"I thought I was..."
"No," I corrected him. "You're trying to run. Also, a low profile would be advisable. You never know when I'll call and if you're too busy to pick up..."
Message sent.
Understanding flickered across his face. "I can be patient."
Message received.
"Good. Until next time."
"You know—I still don't know your name."
"Huh, imagine that."
I didn't wait for his response. Instead, I headed down the hall to the elevator. It opened on cue. Since Rick closed the door behind us, I almost imagined Fletcher pulling out a phone and tracking our progress down the hall. The doors opened on cue and we stepped inside. Rick brushed my arm as he shifted and his fingers brushed mine.
I traced my thumb up and down the side of his hand, but I didn't try to take it. Neither Rick nor I spoke as we exited into the lobby, then crossed to an exit. He opened the door for me and I was already sliding on my sunglasses as we stepped into the sunshine.
"You haven't told him who you are yet," Rick commented in a soft voice, but only after we were inside the parking structure where we'd left the car.
"No," I told him. Unlocking the car, I kept my peace until he was in the passenger seat and I was behind the wheel. Handing over the folder, I studied him without starting the car. "Are you really all right with this? With erasing Merrick Wright?" I hadn't protested the last name Fletcher chose, more as a joke I suspected, but possessiveness settled within me. I liked him having a name that belonged to me.
He opened his hands and rested them on his thighs. An unreadable expression on his face as he stared down at them, as if the lines etched into his palms could tell him how to feel.
My heart started to pound so hard I felt it in my throat as I waited for him to answer. Shit, this was a new emotion.
Uncertainty.
I hadn’t told him what we were doing today. I’d sprung it on him once we walked into Fletcher’s, not giving two thoughts about it until now. With Daddy, we were so in tune with each other, we never had to explain ourselves because we knew the way we had to operate to stay alive.
Ultimately, that’s what I was doing, keeping Merrick safe. Even if he didn’t want to stay with me, he’d benefit from a new identity, given the man who died in the alleyway at his hands.
Suddenly feeling like an inconsiderate bitch, I bit my lip. I’d been thinking about keeping him forever, and erased the only connection he had back to his parents. Rick admittedly had attachment issues, and I stole the last tie to his family.
His fingers curled slowly into fists, and he lifted his gaze to mine.
I sucked in a breath at the wetness gathering in his eyes, the emerging pink overtaking the whites and bringing out a darker, deeper blue than his normal cobalt.
“I don’t mind, Vienna. I’ve come to learn that you know exactly what you’re doing, and you don’t do anything without a damn good reason. There’s a strong bond between us, whether it originated in the alley or it built slowly over the course of spending our days and nights together, I don’t give a fuck.
“All I know is, that I would die to keep it and commit any crime to protect it. Because you matter to me. You feel it too, right? This thing between us?” His eyebrows bunched together in a rare show of true vulnerability, so unlike the man that walked out of Fletcher’s condo a few minutes ago.
I knew what he was asking.
For someone who had been in and out of rehab for most of his life, he wanted validation that what we had was real, and not a fabrication spun from the desires of his mind.
Did I feel it? Shit, that was an answer I had never been asked to give before. Daddy and I kept to ourselves, with the exception of a very select few. In our line of work, mixing with others didn’t bode well, for the most part. It was safer to keep our distance.
Still, I knew whatever answer I gave Merrick—Rick, I meant Rick—right now would change the course of our relationship. Either I confirmed there was something here, and it tied us together irrevocably, or I denied it and crushed his soul.
He was sogood, I couldn’t lie to him. Not even to keep him safe. He deserved honesty from me and that was what I would give him.
“I feel it,” I said quietly, extending my fingers to lightly touch his forearm. The corded muscles flexed beneath my fingertips. “That’s why I took you with me. Because there was something about you, Rick Drew.”
The smile that spread over his face was a glorious ray of light, dispelling any darkness that lingered in his self-doubt. I basked in the warmth of his attention.
Instead of replying, he bent his head toward mine, brushing the back of his fingers across my cheek, then cupping my jaw as he tipped my face up to meet his kiss. It wasn’t fire and desperation like the night before. This time it was full of hopes and promises.