and I didn’t really care, or so I thought. I worked for him for months, in and out of the country.” His voice broke and he clenched his jaw and looked away, plainly struggling to maintain his composure. “He was all about luxury and class. What a joke.”
Anna was struggling too, but she sensed that Dodger desperately needed to say it all. She swallowed against the awful tightness in her throat. “You got a wake-up call?”
“One of his trucks broke down in some godforsaken country. I can’t even remember. He sent me to take care of it. When I opened the back thinking there were goods inside, I found women of all nationalities. He was a human trafficker, and I had been taking his dirty money. A lot of it. I pushed. The guards pushed back, and I left them dead on the side of the road. I don’t remember killing them.” He took a shuddering breath, his eyes glistening. “I drove to the nearest town, got them food, water, and shelter, then called the Red Cross anonymously. When I got home, I turned him in to the authorities and disappeared. I was so ashamed that I had lost what made me who I was. I vowed that night I was going to do the right thing. When I left New York, I went to San Diego, applied for BUD/S. The rest you know.”
Anna moved and straddled his lap, trying to ease a breath past the awful pain in her chest. She reached out and took his face between her hands.
“Look at me, Oliver,” she whispered jaggedly, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. Slowly he responded to the pressure and turned, his face carved by the kind of anguish that scarred his soul. With infinite tenderness, she smoothed her hand along his jaw. “You don’t have to hide your feelings from me. I understand. You got lost and then you found yourself. That is the best part here. You did right by those women.”
“I did. I tried,” he whispered roughly as he caught one of her hands and pressed it tightly against his chest. “Thank you, Anna.” He hauled in a deep, shaky breath then met her gaze, a tormented look in his eyes as he continued, “Something happened when I saw how those women had suffered, Anna. It was as if I snapped awake out of this daze of anger and resentment.” He closed his eyes and twisted his head in a gesture of pain. “I go cold every time I think how bloody close I came to losing myself completely.”
“But you didn’t,” she said with quiet conviction. “And I don’t believe you ever could. Never in a million years.”
He wearily tipped his head back, a grim expression in his eyes. “I never felt so helpless waiting for you to come back. I care about you, Anna.”
She smiled as she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “Thanks for your trust, and it was scary for a bit.”
The rigid set of his face relaxed a little as he watched her with thoughtful intensity, absently stroking the back of her hand. “How does someone as young as you have so much common sense?”
She gave him a rueful smile. “I got it from my grandmother. She’s heavy into common sense and minding your own business.”
That brought a gleam of humor into his eyes and his mouth quirked in a hint of a smile. “Well I guess one out of two isn’t bad.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, and his smile became more genuine. “You always surprise me, Anna.” He threaded his fingers deep into her hair, caressing her scalp. Then slowly, so slowly, he leaned in, his touch immeasurably tender as he brushed his mouth against hers.
That soft, lingering kiss drove the strength out of her, filling her with a pulsating weakness, and her eyes drifted shut as she swayed against him, hypnotized by the magic of his touch. The kiss seemed to go on forever until the need escalated and turned the gentleness to something fierce, the kiss hot and searching.
With a soft moan, she caught the back of his head, the gentleness turning into a fierce and escalating need as the kiss deepened and became hot and searching.
Anna slowly combed her fingers through his thick, glossy hair, then across his shoulders.
His eyes darkened, then drifted shut as he breathed her name in a hoarse whisper. She touched his lips with her trembling fingers. He cupped her back, arching it to