“And you called him for this?”
“I was lucky that he happened to be relatively close. I just needed someone to create a distraction, so I had a chance to attack Dillinger without risking him shooting you.”
“He’s definitely a distraction,” Daniel murmured softly.
Edward sighed. “I’m sorry about today. You were absolutely brilliant.”
“Thanks, but I think the Oscar goes to you.”
Edward snorted and looked over at Daniel. “Terror can help us achieve amazing things.”
Daniel smiled back at him and he waited. He waited to hear Edward talk about how they were going to see each other again now that it was all over. The final piece of the puzzle had been put into place. Edward had the information he was looking for, and he managed to stop the last of the men trying to sell vital information.
But Edward never said those words. Never said what Daniel meant to him or that he wanted to see him again.
That night, Daniel boarded a plane in Paris bound for Cincinnati. His vacation adventure was over, and he had no way of ever contacting Edward again.Chapter NineteenThree months laterThwack!
Sweaty skin smacked against vinyl, and another loud cheer went up. Daniel stood at the edge of the mats on the first floor at Ward Security, watching as a couple of his coworkers sparred. Noah Keegan raised his arms over his head in victory. A big guy and highly skilled in different fighting techniques, Noah was a popular target of the other bodyguards looking to make names for themselves. Jackson groaned, but the sound turned to a chuckle as someone helped him to his feet.
Rock music pumped from a stereo in the corner, competing with the shouting and laughter of the spectators as they egged on the fighters. Everyone was enjoying the matches.
But Daniel felt separate from the noise and joy—like a gray veil covered his world. He hadn’t really gotten his groove back in the time he’d been home.
After his adventure with Edward and talking with Quinn and Rowe while on the road, Daniel was trying to spend more time out of his office and with his other coworkers. He’d survived being shot at and car chases and other insanity just like the rest of them. Some of the old anxiety he felt about not fitting in had finally fallen away. Rowe had made it clear that he was part of this family, that he fit just as well as any of them.
Much of his first month back had been spent retelling the story of his adventure to all the bodyguards. He might have gotten a little joy out of telling Royce that he met Angelo. The normally reticent security agent just blushed and walked away.
Yet, without Edward, the new kinship he felt with his coworkers was a hollow victory.
With Jackson conceding the match, Garrett Hayes stepped onto the mats. Fluent in a form of French kickboxing, the tall, thinner black man moved with uncanny grace as he worked to take down the wily former Ranger. He shot out with a high kick, and Noah went down laughing.
His coworkers were always trying to get Daniel involved in the fight training and after his time with Edward, he’d started taking a few classes. It helped pass the time, but it also couldn’t hurt to know more about how to defend himself because one never knew when he’d end up on the run in a foreign country with a secret agent.
Not that he expected anything like that to happen again.
Outside of the rowdy matches at work, his life had pretty much gone back to the quiet it normally was. He went to work every day and spent his weekends puttering about his apartment or hanging out with his family. He’d gone out to dinner with coworkers a few times, but that was about it.
Daniel couldn’t shake his melancholy. Couldn’t stop wondering what dangerous mission Edward was on. If he was okay somewhere out there. He knew so little about the man. Hell, his name wasn’t even really Edward.
Daniel had fallen for a phantom.
He sighed and leaned against a pillar, not really interested in who was going to win the match. Rowe strolled over to him wearing a black Ward Security T-shirt and jeans. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“You doin’ okay, Daniel?” His green eyes were full of concern.
Surprised, Daniel stood up straight. “Yes, why? Is there something wrong with my work?”
“Your work is impeccable as always. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you here to oversee our financials. I just noticed you looked like maybe you could use a friend. You still reeling from everything that happened?”
His boss knew the whole story, knew that he’d killed a man. And yes, he still had trouble with that knowledge. He’d found himself wondering if the man had family…children. He had to stop that line of thought every time it started, because it caused him too much anxiety. The Russian agent had been about to shoot Edward—there’d been no choice in the matter.