He let go of her hand. “Berg made it very clear that he didn’t think I was, uh . . . up to the task—for lack of a better phrase. That’s why he kept me in the dark about the town house ambush. He knew I would have freaked out and blown the whole operation.”

“Why would you freak out?” she asked.

“Because of you,” he said abruptly before pausing for an uncomfortable amount of time. “The thought of causing you or your parents any harm would have driven me to—look, it’s not like you would have left the town house if I had asked you, right?”

“Right. I had no intention of leaving until I was satisfied that you were mentally sound and not under duress,” she said before scanning the room. “From Karl and his associates.”

“Which is why I would have done something rash to warn you off. Something that could have blown the whole operation. I would not have sat on my hands and let you get sucked into this. Or worse,” said Devin. “He knew that.”

“What’s worse?”

“Worse is what almost happened at the intersection,” said Devin. “Berg was smart not to say anything. My concern is that he’s already warned everyone on the team about my reservations, and they won’t level with us during the planning phase. Then they’ll bench us at the last minute to keep us out of it altogether.”

Marnie took his hand, for no other reason than she needed to hold someone’s hand right now. At least that was what she told herself.

“There’s nothing we can do about that, ultimately,” she said. “But we can’t stay silent. We need to make our position clear on this. Trust me, it’ll make a difference.”

She let go of his hand when Rich returned with one of the coffee mugs Devin had previously advised her not to use for sanitary reasons. He glanced in her direction and vaguely nodded, presumably acknowledging what he’d just seen transpire. She nodded back, still unsure what to make of the undeniably special connection she shared with Devin.

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 34

They wolfed down their breakfast burritos in silence, Devin wanting to expand on his earlier sentiment about keeping her out of danger. Put a more personal spin on it. He’d already reviewed his words several times and decided it sounded a little too perfunctory, like an obligation. It was more than that for him, but this wasn’t the time or the place to risk making her feel even more uncomfortable. The moment was awkward enough.