Chapter 2
CHAPTER
TWO
The more Hudson got to know Natalie, the more certain he’d become that she had no idea what her father was up to.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get caught in the crosshairs her father had created.
That thought was nearly unbearable. She deserved better than this life her father had built, a life that made her guilty by association.
She was nothing like her father.
Timothy shifted. Their meal—crab cakes for him and broiled mahi for her—was finished. Now he and Natalie were just talking, letting their food digest, and watching people on the boardwalk—one of Natalie’s favorite pastimes.
He wished he could enjoy this moment, but he had things he needed to know.
Time was running out, lives were on the line, and he had to become more assertive, to stop dancing around issues. Yet, at the same time, he needed to be very careful not to blow his cover.
“Nat—” he started.
“Listen, I know we haven’t defined what this is.” She waved her index finger back and forth between the two of them. “But I need you to know that whatever this is, it matters to me. You matter to me.”
The weight in his chest grew heavier, and a lump formed in his throat.
Natalie looked at him with those wide, trusting eyes, and all Hudson could think about was the past three months together. About how he wasn’t supposed to actually fall for her.
But how he had.
Then he remembered the surveillance photos he’d seen, the ones that were now in the temporary apartment he’d set up in Norfolk.
He remembered the dossiers he managed to copy from her computer.
Remembered the recordings of her phone calls with her father as he tried to find evidence of her father’s wrongdoings.
None of those things made Natalie look guilty. No, she was innocent in all this.
But she would feel betrayed when she discovered who Hudson really was, and he couldn’t bear the thought of that.
He reached across the table and squeezed her hand, remembering the sincerity in her sweet words. “You matter to me too, Natalie.”
He meant the words, but that didn’t dissuade the guilt.
Natalie beamed.
Nothing made him happier than seeing her so happy.
He just . . . he just needed this to be real.
But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.
He’d been warned by his superiors at Blackout Tactical to make sure this was all an act. He’d thought the assignment would be easy. After all, he didn’t let himself get too close to people.
Not after what Claire had put him through. Not after she’d broken his heart.
But he’d never expected Natalie to be this wonderful either.
Their server carried their empty dishes away, breaking the moment. But the easy intimacy of earlier had already fractured.
Something had changed with that phone call, and he needed to know what. Little did she know that all her calls were being recorded. When he went back to his apartment, he’d be able to listen, to find out.
Plus, one of his colleagues, Axel Hendrix, was monitoring things on the boardwalk. Hudson had already seen his teammate as he pretended to be a casual tourist. He may have overheard part of Natalie’s phone conversation.
Hudson would find out soon enough.
However, learning the truth could change everything.
Was he ready for that?
Hudson paid for their dinner, then walked with Natalie to his car.
He’d drop her off at her house—located in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Virginia Beach—and then he’d head back to Blackout headquarters in Lantern Beach, North Carolina. It was a three-and-a-half-hour drive, along with a ferry ride.
He needed to consult with his team. This investigation into Sigma had taken entirely longer than anyone had anticipated.
The terrorist organization was slippery and knew how to cover their tracks. Even though his team had made good headway in bringing the group down, there was still more work to be done. Their intel pointed to the fact that the group’s biggest attack was still coming.
He and Natalie chitchatted on the short drive. He’d told her earlier that he had to go out of town on a business trip so he’d be gone for a few days. Really, he’d be back at work, trying to sort through all the intel he’d gathered.
At her house, he put the car in Park and walked her to her door like he’d done many times before.
They paused there.
“Timothy?”
Natalie’s gentle voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he glanced down at her, warmth filling his chest.
“Yes?” He still wasn’t used to hearing that name. It sounded foreign to his ears.
She tilted her head sweetly. “If there was something you needed to tell me—something important—you would, wouldn’t you?”
The question hung between them like a loaded weapon. Had something been communicated in that phone call that made her ask this?
Hudson looked at her face, memorizing the curve of her cheek and the way the streetlight caught the gold flecks in her brown eyes.
Tomorrow, he’d have to make a choice.
Tell his team about his real feelings for her, which would end his assignment. Or continue the deception and risk everything—his career, his team, potentially innocent lives—for a woman whose father might be planning a terrorist attack.
Her question slammed back into his mind. If there was something you needed to tell me—something important—you would, wouldn’t you?
He swallowed hard before saying, “Of course.”
He immediately hated himself for lying to her face.
Natalie nodded, but her eyes slid away from his, fixing on something over his shoulder. Her hand moved to the necklace at her throat—that nervous habit he’d noticed she had when something bothered her.
She started to turn toward her door, then paused and looked back at him. “Timothy?”
“Yes?”
She stepped close enough that he could smell the subtle floral scent of her perfume. “Thank you for tonight. For dinner. For being . . . you.”
The words cut deeper than they should have, a reminder of all the lies between them.
He wanted her to know the real him. Which was a problem within itself.
Before he could respond, she rose on her toes and pressed her lips to his—soft, sweet, and achingly genuine. Her hand came up to rest against his chest, right over his heart that hammered with equal parts longing and guilt.
Hudson kissed her back, memorizing the moment even as he knew it might be one of the last times she’d look at him with trust in her eyes.
When she pulled away, her cheeks were flushed and her smile tentative but real. “Good night, Timothy.”
“Good night, Nat.” His voice cracked with emotion.
He watched her unlock her door and slip inside, then waited until he saw the lights come on in her house.
Only then did he walk to his car, feeling the weight of tomorrow’s inevitable conversation pressing on him like a physical force.
As he started the trek back to Lantern Beach, his mind raced ahead to the conversation he’d have to have with his bosses at Blackout—Colton Locke and Ty Chambers. The one where he’d have to admit he’d compromised himself, compromised the mission, and fallen in love with the target’s daughter.
He had to come clean with them.
That meant tomorrow everything would change.
But not tonight.
Tonight, he’d still pretend that Timothy Shaw was real and Natalie Ravenscroft was just a woman he was dating, not the potential key to stopping Sigma’s next attack.