Was he lying to her? He had to be lying to her.
“I won’t lie to you,” he continued. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t questions I can’t answer. If I can make the commitment not to deceive you, then I expect you to make one not to ask the questions you know would be off-limits.”
Could she ask for more than that?
She didn’t know whether she could, or whether she should, but she knew she had to.
Sitting up, she tucked the sheet around her breasts and stared down at him silently for long moments. With one forearm lifted and tucked beneath his head, his dark navy blue eyes so intent and serious, with long strands of dark blond, gold, and tawny hair falling over his forehead, he resembled the men he employed on the construction job that she knew he used as a cover. Rugged and hard, lean and naturally muscled.
“How am I supposed to know what questions are off-limits?” Tilting her head to the side, she watched him curiously now, wondering whether this was how Eve and Brogan made their relationship work. Did they have an understanding that there were parts of his life and what he did that she couldn’t question?
Could she live with that? Really?
She loved Jed. She’d known that for a while now.
But did she love him enough to abide by such a rule?
“I think you’ll know which questions those are.” His gaze dropped to her breasts as they rose over the edge of the sheet.
“I think that if those are the rules, Jed, then I have to know who and what you are. If that information is off-limits, then you may as well climb that cute ass right out of my bed before one of us gets pissed off.”
* * *
God help him, but he loved her.
Jed stared up at Piper Mackay and knew she owned parts of his heart and soul that he hadn’t even known existed. There was no denying that they belonged to her, either, because as he watched her, he knew he’d trust her with every secret he had inside his soul.
He’d trust her with them, but he’d never tell her some secrets. The secrets that were far too dangerous to her safety should she know them.
Because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that to save her, he’d betray each and every one of those secrets, and he knew she’d do the same for him.
“I’m an agent for the United States Federal Protective Service,” he told her. “We’re tasked with protecting and investigating any threats to the possessions of the United States government and, in some instances, government employees. You knew I was an agent.” She nodded her head slowly. “What did Eve tell you happened last summer?”
“That several former members of the Freedom League believed Dawg had something Chandler Mackay had stolen years ago, and they kidnapped her to attempt to make him turn it over.”
Jed nodded. That was the story they had come up with, not that the majority of it wasn’t true. It was. It just wasn’t the full explanation; neither did it include Eve’s fiancé’s part in the situation, or Jed’s and Elijah’s.
“Those members were stealing confidential files from military and government offices to locate a cache of gold Chandler hid years ago. They believed Dawg would know where it was stashed.”
Dawg probably did know where it was stashed, Piper thought. Hell, he probably had it hidden himself once he found it.
She knew he’d taken to keeping the things Chandler had stashed away as he found them, out of pure spitefulness toward the government, once he’d learned how Piper, her mother, and her sisters were treated after Homeland Security had found them.
“I guess telling me the truth means you intend to stick around for a while?” she asked, trying to hold on to the charade she’d played since meeting him.
That unspoken lie that what he did or where he went wouldn’t matter to her.
Uncurling his arm from beneath his head, he slid his hand behind her neck and pulled her to him.
“What do you think, Piper?” he growled against her lips. “Do you think there’s a chance in hell that I’ll ever let you go now?”
He didn’t give her a chance to answer him. The teasing brush of his lips turned serious, burned through any objections she might have, and left her too hungry, her body too heated to deny him.
Possessiveness rang in his tone, gleamed in the midnight blue of his eyes, and filled the power and dominant strength of his kiss.
Did she think he would let her go now?
Not for a while, perhaps.