“I fucked up,” Shane admitted. “I was suspicious of her at first. Figured if anyone was a leak in the task force it would be someone like her, or you.” He shot Alex a look in the darkness. They kept their voices barely above a whisper. “People who can manipulate the internet into saying whatever it is you want it to say. She wasn’t too happy when I admitted that to her earlier.”

“Ah. I’m used to people being suspicious of me and, frankly, I don’t trust anyone I haven’t checked out all the way back to kindergarten.” Alex paused again and Shane did too. “But Yael has had some bad life experiences.”

“Yeah? Join the club.”

“You’ve always had someone to fall back on. Your family, your SF buddies, your teammates.”

Alex Parker seemed to know a lot about him. Maybe it was Shane’s questions at the motel the other day. Maybe it was the fact he was sleeping with his employee—or rather had been sleeping with his employee before he’d been unceremoniously dumped after the best sex of his life.

Alex continued, thankfully oblivious to Shane’s wandering thoughts. “She hasn’t had anyone in her life for a very long time.”

And now her best friend had been kidnapped by a maniac. Shane’s mood slumped deeper into the dumps.

“In fact, she’s only recently realizing that there are people in the world she can trust.”

Shane stared at Alex’s shadow and the not-so-subtle reprimand. “What happened?”

“It’s not my story to tell,” Alex stated simply.

Shane ground his teeth with frustration.

“For the record, I don’t think she’s told anyone about her past. Not even Laura.”

“But you know all about it?” Shane asked.

“I figured it out before I offered her a job.”

“Did she know that?”

Alex shook his head. “No. Unlike some people, I know when not to push.”

Fuck.

“I know what it’s like not to know who you can trust. To never feel completely worthy of the people you care about…”

Shane did care for her and thought she might care about him too. The feelings he had for her were stronger than he’d expected them to be and not something he’d planned for. What had started out as leveraging her knowledge about computers had turned into so much more.

But perhaps it was better to end things now, before either of them got hurt. He didn’t have the sort of job that lent itself to relationships. Gone for weeks at a time and on call for the rest. Plus, she wasn’t good for his focus, and lack of focus got people killed.