Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“You can’t blame your judgment when someone is purposely trying to deceive you,” Miles says.
“Like you both were?”
I lean across toward her. “We were doing our job, Callie. We were only intending to do surveillance. We never thought you or your family would get hurt.”
Her head draws back and she frowns, and alarm bells go off in my head as tears well in her eyes.
Without bothering to wipe those tears away, she leans across the table, her voice low and bitter. “I told you all about what my ex did to me, how he betrayed me, and how much he hurt me, and you didn’t think I’d get hurt by you sleeping with me, when I didn’t even know who you were?”
CHAPTER 64
MILES
Max and I reel back, as if we’ve been slapped. We knew this, of course. We know how we hurt her, and how we betrayed her, but hearing her say it, seeing her face as she says it, is torture I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
“You know us, Callie,” Max says. “You know who we are, you just didn’t know about our jobs. I’m not minimizing the way we deceived you, and our jobs are a very important part of who we are, but you know us.” My brother pats his chest, right over his heart.
“We knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, Callie,” I say, “but we couldn’t resist the pull we felt. We should have waited to take things as far as they went, but we couldn’t resist you. We got carried away.”
“We never anticipated having to do the bust at the wedding, and we hoped there’d be a way through it all where you didn’t get hurt,” Max says. “We were just planning to gather information, arrest him sometime after the wedding, and then be able to come clean with you as soon as our work was done.
“We almost considered not going ahead with the bust, but we couldn’t put our feelings above the chance to take those men down. We’re sorry we couldn’t tell you ahead of time, and we’re sorry your sister’s wedding was disrupted.”
I meet her eyes, thankful that she’s still listening, and hopeful that she understands how sincere we are. “We made bad decisions, but I hope you can see that we’re nothing like your ex, and if you give us the chance, we’ll prove it to you.”
The server appears with salads, and Max and I both draw in deep breaths. It’s hard to read anything in Callie’s expression aside from the pain.
“So, what exactly are you asking for?” she says as we all sit there, not touching our food.
“We would be very grateful for the chance to have a fresh start,” Max says.
“You want me to pretend none of that ever happened? That’s a pretty big ask.”
“We don’t expect you to forget,” I say, “but what we have is too special not to try to work through it. If you give us the chance, we’ll prove ourselves to you every day for the rest of our lives, and it will be easy, because all we want to do is take care of you.”
Callie’s eyes are big as she looks up at me. “The rest of your lives?”
“When you know, you know.”
“We heard you ran into Ms. Collins,” Max says. “She mentioned that she told you about us extending our lease. We’re working on getting a field office started here.”
“What? Why?”
“To be near you, Callie.”
She looks down at the table, softly shaking her head in disbelief. “You really are serious.”
I take her hand, and breathe a sigh of relief when she lets me hold it. “We’re committed to you Callie.”
“And we meant it when we said we were falling in love with you,” Max adds.
She’s quiet for a long moment, then meets our eyes again. “So, what would a fresh start look like?”
Max draws his hand down in front of his face, instantly switching from a serious expression to his more usual grin. “Callie Baker, thank you for coming to dinner with us for this first date. We can’t wait to learn all about you, but first, we want to tell you up front that we’re employed as special agents for the state.”
“A lot of what we do is classified,” I add, “but we promise to tell you everything about our work that we’re allowed to.”
She shakes her head, and the sound of her laughter is the best thing I’ve heard in weeks.
Still holding my hand, she reaches for Max’s too. “It’s very nice to meet you, Miles and Max Pruitt. You’re the most handsome men I’ve ever seen, and I find you completely irresistible. I’m going to expect honesty from you, but I’m also going to do my best not to let my past hurts get in the way of our relationship.”