His breath labored as he waited for the door to open. He could feel sweat on his brow.
Then he saw her. Standing at the foot of the four-poster bed, with her back to him.
Can she not even stand to look at me?
“I’m sorry,” Evie said.
No, don’t do it. Do not say that you’re sorry, but we’re done. Do not fucking do it. “I’m not leaving you while you’re in danger.” The words were growled. The only response he could think to say. “So you might hate being nearing me right now, but it’s necessary.”
She whirled toward him. Gaped.
Dammit, there were tears in her eyes. Tear tracks on her cheeks.
Give me a chance, please. I can show you that I am so much more than what the world thinks. He didn’t say that, though. Instead, he growled—yes, another stupid growl—at her, “I will keep you safe. I won’t mess up like I did last night.”
She shook her head.
“I won’t let you out of my sight. I’ll stick closely to you. I-I…” Fuck, now he was stammering. “I will keep my hands off you, but I can’t let you be alone.”
She shook her head. She kept doing that.
Kept right on breaking his heart. The heart he’d decided—more than two years and six months ago—would always belong to her. “Evie?” He took a step inside the room, barely noticing the surroundings. “Why…no?” Why are you telling me no? Why are you turning me away when all I want is to hold you close?
But he knew the reason why. Because he’d lost her. Because she saw him for what he was. Because her dick of a brother was right.
He stared down at the floor. Not due to the fact that it was particularly fascinating—it wasn’t. It was just a hardwood floor. No, he stared at it because he couldn’t look at her right then. It hurt to see her. He wanted her so much that seeing her and knowing that he’d lost her gutted him. “I understand that you don’t trust me to keep you safe. I messed up last night.”
“You saved my life last night.”
His head snapped up.
Her eyes—those beautiful but, dammit, still tear-filled eyes of hers—were on him. “The first time I shook my head, it was because you were wrong. You didn’t mess up. You saved me.”
He lurched toward her. Freaking moved like some mindless zombie.
“The second time I shook my head because I don’t want you to keep your hands off me.”
Another lurch. The woman probably should be running from him.
Instead, she reached up. Caught his right hand in hers. Held tight. “I want you to touch me as often as you can.”
Hope burned, hot and bright, igniting within him. “Evie?”
“I’m sorry for what Harrison said to you. I’m sorry that I didn’t ever know what really happened. Because if I had known that you’d come back…I would have run to you.”
He was rooted to the spot. “What…about the other things he said?”
Her lower lip trembled. “You were hurt and I didn’t know? Someone hurt you?”
His chest ached. “Do you think I’m evil, Evie?”
“No.”
“He wasn’t wrong about the things I’ve done. Harrison wasn’t lying.” Cole had heard the truth in Harrison’s voice when he’d told Cole, only moments before, I want what is best for Evie. “I don’t think I’m best for you. Hell, I’m probably one of the worst bastards in the world.”
“I don’t believe that.”
She should. “I took jobs that I thought were legit, but later…” Shame coiled inside of him, but Cole wanted no secrets between them. He wanted Evie to know all that he was. “Later I found out that one of my employers had sent me after an innocent victim. I didn’t hurt her, I swear it. And in fact, that’s how I joined Wilde. I found out who the real good guys were, and I helped them to protect her. We brought down the bad guys. We stopped them. I knew that I never wanted to be wrong, never wanted to risk hurting an innocent, ever again.”
Her gaze searched his. “That’s why you started working for Wilde.”
“I started working for Wilde because I wanted to be someone you could be proud of.” He turned his hand so that he was holding hers. “Because one day, I was determined to have another shot with you, and when that chance came around, I wasn’t going to screw it up.”
I want that chance. Don’t take it from me now.
“Did someone hurt you?” Evie whispered.
“You don’t want to know about that.”
“I do. I want to know everything.” A pause. “After you left me, what happened to you?”
His lips parted.
And his phone rang.
What the hell?
He knew the ring tone. Chase. The guy had only left a little while before to go back to his hotel. Shit. A call from him so soon had to be about the case. Cole yanked up the phone. Shoved it to his ear. “Your timing could have been about a million times better—”
“Gia Eastman has vanished.”
“What?”
“Our agents went to interview her. Only she’s not at home. Not at work.”
“Maybe she’s with some friends who—”
“You think I haven’t checked that angle? I have. I got Wilde to pull some strings—and by strings, I mean I got the tech people to tap into some street cams. You’re not going to like what I found out.”
He waited.
Chase didn’t say anything else.
“Spit it out!” Cole snapped.
Evie winced.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he immediately said.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Chase told him warmly. “We all get stressed. I know you didn’t mean to snap at me.”
I wasn’t talking to you! “What. Did. You. Find. Out.”
“Around dawn this morning, Gia headed out for a jog. She didn’t make it back to her building. A black SUV swooped in behind her near Central Park. Guy grabbed her, and they shot out of there in a flash.”
“You’re telling me she was abducted?”
“It sure looks that way. I’ve notified the cops, sent them an anonymous tip to check for her and to take a look at street cams from this morning.” Chase’s voice roughened as he added, “We saw her as a potential suspect, but she could be the next victim.”
Because after Evie, she was the closest person to Harrison White. Maybe the kidnappers thought that since they couldn’t get Evie, they could use Gia against Harrison.
“Stay on this,” Cole ordered. “See if you can get Wilde to track her phone. I’ll talk to Harrison.”
“You think he’s going to get some kind of ransom demand?”
“If she’s been abducted, is there anyone else in Gia’s life who could pay?”
“No.” Grim. “No family. No close romantic ties, not that I’ve found.”
“My gut says this will go back to Harrison.”
“And if your gut is wrong?”
Then he didn’t know what the hell would happen to Gia.
He spoke to Chase a bit more, then shoved the phone back into his pocket. His gaze had been on Evie the whole time. “How much of that did you hear?”