“The what?”
“Alex,” she said, like maybe he was the one who’d recently been unconscious. “I was talking about Alex.”
“I know,” he snapped. “But why the h—” She gave him a warning look. “—heck would you think Alex is the . . .”
“Love of your life,” she reminded him.
“Yeah. You can stop calling her that.”
“But—”
“Don’t call her that. Ever.”
“Okay. Um . . . partner? Significant other? How would you define your relationship?”
“Thorn in my side,” he ground out then turned and started down the street.
“Ohhhhh,” she said, falling into step beside him. “So you’re in the early stages of . . . what? Friends to lovers? Enemies to lovers?” She looked a little concerned at that second one, but he had no idea what she was talking about.
“I don’t have a lot of experience with head wounds, but you should probably get that checked out,” he said, but then she darted out in front of him, surprisingly quick.
“It’s clear that you’re in love with Alex, and Alex is no doubt in love with you, but you’re both fighting your obvious attraction, and—Hey!”
He was picking her up and pressing her against the side of a building, pinning her a foot off the ground so that they could see eye to eye. He couldn’t take the risk that she would miss this. “Stop. Talking.”
“But you clearly—”
He raised an eyebrow and she shut up.
“I’m only going to say this once. Alex isn’t my girlfriend. She has never been my girlfriend. She will never be my girlfriend. She sure as hell isn’t the love of my life.” He didn’t bother explaining that he didn’t have one of those. Never had. Never would. There were some things that people with big Disney eyes would never understand, and the fact that love and covert operations don’t mix was one of them. “And we are not”—he dropped her and made a gesture—“anything to lovers, whatever that means.”
“There’s no need to use finger quotes sarcastically here. Sarcastic finger quotes are not necessary.”
“Alex is . . .” But that made him trail off. That made him think. And he didn’t like what he thought about. At all. “Someone I thought I could trust. I was wrong.”
All around them, streetlights were flickering off as the sky grew brighter, and he suddenly felt vulnerable there. Exposed. He needed to find cover, because the sun was rising and word was spreading and, soon, some people would come looking for vengeance and some would come looking for justice, but they were all going to bring a whole lot of trouble with them, and he wanted to be gone before they got there.
So he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned down another street, away from the sirens that were blaring in the distance.
“Yes . . . um . . .” He heard her running along behind him, stumbling in the snow and sliding on the ice.
“Are you sure you and Alex share the same DNA?” he tossed over his shoulder.
“No! Evil Twin is your theory. I did not throw out the option of Evil Twin.”
“Stop saying Evil Twin.”
“You’re the one who said it!”
“But you’re the one who keeps . . .” He trailed off and shook his head, longing for a small dose of amnesia of his own.
He looked back at where she stood in the snow, the horizon growing bright behind her as she stared at him like she wasn’t quite sure whether he was a blessing or a curse. Which was okay. He didn’t know either.
“Who are you? Who is she?” Her eyes were wet and her voice broke. “Who am I?”
Yeah. Alex never looked like that. Which was a shame. Doe eyes make for good cover. They were even working on him, and, just briefly, he wanted to take pity on her, put an arm around her—get her someplace warm and safe and off the grid. But he wasn’t that guy. It wasn’t his fault that she was that girl.
“Go home, Not So Evil Twin.”
“I’d love to.”
Well, that was easy. “Great!”
“How do I do that, exactly?”
“I don’t know.” He threw out his hands and spun on her, frustration seeping out of his pores. “I’ve been chasing your sister for six days across five countries. I’ve been shot at. Kicked. Punched. Run off the road. Thrown out of a boat. Poisoned—but that was an innocent mistake. Never eat shellfish in Austria. In other words, I’m having a shit week, princess. And today’s not looking any better. So—” He released his empty clip and slid in a fresh one. Click. “The Atlantic Ocean is that way.” He pointed into the distance. “Start swimming for all I care.”