Chapter 2
Nikki
Grant smelt like he’d just spend the day in a closed room with a dozen smokers. How could he even give her a perplexed look over the question? As if he didn’t know what she was talking about. Her nightmare was immediately forgotten.
She examined her husband with more scrutiny this time, fully awake now. Leaning into him again, there was a faint smell of perfume, though it was very dim considering the overwhelming smell of cigarettes. He opened his mouth to speak, but she put her index finger up to stop him. “And don’t you dare tell me it’s classified!”
A guilty look flashed in his eyes and she frowned. Pulling back from him fully, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, waiting for his answer. Her wife senses were tingling. He was going to try to cover something up, she knew it. To hell with that, she wasn’t going to let that happen. It was truth time. Fuck, classified.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Then there shouldn’t be any issues in tell me why you smell like perfume and cigarettes.”
His expression went blank.
Better make it good, buster!
He sighed, raking a hand through his short, dark hair. “Fine, I’ll tell you what I can.”
She raised a brow and waited. She felt a hint of guilt for putting him on the spot over something that he couldn’t tell her much about. But she wasn’t in a reasonable mood. She’d experienced one too many nights of eating alone and worrying he was getting himself into something that may leave her a widow and their baby fatherless. Standing from his crouched position, he slid onto the sofa next to her. His jaw clenched and she could see him carefully considering his words.
“I’ve been put on a new assignment, and with the new assignment comes a new partner.”
“Female partner?”
“Yes. The job the agency has me on requires I have a female partner. She’s very smart and experienced.”
A shot of jealousy surged through Nikki. “I bet she is,” she muttered under her breath. She didn’t even know the woman, but already hated her. In her defense, Grant’s previous female partner attempted to kill them, so there was that…
“What was that?” Despite the question, a hint of a smile lifted the corner of his lips.
Shrugging, she shook her head. “Nothing at all.”
He paused a moment, before proceeding. “We’ve been working a case for the past couple of weeks.”
“That’s not exactly explaining why you smell like cigarettes and perfume.”
“She’s a smoker and she wears an insane amount of perfume.”
“And you have to get so close to her that the smell rubs off?”
He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa next to her. “For this task, we’re playing the part of being a married couple.”
This was his job and she knew that, but nonetheless, rage filled her. He was her husband, not some woman he worked with – even if it was just pretend.
“Did you kiss her?”
A look of astonishment crossed his face. “How could you even ask such a thing?”
She cocked a brow up at him. “You’re playing the role of a married man to some woman. Would it be such a stretch to assume that for role playing purposes that you’d kiss her?” A look of annoyance flashed in his eyes and could be seen in his expression, but she didn’t care.
“She’s pretending to be my spouse for the purposes of a job. We’re not fucking for the viewing pleasure of them. It’s business, that’s strictly it.”
A little voice in the back of her head warned her that she needed to back off immediately – Grant would never be unfaithful or do anything inappropriate – but she couldn’t. There was something within her that forced her to keep going. Maybe she was just looking for the fight. Or maybe she’d just had enough of the late nights, worrying and going day to day with only a few hours of sleep. The bags under her eyes were so big you could pack a week’s worth of clothing in them!
“That wasn’t “strictly it” with your last partner. You almost died because of her!”
Grant’s jaw clenched. He took a deep breath in, his thick chest expanding and then he expelled the air. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he reopened them, the fire within his grey eyes seemed to have settled and his expression once more became unreadable.
Taking her hands in his, he gave them a light squeeze his expression beginning to soften. “That isn’t a normal situation, Nikki. It’s far from normal, in fact.”
“Our whole relationship is far from normal! Our whole lives!”
She was so tired of the tension and the bickering that seemed to be becoming more and more normal for them lately. There was a time not too long ago where they were considered the perfect couple. Her friends envied her for how perfect her husband and marriage were and how beautiful and delightful their daughter was.
But now….
Things had taken a serious turn in the wrong direction. And to make it all worse, he was hiding something from her, she was sure of it.
“I know. You don’t have to remind me of that, Nik. I know. Which brings me to what I need to tell you.”
Nikki’s blood turned cold and her body shivered involuntarily. As much as she needed to know what he was about to tell her, she feared what she was about to hear. “Which is?”
~*~ TT ~*~
Grant
This was going to be harder than he expected. Despite the fire of anger in her eyes, there was a shred of something else – defeat. Had he done this to her? He asked himself for the millionth time if he perhaps he was being selfish. Though, realistically, he was one of the only people who could pull off what the agency needed him to do.
So here he was stuck between a rock and a pissed-off wife and mother of his child.
Greater good. That’s how his boss described it when he protested that he had a new wife and baby. Thousands of lives were at stake. Fuck.
Grant raked a hand through his dark hair.
Nikki’s back straightened and her eyes narrowed at him again.
Here we go. Round three. Just out with it.
“I was asked out on assignment.”
“You’ve been on many assignments, despite your promise of taking a desk job.”
Grant cringed. Touché.
“This is a little different. It requires I be away for a while longer than I’ve been away since taking the desk job.”
“How long?”
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Truth is, I’m not sure.”
“No fucking way!” She jumped from the sofa, distancing herself from him.
“Look, Nikki.” Grant stood and made an attempt to pull her into his arms, but she batted his hands away.
“No. You just can’t hug me and make this all better.” She backed up a few feet, shaking her head. “Because, it’s not okay. Not at all. We had a deal.”
Grant hung his head. She was right. They did have one. If there was some way he could make her understand why this needed to be done, maybe she’d understand better. Maybe she’d be able to accept it. He was tempted to tell her it would be the last time and that he’d be a desk man from now on in, but that was a lie. There would always be something popping up requiring him go on a mission that would put him in danger.
“Nik - ” He didn’t know what words were going to come out of his mouth next, he had no idea what had to be said to make it better besides he wasn’t going. Though he wasn’t given a chance to make something up before she cut him off.
Raising her hand to him, she said, “I’m going to bed. Don’t join me.”
Fuck.
She didn’t wait for his response, but spun on her heel and raced from the room as if hell hounds were hot on her heels.
Lacing his hands behind his neck, Grant let his head fall back and embraced the feel of the stretch down his chest. He was one tense mother-fucker right now. He’d give his fortune for a massage at that moment. They’d talk in the morning once emotions had died down and he figured out a way to make this work.
She’d kicked him out of the bedroom. They’d had some doozies of fights in the last little while, but this was the first time he’d been banned for the bedroom. This was worse than he’d anticipated.
~*~ TT ~*~
Nikki
She didn’t cry. She refused to. Instead, tucked up in the bedroom she waited. It took several hours, but eventually she heard soft snores coming from down stairs. It was time to set her plan into motion. Getting dressed in a track suit, she checked in on their beautiful daughter, Jasmine, before quietly descending the stairs to the main floor of the house. Tiptoeing to the entranceway of the living room, she peered in to see the love of her life sound asleep on the sofa. She couldn’t help but take a moment to stare at him, her heart warming at the sight of her hero.
One day he’d see that she was doing this for not only his own good, but for their child and marriage. Despite the thought and assurance that it was for the best, she still felt a tinge of guilt as she grabbed her handbag and car keys and left the house, closing the door softly behind her.
Normally, the starting of a car would have woken Grant in an instant, but his psychologist, Dr. Greer had given him sleeping pills to help with his sleep issues. She was betting after their fight he’d taken one. Getting into her car she started the engine and then held her breath as the motor idled and she watched the living room window.
He didn’t stir.
She released the breath she’d been holding and backed the car onto the street. Come hell or high water, she’d find a way to end this crazy talk of him going away on some high-dangerous classified mission, and she knew there was just the person who could help her.