CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sloane
After a glass of wine and a soak in the tub, I wasn’t feeling any better about things. Padding across the bedroom floor, I went to get a robe out of the closet just as someone began to pound at my door.
I sighed. I had no doubt as to who was there. And I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to lie to his face. I just…
Just what?
The knocking came again, and I peeked out the window. Yes, it was Zane, the wind whipping his hair into a frenzy of dark curls. I pressed my forehead against the door.
“I’m not feeling well. I’m afraid our plans have to wait.”
“Let me in now. What I have to say can’t wait.”
Cocky, arrogant, take charge bastard.
“No, Zane. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow might be too late. Let me in. You’ve been found out.”
My stomach dropped. My legs threatened to give out.
I’d been found out?
By who?
I blew out a long breath to steady myself before opening the door. Before I could react, Zane swept me up into his arms and kicked the door closed. “Baby, I’m so fucking sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I had no idea. None.”
I pushed at his chest. “Put me down and explain, please.”
He did as I asked, and I walked on shaky legs to sit on the sofa. He got on his knees in front of me and pulled out his cell. “I turned on the app. It caught the whole thing.” He played it for me.
The suspicious was clear in Charles’ voice.
“You shouldn’t have asked him the same questions, Zane.” I ran my hand over my forehead as it began to ache.
“I know. I’m so sorry.” He was visibly upset.
I listened more and heard Grace asking about shopping. Going on a shopping spree.
Was Zane upset because he believed we wouldn’t be in the vicinity to catch Charles red-handed?
“Are you—”
“Shh… keep listening.”
Charles excused himself and then Zane did too.
He looked sick, a pale green color filtered into his face. I’d never seen a grimmer expression.
As I listened to footsteps, Zane took my hands and looked into my eyes as I heard the rest of the recording.
Charles called a hit on me.
Even though he only suspected me to be an agent, he’d called the hit anyway.
I listened long enough to find out that Zane wasn’t in danger. His rich family would be too big of a hindrance if anything happened to him. But I was marked.
“I’ll keep you safe, Sloane. No one will ever get through me to get to you. And I’m getting you the fuck out of here now. Pack your things. This is all my fault. I don’t care about you lying to me. I don’t care about a thing except your safety.” He got up, pulling me up too. “We have to hurry.”
My mouth had gone dry. With my hand still shaking, I pulled open the mini-fridge and found a bottle of water. Opening it, I took a long drink.
I turned to Zane, who was staring at me. “Okay, here it is. This is the truth. I’m an FBI agent. I was sent here to watch Smith. I’m sorry for lying to you. Using you. And I’m sorry I got you into this.”
He tried to pull me into his arms, but I pushed him away. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
I needed to think.
“Don’t take this on yourself, Zane. I’ve made many mistakes on this mission. I shouldn’t have left you with them. I shouldn’t have lost control. I shouldn’t have…”
Fallen for you.
“I fucked it all up, Sloane. Let me take the blame that’s rightfully mine to take.” He pushed past my resistance and pulled me to his chest. “Don’t blame yourself. You were just doing your job.”
“And I did a piss poor job of it. I let you take control when I knew better than to do that. You have to let me go. I have to call my supervisor to let him know what’s happened.”
He let me go but followed me. “Tell them I can get you out of here. I can hire a private jet, whatever it takes.”
I turned on him. He didn’t get it. “I have to do what they want me to do, Zane. I don’t tell them, they tell me.” I picked up my cell to make the call that would earn me a temporary suspension and a new identity. This wasn’t good.
Zane took me by the shoulders, and if the look on his face hadn’t been so hurt, so sincere, I would have kicked him in the balls to get him out of my way. The thing was… he was sincere, the concern plastered over his expression.
“First, I want this out in the open. Sloane Anderson, I’m falling in love with you.”
I was frozen. “Zane… I…”
Did I love him? I wouldn’t tell the man even one more lie. I had to dig deep. Think about it. He made me feel more than any man ever had. If we’d met any other way, I’d have already been telling him the words right back. But we had started on lies.
I blew out a breath, my heart throbbing in my throat. “How can you say that, knowing how much I lied to you?”
“Because I understand why you did. And I also understand the truths. Your eyes, your body didn’t lie. This connection between us didn’t lie.” He took my face in his hands. “Can you ever forgive me for putting you in danger the way I have?”
I wrapped my hands around his wrists but didn’t pull his hands away. “I keep telling you, this is my fault, not yours. I don’t have to forgive you since I’ve never blamed you for it. The fact is, it comes with the job. I knew that. I knew not going by the book would be dangerous. I did it anyway.”
My face burned as emotion crept into my eyes, my sinuses.
“Sloane—”
“Let me finish. I did it because making you happy is all I can think about. Keeping you near me is all I want. And I think that means that I’m falling for you too.”
A tear fell and he wiped it away with his thumb. “Sweetheart, I—”
I squeezed his wrists. “Please, just let me talk. Thinking past this current situation, I have no idea what the FBI is going to do with me now. Maybe put me in hiding, maybe change my identity.” How could a heart hurt so much and still function? “God, how badly I wish things were different.”
He took my hand, kissing each fingertip. “Me too. If something crazy happens and we’re split up somehow, promise me you’ll meet me right back here in exactly one year.”
Such a romantic, foolish man.
“And what if we’re not split up? Then what?”
“Then I’m whisking you away with me to another part of the world where American mafia thugs will never find you. I’ll take care of you forever and keep you safe with me.”
He looked so sincere, in this moment.
“That sounds nice.” And it did sound nice, even though I knew how impossible it was. Did he understand that his idea meant that he’d never see his family again? Or that his family might be placed in great danger if the mafia believed they knew our location.
Better not to bring that up just yet. I had the next twenty-four hours to live through.
One day at a time.
One hour at a time.
Zane kissed me.
One minute at a time.
When our kiss ended, I could barely breathe. “I love you, Sloane.”
“I love you, Zane.”
It didn’t feel like a lie.
I stepped away. “I need to make that call.”
With a nod, he let me go. I hated that my fingers trembled as I pressed the buttons on the secure satellite phone.
“Matthews here.”
“Sir, I’ve been found out and marked for a hit.”
“Shit. What the hell happened?”
“I made mistakes. Too many of them.”
Zane took a seat and held his head in his hands, his guilt swirling back to land on his shoulders. I wished like hell he could stop feeling that way. I was the agent. He didn’t have the training I did. How was he to know how to act?
“Are you in immediate danger, Anderson?”
“No, sir. I have a recording of Smith calling the hit. He says he doesn’t have a gun and doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. I’m sure men will be flying in to do the job.”
“Secure that recording. We can use that against Smith too. Calling a hit on a federal agent carries stiff penalties. As for you, I’ll have to confer with a few people about what we’ll do with you.”
“I understand, sir.” My head hurt as I felt the disappointment he was feeling, right through the phone.
“For now, you’re safe. How are you preparing for the storm?”
I stiffened. Hell, what else had I missed?
“Storm?”
He cursed. “There’s a tropical storm skirting around the Indian Ocean in that general area. Airports are still open, but they’re on high alert and will close if the storm turns your way. You haven’t heard?”
“No, sir. The island staff haven’t mentioned this, and I’ve not focused on the local news.”
Zane stood up and came to my side, listening in. His brows were furrowed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation. It was as if we kept getting one hit after another.
“The resort staff is probably waiting for the storm to turn too. They wouldn’t want to start evacuations too early. Wouldn’t want to hurt their Yelp rating.”
At least Matthews was joking. That was a good sign.
“I’ll contact the office and learn the details, sir.”
“And I’ll see what I can do to close the airport.”
“Sir?”
“We can’t get to you, but neither can the hit men. With the weather, we may lose the ability to communicate. You are to sit tight. When it’s possible, we’ll send in a team to bring you home safely.”
Zane scowled at me. “Tell him.”
“Sir, as soon as the weather permits, Zane Boyd has said he can charter a jet to—”
“No. No more civilian involvement. And Anderson?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You and this man, is there anything I should know?”
I couldn’t look at Zane. “No, sir.”
“Good. Falling in love isn’t part of the job, Anderson. Better you learn that now. Over.”
“Yes, sir. Over.”
Zane heard what my boss had said, and he smiled as he took the sat phone out of my hand, placing it on the table. Softly, he cupped my chin, drawing me to him. “As if we could’ve stopped that from happening.”