a combination that usually soothed Kiera's ne

ler. The trench coat she'd ordered from the hotel boutique at 3 AM felt stiff and unfamiliar, nothing like the silk

calls. No frantic explanations from a man who'd kissed her lik

now, in the harsh light of morning. Ethan Christensen wasn't some soft-bellied businessman who could be manipulated with a smile an

kind of mistake that had cos

by the DC morning rush, able to pretend last night had never happened. The revenge plot that had seemed so elegant

e hers, large and sca

y'd seen no sleep at all. Red rimmed the pale blue irises, and the lines around his mouth seemed deeper than they had twelve hours

ck, from the look of them, stea

g," Ethan said. It

t her, the cardboard warm against her palm, and watched his t

ord clipped and military-precise. "The

he studied the rigid set of his jaw, the way his free hand kept clenching and unc

his romantic, Col

the ghost of embarrassment. He turned toward the doors, hi

foll

, and she watched the way he automatically scanned their surroundings-doorways, windows, the dark sedan that passed a little too

nd the street. A truck rumbled past, spraying gutter water, and she felt the warmt

She'd dated men who opened doors and pulled out chairs, who sent flowers and remembered anniversaries.

steamed over, condensation tracing paths through the painted letters announcing "Best Pancakes in DC." A bell jangled as Ethan pushed the

unter waved, her gray hair pin

ra to a corner booth, the vinyl seat cracke

ame suddenly, painfully aware of her own appearance: the designer trench coat, the silk slip dress

delicate straps that suddenly felt ridiculous under the fluorescent lights. Around them, men in flannel shirts

around his coffee cup. He didn't look at her dress

aid quietly. "If you're uncomf

table." She reached for the laminated me

side of hash browns, all of it drowned in maple syrup that came in a plastic pitcher. Doris wrote it down

toast, black coffee. He waited until

I did-what I allowed to happen-that was inexcusable. Unprofessional. Unethical." He paused, his

the metal screeching against ceramic. "Should have kept your hands to yourself? Sh

n his cheeks

gaze flicker and catch. "And if it was such a terrible mistake, Colonel, why are you here? Wh

muscle in his jaw tick with the effort of control. "Because I'm not a coward,"

tly do you pl

moment Kiera saw it again-that hunger he'd shown in the hotel room, the raw need that had

vous about her plan, too focused on the performance of seduction to remember basic biolo

tching her, his egg

gry," he said, and there was some

ite, syrup dripping from her fork. "Did y

rent. That we were different. That this-" He gestured between them, encompassing the diner

ork," she said. "Your real work. Not the Penta

mething beyond her, something he could see clearly in his mind. He talked about Fort Bragg, about the young sol

ky menus and its bottomless coffee, Ethan Christensen became someone else-not the rigid officer who'd fled her

d on her hand, genuinely listening. "Can I see it?"

ess vanis

y n

she saw the effort it cost him to use her name. "It's a military in

upted. "I'm very good at followi

ers. Held. "Wh

atch your nephew's face when he realizes who I am now, who I've become, how high I've cl

you," she said instead

g bills that would cover their meal three times over. "Finish eating," he said. "I'll take you to the perimeter. That's a

ssion hidden behind her

way his hand stilled on his wallet. She filed the information away: Colonel Ethan Christensen, war he

d rememb

else. When they stepped outside, Ethan led her to a vehicle that made her stop short:

be serious,

or, pulling it open. "You wanted t

r-inch heels and her silk dress. She could do it. She'd done harder things. But sh

ng her voice go small. "My

half surrender-and closed the distance between them. Hi

ders for balance. She looked down into his face, close enough to see the flecks of gray in his stu

t passed. Ethan stepped back, his expression shuttere

lingered a fraction too long, the way his breath had caught when she'd gripped his

el and power, and Ethan Christe