or important guests. It made sense the guys would have left that for Jules, and now Vara.

Damn, he should have thought about grabbing something to eat before heading up. But he needed to see her, touch her, hold her. He’d get food after he ticked those boxes.

Alec knocked and said, “It’s me.”

He waited.

The door didn’t open and there was no sound from inside.

Was she asleep?

He just wanted to see her, to know if she was okay. A little peak wouldn’t hurt.

He grasped the doorknob and twisted it open a crack.

The bed was a little rumpled. The lights were off, but the windows were open allowing the breeze to cool the interior.

“Vara?” he called out.

“In here.” Her voice echoed off the tile coming from the bathroom.

He circled the bed to the bathroom. When they didn’t have guests, the guys fought over who got to use it. Between the shower that could host a party and the two person soaker tub, it was lavish living.

Vara lay with only her head poking out of the bubble bath. Her hair was wet and draped over the side, dripping onto a towel. She continued to stare at the bubbles, not looking at him. Whatever had happened at the airport must have been bad. It wasn’t his place to pry or ask questions. His security clearance probably wasn’t high enough, but damn it. She was upset, and he wanted to fix it.

“What’s wrong?” He eased himself to the floor with his back to the wall and faced her.

She didn’t answer much less acknowledge that he’d spoken. Her eyes were empty and wherever her mind was, it wasn’t here.

“What happened at the airport?” He dipped his hand below the water and found her ankle, satisfying one need at least.

The muscles in her throat flexed, and she tipped her chin up a hair.

“I punched my handler.” She lifted her right hand from the water and showed him her bruised, swollen hand. It must have been one hell of a punch.

“Vara.” He reached for her and pulled the hand closer for him to see. She sat up, her knees rising from the water. “Does it hurt?”

“Not really. I mean, it did. He went backwards in a rolling chair and didn’t get up.”

“Is that why you were so keen on getting out of there?” He ran his fingers over her knuckles.

“Yes. Sort of. It was part of it.” She shook her head, pain that had nothing to do with her hand flashing across her face.

“What happened? Tell me, please?” He’d glimpsed a portion of her life. It wasn’t enough. He was starving for her.

Her hand slid through his. She hooked their fingers together and stared back at the bubbles.

“I let them take me for a ride,” she said.

“Them who?”

“The CIA.”

“What did they do to you?”

“More like, what did I let them do to me?” She smiled bitterly and eased away from him, stretching out in the tub.

“Are you going to tell me?” he asked.

“My mother doesn’t know. She’s guessed. She has to have.”

“You liked me better than your mom once.” He mustered a grin and got a chuckle out of her.

“A couple years ago this man, an intelligence officer, approached me after I’d made an unapproved trip out of the embassy. I was taking supplies, medicine, that sort of thing, to a home full of women and children hiding from their husbands. It was all stuff marked to be donated. I wasn’t stealing. One of the women was a refugee from Syria. Rafat Nour’s wife. He thinks she’s dead.”

“Shit.” Alec blinked at her.

“It gets more complicated. At the time Rafat was working with rebels under the table. He thought for a while they’d win, then something happened. We believe the Russians contacted him and he realized that with foreign support, the rebels wouldn’t win. I’m telling this all out of order.” She shook her head.

“It’s okay. I think I see where this is going. You made the run and this guy found out where you went to and who you were talking to?”

“Sort of. He convinced me to talk to her, bring her in and get her to tell us everything she knew about her husband’s budding operation. This was a few years ago. I started working with her. We got other women and children out, they’d tell us what they knew and we’d relocate them. But what we really wanted to know wasn’t coming to us.”

“You went to the source.”

Vara nodded.

“That’s when you became a smuggler.”

“Yes. We didn’t want to risk sending in CIA agents with me, so I sourced my own people. They never knew our dual mission. I was able to negotiate with Rafat to an advantage because I knew how to handle him, thanks to his wife. We struck a deal, and I established my routes, focusing on areas where I could contact the wives of influential men. They talked to me. They told me things. And then I met Djinn, and it became so much more. That was when my handlers changed.”

“That guy in the hall, that was your handler?”

“Chad. Yes. According to him my team is dead and Wyatt is with the Russians. I don’t know if he’s there willingly or if they forced him.” She slid down a little farther. “They died because of me.”

“They also chose to rat you out to a man who wanted to kill you. They chose their path.”

“I should have stayed. With Rafat dead, I could have taken over.” Her voice grew watery.

“You think so?”

She didn’t answer.

“You said so yourself that the climate was no longer as forgiving as it once was. What’s to say they wouldn’t have killed you, too? I know you’re good at blending in, but you’re still half American. And if you’d been there when the Russians arrived, they’d have killed you, too. You can’t blame yourself because of their choices.” He found her ankle again and squeezed.

“I just—I thought I was building something. I thought after this I’d move on to doing—to working with them. Making a difference. Chad’s cutting me loose. I don’t know what to do. What did I do wrong? Why is this happening?” Vara sniffed, breaking Alec’s heart.

“Oh, baby.” He wanted to fix this, make her smile, take away the pain. But he couldn’t.

She lifted her hands to her face, wiping away the moisture.

The only other time he’d seen her cry and at a loss for what to do was when they broke up. She was confident about everything, even when she was wrong.

Alec yanked the laces of his boots free then stood. He shucked his clothes, depositing them into a pile while she tried to silence her tears.

“Sit up,” he told her.

Vara did as he directed without a sassy comment. That only told him she was far more broken up about this situation than he realized. He slid into the tub and sat behind her, then pulled her back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a squeeze.

“I don’t know what to do next,” she said softly.

“Well I do. You’re going to fly to the states tomorrow with us. I’ll be there for you. Whatever you need, okay? Do you want to talk to someone else at the CIA?” He kissed the top of her head.

“What’s the point?”

“Maybe someone there will think differently?”

“I’m not an agent. I don’t have any real training. I know things, I sell things and I translate. That’s the sum of my skills.”

“You are also kind, beautiful, stubborn—”

“Alec.” She tilted her head to glare at him over her shoulder.

He kissed her temple and gathered his words.

“It sounds like you need to regroup and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to decompress. You’ve lived in a high stress environment for years. I think your next step should be to rest.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go. I don’t want to stay with Mom.”

“Take a vacation.”

“Where?”

“Florida? I could keep you company?” He swallowed. He’d intended to come at that plan in a different way, but this was what she needed.

Vara didn’t answer. The silence stretched on. The only indication he had she was still awake was the small circles she drew on his arm. He didn’t like not being able to see her face, to watch her think. Not that she gave much away about what was going on in her head.

Words bubbled up inside of him. Unlike her, he had a lot to get out there. “I know this isn’t the time or place—and I don’t deserve it—but I’d like another chance with you. I think we had something special. We just met at a time when we couldn’t explore it how either of us would have liked.”

She still didn’t reply.

“Vara?” He cupped her cheek and turned her face, needing to see her.

She had her lower lip pinched between her teeth and deep lines of worry creasing her face.

“Talk to me?” he whispered.

“When the vacation’s over, what then? What happens?” She finally looked up at him.

“We figure out what we want to do next. I didn’t have a choice about where I was sent or what I did back then. Now? Today? I decide that.” He swiped his thumb over her lips. “You’ve been dealt a shit hand. You’ve got a lot of weight on your shoulders. Let me be there for you?”

“I just—I don’t know, Alec.” She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“That’s fair.” He squeezed her middle. “What do you want then? What can I do? Please, let me help.”

She twisted and laid her head on his shoulder, tucked under his chin. He wrapped both arms around her and breathed in the jasmine scent clinging to her.

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

And he didn’t know what to say. He was loathe to get her talking and thinking in a direction that might separate them. He had to really pick his words because he was planning on making his best attempt at getting back in her life for good.

After a while the water went cool and his fingers began to wrinkle. He urged Vara up out of the tub, their voices hushed, as though they were both afraid of what they might say. He got them both wrapped in fluffy robes and bundled her into bed where he stretched out next to her. She rolled to face him, one arm curled under her head. Her hand drifted toward his and he took it, lifting her abused knuckles to his lips.

“You really punched him?” Alec asked.

“I did.” She closed her eyes. “It was like and out-of-body experience. I swear I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“I wish I’d seen it.” He smiled, but she didn’t.

“What am I going to do, Alec?” She was lost, searching for direction.

“You’re going to come to Florida with me.” He delivered the line with more certainty than he felt. “One of the guys has a condo in Miami. We can rent it from him for a week or two. Use that time to figure out what you want. Where you want to go. What the next steps are.”

“If you have all the answers, why do you ask all the questions?”

“You don’t know answers without questions.” He took a deep, steadying breath. “What do you say?”

“You’re going to stay with me?”

“I’m hoping you’ll let me.”

“I don’t know if we can be like we were, Alec.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hey? Look at me, please?” He waited for her eyes to crack open. “I don’t think we can, either. We were different people then. But maybe we could be something new? Now isn’t the time to make promises to each other. It’s been a crazy couple of days. Your life was upended. Let’s just take this one day at a time.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

Alec had fucked up last time. He’d known she was special, and yet in the end he’d caved under pressure. This time, if she gave him the ghost of a chance, he was going to make the most of it. He’d grown up in the years since then, and he knew what he’d lost. He didn’t intend to lose it again. He was going to do this right, and that meant having a plan for seduction, because he was going to win Vara’s heart back.

SUNDAY. MIAMI, FLORIDA.

Vara had forgotten how draining flights across the ocean could be. With layovers, it had taken them a full day and then some to reach Atlanta where they said goodbye to the rest of Alec’s team. No one had commented on their plans to depart for Miami on their own. It was simply accepted.

“Did we ever hear about the rest of my team? If they got to the states?” Vara turned her head toward Alec.

“Uh, I don’t think anyone mentioned them, so I assumed no news was good news. Want me to find out?”

“Yes, please?” It would allow her to relax some knowing those three were safe.

“Let’s call my boss.” Alec pulled out his phone and jabbed the screen.

The line rang through the rental car’s speakers. He’d splurged on a convertible and she couldn’t pretend it didn’t make her happy.

“Who is dying?” a dry male voice asked.

“Zain, you’re on speaker with me and Vara.” Alec chuckled.

“Sorry, Ms. Price.” Zain’s tone went all business. “Has something happened?”

“No, Vara was just curious if you knew the whereabouts of her team.” Alec glanced across at her.

“Wyatt is still in the wind. The other three arrived in the states and I stopped keeping tabs on them. You want me to check up on them?” Zain asked.

“No, I can do that. Thanks for all your help.” Vara wasn’t looking forward to those calls, but they had to be made.

“Later, boss.”

“Have a good vacation you two.”

The line went dead.

“How about some sun, huh?” Alec jabbed the controls and the top slowly lowered, allowing them to bask in the mid-day sunshine.

“That’s nice.” She sank down in her seat, much of the stress falling from her shoulders.

Alec whipped the car out onto the road and they were off.

“We can’t get the keys to the condo until this afternoon.” He turned toward her, the cheerful sunshine lighting up his face. “Want to do anything?”

“Um, how about we get essentials? Clothes? Food?”

“Bikinis.” He nodded.

“I didn’t know you liked wearing them.”

“I like taking them off.” His grin grew heated, and she shifted in her seat. “Okay, essential shopping it is.”

She leaned back in her seat and tried to ignore the tacky feeling she got after hours spent inside a flying tin can in favor of enjoying Florida and the absence of so much security. Here she didn’t need to be on alert at all hours. Alec navigated them away from the busy airport and into the city. She watched out the window as people went about their daily lives. Vara might be a US citizen by right of birth, but she’d hardly spent any time here. Maybe a few years of her life all total.

“What do you want to hit first?” Alec asked.

“Clothes. This humidity is going to kill me in all black.” She gestured at the yoga pants and T-shirt she’d been provided in their drop bag. The package of underwear would get her through the week, but she’d need everything else.

“Bikinis it is.”

“Alec.” She chuckled.

“Fine.” He sighed. “There’s a mall we can hit up. Should be able to grab enough clothes we can get through a week. But I’m warning you, we’ll mostly be in bathing suits.”

“Noted.” Vara chuckled. “You do know I can barely swim, right?”

“I’ll stick close to you.” He shrugged.

“Swimming just wasn’t something I got to do a lot of, you know? Too many restrictions on women in most of the countries Mom worked in and all that.” She smoothed a hand down her ponytail.

“What do you think about that?”

“What?”

“The restrictions?”

Vara rolled the question around in her head before she tried answering. “It’s complicated. In the more progressive countries they really aren’t restrictions. They’re what women do to show respect and honor what they believe. I have problems when it’s not something women chose to do.”

“Damascus?”

“Oh, no. It’s quite progressive there, but a headscarf kind of...helps me fade into the crowd, you know? My Iranian side goes a long way to helping me blend in, but I was raised as an American. I can’t really hide that.”

“You really did most of your work through women?”

“Yes. They see everything and say nothing in their world. The women I worked with wanted to end conflict. They wanted a safer home for their children.” Vara blew out a breath. “But that chapter’s probably done for.”

“You don’t know that.” Alec reached over and squeezed her hand.

“I’m reasonably certain the CIA won’t ever want to work with me again.” She turned her head and stared out the window.

“There are other options. Military. Private sector. You’ve got a very defined set of skills and experience that make you valuable.”

Vara resisted the urge to snort at that. Chad hadn’t thought so. How did she even go about applying for a job like that? And would it be safe?

With Rafat dead no one else, save for four boys, knew about what they’d done.

“Have you ever been to a mall?” Alec asked as he pulled into a parking garage.

“You do know malls aren’t a uniquely American idea, right?”

“Just asking. It wasn’t like we did a lot of touring town when I was deployed.”

“I see your point. Not even in Europe?”

“I get it, stupid question.” He whipped into a parking spot and dramatically sighed.

“You should get out sometime, you know, without a gun and danger and saving people.”

“But those are the fun parts.”

Vara laughed at his pout. The comical face didn’t last more than a beat before he was grinning at her.

“Made you laugh.” He jabbed his finger at her arm. “Come on. Let’s get you some tiny shorts.”

She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. There was more than a little lady maintenance for her to do before she’d be ready for shorts, but she appreciated his enthusiasm. She still wasn’t sure what this was or what they were doing, but it was nice to not have an agenda for once.

Alec offered her his hand, and she took it, her stomach doing little flip-flops that had her feeling a touch queasy.

What was she doing with this man?

She wasn’t foolish enough to think that taking a second dip in this pool would cure her of him. But she had nothing else in mind and giving in was easy. Being with him was easy.

The first few stores they stopped in were a bust, but after that they hit the jackpot. Shorts, cute tops, two bikinis and some comfortable sandals.

“What about this?” Alec pulled a long, flowing maxi dress off a hanger.

The neckline plunged low and the tiny straps didn’t inspire a lot of faith, but the fabric was pretty. A cream background set off what looked like brush strokes in varying shades of green and teal, with accents of red, orange and pink.

“Is it supposed to be some kind of leaf design?” She tilted her head.

“I think this would look nice on you.” Alec held it up to her.

“Where did you get your opinions on women’s fashion?”

“I do have sisters.” He shrugged and turned back to the rack.

Sisters?

Vara blinked.

Had she ever known that?

He had a big, Italian family. They hadn’t talked about the make-up of that family except in general terms. Then again, when they’d been younger her focus was on one thing when it came to Alec.

“Oh, this one.” Alec turned, holding up another dress. This one was teal and short in both directions with no straps.

“That wouldn’t even stay on me.” She laughed and snapped the elastic. “I don’t have enough boobs to hold this up.”

“I think you could” Alec eyed her chest.

“No.”

“I want to take you out somewhere.” He flipped through a few more. “Here. This one has straps.”

The next dress was a darker shade of teal. It certainly seemed to be the color of the season. The wide straps supported yet another plunging neckline.

“Are those...pockets?” She hooked her finger in the seam and sure enough—pockets.

“What is it with women and pockets?” Alec muttered.

“You try buying clothes that regularly don’t have pockets and see how important they become.” She grabbed the dress from him and turned toward the counter. “I’m ready to go.”

Alec followed her with his purchases and didn’t try to buy her things for her after the last store. She was spending far more on herself than she’d done in years. It felt strange and weird, but it was also practical. Like it or not, she was probably going to live in the states for a little while.

She stared at the back of Alec’s head while he chatted with the sales clerk. There was no denying that the moment and way he’d crashed back into her life felt like kismet. Like some cosmic being was throwing them back together for a second chance. What they made of it was up to them.

Would she be frightened of the possibility or would she make the most of it?

She couldn’t control whether or not Alec chose to stay with her or how long their relationship lasted this time. What she chose to put into it might affect their outcome.

Alec turned and caught her staring.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yes. Sorry, just thinking.” She smiled.

“About me, I hope?” Alec wrapped his free arm around her waist.

“Maybe.” She smiled because he was right.

“Do you want to share?”

“No.”

“Not even a little?” He nuzzled her cheek then kissed it.

“Come on. I’m hungry and I want a shower.” Vara turned before he teased a confession out of her.

Would it be so bad to tell him what she was thinking? That her mind was fixated on the idea of them together? She didn’t know what came next for her, what she’d do or where she’d go, but maybe that was a good thing. She was flexible to figure out what could fit around them.

The guilt sank its teeth into her. If she settled down here, who would do the work she’d been doing? What would happen without her there? Could she really turn her back on all of that and play house?