Her words made his heart swell to the brim and shattered, all at the same time. Waves of unprecedented feelings brewed from somewhere deep inside. A perfect emotional storm created by both the love he felt for this woman, and the fear of what may come.
Holy fuck. You love her.
If he wasn’t already sitting down, Garrett would’ve fallen to his knees.
It was too soon for that. Way, way too soon.
Except…somehow, it wasn’t.
In that one, horrific moment when he’d thought she was about to be killed and he was too out of it to stop it, Garrett’s entire world had shattered in an instant.
A world he couldn’t imagine living in without her.
I never want to be without her.
Things had happened so fast he hadn’t had time to stop and analyze his thoughts or feelings. But now that he had, Garrett knew with utter certainty that his feelings for Avery weren’t just real…they were everything.
Cupping one side of her face, he brushed his thumb across her smooth cheek and whispered, “I don’t deserve you.”
“Don’t say that.” Her chocolate eyes softened.
“It’s true.”
He blinked at the sudden stinging in his eyes. Nausea churned in his gut at what he was about to reveal, but he couldn’t avoid it any longer. She deserved to know thewholetruth.
Starting with what his job really entailed.
Bolstering up the courage, he drew in a breath and said, “Sweetheart, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Does it have to do with why you brought a gun on a cruise?” Avery frowned. “How did you even get it onto the ship in the first place? And where was it when we were in the water earlier?”
All valid questions that could be answered with one simple statement.
I’m a covert agent working for a highly classified black ops group owned by a former MI6 operative who answers directly to the President of the United States.
Simple, his ass.
With his heart kicking the shit out of his chest, Garrett swallowed his nerves and said, “Avery, I—”
The truck jolted to a sudden stop, the force damn near throwing them onto their sides.
“We stopped.” Her wide eyes found his again. “Why did we stop?”
“I don’t know.” He looked toward the truck’s back door. “My guess is, we’ve made it to wherever these assholes plan to keep us until our ransom is paid.”
He’d overheard the two men who’d approached them discussing their plans for a big payout. A million each. That’s what they expected his and the others’ family members to pay in exchange for their freedom.
Hoping it would ease Avery’s worry—as well as the other hostages who’d been placed in the same truck as them—he’d waited for the doors to close and the truck to take off before sharing that information with them.
Some found it a relief, while others—like Avery—felt as though it was a death sentence.
A million dollars. Not many people could come up with that kind of money. Certainly not Alex, Avery’s sister. At least, that’s what Avery had told him.
After that plan to comfort her had backfired, he’d held her while she silently cried. Garrett assured her Colt could get enough money for thembothbut had held off telling her about his team for fear the signal hadn’t worked.
“Let’s go,” the man who’d just opened the door ordered gruffly.
One by one, the small group was led out of the truck and toward a large, cinderblock building in the middle of nowhere. Garrett surveyed the area and hostage takers with an operative’s eye, gathering as much intel as he could about who and what they were up against.