Page 74 of What Started In Deception

His grin was back. “Did we just get back from a getaway?”

She nodded.

“Did we share a bed?”

“Yes, we did.”

“We’re a couple, Lyd. In every way that matters, you and I are very much girlfriend and boyfriend.”

Her frown was back. “But we both know that there are layers here.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, if you want to pick it apart.”

Her eyes grew huge. “You’re investigating my cousin. Mac’s husband. I’d say that’s a hell of a layer, Ty.”

He blew out a long breath. “You and I are a couple, Lyd. That’s what you need to focus on today. We’ll deal with whatever tomorrow brings tomorrow.”

She closed her eyes, exhaling a sigh of her own. “Okay.”

“Do you want to put the call on speakerphone so I can listen in?”

She adamantly shook her head again. “That will just make me more nervous. I need to talk to her in the same way that I always do. Keep it as normal as possible.”

He nodded. “How about you call Mac, and I’ll make us some lunch?”

She nodded, ready to stop worrying and finally get this over with. For weeks, this moment had been on her mind. It was time to see what was what. “All right.”

He tossed her a wink. “You’ve got this.”

Whether she did or didn’t, they were about to find out.

Heading upstairs, she closed herself in her office, then immediately pressed on Mac’s gorgeous, grinning face in her contacts, sending the call through.

“I figured I would be hearing from you.”

Lydia closed her eyes as she gripped the side of the desk. “Yeah, we were driving back from DC. I wanted to wait until I got home before I called.”

“So, there really is a ‘we’? Lydia, when did this happen?”

“A few months ago.”

“Months? I don’t… Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I wanted to see where things were going to go before I said anything.” She assuaged her stomach-clenching guilt by reminding herself that on a very technical plane, that was entirely true.

“His name is Tyler?”

“Yeah, but I call him Ty.”

“And a last name?”

“Corddry.”

“Lydia Corddry. No, Lydia Monroe-Corddry,” Mac said with a hum in her voice. “They both work.”

She huffed out a pained laugh as she walked closer to the window, paying little attention to the view as she played her part in the FBI’s messed-up game. “I am not worrying about surnames at this point.”

“You’re bringing him to the compound, aren’t you? You didn’t bring Andy.”