Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“You’re a retired Army colonel and ex-Army Intelligence. How the fuck do you miss something as big as Owen being in love with you?”
I had no idea.
He was waiting for an answer, I could tell from his face.
Maybe that was why Owen was so pissed at me all the time. Perhaps he was mad because I had completely missed his desire. And he’d gone off into the world, thinking I didn’t care, when the exact opposite was true.
I thought about him all the time. I stayed away, and I was careful. I purposely reminded him of our age difference and always added kid whenever possible. Distance between us was necessary so I wouldn’t grab hold of him and kiss him breathless. Because I wanted the very best for him, and a man twenty-four years his senior wasn’t it. He needed someone to grow old with, to raise a family with, to have a whole life with. What I could offer was small. He deserved the whole world.
“Okay,” Chris said, sighing deeply. “Lemme ask you a question, because I actually haven’t seen you two together in a couple years. But before Jill and I started dating—”
“You didn’t date her. You moved her in three days after the first time you guys slept together, and eventually, she fell in love with you because she’s a victim of Stockholm syndrome.”
“Oh, she is not, and I never kept her against her will.”
He hadn’t, of course. His wife adored the idiot for reasons I actually did understand. Once you peeled away the gruff and growly outer layer, the man underneath was a bit prickly, yes, but with a good heart. He was completely devoted to his wife and three daughters, and God help you if you were mean to any of his girls. When Chris made men disappear, they never turned back up. It was his specialty.
“Anyway,” he groused at me, “when Jill was interested in me and I missed it… I mean, I’m lucky to still be alive. She was always so pissed, and I had no clue until she finally nearly ran me over with her car, then got out and said something like, ‘I love you, fuckhead. Are we doing this or not?’”
“Oh, good God.”
“Yeah,” he said, grinning at me. “Romantic as hell.”
I shook my head.
“Maybe don’t stand anywhere out in the open when Owen’s behind a wheel.”
I took a stuttering breath. “I want to see him behind the wheel of a car again, Chris.”
“You will. I know it,” he assured me, reaching out to gently pound my knee with his fist. “He doesn’t feel dead to me, and you know I have a sense about this kinda stuff.”
He did, it was true. More times than I could count he would say, let’s go get whoever it was, and other times he’d shake his head and tell us it would be a recovery, not a rescue.
“Just wait, okay? Don’t give up yet.”
“I’m terrified.”
He nodded. “I know.”
We were quiet after that.
After showering, Chris, Jing, Arden, and I headed out to get some food. Chris liked small places, so we found one that fit the bill and had some amazing food. Halfway through dinner, I realized I’d gone silent when Jing took hold of my hand.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” I told her, trying to smile.
Arden patted my knee. “It’s okay.” She continued eating her Thai-hot pad thai. Just the fumes that came off it when they delivered it to the table… That was too much for me. “What?” she asked, purposely slurping her noodles noisily to try and make me smile.
“Your mouth will explode,” I warned her.
“I’m Chinese,” Arden reminded me. “I’m made for spice.”
“No, the Korean over here is made for spice,” Jing corrected, pointing at herself. “But yeah, boss, come on. This ain’t spicy.”
I wasn’t touching it.
Once we were back at the hotel, the four of us sat together in the living room, having drinks and looking out at the skyline.
“So…” Jing said into the silence, “what do you think we’re up against here?”
“Well,” Chris said with a yawn, “whatever it is, now that we’re on Thai soil, we’re on our own. The hardliner running the Thai political police here has an extensive track record of human-rights violations for torturing so-called enemies of the state.”
“So if it gets noisy, we’ll have half the Royal Thai Amy on our backs is what you’re saying,” Jing clarified, meeting Chris’s gaze.
“Yep. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“I didn’t even think to check, but do we have a cover here?” Arden asked me.
“Aaron Sutter has graciously made Chris an investor in his real-estate project, and he’s come to oversee his investment here.”
“That’s really nice of him,” Arden said, giving me a smile.
“It is, yes.”
“We’ll need documents, though,” she reminded me.
“Already taken care of,” Jing announced. “Hasana has created all the necessary paperwork and accreditation. You and me have been added to Chris’s fake company payroll.” She handed out plastic folders to everyone but me. “Inside you’ll find clean passports, plus work visas and corporate ID, proof that we are contracted employees of Grant Technologies, headquartered out of Los Angeles.”