The twins complicated his working life exponentially. A week ago, he could take off at a moment’s notice on a covert op, and no one would question his absence or lack of contact. Angus rubbed his hands up and down his face.
Serving his country by undertaking covert operations, doing his part to make the world a safer place, was what he was born to do—it was the legacy he’d been handed at his birth, the only thing he took from his father. But, unlike The General, he didn’t need compliments or kudos. He was all about the deed, not the recognition.
If he died while on a mission, he had a cover story in place: an innocuous death in a car accident overseas. But if he wanted to build a relationship with his sons, how would he explain why he was out of communication for weeks at a time? He could bamboozle the kids—they were young enough still—but not Thadie.
He didn’t like keeping secrets from her.
The boat slowed down and Angus heard footsteps on the pier, turning around to see Thadie walking towards him. She wore a white lace, off-the-shoulder crop top over a white bikini top,and her ankle-length cotton skirt split open to reveal her toned thigh with every step she took. She’d pulled her braids into two complicated plaits, and she looked fantastic. But when she drew closer, he saw her red eyes and tight mouth.
‘Morning,’ he said, resisting the urge to reach for her.
Thadie placed her hand on his bare forearm, just below the rolled-up sleeve of his shirt. ‘I should not have said what I did. I’m deeply sorry, Angus.’
He took her hand in his big one and squeezed. It took guts to apologise, and he appreciated her doing so.
He’d accused her of being dishonest last night, but he wasn’t being open either. There was no way he could tell her the truth. ‘Hey, by the way, being the founder and CEO of an international security company is not all I do. Three or four times a year, me and my team...’
Nope, he couldn’t do that. Firstly, what he did was highly classified. Secondly, he didn’t want to expose her to that clandestine world. She and the boys were sunshine and light, he didn’t want to explain that he frequently walked through darkness.
And, not even a week after meeting her again, he was questioning what he did and how he did it. This was a classic example of her ability to upend his world.
‘It’s okay, Thadie,’ he assured her, wanting to get back to normal, whatever that was. ‘It’s a new road and we’re both bound to stumble.’
Thadie looked out to sea and Angus followed her gaze. The boat slowed down and then Jago cut the engine. Within seconds, they were all, including Jabu, looking over the side into the blue-green water. He wondered what had caught their attention.
‘Are you enjoying the island?’ Thadie asked him. ‘I hope it measures up to all the other places you visit on vacation.’
He flinched at her very unexpected question and hoped she didn’t notice. ‘What vacations?’ he casually asked.
‘Micah said that you take lots of vacations. He sounded quite jealous, by the way. He wondered how you managed to run your company and make time to take so many holidays.’
He couldn’t tell her that this was the first ‘holiday’ he’d taken in three years, the first time he’d had some downtime in forever. ‘I work hard and play hard.’ He shrugged.
Thadie tipped her head to the side. ‘Funny, but I can’t picture it.’
His eyebrows lifted. He was too well trained to let his heart rate increase, but he was conscious of it wanting to inch up. ‘You can’t see me taking a holiday?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I picture you chained to your desk, buried in paper, juggling ten calls, emails and a video-call all at once.’
It was a fair assessment of his life as Docherty Security’s CEO. ‘I do, now and then, leave my office and get away.’
It wasn’t a lie, he thought.
Thadie pulled him back to the present by clearing her throat. When he looked at her, he caught the excitement in her eyes. ‘So, last night you asked me about my plan,’ she stated, sounding hesitant.
Right, before their fight she’d been talking about how unfulfilled she felt. ‘Yeah?’
‘I couldn’t sleep last night and, after I stopped feeling sorry for myself—’ he liked her self-deprecating manner, her ability to gently mock herself ‘—I startedthinking.
‘According to an Internet site tracking this stuff, I have one of the biggest social media followings in the country, around four and a half million. That’s a lot of people,’ she said, sounding amazed. Angus wasn’t on social media, but he knew enough tobe impressed. Four million people paid attention to her posts, to what she had to say.
‘I then went onto some of the local fashion designers I love, and checked how many followers they had...’
Angus folded his arms across his chest, enjoying her fire. ‘Not as many as you, I bet.’
Her smile widened and he felt as if he’d inserted his finger into the surface of the sun. ‘Some have as little as thirty thousand followers. The top designer only had one hundred and fifty thousand. I think there might be an opportunity for me to leverage my social media following...’
Now, this was smart. ‘How?’ Angus asked, keeping one eye on the approaching boat.