Page 26 of Reclaiming Chaos
Chapter 12
Ridge
Fear showed in her eyes. The kind that takes you by surprise. It said, “I’m on a ride I wasn’t prepared to take”. I’d seen it once before when we were in the bathroom hiding from the man sent to kill me.
Whatever her secret was, she wouldn’t be quick to part with it, but I wanted to take it from her. Erase the worry in her gaze and the tension in her shoulders. I’d give anything to replace that look with something a bit more intimate.
I shook the thought away.
“I can’t tell you. Please,” she said. A shadow that looked like apprehension flickered in her eyes.
She didn’t want me to press. She didn’t want me to know. Why? Carlee could see outcomes. She knew things. What exactly did she fear so much it would silence her?
I searched her eyes for the answers she wasn’t ready to share and rested my palm on her arm. “If you don’t tell me, they can use it against you. Against us.”
“I can’t tell you until we stop Russell.” She dropped her gaze to the floor.
I couldn’t risk her closing up on me, keeping secrets to herself. Not when they had the potential to kill and all I wanted to do was protect her.
I used the pad of my thumb to tilt her chin, forcing her gaze to mine. “There’s no hiding anymore. Let me help you.”
Her scared eyes pleaded with me to drop it. Something I couldn’t force myself to do. There wasn’t much I hadn’t heard during this job. I cupped her cheek and caressed her soft skin in understanding.
She rested her hand on top of mine and momentarily closed her eyes as if trying to memorize the feel.
Her lips trembled. “Ridge, what if I were to tell you this is a defining moment between us?”
“You don’t need to tell me anything. I can feel the pull to help you. The need to protect you.” My gaze dropped to her mouth.
She ran her tongue over her lips, then asked, “You’re gifted too?”
“My intuition guides me more often than not.”
She frowned. “It’s why you’ve been so close to catching me when others couldn’t. I should have known.”
She dropped her hand. I grabbed it, and squeezed her fingers in a show of support. “Tell me your secret, Carlee. I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a light kiss to my cheek. “You’re such a good man, Agent Bennett. Better than I could have hoped for.” She shook her head sadly. “But I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
Agent Bennett. She was building a wall between us. I took her hand and rested it over my heart. “What happened to calling me Ridge?”
Carlee slid her hand free and stepped back as if the intimate moment from seconds ago had never happened. “Sorry. I just can’t.”
I didn’t stop her when she took another step back, creating more space between us. I crossed my arms over my chest as she reclaimed her seat at the kitchen table.
I didn’t know whether I was ready to lock her away to keep safe or kiss her. The war between the two kept me from doing either. The more I pushed for answers, the more she retreated. Was this what she’d meant by it being a defining moment? “I understand your hesitancy in trusting me.”
A blush crept onto her cheeks. “I trust you. It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“Just now, when you were holding my hand, you looked like you wanted to kiss me.”
I softened my gaze. “I almost did.”
“I’m glad you didn’t because if you’d kissed me, then we’d lose focus on the threat. The same would happen if I were to tell you my secret right at this moment.”
I slid my hands into my pockets. “Okay, so no secret just yet. Where do we go from here?”
