Considering that his life was all about secrets… “Maybe you should be careful what you ask for.”
“I’ve been careful too long as it is.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach and for a moment, her gaze turned distant. “If you think this guy is targeting me…” She gave a bitter little laugh. A strange sound because his Jemma wasn’t bitter. She was happy and sweet and he felt better when he was near her.
“Why?” Jemma demanded. “Why is he after me? What have I done?”
He strode toward her and caught her hands in his. “Not a damn thing, Jemma. This isn’t on you. It’s on the dumbass who thinks he can play a game with you.”
“But I’ve been safe, for so long. He’s gone.”
Grayson stilled. “He?”
“He can’t hurt me anymore. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.” Her gaze dropped to the floor and her long lashes shielded her eyes.
“Jemma…” The fear he’d felt before was back. And this time, his heart ached. Because he knew his Jemma had been hurt before. Badly. All of the signs were there.
“I want to trust you,” Jemma whispered. “Tell me your secrets, Gray. And I will tell you all of mine. Secrets I’ve never told anyone else.”
His hands rose and curled around her shoulders. I’m out of the business now. I walked away. And Jemma…
No secrets. Not between us. Because he already knew Jemma wasn’t going to be some fling. She was much, much more.
“I saw the way you handled the gun. The way you just ran after that guy without hesitating. If you’re not a cop, what are you? FBI? DEA?”
“CIA.”
Her lashes lifted. That bright blue gaze locked on him. Seemed to see right through him.
Grayson clarified, “Former CIA.” As of two weeks ago. “I can’t talk about my missions. They’re classified, but yeah, I know how to handle myself with a gun.” And at least twenty other weapons. And when he didn’t have a weapon, he still knew how to take down the enemy.
A faint furrow appeared between her brows. “CIA. Does that mean…what are you? Like, a spy or something?”
Exactly like a spy. “I’m out of the business now,” he told her again. “Just trying to live a normal life.” Because he was tired of the death and the lies. Jemma didn’t want secrets. Neither did he. Not with her. “I don’t have any family left, and this place—it seemed like it might be a good stopping point for me while I tried to figure out what the hell I’d be doing with myself next.” Maybe private security. Maybe freelance work.
Maybe, shit, maybe he’d even write that spy novel he’d always thought about. He sure had plenty of material to use…
“Holly is a perfect refuge,” she said, as that furrow smoothed away. “Or at least, it was.” Her smile was sad. “I’ve been hiding here for years.”
He waited.
No secrets.
She had to tell him on her own. She had to say…
“I’ve been hiding here,” Jemma continued quietly. “Ever since I killed a man.”
***
It was freaking cold in the mountains. Not as cold as it had been in Moscow, but hell…where was Jemma White? Was the woman ever coming home?
He hunched down against a tree. He could always try breaking into her home. Waiting in there for her. Even if she had an alarm, he could bypass it. Freaking child’s play. Yeah, yeah, he could go inside. Stay all nice and warm and wait for her.
After all, Jemma had to come back. Sooner or later.
But with every moment that passed…
His rage grew.
My shoulder still hurts like a damn bitch.
Another fucking black mark against Grayson Cole.
Chapter Seven
Grayson didn’t act shocked by her confession. He sure didn’t look horrified. He just gave a little nod and said, “Tell me more.”
More. She’d been keeping this story inside for so long that she was afraid to tell him. Her father had died when she was seven, and her mom—she’d passed the year before Jemma left for college. That was why she’d waited a year and started college when she’d been nineteen. Since she didn’t have any family left, it had been easier to keep the truth inside.
Easier, but it hadn’t made it hurt any less.
“Jemma. Sweetheart, if you think I’m going to judge you, you need to think again.” His fingers were caressing her shoulders. He stared down at her, his expression tender. “Because I know you didn’t kill anyone in cold blood.”
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t like that.” She hadn’t been given a choice. It was fight back or die. I didn’t want to die.
“I can handle your secrets.”
Gazing into his eyes, she believed him. The other men she’d dated, hadn’t she pulled back because she’d thought they couldn’t handle her past? Or…
I didn’t want them to know. I didn’t want to open up with anyone else.
Just Grayson. He was different.