The week passed uneventfully. I was still bothered by the fact that I’d felt so strongly that something was wrong on Monday night—it worried me—but at the end of each day; I was just grateful Mackenzie and I were both safe.

Fran and Cox checked in several times per day, and I hadn’t had any more gut feelings that something was wrong, or any feelings of being watched when I picked Mackenzie up at school.

My days at the library seemed like every day before that.

The fact that it was Friday loomed in front of me as I dropped Mackenzie off at school and watched her walk inside with her classmates. I’d chosen not to speak with Gabriel at any length when he called each day—opting to give the phone to Mackenzie, instead.

Was it mature? No, but I was certain he got the point. I was nervous about his return home today, and I wasn’t at all sure what to expect.

Fran stopped by daily for a Tai Chi lesson with Mackenzie, and I’d decided to join them after day two. It had become a highlight for both of us, which in reality created yet another conflict as I tried to reason through my growing love for Mackenzie, Mackenzie’s feelings for me, Gabriel’s invitation to stay permanently, and Gabriel’s decision to leave critical details of the home security system out of our conversations.

I felt violated, and I didn’t know how to resolve that, although slamming pots and pans into the cabinets seemed to help, I thought, as I slammed the last cabinet door.

Gabriel was a good man, there was no doubt about that, but I wasn’t sure I could forgive him for his omissions.

The flip side of all of this was Mackenzie. This sweet, precious girl had won my heart in ways I didn’t know were possible, and what was I supposed to do with the fact that I was just her nanny?

No sooner had that thought filtered through my mind, then I heard the garage bay open.

Panic hit my throat at the thought of seeing Gabriel. I stayed in the kitchen, waiting for Gabriel to come to me.

I didn’t have to wait long. I heard the front door close, footsteps to his office, and a thump of something being dropped on the floor. The footsteps started again, drawing closer to the kitchen. I looked up from the kitchen table where I was working on my laptop. He stopped in the doorway, and I closed my laptop down.

He stood in the doorway for two or three seconds, then walked toward me.

I stayed in my chair. “How was your trip?”

“Productive,” he said as he pulled the chair out next to me and sat down. “You’re angry with me.”

“That might be an understatement.”

He nodded and waited.

“Gabriel, I’m not one of your clients, nor am I one of your subjects at whatever government agency you whisk off to at a moment’s notice. Please don’t play games with me. Just say what you have to say.”

“I tried, Thea. You wouldn’t speak to me beyond a ‘hello’ and a quick rundown of Mackenzie’s activities for the day. You’re angry with me because I kept the details of the security system from you.”

“I’m angry,” I emphasized, “because you did more than keep the details of the security system from me—you specifically led me to believe that the security system was primarily for the exterior of the house and the entrances on the inside of the house. You failed to mention the cameras in most of the common areas or the audio capability or the fact that you have an app remotely enabled on your phone.” I paused, took a deep breath, and continued in a quieter voice, “I feel like you deceived me like you were spying on me.”

Our eyes were locked, and for the first time since I’d met him, I didn’t feel intimidated by the intensity of his scrutiny. I was holding my own.

“You’re familiar with the concept of a nanny cam?” he asked, his eyes never leaving mine as my eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Agree with it or not, Thea. Despite our extensive interview, there are still many things a person can hide—things that don’t come to the surface until or unless a person thinks they’re unobserved. You may not like what I did, but I did what I felt I needed to do to protect Mackenzie. I had to determine if indeed you were as good and kind as you appeared to come across in the extensive research I did, and in our interview.”

“And did you discover anything to the contrary?” I asked, fighting to keep the tears that threatened at bay, looking down and away from his eyes.

He reached across the table and gently moved my face back toward him. I closed my eyes and a solitary tear escaped—he brushed it from my cheek and cupped my face with both of his hands. “I discovered what I believed about you all along to be true, that you are a rare person, and as good and kind and loving as I ever could have hoped Mackenzie would have in her life.”

And you? I wondered but didn’t voice it. “What else is out there, Gabriel? What else haven’t you told me?”

“Fair question and I have a few for you, as well.”

My breath hitched and my heart rate began to ratchet up. I wanted to argue with him. To reiterate that my work and history are none of his business and that all that mattered was that I took excellent care of Mackenzie, but in the back of my mind I wondered. Did my work or the project I'm working on have something to do with the fact that SOS Security thought someone might be following me or Mackenzie? Could I be endangering Mackenzie despite my best efforts to keep my work and involvement untraceable?

I looked at my FitBit. “We have about two hours before I need to pick up Mackenzie—you first.”

A slow smile spread across his face and I felt the sudden need to fan myself as my skin flushed. He was so sexy, and try though I might, it was difficult to be angry with him when sitting this close to him.

It was becoming harder and harder to deny how much I craved time with him. Who was I kidding? It was harder to deny how much I craved him.

I bit my lower lip harder than usual to bring myself back to the present and realized I’d missed more than a few sentences of his diatribe. I picked up with, “and so you can see that when the team needs me, I have to leave within hours or the trail goes cold.”

How stupid could I be? I had no idea what he’d just said, and I likely needed to backtrack or ask questions—both to figure out what he’d just said and to buy some time.

I still had no idea what details to tell him about how I spent my time when Mackenzie was in school. He’d already questioned why I went to the library.

“Walk me through it, Gabriel. Exactly what kind of cases are you working on, and do they pose any threat to Mackenzie?”

His eyes softened, and I glimpsed a sadness so deep, it appeared to have no end.

“What happened to your wife?” I whispered.

His eyes filled with tears. I reached out to grasp his hand, to try to bring him back from a despair so strong I nearly lost myself in it.

“Whatever it was, Gabriel—you do know it wasn’t your fault?”

I sat quietly as he struggled to gain control, my hand firm and steady on his. I had no idea how he kept the tears that threatened to overflow in his eyes from doing exactly that, but he did. I didn’t think it was a good sign, and I wondered if he had taken the time to talk with anyone about his grief and obvious guilt.

I wondered if the two of us had any hope at all if he hadn’t.

His phone rang and interrupted them. His eyes apologized.

“Go ahead. Take it.”