Page 52 of Everything We Found

“Whatareour next steps?” she asked in a tone laced with irritation.

“Good question. Let’s go figure it out. Come on,” he prodded, heading toward the stables. “It’ll be fun.”

Fun seemed wrong when they were running for their lives, assuming mucking out the stalls was his idea of fun. But Nadia quickly got the hang of it and soon appreciated the distraction. She didn’t think about the man she’d killed or how easily Thomas could have been stabbed or shot. How she could be lying dead beside him. Cammy kept up the chatter, sharing stories from her competitive barrel racing days before she became a U.S. Marshal, until a few hours had passed and she announced she was going inside to make them lunch.

“Can I help?” Nadia offered.

“Nice try, Nada. You’re stuck out here with me.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t flinch. Rather, a glow bloomed through her at the nickname she hadn’t heard in years, reminding her how close they’d once been. How long-buried feelings could resurface so quickly at the sound of a simple word. An intimate endearment that only Thomas had ever directed at her. And she liked it.

He shoveled hay into a stall. Sweat sheened his forehead and drenched his shirt, making the material somewhat transparent and cling to his back and chest. Nadia chewed on her bottom lip to bite back the sudden hunger that had nothing to do with food gnawing at her.

“Thanks, dear,” Cammy said. “I have it under control. I’ll call you two in when lunch is ready.”

As soon as Cammy left, Nadia set aside her pitchfork and leaned her arms on the stall door where Thomas was working. He narrowed his eyes at her fork, then glowered at her.

“I’m taking a break.” She huffed.

“Far be it from me to stop you from admiring the view.”

Her mouth dropped open, cheeks instantly warming. “Are you flirting with me?”

“I don’t flirt.”

“Like you don’t do jealousy?”

“Exactly.” He stabbed at the hay pile. She popped her chin on her stacked hands and watched him with bemused interest as his expression changed until he didn’t look quite sure of himself, which was so out of character for him. He stopped spreading hay around the stall and turned to her. “Do you, ah, want me to flirt with you?”

She tapped her chin, pretending to think. Because she wasn’t ready to honestly answer that question.

“What did you say a moment ago? Nice try.”

He smirked and went back to work. And she admired the view, as he just accused her of doing.

“Tell me about Cammy,” she said after a bit. “How did you meet?”

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “College career fair my junior year of high school.”

“Really?”

“All the agencies sent reps to meet with the kids, get us interested. CIA, FBI, the local police and fire departments. I was sixteen and thought it was the coolest thing.”

“I imagine. Did you tell her you wanted to work for the CIA?”

“I did, not that it mattered. You know how that worked out. But we kept in touch over the years, met up a few times. Good thing too because she was a godsend when I had to hide James. Kane helped make everything happen, but Cammy’s advice kept me level-headed. His situation was complex and it was no joke navigating it.”

“She was your confidant.”

“She still is. My mother—” He paused in his work. “You know how she is.” Worry darkened his expression as if it hit him again that she was still unaccounted for. “Cammy’s family.”

“I like her.” Cammy was good for him.

Thomas shot her a sheepish smile.

“So tell me, whyarewe here, Tom?” She suspected whatever the reason, it was connected to what Cammy had insisted Thomas be the one to tell her.

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck where damp hair curled at his nape and leaned the pitchfork against the stall siding. “We need to talk?—”