I studied Rhys’s distant eyes for a few moments and cleared my throat. “Sorry, it wasn’t really fair of me to ask you to tell us all this. That’s probably hard for you to talk about, especially so soon. You don’t have to tell us anything else. I guess we’re just so used to hearing about the horrors of working undercover that it never seems like it’s a big deal or shocking to us. But we didn’t have to go through it. So like I said, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” he insisted, but I could tell that I’d brought up things he didn’t enjoy thinking about.
“New subject?” I offered.
Rhys shrugged like it didn’t matter. “Sure.”
“What are you going to make us for dinner tomorrow?”
He laughed, and just like that, the haunted look in his dark eyes disappeared behind his smile. Rhys started listing off everything he’d bought at the store that day and things he’d been craving and wanted to make, and every now and then he’d make suggestions just to see what we thought about different meals and types of food.
The conversation over the next half hour was much lighter, and I found myself smiling along with Rhys and Kira and enjoying having him there. But I couldn’t help but notice that even though it was nice having him around, I still no felt no connection to him romantically or physically. He was attractive, that was impossible to miss. Nearly Liam’s height, but with dark messy hair and equally dark eyes; and while he was nicely built, he was much leaner than Liam.
And then I realized that not only did I not have any feelings toward Rhys, but all I could think about when I looked at him was how he wasn’t Liam.
“Who the fuck . . . stay here!” Rhys demanded suddenly, and jumped out of his chair to take off running toward the back sliding glass door.
I’d jumped at his loud words, but even if I hadn’t registered what he’d said, I don’t think I would have been able to get up just because of the shock of his sudden outburst. I turned around in time to see him slide the door open and take off running out into the grassy area behind our condo and disappear off to the side.
“What on earth?” I mumbled when his shouts reached us through the open door.
Kira and I stood at the same time and walked over to the open door, and although we could still hear him, we didn’t see him.
“Did you see someone?”
“No,” Kira answered softly, like she was still trying to grasp what had happened as well.
When another moment passed, I asked, “Do you think he has problems from being undercover that maybe the tests the department did didn’t catch?”
Kira snorted, causing my lips to curve up at the corners. “I think we would have noticed something like this before tonight if he did have a—who is that?” she quickly asked when Rhys finally rounded the corner of the building with a gangly guy stumbling behind him.
“I told you to stay at the table,” he said harshly when he got close, and my eyebrows rose at the anger in his tone.
Kira looked down at the ground, and I scoffed, “You can’t just pull that shit and expect us not to wonder what’s happening.”
Rhys’s eyes narrowed, but it was clear now that he was closer that his anger wasn’t directed at either of us—he definitely looked annoyed that we’d chosen not to listen to him, though.
“Who is this?” I asked when he got close enough with the guy in tow that Kira and I had to step away from the door.
“We’re about to find out,” he answered. “I’m guessing you won’t give me time alone with him?”
“If you want,” Kira offered while she shut and locked the door, and I shot her a look.
I folded my arms over my chest and returned Rhys’s stare. “I know we were only married for three months, but you should know that there’s no way you could expect me not to stick around for whatever’s about to happen.”
Rhys smiled in amusement, and his dark eyes brightened with memories of us from four years ago. “Never hurts to try, Kennedy.” He continued dragging the boy behind him until he got to the couch and yanked him closer. “Sit. Don’t even try to move.”
Kira stepped back slowly until she got to the table where we’d been sitting, and silently sat down, her wide eyes on the three of us in the living room.
“Who are you?” I asked the guy when he looked up at us.
“I’m asking the questions,” Rhys grumbled, and gave me a dark look that I reciprocated. The action had his expression lightening again before he could control it to look back at the guy on my couch.
“Who are you?” Rhys repeated my question.