15. Her Shadow #3
“You look terrified.”Chris stared at the two toothbrushes sitting beside each other.Then at her.“This is getting out of control.”Camila wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Too late.”Chris looked down.“That’s becoming your favorite phrase.”
“Because it’s usually true.”She kissed him.And once again, Chris forgot why he was arguing.But there were moments that scared him more than the physical ones.Camila asleep beside him while rain hit the windows.Camila bringing him breakfast because she’d noticed he hadn’t eaten.Camila sitting silently beside him after his ribs started hurting instead of teasing him.Camila knowing when he needed space.Camila recognizing his moods.
“Bad day?”Chris looked over.“What makes you say that?”
“You’ve checked the mirror nine times in three minutes.”
“Traffic.”
“You’re rubbing your thumb against the steering wheel.”Chris stopped.He hadn’t known he did that.Camila had.“You do it when you’re worried.”Chris stared ahead.“When did you figure that out?”
“A while ago.”That frightened him.Because while Chris had been learning Camila—
Camila had been learning Chris.Not Roman.Him.She knew he hated sweet coffee.
She knew he couldn’t sleep with his back to a door.She knew sudden noises woke him instantly.She knew he touched the scar near his shoulder when something reminded him of his past.She knew he became quiet whenever she asked about family.She knew he scanned crowds.She knew he remembered license plates without trying.
She knew he could drive like hell.Fight.Shoot.Protect.Disappear emotionally whenever a question came too close.And she knew he was lying about something.She just didn’t know what.One evening, they walked through the gardens after sunset.Camila held his hand.
Chris should’ve stopped that.He didn’t.“You know what I like about you?” she asked.
Chris looked over.“My incredible personality?”
“No.”
“Looks?”
“Debatable.”Chris stopped walking.“Excuse me?”She laughed and pulled him forward.“What, then?”Camila thought about it.“You make me feel normal.”That wasn’t what he’d expected.Chris became quiet.“With Mateo, I’m Mateo Vargas’s sister.”
She looked toward the mansion.“With everyone else, I’m the Vargas girl. People either want something from my family or they’re afraid of my family.”Her fingers tightened around his.“But you never cared.”Chris’s chest hurt.He cared more than she knew.
Just not in the way she meant.“You insulted me the first day we met.”
“You started it.”
“I asked if something was interesting.”
“And I said not anymore.”Camila smiled.“You were such an asshole.”
“Were?”
“Still are.”
“Good.”She stopped beneath a tree.Chris turned toward her.Camila looked up at him.
“But you’re my asshole.”Chris laughed.“That’s romantic.”
“I try.”She kissed him.Chris’s hands settled around her waist.Soft this time.No urgency.No stolen adrenaline.Just them.When they separated, Camila rested her forehead against his chest.Chris looked toward the mansion.Lights glowed through the trees.
Somewhere inside, Mateo Vargas was running an organization Chris Walker had been sent to destroy.Chris’s entire purpose for being here was to gather enough evidence to put Mateo away.Every morning he woke closer to Camila.Every day he got closer to Mateo.The two things were moving toward each other.Eventually they would collide.Camila lifted her head.
“What are you thinking?”Chris looked down at her.He could hear Sloan.You’re in love with her.
“Nothing.”Camila narrowed her eyes.“Liar.”Chris smiled faintly.She knew that too.
He touched her cheek.Then kissed her forehead.“Come on, princess.”She groaned.“I hate that.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I absolutely do.”
“You smile every time.”
“I do not.”Chris started walking.Camila followed.“You’re incredibly irritating.”
“So I’ve been told.”She slipped her hand back into his.Chris looked down at their joined fingers.He didn’t pull away.That was when he finally understood why Sloan had been so worried.The sex wasn’t the most dangerous part.The kisses weren’t.Sneaking into his room wasn’t.Even falling for her wasn’t the worst of it.It was this.Coffee in his cup holder.Her music in his car.His sunglasses on her face.Her toothbrush beside his.Walking through the gardens holding hands.Knowing exactly how she took her coffee and what made her laugh.
Knowing when she was frightened before she said anything.Looking for her whenever he entered a room.Becoming the person she looked for too.Chris had been assigned to become her shadow.Somewhere along the way, he’d become part of her life.And she’d become part of his.Chris tightened his fingers around hers.Camila looked up. “What?”
He shook his head.“Nothing.”She smiled.This time, she let him have the lie.Chris looked ahead.Because the truth was much worse.He wasn’t afraid of getting caught sleeping with Mateo Vargas’s sister anymore.He was afraid of the day Camila learned she had never actually met Chris Roman.And that the man she’d fallen in love with—the man walking beside her now—had been Chris Walker all along.