He brushed his fingers over her cheek. His eyes were a deeper blue than she’d seen them before. “I thought you knew.”
She shook her head again. Not trusting herself to speak. Not needing to ask what she was supposed to know. He was about to tell her, and she was bracing herself for goodbye.
He dropped a sweet little kiss on her lips and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. “I have to leave. We know that. We’ve known it all along. What I didn’t know was how hard it would be.”
She hadn’t known either. And she hadn’t known how hard goodbye was going to be, but she could already feel her heart starting to crack.
He dropped another kiss on her lips, but she just needed him to come out and say it. She didn’t want his pity or his comfort.
“I didn’t know how hard it would be because I didn’t know. I had no clue that, by the time I had to leave, I’d be so crazy in love with you.”
She nodded. There, he’d said it … Wait! What? … That wasn’t goodbye! Her head jerked up and she met his gaze. “Err … Say that again?”
He chuckled. “I’m in love with you, Lee.”
“Oh!” She sputtered. “That’s so not what I thought you were going to say.”
His smile faded. “I know and I’m sorry, but I can’t help it and I’m not going to hide it. I told you I’m attached to you and before I leave, I need you to know how much.”
Her heart leaped in her chest.
“I love you, Leanne Miller. I hope that doesn’t scare you.”
She brought her hands up to cup his face. “It scares me stupid!” She paused to kiss him. “It scares me more than anything. Well …” Her heart was hammering, but she had to do it. “There is one thing that scares me more.”
“What?” His voice was husky, his arm tight around her.
“The thing is … the thing that scares me …” She was stammering. She wasn’t sure if she could say it—if she should say it—but the look on his face told her she had to. He needed to know. “I love you, too.”
His face relaxed. “You do?”
“I do. I didn’t plan to tell you, though.”
“I probably shouldn’t have told you. I know how you feel about commitment, but I wasn’t trying to make it one. I just want you to know how I feel about you.”
She pressed herself against him and buried her face in his neck. “Thank you.” It felt wonderful. She wanted to bask in the warmth of it. But it was dangerous. She knew that. He’d worked his way into her heart …
He took hold of her chin and made her look up at him. “I know you didn’t want to love me.”
She had to laugh. “That sounds awful. It’s not that I didn’t want to love you. It’s just that I know how much love can hurt. It’s better to avoid it than to take the risk.” She shrugged. “But with you, it was unavoidable. If I was ever going to love anyone, it had to be you.”
“I promise I won’t hurt you, Lee.”
She opened her mouth to tell him that was a promise no one should make—because you just never know.
He nodded, seeming to read her mind. “At least, I’ll never knowingly hurt you, okay?”
“Thank you.”
~ ~ ~
Ryan looked over at Manny. He had his weapon trained on the doorway and waved two fingers at Ryan to go in. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he kicked the door in and stood back before hurrying inside. He swept the room, making sure it was clear before he turned back to beckon Manny to follow.
Ten minutes later, they stood on the roof; the rest of the team milled around. The building was clear. They were too late.
Manny blew out a sigh. “I thought we had them.”
“Me, too.” Ryan felt drained. Eleven long weeks had led up to this point. The assignment that they’d worked together in California had been phase one of this op. Professor Tailor and all his clever cyber security measures had been the end of the funnel—the spout where the money poured out. The group here in Cartagena was the opening, where all the dirty cash flowed in. The three most important men in the group should be here in this building right now. But they weren’t. Something somewhere had gone wrong. Whether they’d been tipped off about the raid, or whether … Ryan frowned. Which way around was it? Had there been a tip-off or had he and Manny received bad information?
“What?” asked Manny.
“Something’s not right.”
“You’re feeling it, too?”
“Yup.” He made his way back to the stairs, wanting to clear the building one more time. Manny followed. By the time they reached the street again, they were none the wiser. Ryan’s shoulders sagged. He was tired. He was sick of the heat and the humidity. He’d been looking forward to going home and now … now, they’d have to start over and who knew how long that would take.
Manny gave him a wry smile. “I’ll see you back at base, I guess. We need to regroup.”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you there.” He started walking and was about to turn the corner when Manny yelled his name. He turned just in time to see the older guy barreling toward him. Manny tackled him in a move that a linebacker would have been proud of.
All the air rushed out of his lungs. “What the …” Were the only words he got out before gunshots rang out. Little clouds of dust popped up where bullets hit the ground.
Manny was crawling for the cover of a car parked a few feet away. Ryan scrambled after him. Manny popped up over the hood and fired two shots, drawing returning fire from across the street. He ducked back down next to Ryan. “I guess our instincts haven’t abandoned us completely. Something’s definitely not right.”
Ryan gave him a grim smile. “Yeah. I’m seeing two shooters. You want to cover me?”
Manny nodded, and Ryan crouched and ran across the street. More little clouds of dust popped up around his feet as he ran. Manny returned fire taking one of the shooters down.
When he reached the building the shots were coming from, Ryan slid around the corner and let himself in. He had to hope that Manny could keep the remaining shooter engaged. He crept silently up the stairs and was almost at the top when a door opened, and a wide-eyed man came out looking around wildly. He saw Ryan and raised his weapon in the same instant Ryan fired his own.
Ryan watched him drop to the floor, painfully aware that they needed him alive. He scrambled to him and rolled him onto his front, pulling his arms behind his back.
“Ryan!” Manny shouted from below.
“Got him.”
Manny came up and moments later the rest of the team swarmed around them, taking the bleeding but still breathing shooter downstairs to question him.
Ryan blew out a sigh. “Setup, you think?” he asked Manny.
“I’d say so.”
“We need to get after them.”
Manny pursed his lips. “We do. But we doesn’t include you anymore.”