Breach of Trust Read Free Page B

was her dream coming true. One of them, anyway.
    The pleasure chilled, wrapping her heart in ice. She’d scuttled an entirely different, softer dream for her future when she’d walked away from the army and Tate Walker four years ago. Walked away without leaving him any clue that her side of their friendship had grown into something so much more.
    She was still staring at Tate, trying to reconcile his reality when he tipped his chin, his eyes catching hers and holding fast. It was the same jolt she’d felt when she saw him a few hours ago and realized Tate was alive. After years of grieving, he was alive. “Why aren’t you dead?”
    He blinked, then gave her a rueful smile. “You want me to be?”
    Never. The knowledge he was there in front of her wrapped around something inside and freed emotions long locked away. But the freedom brought confusion, anger and something she didn’t dare try to define.
    When she didn’t answer, he sat on the step at her feet, patting the wide wooden porch boards beside him. “Might as well have a seat, and we can both start explaining.”
    Both? As far as she was concerned, this story was all his. She might be in some unknown danger, but Tate’s continued existence trumped everything. His story came first.
    Staring at him made her head swim, made the past fold onto the present and shower her anew with grief she would never let him see. “This show’s all yours, Walker.” She settled beside him, keeping a fair space between them, sweeping her arm out to encompass the small clearing around the house. “I’ve got nowhere to be. You can talk all night.”
    â€œNo. You can talk.” The friendly Tate vanished into investigative mode, his tone hard and matter-of-fact. “Explain to me why my undercover persona was tasked to seize an asset, and, when I made the grab, it was you.”
    Shouldn’t he already know? He was the one undercover doing the investigating. She was the victim. And he didn’t get to interrogate her. “I have no idea. Why don’t you explain to me why you were trying to kidnap me in the first place? Or better yet, why you let me believe you were dead for four years?”
    Tate drummed his thumbs on his blue-jeaned thighs. “Do you get that your life’s in danger?”
    â€œAnd do you get that I don’t trust you?” It would wound him, but Meghan really didn’t care right now. He’d been a part of a team trying to kidnap her today. He’d lied. He’d let her grieve. And she had grieved for every single moment they could have had if she hadn’t been too scared to face her feelings. It had been pain the likes of which she’d never known before, and the healing had never fully come. Now he was back? There was no way she was letting him off easy.
    He winced and stared across the yard. After a minute, he pinched the bridge of his nose, then glanced at his watch. “Long story.” The deep pain in the lines around his mouth made Meghan want to find a way to make it better, to take away the hurt.
    Fine. She’d let him off the hook...for now. “Then explain why you tried to kidnap me. You’re the one who started this mess.”
    â€œBelieve me—I was as surprised to see you as you were to see me.”
    â€œDoubtful. I’ve never been dead.”
    â€œFair enough.” Tate pushed himself up from his perch on the stairs and walked to his pickup; the distance between them opened like a canyon. “I can tell you it’s a cyberterror threat. And why you? No idea. I’ve been on this op a long time, and the threat’s not from anyone we’ve dealt with in the past.”
    Had someone found out who she was, her talent for hacking systems and ferreting out information necessary to eliminate the bad guys? Had they found out she hadn’t always used her talent for good—something Tate wouldn’t know?
    She