Once he went public, she wasn’t sure what might happen. Would someone recognize her and expose her again? She did not want her past and her present to collide. She didn’t want to have to disappear again.

Her hand shook as she closed her fingers around the neck of her beer bottle and raised it to her lips.

“Hey.”

She jerked in her seat and beer ran down her chin. She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the mess running down her neck and spotting her favorite t-shirt.

FBI Special Agent Shane Livingstone rested his plaster cast on the bar as the Marines playing pool eyed him with amusement, obviously expecting him to get shot down the same way they had.

6

“Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Yael crumpled the napkin in her fist. Dammit. She couldn’t believe she’d zoned out like that. He must think she was a total freak.

“You okay?” He had a slight southern drawl she hadn’t noticed before but now made sense. He watched her with an expression she couldn’t interpret.

“Yeah. Why?” Even as she spoke, she regretted the sharpness of her tone. One of his colleagues had recently died, someone he’d been close to if his anguish last week had been anything to judge by. She softened her voice. “You?”

“Fine.” He looked away, maybe reflecting on the same memories, with the same reluctance to have his feelings probed as she did. He held up his finger to the barkeep for a drink. “I heard what happened after I left.”

Yael stiffened.

“Is Sphinx your real name?”

“No.” But it had been her favorite online moniker. “Why?”

He smoothed his good hand over his short, light brown hair. “Because frankly the idea that Evi1Geni-us might know your real name and what you look like would be a little concerning.”

She blinked. People didn’t usually worry about her. She didn’t let them.

“You sure you’re okay? You look a little pale…”

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. She looked haggard and the circles under her eyes reflected her inability to sleep lately. She’d better break out the concealer next time she decided to leave the house.

“Yeah. Seeing you guys walk in here reminded me about last week.” Not that she’d been able to forget for very long.

“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, too.” Shane propped both elbows on the bar. She noticed he wore a smaller cast than he had last week. This one allowed his elbow to bend. His sling hung unused around his neck. The subtle scent of pine tantalized her senses suggesting he’d recently showered. She shifted away a little because she didn’t want to be so aware of this man.

“And the fact he is out there planning to do it again pisses me the fuck off.”

“Me too,” she agreed.