He nodded. “Yes. It’s a life that suits me. I’ve always felt that I was doing the right thing. That’s a good feeling. And it’s interesting and challenging every day. You learn to trust your instincts.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than figuring out what fashions to put online.” She smiled at him.

“What you do is complicated too. I don’t have the head for business that you do.” He had saved money over the years and made some good investments, and he would be comfortable when he retired, with a good pension. But her success was huge.

“What I do is harder now, because I have Matthieu’s business to run too. Thank God he had some great people working for him. I couldn’t do it without them.” Until now, she had felt like she was drowning for the past year. “I might sell my own business one day. I’m not sure I want to do this forever, but it’s worked well, and it’s been good to me. I’ve done it for fifteen years.” Nothing in her life had the meaning for her that it once did. Except Mike.

“I’ve been with the agency for nineteen. I could retire at fifty, after twenty years, but I wouldn’t know what to do with myself,” he said.

“That’s how I feel too. Especially now, after…” He knew the rest of the sentence. She didn’t have to finish it.

“I could organize private security, and have my own firm, but that’s never appealed to me. I like bringing bad people to justice.” He smiled at her, then took her hand in his and kissed it. “I don’t know what I’m doing here, or why you want me.” Like her, he was a modest person.

“I do. I can make a list for you if you like. You’re a special person. I felt it immediately.”

“That’s how I feel about you,” he said gently. It had all happened so fast, they were like magnets. They had both felt it. An irresistible force that nothing could pull apart, or at least not easily. And having made love to her, he wanted more of her, and was more sure than ever. She felt that way too.