Page 39 of Letting Go

She takes a different tact though, changing the subject, getting the spotlight off her. "How do you two know each other?"

My heart stutters in my chest and I cough. I love Mateo like a brother, but I don’t want him here right now. Not with Chloe asking questions. I have to get to him first.

Chloe frowns another little frown and I want to put a kiss on her forehead and make the pucker between her eyebrows smooth again.

"When's your interview?" I say, effectively cutting off any further discussion between the two of them.

Mateus glances at his watch, a wide black leather band also calling from the '70s. Then he snaps his head and looks at me with mock shock.

"Oh. That's right, I already had it. In Portland."

I'm suddenly putting it all together. Nic's weird private consult with me. The new guy for the Portland office."

"So? You’re hired? With Colton Security Systems?"

Shit shit shit. What's Finn thinking?

"He's going to chat with you and the other guy I interviewed with in Boston first before there's an official offer."

"Nic?"

"Slick Italian guy."

Mateus is confused by my reaction. I'm not. I don’t want him working with me. Ever.

"What did you tell Finn about us?"

"Just that we served together." Mateus shoots a glance at Chloe. "And that's all I'm going to say. It’s why I stayed away until now."

"I don’t get it though. What are you—"

"I'm an analyst. I'll be working out of Portland. I think anyway. We haven't nailed down details. Like salary. See you could help me with that." Mateus shrugs again. "But he invited me up here for the rest of the week on a job."

I must have looked confused. We only have a small satellite office in Portland. No internet security, no profiling, no hardware facility.

"I think Colton's testing me. I'm working with a guy named Jackson Sterling." Just then Mateus's phone beeps. He keeps talking, more slowly though.

"… and I'm driving down with you to check this guy out." He slides the phone into a back pocket. "The motivational speaker guy."

I shake my head. "We don’t discuss—"

"Sorry," he says to Chloe. Then to me, "See you there? At The Inn? I'll follow you," he says with a wink.

On the drive back to The Inn, Chloe, who is usually so quiet, is full of questions I either can’t or won’t answer. I can tell I'm irritating her, but I can't deal with this right now. I insist on driving. So I just shut up and drive—a strategy that makes me feel like a jerk. Chloe ends up with her arms folded over her chest.

By the time I pull in and park, she launches herself out, grabs the two bags from the back seat, and marches into the kitchen through the back door. I can’t blame her. I can be a jackass.

I wait for Mateus. He pulls in from behind, parks, and takes a minute to climb out of the car. He walks up and claps another hand on me as I turn to go inside.

"Wait," he says. He lowers his voice. "The real reason I followed her is because she was being tailed. Two guys in a copper SUV. Took pictures. Got good shots of both of them. Something told me to keep an eye on her."

Fear, not something I'm used to, hits my belly.

"Go on."

"I was having lunch, getting ready to cross the street and talk to her, when I see one guy leave the wine shop, take a picture as she gets into that van. Then he jogs half a block down, gets into a copper-brown SUV driven by some other douchebag and I realize it’s a tail. That's why I followed her. I cut the fuckers off."

Finn trips down the porch steps, hand extended.