and bring my hand up to my own neck, forcing myself to breathe as my figurative noose tightens.
I met Cole Carson when I was so green I might as well have been a female leprechaun, fit to live in the thick forests we’re driving through. It seems like a lifetime ago. So much has shifted since that day.
He’s changed. I’ve changed. But our circumstances have changed more than anything. Our situations were barely compatible to begin with, but now the thought of being together seems utterly impossible, which is why his wager is as crazy as the man who’s basically taken me hostage. And the shitty thing about it is, I have no other options right now.
Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place—though my place happens to be between an alpha male and being falsely accused of treachery. My situation is as stinky as dirty-donkey balls.
I ignore him and ask, “Are you taking me to the countryside to put me out of my misery and dump my body? Because I might not argue at this point—if you hit another bump in the road, my stitches may pop.”
“You might be begging for that by the time the day’s over,” he mutters. “I need to tell you something.”
I don’t take my eyes off the forest racing by. “I’m clearly here, Cole. If you have something to say, spit it out. As much as I want to, I’m too sore to jump from a moving vehicle today.”
He sighs. “Lucky me, since I know you’d actually do it.”
I turn to study his profile and can’t help but reminisce about the many times we’ve been like this—while working or stealing time between assignments. We knew our time together would end and we’d have to go our separate ways. Most of those times we never knew when we’d see the other again. It would make those moments electric with energy, deep with desperation. Not like we are now. I might talk a big game but I feel like complete rubbish. I have no idea when I’ll be strong enough to leave the States undetected, but it needs to be soon—much sooner than a month.
I change my mind. “You know what? Don’t tell me. I don’t need to know any more than necessary for the few days I’m here.”
“Days?” The word snaps me like a whip. “Sweetness, you agreed to a month.”
I hardly agreed to a thing. I couldn’t. His deal brought back too many memories. Plus, he didn’t ask me to marry him. He informed me—a trait in Cole Carson that usually pisses me off, but at that moment it did something completely different. I don’t scare easily, but sitting on my hospital bed surrounded by the man I might want but with whom I know it will never work because of life circumstances … it cut deep.
Looking back at him, I decide it’s time to stand strong and do what I planned when my private plane touched down in the US of A—take charge of my life and get shit done on my own. “I did not. You’re the one who came up with that horrendous deal. And, for your information, I don’t need your help clearing my name. I can bloody well do it on my own. I was on the path before I had to step in and save Jarvis.”
He shakes his head. “A wager’s a wager. And I never lose. I’m remedying what should have been done years ago.”
“You know what you can do with your wager,” I mutter.
“I’m trying to do you a favor and explain some things, baby. Some shit went down and I had to make some changes since the last time we were together.” He steals a glance before looking back to the road and flips the signal to turn.
“Fine. Tell me. I don’t know what could be so important that I need to know now. It’s not like we didn’t just spend a long week together in the hospital.”
He shakes his head as he slows for an upcoming turn onto a narrow drive and drags a hand down his face. He’s frustrated, and since I know for a fact Cole manages international crises on a daily basis, this is not good. “It’s a long story and I wanted to fill you in before we get to the house.”
“House?”
“Like I said, things have changed.”
I’ve never spent time with Cole in the States, never been to his home, or met his family. It was my