Her body went limp in my arms, and I scooped her up and carried her back to my house.
“Put me down!” She tried to pry out of my embrace and eventually gave in when I didn’t let her go. Her head rested against my chest, her arms around my neck.
“Is she okay?” Lincoln opened the front door for me as I brought her inside and gently guided her onto the sofa to lie down.
“I’m fine,” Ariella said, sitting up, her feet dangling off the sofa instead of stretched out like I’d laid her. She unzipped my coat and pulled it off, handing it to me.
“What was so important in that house that you felt it necessary to run into burning flames? I know you don’t have a pet, and no one else lives there.” I’d been there the night before, and it had just been the two of us, alone, exploring each other’s bodies. Already it seemed like a lifetime ago. She hadn’t even acknowledged my letter that I’d left her on the fridge. All that would have to wait. There were more pressing matters at hand. Besides, I wasn’t even sure I could forgive her yet and be with someone who had deceived me. I pushed the memories from last night away. I had to compartmentalize what happened between us.
“In my knapsack there were some photos.” Her eyes were cast down toward the floor.
I stepped closer and bent down. “What kind of photos?” I wasn’t able to ignore the knot in my stomach. She found it necessary to lie to me again. What had she hidden away in the cabin that was worth risking her life over?
“You wouldn’t understand.” Her piercing green eyes glanced up at me.
“Try me, Freckles.” I kept her trapped against the sofa. My legs straddled hers.
She swallowed, and her tongue darted out, licking her lips. Silence enveloped the room.
“I’m going to check on Skylar and Isabella,” Lincoln said. He hustled out of the room and down the basement stairs. Each thud louder than the previous against the wooden steps.
Ariella gnawed on her bottom lip, tugging the cherry pink edge between her teeth. Her eyes fell to the floor.
“You will answer me, Freckles.” I lifted her chin with my thumb, my fingers grazed her tender skin.
“What was the question?” Her lips pouted, her brow furrowed, and she tilted her head to the side.
“You are the queen of avoidance, aren’t you?” I could see it written all over her face. “Don’t play me.” I didn’t like games, and I would not engage in them with her. “The photographs in your cabin. What are they? Family photos? Something else? It’s just you and me. You owe me an honest answer, Ariella. Especially after you lied to me about why you came to Breckenridge.”
A soft puff of air escaped her lips with a sigh. She gently pushed against my chest. When I didn’t move out of her way, she rolled her eyes and folded her arms against her chest. “It wasn’t a lie. I’ve never told anyone who I used to work for, even when they employed me.”
“You mean the C.I.A.,” I said. Even now, she avoided using the agency’s name.
Ariella shifted against the sofa but couldn’t move further than her butt allowed without sweeping her legs away from me, which she didn’t do.
I reached out and guided her arms from their folded position. Taking her hands in mine, her fingers were frigid from the outside temperature. Her cheeks also had a slight blush which I assumed had been from the cold. It could have also resulted from the stress of her home burning down to the ground.
“You’re freezing. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It didn’t seem important,” she whispered, meeting my stare.
On the back of the leather sofa rested a throw blanket. I stood and pulled the warm blanket down and unfolded the Sherpa, covering her with it. Her shoulders slumped, and her demeanor seemed to relax once she was tight under the blanket. I sat beside her, my legs brushing against hers, sitting atop the blanket.
“You need to take better care of yourself. I understand you’re upset about the fire, but whatever was destroyed, it wasn’t worth dying over.”
“You don’t know that,” Ariella said, her eyes wide. She turned to face me. Her hands clutched the blanket around her small frame.
“Then explain it to me.” I didn’t enjoy being left in the dark. She continually gave me pieces of a puzzle, one at a time. “I don’t like being strung along or having to drag secrets out of someone.”
She trembled beneath the blanket, and I couldn’t tell if it resulted from her being chilled or the adrenaline issues that she’d had the previous day. Was this a daily occurrence regarding her health? Another question that I wanted answers to but wasn’t expecting all of it explained tonight. Foremost was the lie about her past, the fact she’d worked for the C.I.A., and whatever had her risking her life to go back inside for that stupid knapsack.
“About four years ago I was pregnant,” Ariella said.
Pacing the length of the living room, I could have easily worn a hole through the floor. Restless energy poured out of me until I heard her faint answer. That took me by surprise. I swallowed the lump in the back of my throat. “I didn’t know.” I didn’t want to overwhelm her. Approaching her I towered above. “What happened?”
She stared down at the blanket. “Noah was born premature at twenty-eight weeks. There were complications for both the baby and for me. He was a fighter, lived two weeks in NICU but in the end, it was just too much.”
I sat down beside her, my hand falling on her thigh, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “I’m so sorry.” My heart ached. Her son would have been around the same age as Izzie. It broke my heart to imagine what she went through and experienced.