Page 71 of When He Lies
“I will not hurt you,” Ryan vowed. “I would sooner cut out my own heart than do that.”
“Not necessary.” Her hand rose once again to touch his chest. “I like your heart right where it is.” They were standing too close. The longing inside of her was rising too strongly again. She needed to back away. To regroup. Simone pulled in a breath. “Why didn’t more guests come running?”
“Because I made sure that we are the only ones on this floor. There are no other guests close by.”
All right, that explained some things. “And what about hotel security? Management?”
“Jamar and Charlotte will handle them.”
“They’ll also handle our killer waiter, Edward?” Curious, she pushed, “Just what will happen to him?”
“He’ll go to a black site.”
“That sounds incredibly spy-like.”
“It is. He’ll be held at an isolated location, questioned at length, and, depending on the intel he is able to give us, he’ll either cut a deal or face hell.” His gaze was far too sharp. “Why are you sad?”
“Why do you keep focusing on that?” Didn’t he see her bright smile? She was flashing it deliberately.
“Gorgeous smile,” he noted. “But fake.” He studied her. The kind of too in-depth assessment that made her feel like she was under a microscope. Ryan’s mouth tightened. “You don’t have to fake a smile with me. If you’re sad, you tell me why. If you’re mad, you tell me. I can’t fix things if I don’t know what’s broken.”
“I’m not asking to be fixed. I don’t particularly see myself as broken.”
“You’re not. You’re beautiful. You’re strong. And you risk yourself far too much.” His head dipped toward her. “Stop trying to save me.”
“But what if you need saving?” she whispered. His mouth was so close to hers.
“My brother typically rushes in at that point. Like I said, he watches my back, and I watch his.”
“I hate to tell you.” Her hand inched up. Curled around his shoulder. “But I don’t see your brother here.”
“Nash is always close when I need him.”
“Must be nice, to have family like that.” She pushed up onto her toes. The better to get closer to his mouth.
“Aren’t you close to your family?” His lips nearly brushed hers.
“My family died when I was six years old.” Horror filled her as she seemed to hear the words echoing around them. Simone sucked in a breath, and instead of pulling him toward her, her grip on his shoulder suddenly pushed Ryan away even as she tried to surge back.
But his hands curled around her waist, holding her in place. “What’s wrong?”
“You are a sneaky bastard.” And what was up with her? How had she allowed her guard to be lowered? She never talked about her family. Never. “Luring me in, just so you could ask me personal questions when all I was thinking about was the way your mouth would feel against mine. Talk about a hardcore interrogation technique. Do they train all CIA spies to use desire as a weapon?”
“Uh, no. That would be a hard negative.” His grip tightened on her.
“Let go.”
Slowly, his hands lifted.
She put three steps between them.
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice gruff. “About your family.”
She blinked rapidly. Holy crap, were those tears trying to fill her eyes? Not happening. She blinked twice more. “You need to be sorry for manipulating me. Dammit, I knew the way I felt about you was going to get me in trouble!” Why had she told him about her family? Why?
“What happened to your parents?”
She spun away from him. Her racing heart seemed to shake her chest. “Shouldn’t we focus on the bad guys? The killers who might be coming for me? The end boss Russian guy that the CIA wants to take down?”
