“Thank you for that,” he said.

“Get back to work,” Dwyer said. “Just because you’re passing on Vegas, it doesn’t mean I’m letting you hang out in Texas indefinitely. You need to wrap up this case.”

“I hear you, sir,” he said.

He disconnected the call but remained at the window, his pulse matching the methodic beep of the delivery truck backing into a loading dock across the street.

He’d been cognizant of the fact that the plug would eventually get pulled on this job. Which begged the question, why choose to stay here, knowing his time in Austin was coming to an end, instead of taking Dwyer up on his offer to lead the Vegas job?

Daniel shook his head. It wasn’t as if he had to ask that question. He already knew the answer.

He didn’t know what to do with the emotions suddenly swirling around in his head. He was with Joelle for six years, and when she gave him an ultimatum between their relationship and his career, he’d chosen the latter. He’d hardly taken time to contemplate it. He’d set out a path for himself once he left the Marine Corps, and his focus had remained on that trajectory ever since.

Where in the hell was that focus now?

He’d lost it his very first day on the job. From the minute he encountered Samiah at that coffee machine and began to see everything through a different lens. From that day he’d started to veer off his well-laid path, deviating to one that he and Samiah could possibly travel together.

But they weren’t together. All of this was based on a lie. And when that lie finally came to the surface, the likelihood that she wouldn’t want anything to do with him was so great it hurt him just to think about it.

He had to remember what mattered most, his duty to his family and to his career. He’d sacrificed too much. He couldn’t jeopardize this thing he’d worked so hard for. Not for anyone, including Samiah.

*  *  *

With the press of two buttons, Samiah simultaneously dimmed the lights in the conference room and brought the eighty-four-inch Microsoft Surface Hub on the far wall to life, the Trendsetters logo in the center of its touchscreen display. Moving to stand beside the digital whiteboard, she tapped the screen, bringing up the presentation she’d spent much of last night revising after deciding that what they’d collaborated on yesterday just wasn’t good enough.