He nodded.
“Be still.” She turned to face him. “I don’t think I know how to do that. I just... maybe I just don’t want to slow down. It might all catch up to me.”
They sat in silence. The sea breeze stirred the curtains behind them. For the first time in months, the knot of anxiety in Chloe’s chest began to loosen. “I think I’ve convinced myself that helping means never stopping, never resting. Like if I just stay busy enough, work hard enough, I can find...”
“Find what?”
“I don’t know. Peace, maybe? Or proof that I’m strong enough to handle whatever life throws at me?”
“I get that.” His voice emerged a little rough. “I keep telling myself that if I can control everything, I can see the trouble coming.” He glanced at her. “Although sometimes it sneaks up on you in the middle of a Myanmarese forest.”
“Hello,yousnuck up onme.”
He grinned, and it sent electricity through her heart.
“What if we’re both wrong?” she asked softly. “What if strength isn’t about handling everything alone and protection isn’t about perfect control?”
“Then we’re in trouble.” His smile was wry. “Because those are the only strategies I know.”
Right.
She pushed away from the edge, turned, and dove down into the middle of the pool.Quiet here. Cool. Peaceful.
Be still.She could almost hear Selah in her head.
When she surfaced, Skeet was gone.
She looked around. “Skeet?”
No answer. She got out and grabbed a towel, then her robe. Went into the villa.
Empty.
Where would he go at this hour?
And more important, why hadn’t he said anything before disappearing into the night?
This he needed to do alone.
The memory of their kiss burned through Skeet’s chest as he crept through the jungle darkness toward Volkov’s villa. The way Chloe had melted against him. The sweet taste of trust on her lips. That moment when everything between them had blurred from professional to personal.
That’s when he’d known he couldn’t let her get hurt. That and the fact that he got it—she couldn’t let go of needing to fix everything, just like he couldn’t stop trying to control, and frankly, they might be oil and water and headed for disaster.
Especially given what he needed to do next.
So when she’d disappeared under the water, he’d slipped away.
Get into the villa, get the intel, get out before Volkov returns.
And keep Chloe safe from the kind of danger that could get them both killed.
He moved through the shadows between massive teak trees, his footsteps light, avoiding the fallen branches that could snap and give him away. The scent of night-blooming jasmine mixed with the earthy smell of decomposing leaves. Somewhere in the canopy above, a gecko clicked its territorial warning.
Volkov’s villa loomed ahead. The two-level structure perched among the trees like a giant cocoon, connected to the resort’s walkway system by a private bridge. Tall windows revealed glimpses of the same interior as their villa, with the exception of the upper floor.
Skeet pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text to Coco.
Skeet