Rather than answer, Logan raised an index finger halfway in the air. With a mouthed “Hang on a second”, he spoke to the person who had apparently just picked up. “It’s me.” He waited, listening to someone she couldn’t see while his eyes remained solely on her. “Yep. That’s it.” Pause. “Okay, good. I think Nat and I just found something. Maybe.” Pause. “Can’t confirm until we look deeper, but if it’s what we’re thinking it is, it’s huge.” Pause. “Nope. Bigger than that.” Pause. “Exactly.”
He was talking to someone about all this? About her job?
Natalie frowned. Given his background, Logan understood the concept behind confidential better than most. While what she’d found wasn’t necessarily classified intel—they still weren’t entirely surewhatit was—she wasn’t too keen on the idea of his bringing anyone else in on it just yet.
Especially since it was her job on the line, and he hadn’t even bothered to run it by her first.
Frustrated by the one-sided the conversation, Natalie used what she’d intended to be a hushed whisper when she asked him, “Can you at least put the call on speaker, so I can hear, too?”
Since this did directly involve her and all.
But the frustratingly handsome man bypassed her question by telling whoever was on the phone, “All right, man. We’ll see you soon.”
See you soon?
He’d barely had time to end the call before she demanded to know, “Who are we seeing soon?”
Right on cue, the man’s alarm system alerted him to a vehicle pulling into the drive. He’d taught her how to turn it on and off when they’d first gotten here the night of the break-in.
The man had even blushed the teensiest bit when he’d given her the four-digit code—0324.
They were numbers that could mean anything. Or nothing. But Natalie had recognized the combination immediately for what it was…
March twenty-fourth. My birthday.
Even now, the idea that he’d used her birthday for a system he’d installed shortly after buying the place still warmed her heart. A silly thing, really. But to her, it was just more proof that theirs was a closeness that ran deep.
And with every new moment that passed, Natalie could feel herself falling further and further into that lifechanging abyss.
The sound of multiple car doors shutting reached them from outside. Logan was already at the door when Natalie unfolded herself to stand.
“Okay, seriously.” She played a tiptoed version of Hopscotch as she weaved through the center of her many piles on her way to join him. “Who’s here?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Surprise?
“Logan, you know I hate surprises.”
She used to love them. Birthdays. Christmas. Just because.
Anniversaries.
Natalie used to be like a little kid when it came to the unexpected. But that was before the day she’d been surprised by the cruelest, most devastating news a military wife could receive.
So yeah. She and surprises weren’t exactly on friendly terms. Not anymore.
“Pretty sure you’re gonna like this one.” Logan shot her a wink and a smirk with the power to steal all her worries.
Surprise? What surprise?
Opening the door, he greeted someone she couldn’t yet see. “About time you guys got here.”
“Would’ve been here sooner, butsomeone’sflight kept getting delayed, which then put usallbehind schedule.”
Natalie sucked in a breath, her eyes flying up to Logan.
It can’t be.