Angel was sitting on the front porch of the B&B with John when Nate returned to pick her up. She stood as the truck got close, hoping that he wouldn’t get out and they could just head up to the cabin. She’d already broken poor John’s heart by telling him there was no chance for a romantic relationship between them at all…she didn’t want Nate giving him a hard time too.
Nate turned off the ignition and stepped out of the truck before she was off the porch. She heard John stand up behind her and she gave Nick a pleading look she hoped he understood. He smiled gently at her and then stepped past her and toward the FBI agent. Putting out his hand before he got there, he said, “I owe you an apology.”
John looked surprised but he took Nate’s hand and shook it. “I guess I probably owe you one as well.”
“I’m not usually an asshole,” Nate said with a grin. “You can ask anyone. I’m not sure what got into me last night.”
John glanced at Angel and said, “I’m pretty sure I know. I’m not usually such an asshole myself,” he said. “Angel and I had a talk, at least about where we stand. It wasn’t my place to assume things and you were right…my behavior was unprofessional.”
“Well, you were right too,” Nate said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “So was mine. I’m sorry for hitting you.”
John smiled and rubbed his jaw. “You’ve got a hell of a right hook there.”
“I used to box in high school,” Nate said proudly.
“I did a little boxing myself back in the day…”
“Oh my God,” Angel muttered. “The testosterone never stops flowing, does it?” The two men laughed and she smiled in relief. “Thank you for being civil. I know a lot of this is my fault as well. I hope you both know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” They both nodded.
Agent Sullivan looked at Nate and asked, “Is Cade still around town?”
“No, he had some business to take care of, but he’ll be back late tonight or in the morning.”
Agent Sullivan raised an eyebrow. “Is he on his way to LA?”
“Wyoming…I think…” Angel thought Nate looked like he was fibbing.
The FBI agent must have seen it as well because he said, “Look, I’m sure Angel told you all about the DNA results…”
“You didn’t say that I shouldn’t,” she said, suddenly on the defensive.
“I’m not upset with you, Angel. I know that these guys aren’t going to be satisfied with just watching over you while this SOB is running around their town. I did some research on your team,” he told her before looking at Nate. “And I was both surprised and impressed. Cade’s assembled a group of experts that I’d be proud to work with. That’s actually what I want to talk to him about.”
“Oh, well…”
Agent Sullivan smiled. “I know Cade doesn’t want me anywhere near your operation and I understand why. But the truth is that my superiors expected me to come out here, check things out, and get back to LA with Angel in tow within a few days. When I told them she wasn’t coming back, I requested backup out here. They were pissed and I was told to use local police as my backup if I needed it. This case has gone on for so long and they’ve put so many resources into it while we’ve got hundreds of other active cases…that’s the excuse they’re using anyways. They gave me one more week here and if nothing new turns up, I have to turn it over to Corpus Christie’s bureau. I’ve put five years of my life into this and walking away from it is going to be next to impossible. I want to take down this son of a bitch and I’m willing to bend the rules if I have to in order to get him.”
“I’ll talk to Cade,” Nate told him. With Grant out of the loop, it couldn’t hurt to have one more guy in on this that knew how to handle a gun.
“Thank you.” Agent Sullivan looked at Angel and said, “Be safe up there tonight, okay? It’s supposed to start raining by three or four a.m.”
“I will. Thank you, John.” The agent nodded at her and then at Nate before going inside. Angel thought he took her rejection well, but he still looked sad and she hated being the cause of that. When he was gone, she looked at Nate and said, “I guess it’s our turn to talk.”
Nate suddenly looked like she was holding a gun to his head. She smiled. “Yours is not bad news.”
A bright smile spread across his face. “Okay, then, let’s talk.”
“Can we walk and talk?” she asked him. “Do we have time before we have to meet the guys at the cabin?”
“Yep. They won’t be there until three. It’s not even noon yet.”
“Good. It’s a beautiful day. I’d like to enjoy it before…well, before the rain starts.”
Nate nodded and held out his arm to her. She slid hers through it and they walked off the porch and turned toward town once they hit the sidewalk. “Before you say whatever it is you have to say to me, I’d like to tell you that I owe you an apology too. You don’t have any reason to believe this, thanks to the way I’ve been acting, but I’m really not a jealous person…usually. I honestly don’t know what came over me last night. I saw the way he was looking at you and heard him call you sweetheart and I just saw red. I know that I don’t have any right to feel territorial when it comes to you. I mean, we’ve only known each other for two weeks. Just because we…well, you know. Just because we did that doesn’t mean you’re my property. I felt like an idiot as soon as I went off on him last night and I’m sorry.”
Angel looked up at him and stopped walking for a second. “I don’t like the jealousy,” she began. “It doesn’t flatter me. It makes me feel like I’m not trusted. But I do understand going off on impulse. You saw me do it firsthand when I first got here. We all have bad days and bad moments in life where we don’t always make the best decisions. And I did some of that myself by not talking to John a long time ago. Just so you know, what we did yesterday honestly wasn’t something I do casually. I know we barely know each other, Nate, but I felt a connection to you from the moment I saw you, even though I may not have expressed it. This thing between us, whatever it is, is moving fast. But maybe that’s because of the situation. Or maybe we both just know there’s something there between us that we can’t deny so there’s no use trying. I don’t know what’s going to happen with this psychopath tomorrow, or next week, or in a month or a year from now. But I do know that since I’ve been in this town I’ve felt more at peace and more at home than I have in a very long time. I like the slow pace of things here. I like the people. I like you…a lot. I’d like to stay here when this is all over. Maybe I can do freelance writing and telecommute too. I can figure something out.”
Nate’s green eyes sparkled as he looked down at her. “You really want to stay here?”
She nodded. “I don’t know what’s going to happen between us, Nate. We need to spend a lot more time getting to know each other before we figure that out, but I do know that I feel like I found my home.”
“I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, and I promise you, no more stupid jealousy.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
“Now that that’s settled, there are only two things left to do,” Marcus said, drawing back a little.
“What’s that?”
“Catch this asshole so you can get on with your life,” he said.
“And the other?”
“Eat. I’m starving.”
She laughed. “I’m kind of hungry too.”
“Wanda’s?”
“How about we go into that little store over there and get something to make ourselves?”
“Oh,” Nate blinked. “Yeah, sure.”
She giggled and poked him in the ribs. “I’m not terrible at everything. I can make spaghetti without burning anything. You like spaghetti?”
“I love spaghetti.”
“Good,” she said, walking again toward the General Market. “Me too. We’ll have spaghetti and garlic bread.”
“Sounds great,” Nate said, following her. Two hours later, he tried not to act surprised about how good the meal turned out. She’d made the spaghetti sauce herself with fresh tomatoes, meat, and Italian seasonings, and she’d warmed up a fresh loaf of French bread they bought at the store with butter and garlic. Nate found a bottle of wine that Billy had left for them the first time he stocked the cabin and they ate their lunch on the front porch of the cabin. It was a beautiful day and they agreed on zero talk about the case while they ate. Instead, they used the time to get to know each other better.
“So what made you want to be a cop?” Angel asked Nate.
“My dad was a cop,” he said with a tense smile. Angel realized it was the first time she’d heard him mention his father.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a subject that made you sad.”
He smiled at her. “It only makes me sad because I miss him so much. He died way too young. I was only eleven and he was barely thirty-six years old.”
“Oh, Nate, I’m so sorry. Was he killed in the line of duty?”
Nate shook his head. “No. He died at home, peacefully in his sleep. They said he had an aneurysm that burst. I suppose if he had to go that was the best way. They claimed he didn’t feel any pain and was completely unaware. I hold onto that.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, and your mother’s. She was a young widow. Did she ever remarry?”
“No, she never even dated. She was lonely and her friends, and even me when I got older, tried to talk her into it. But she would say that she loved him too much and she felt like dating would be disrespectful to his memory. Then after she got sick and almost lost her battle with cancer, her outlook on things changed. She dates a little now and she’s traveling and experiencing different things. I think she realized that life was just too short for everyone to waste it being unhappy.”
“That’s a good attitude to have,” Angel said, nodding. “I think I’ll adopt it myself when this is all over. I’m ready for some happiness.”
Nate smiled at her and said, “Me too.”