Her brain screamed that, yes, this was a mistake but her pounding heart would do it over and over a million times with this man. And that was the problem.

I seem to date women who want more from me than I am willing to give.

His words echoed through her mind. She grabbed her t-shirt off the ground and pulled it on, snatching her jeans off the dew-laden grass. She snorted out a laugh, knowing the sex solved nothing. It couldn’t fix the thing that was most broken about her. And would only hold him until the next thing came along to challenge his adrenaline-junkie heart. Or until he found out the truth.

When she was dressed again, she said quietly, “Are you really going to tell me it wasn’t?”

He took his time righting his clothes. She went to climb back in the truck when he grabbed her wrist and turned her gently around to face him.

“You know, Yael, one day you’re going to have to stop running.”

She froze, then jerked away. “This from a man who doesn’t like commitment?”

He stood back even though she could tell he wanted to touch her. “I want you to trust me, to confide in me.”

“And I want you to trust me enough not to have to.” Her heart squeezed painfully and she lowered her head.

“I do trust you.” He frowned. “I know at first I was a little suspicious—”

“What do you mean?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

He hesitated, dragging his hand through his thick hair in a way that made her want to melt. “Just, you know, I wanted to make sure you weren’t somehow in league with, erm, you know.”

Shock lanced through her. “What?”

“It was a possibility I couldn’t ignore.”

She stiffened. “Wait. You suspected I might be working with that monster?” The knowledge lashed at her, reminiscent of the pain of the worst days of her life. “You actually thought I might be involved in the torture and murder of all those people?”

He shook his head as if to deny his own words. “I was fucked up after Scotty died, and then losing Montana…”

“When did you figure out for sure that I wasn’t part of EG’s evil scheme?”

He didn’t say anything.

“When?” Her voice carried across the lake.

She heard him swallow.

“I checked your phone when you were in the shower that day after we found Zenko.”

She was stunned. She hadn’t suspected anything and yet, after all these years of being disappointed by people, it shouldn’t hurt quite so much. The moonlight skimmed his profile. The man was absolute perfection and he’d made her want him more than she’d ever imagined wanting anyone. And it was all a lie. “Was that the reason you insisted on staying close to me?”