12. You Came Back #2
Chris pushed it open.Alley.Clear.“Come on.”They ran.Or Camila ran.Chris did something between running and refusing to admit he was injured.They made it halfway down the alley before he heard engines.Black SUVs.Multiple.Chris shoved Camila behind him.
His hand went toward the weapon—Gone.Still outside.Great.The vehicles stopped.Doors opened.Armed men emerged.Chris prepared himself.Then:“CAMILA!”Mateo.Chris almost collapsed from relief.Almost.Camila ran.Mateo caught his sister.“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”Diego appeared behind him.His eyes went immediately to Chris.Blood at his mouth.
Torn jacket.Bruised face.Holding his ribs.“Roman?”Chris nodded.“Good timing.”
Then his knees almost gave out.Chris collapsed.Diego caught his arm.“Jesus.”
“I’m fine.”
“Everybody keeps saying that tonight,” Camila snapped.Chris looked at her.She was shaking now.Adrenaline wearing off.Mateo noticed.His face darkened.“Who did this?”
Chris wiped blood from his mouth.“Don’t know.”
“You see them?”
“Two. Maybe three.”
“Weapons?”
“Yes.”
“Were they after you?”Chris looked at Camila.Then Mateo.
“I don’t know.”Mateo’s jaw tightened.Chris could see the calculation happening.Rival cartel?
Enemy?Kidnapping attempt?Retaliation?The FBI would have the same questions.Assuming Chris survived the debriefing.Mateo put an arm around Camila.
“Get her home.”Camila immediately pulled away.
“No.”Mateo stared.“What?”Her eyes found Chris. “He’s coming.”
“Camila—”
“He’s coming.”Mateo looked at Chris.Chris really didn’t have the energy for Vargas family politics.“I’m fine.”Camila glared.“Say that one more time.”Chris almost smiled.“I’m—”
“Don’t.”He stopped.Mateo looked between them.Something registered.Chris saw it.
Not now.Please, not fucking now.Diego opened the SUV door.
“Everybody in.”For once, nobody argued.Thirty minutes later, Chris sat in a private sitting room inside the Vargas mansion with an ice pack pressed against his ribs.He should have left.He should have found a way to reach Sloan.He should have been reporting every detail.Instead he was sitting on a ridiculously expensive sofa while a private physician Mateo trusted examined the cut near his eyebrow and Chris’s ribs.Camila hadn’t left the room.Not once.Mateo and Diego were somewhere downstairs trying to determine who had attacked them.Chris knew what the FBI would be doing.Vehicle identification.Traffic cameras.Emergency signal records.Response reconstruction.And wondering why the hell Walker hadn’t checked in.
Soon.He needed five minutes.The doctor finished.“Hospital?”
“No.”
“You may have fractured ribs.”
“No hospital.”The doctor clearly disliked him.Chris was comfortable with that.Eventually the man left.The room became quiet.Camila stood near the window.Chris looked at her.
“You okay?”She nodded.He didn’t believe her.“Camila.”She turned.Her eyes were wet.
Chris’s chest tightened.“Hey.”She crossed the room.Fast.Chris barely had time to stand before she reached him.Her arms went around him.Pain shot through his ribs.He didn’t care.Chris held her.Hard.She buried her face against his chest.He felt her shaking.“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.”
“You’re safe.”
“You weren’t.”Chris closed his eyes.Her fingers tightened in his shirt.For several seconds, neither moved.Then Camila whispered:“You came back.”Chris frowned.“Of course I came back.”She pulled away enough to look at him.“No.”Her voice trembled.“You don’t understand.”
“Camila—”
“You could’ve left.”Chris stared at her.“When the car crashed. When those men came. You could have gotten away.”
“I wasn’t leaving you.”
“You didn’t know what they wanted.”
“Didn’t matter.”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Stop doing that!”Chris went quiet.A tear escaped.She angrily wiped it away.“You keep acting like none of this matters.”
“I don’t.”
“You got hurt because of me.”
“No.”
“You went back for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”Chris opened his mouth.Nothing came.Because it was my job.Easy.
Safe.Believable.He couldn’t say it.Because that wasn’t why.Maybe it had been once.
Not anymore.“Chris.”He looked into her eyes.“Because you were there.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“It does for me.”She stared.Then she kissed him.No warning.No teasing.
Nothing playful about it.Just adrenaline.Fear.Relief.Chris caught her automatically.
One hand at her waist.The other at the back of her neck.He kissed her back.And immediately knew this was nothing like the SUV.That kiss had been attraction.This was something else.Camila pressed closer.Chris forgot about his ribs.Forgot about Mateo downstairs.Forgot about Sloan.Forgot about the operation.For several seconds, there was nothing except her.Alive.Here.Safe.His hand tightened around her waist.Camila’s fingers slid into his hair.She kissed him harder.Chris groaned softly against her mouth.Bad.Very bad.She backed him toward the sofa.His knees hit the edge.Camila moved with him.
Chris caught her waist.“Camila.”She kissed him again.He nearly stopped fighting himself.
Nearly.Her hand moved beneath his jacket.Chris sucked in a breath.“Wait.”She looked at him.Both breathing hard.“Why?”He stared at her.Because if she kissed him again, stopping wasn’t going to remain an option.Because adrenaline was still flooding both of them.
Because she was scared.Because he was lying to her.Because downstairs was her brother.
Pick one.“All of them.”Camila frowned.“What?”Chris realized he’d answered a question she hadn’t asked.He laughed breathlessly.“Nothing.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pull away.”
“I’m trying to do the right thing.”
“Since when?”He smiled despite himself.“Excellent question.”She touched his face.
The smile disappeared.Her thumb brushed carefully beside the cut over his eyebrow.“You came back.”Again.This time quieter.Chris covered her hand with his.“Camila.”
“You promised me you would.”
“I know.”
“And you did.”His throat tightened.“Yeah.”She looked at him differently.Chris felt it.
Something had changed.This wasn’t flirtation anymore.Not curiosity.Not forbidden attraction.Something deeper had slipped in while neither of them was paying attention.
Trust.That terrified him.Because she was trusting a lie.Chris brought her hand away from his face but didn’t release it.“We need to slow down.”Camila looked at their joined hands.“Do you want to?”Wrong question.Chris laughed quietly.“No.”Her eyes lifted.
“At least that’s honest.”The word struck him.Honest.If she only knew.Chris released her hand.“Go get some sleep.”
“Bossy.”
“Very.”She stepped back.Then stopped.“Chris?”
“What?”
“When those men came after us…”He waited.“You changed.”His body went still.“What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen Mateo’s security.”Chris said nothing.“I’ve seen Diego with a gun.”Still nothing.
“But you…”Her eyes searched his.“You didn’t even think.”Chris kept his expression neutral.“People do strange things when they’re scared.”
“You weren’t scared.”He almost laughed.“You have no idea.”
“Not for yourself.”That silenced him.Camila stepped closer again.“Who taught you to do those things?”Chris’s heartbeat slowed.Here it was again.The questions.Driving.Threat detection.Weapons.Fighting.His instincts were starting to become impossible to explain.
“Private security.”Camila stared at him.It was the cover story.Prepared.Approved.
Believable.And for the first time—he saw clearly that she didn’t believe it.“You are one strange criminal, Chris Roman.”Chris gave her a tired smile.“You’ve mentioned that.”
She kissed his cheek.Careful of the cut.Then whispered:“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, princess.”She pulled back.“I’m letting that one go because you saved my life.”
“Generous.”
“Don’t get used to it.”She walked toward the door.Chris watched.Her hand touched the handle.“Camila.”She looked back.Chris didn’t know why he’d stopped her.Maybe he just needed to see her face one more time.“You’re safe.”Her expression softened.“I know.”
She opened the door.“Because you came back.”Then she disappeared.Chris remained standing in the middle of the room.Alone.His ribs hurt.His face hurt.His cover was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.Someone had just launched a real attack against a vehicle carrying Mateo Vargas’s sister.And the FBI still didn’t know why.Those should have been the things consuming him.They weren’t.Chris touched his mouth.
He could still feel her kiss.You came back.He closed his eyes.“Of course I came back.”
And finally admitted the part that frightened him most.He hadn’t gone back because Chris Roman was being paid to protect Camila Vargas.He hadn’t gone back because she was Mateo’s sister.He hadn’t even gone back because the operation required it.He’d gone back because somewhere between her threatening to make him walk home, sitting on his lap, interrogating him about his driving, and looking at him like she could see through every lie.Camila had stopped being an assignment.That wasn’t Roman protecting her.
That was Chris protecting Camila.And Chris Walker was falling for the one woman he had absolutely no right to love.