He ran a hand over his face. He sure as hell had that coming. She might still be attracted to him, but she had no reason to trust him. “I won’t. I will never lie to you or about you again.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe that?”

He was at a loss for how to answer. Why would she ever believe a word he said? He cleared his throat. “No. I guess not. But it’s true.”

“When you come back, we’re going to talk.”

“I wish we could, but there are things I can’t tell you. I can’t explain.”

She grabbed the edges of the comforter and pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders, then she surprised him by smiling. Instead of hurt and anger, he saw something else in her eyes. Something mysterious. Knowing. “Well, in that case, maybe you’ll be able to listen.”

He nodded and slipped out the back door, waiting to hear the clank of the dead bolt behind him before setting off into the cold, dark, wet forest.

With Audrey safely tucked away, he could finally head into the storm.

Chapter Eight

Audrey leaned against the thick wooden door and pressed a hand to her belly. “He’s coming back for us,” she whispered, as if she were talking to the baby.

She’d never spoken to the baby before, but it made sense that this would be the time she’d start, when his or her—or rather, their—father had just stepped into the dark, cold rain, facing an untold number of commandos while armed only with a pistol and thirteen rounds.

The kiss had sent her brain spinning back to their first kiss on the private balcony of the best suite in the lodge. Since mid-December, she’d been unable to think of that night with the pleasure it merited, but now, this crazy, scary night had restored the good part of that memory, and she’d slipped into the moment, reliving every fluttery feeling and remembering exactly why she’d tumbled into bed with him in the first place.

Xavier Rivera had been a masculine force then and now, and after everything that had happened tonight, she’d suddenly wanted to retreat into the comfort of his body. To be held tight and feel protected.

And then it hit her that he could be playing her again. She didn’t know how or why, but all at once the anger and hurt came rushing back. She was a fool to have kissed him. He’d used her desire as a weapon once. He’d probably do it again.

In December, she’d realized that Jae had known Xavier was at the lodge to scout it as a location for this very training, which had made her wonder if he’d seduced her because Jae had said she’d be the ultimate authority for approval of the training.