Page 85 of When He Lies
But…
Only after he’d called her bad luck.
He’d hurt her. Ryan had seen the pain in her eyes, and it gutted him. “I want to know who he is. How the hell he knew she was here. Any unknown is a threat.”
“Um, Ryan.” A pause. “Sorry, but I have to ask, are you being properly detached on this mission?”
Uh, no, he was not. “I want to know who he is.”
“Your meeting with Frederick is scheduled to occur in the morning. If it goes well, we can shut this case down very soon. You and Simone could potentially be going your separate ways within twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
Screw that. He didn’t want to go separate ways. He wanted her. “She’s not bad luck.”
“Excuse me?”
His right hand rose, and his fingers skimmed over the crooked bridge of his nose. “When she was six years old, her parents were killed in an auto accident. She was trapped in some sort of ditch, the water was rising, and Simone thought that she would die.”
“That’s…quite tragic. I’m very sorry for her loss.” A careful clearing of Jezebel’s throat. “Is this case becoming personal for you?”
The case had been personal from the moment Simone had been threatened. “She grew up in foster care. I’m telling you this story so you can help narrow things down and find out who she really is.”
“Sounds to me like you know who she really is.”
He didn’t. She still confused and maddened him and…she made him want to put the world at her feet. The story about her family had gutted him, and all he’d wanted to do was make sure she never knew pain again.
“She’s a survivor,” Jezebel added. “She came from pain. She learned to adapt quickly. That’s the chameleon aspect showing through.”
Her bright smiles. The charming laughter. Masks that she wore to hide the truth. To hide her pain.
“She’s strong. Intelligent. Determined. Very resourceful.” There was no missing Jezebel’s admiration. “It’s really no wonder that you find yourself falling for her.”
“I’m not falling for her!”
Laughter. “Say that to someone who can’t tell when you lie.”
His heart slammed into his chest.
“I’ll use the background information you gave me to hunt for more intel on her past. I’ll also get the security footage sent to you. But, right now, I have an idiot to interrogate. And you have a meeting to prepare for. Do not let this case go off the rails. The end is in sight. Eyes on the prize and all that.” She hung up.
He gripped the phone and then he turned and glanced back down the hallway. He should not have been surprised to see Simone standing there, but he was.
She’d changed. Put on a silky, black pajama set. Her feet were bare and that would be why he hadn’t heard her approaching steps. But, from the look on her face, Simone had heard plenty of his conversation.
I’m not falling for her!
What the hell should he say?
“I came back to clean and bandage your wound.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “But then I heard you telling all my secrets to the person on the other end of the phone.”
“Jezebel. I was talking to Jezebel.”
“Yes, I figured it was her.” One delicate hand pressed to her heart. “Do you know, before you, there is only one other person in the world that I told about my parents and what it was like to be in that car with them?”
Fuck. Betrayal. He saw it on her face. He’d betrayed her. He’d shared her secrets. He’d done this. All because he was obsessed with unwrapping the mystery that was Simone.
“No, I guess there is no way for you to know that, is there? Because we’re still surface. Surface that fucks, but surface.” A slow exhale. “Here’s the thing, though. Surface isn’t supposed to hurt this badly. At least, I don’t think it should. I always believed casual hookups were supposed to be fun and exciting. No complications.”
There was nothing casual about them. “Simone?—”
