“I’m sorry, Leen.” Cam put his arm around her, and they walked to the front of the house.
“Don’t be.” She waved the apology off. “My zing is out there.” She thumbed over her shoulder. “And your zing is in the kitchen. You better go grab her. You know abuela is going to search the house until she finds her.”
Cam shook his head with a smile. “You’re right about that. I’ll get her and introduce them. Then I’m going to steal her away for a bit. I think it's a little crazier than she expected.”
“What? This family?” Lena grinned. “Nah.”
Cam took Evan for a walk on the beach. It was a blustery afternoon, and Kate had given Evan a cream-colored cardigan to wear over her dress. Cam wore battered jeans and a black cashmere turtleneck. He held her hand as they strolled along the shore.
“How long have you done that kind of work?” she asked.
“I was in the Navy for eight years, six of them as a SEAL. The CIA for four. I was a NOC, which means non-official cover officer, during that time.”
“And it's over now?” she asked.
“I left The Agency last year,” he explained.
“But you were undercover in Mallorca.”
Cam picked up a seashell, blew the sand from its iridescent interior, then tossed it aside. “It was unfinished business from my past, but it's over now.”
“And playing the role of Gemini March's lover was part of that unfinished business?” she asked.
He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “Evan—”
“It's okay, Cam.” She cut him off. “I understand that in that role, Miguel had to do things that Cam would never do. It would be demeaning to you to say that it was no hardship to seduce a gorgeous woman. If it's not something you have a choice in, then it's difficult no matter what.”
Cam pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “Thank you.”
“The guy in high school? The one I told you about who forced me?”
Cam gave a stiff nod.
“He was the best-looking guy in our class. When I tried to tell one of my few friends about what happened, she waved it away. In her mind, every other girl in my position would have said yes, so the fact that I didn’t was my mistake. Like it was my fault. So yes, I understand better than most about having to be with someone you don’t want to be with no matter how things appear.”
Holding her close, Cam spoke into the wind. “When you told me that story… I still want that guy's name. He needs to be taught a lesson.”
“He's in jail. He took the fall for an insider trading scandal at the financial firm where he worked. So justice was served, karmically at least.”
She heard his noncommittal grunt as they continued forward. A subject change was in order. “What will you do now that your secret agent days are over?”
“I work for a small firm, Bishop Security, based in South Carolina.”
Evan stepped out of her flip flops, lifted the hem of her honey-colored sundress, and stepped into the surf. “I’ve never been to South Carolina. When I was a kid, I had a map on my bedroom wall with pushpins in all the states I had visited. I’ve been to Alaska, even Hawaii, but never South Carolina.”
“I plan to remedy that shortly.” He kicked off his Nikes, rolled up his jeans, and followed her into the ankle-deep water. “I’m bringing you back with me.”
Evan beamed at him. “So Cam is bossy. I think there are a few traits you share with your undercover identity.”
“Yeah, I’m trying to work through that.”
“And you will,” she reassured him.
“Thanks.”
“I think the Miguel I knew in the caves had a lot of Cam mixed in.” She gathered up the hem of her dress and reached down to touch the foamy water.
“What makes you say that?”