and didn’t recognize.
Sophia took a step back from him. His hand, which had still been at her waist, dropped to his side.
“No, I’m not officially here for the Bureau. Nobody else is coming,” Sophia told him.
Cameron seemed to relax a little at that admission, which just confirmed Sophia’s suspicion about his criminal activities. Who else relaxed at the thought of the FBI not coming?
Sophia looked more closely at Cameron. His hair was much longer than the nearly crew-cut length he used to keep—it curled now at the top of his black T-shirt. His posture was less erect, more casual. His eyes...
Well, his eyes were still the most gorgeous shade of brown she had ever seen.
She’d nearly fallen in love with those eyes once, back when she was too young and stupid to know better. Back when she thought he was a stand-up guy who was interested in her and perhaps wanted a future together.
But she had grown up and left those dreams behind. He hadn’t given her much choice, when he’d left without a goodbye and without a single word in the five years since.
So whoever this man standing in front of her was—despite his gorgeous eyes—she needed to get away from him.
For more reasons than one.
* * *
CAMERON FELT AS IF he was having an out-of-body experience as the tiny brunette who had been clawing at his face moments before transformed from a stranger into Sophia Reardon.
This was not possible.
Seriously? Of all the warehouses in all the world, she had to be in this one? And moreover, somebody from Omega should’ve had the roads leading down to this area blocked so nobody who wasn’t supposed to be here—for example, a cute brunette with a camera—got through. Somebody was going to catch a load of trouble for this, Cameron would make sure.
But right now he had to get Sophia out of here before somebody from DS-13 saw her.
But man, she looked good. Cameron gave himself just a second to really look at her. He hadn’t seen her in five years. She’d been twenty-two years old then, but she didn’t seem to have changed much. Her straight brown hair was a little longer, now past her shoulders, but the natural blond highlights were still there. Through the dimness of the warehouse’s lights he could barely make out the freckles that still scattered across her cheeks and nose. And her stunning green eyes.
Eyes that were glaring up at him right now. He took a step toward her but she backed up. “I’m not going to hurt you, Soph.”
She stopped moving. “I know. I just... I’m pretty claustrophobic. I don’t want you to cover my mouth again.”
Cameron nodded. “Okay, no problem.”
“Why are you here, Cameron?” she asked with a great deal of suspicion in her tone.
Cameron couldn’t blame her for the unease, given the current situation. “It’s a long story and I don’t have time to explain.”
She jerked away from him. “Yeah. Explanations aren’t your strong suit. I remember.”
Cameron winced. He reached for her again, but then let his hand fall to the side. Sophia had every right to be angry at him about how things had ended between them five years ago, even though he had never meant to hurt her. Cutting casual ties had just been part of the life he’d chosen when he took the job with Omega Sector.
Of course, the fact that he had thought about her every day since he’d walked away from her had proven to Cameron that Sophia had been more than a casual tie. Now, with quite a bit more perspective, he realized he should’ve given her more information and a proper goodbye.
Unfortunately, it looked as if he was about to make the same mistakes all over again: no information and no proper goodbye.
“I’m sorry, Sophia. But you have to leave. Quickly.”
“And what? You’ll explain later? We both know that’s not true.”
Cameron knew there was no real response he could give. They both did know it was true.
“Besides, I’m not sure I want to know,” Sophia continued softly.
Cameron wished he could explain, at least about what was happening right now—about being undercover—but time was running out. He needed to get Sophia out of here immediately. Every moment she stayed there was more of a risk of her being seen by a member of DS-13.
“Sophia...”
She shook her head and continued before he could say anything further, reaching a hand out toward him. “Don’t worry, I’m going. Whatever you’re doing here, Cameron, I don’t want to know. But you be careful.” She drew her hand back to her side without actually touching him.
Cameron couldn’t stand the look in her eyes. She thought he was a criminal. He wished he could explain. Before she could turn away, Cameron leaned down and put his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry, Soph. Again.” Cameron stepped back from her. “Go as fast and as quietly as you can. Don’t let anyone see you.”
Cameron watched as Sophia turned and carefully manipulated her way down the stairs through all the boxes. He didn’t stay to watch her go the rest of the way out. He turned and made his way back to the office.
“Get lost?” Fin snickered as Cameron walked back in.
Cam just snorted. Fin looked at him a little closer. “What happened to you? You look like you’ve been in a wrestling match.”
Damn it. He had practically been in a wrestling match.
“Stupid boxes everywhere. It’s like an obstacle course down there. I tripped.” Cameron brushed his hair back into place.
That got a few chuckles. Nobody seemed suspicious, which was good. “How’s it going here?” Cameron asked.
Fin was taking his time showing off to the buyers what he knew about the assault rifles being sold. Fin liked to show off whenever he knew anything about anything, and oftentimes even when he didn’t, but Cameron just let him ramble on. If the buyers didn’t know when and if Fin was full of crap then it was their own fault. They’d be sitting in a jail cell in a few hours anyway.
“Why don’t you start counting the money, Cam?” Fin told him. Cameron barely bit back a groan of frustration. What he really wanted to do was get over to the window and make sure Sophia’s car was gone. But the money was on the other side of the office.
“Sure.” Cameron met one of the buyers over at the desk and pulled out a small cash-counting machine from the bag they’d brought. The machine would make things a lot faster, but not fast enough. He wanted to know—needed to know—that Sophia had made it safely out of the building. He fed the cash into the machine as quickly as he could without making it obvious that he was in a hurry. The second buyer watched him carefully the entire time.
After double-checking, because he knew Fin would ask, Cameron put the counter away.
“All here, Fin.”
“Did you double-check?”
Cameron refrained from rolling his eyes. “Yes.” He walked over and placed the bag of money on the table by Fin, then strolled as casually as possible over to the window.
No car. Thank God.
Cameron felt himself relax for the first time since he realized that the tiny brunette who had just been trying to fight her way out of his arms was Sophia. The thought of sweet Sophia being caught in the middle of this made Cameron a little sick to his stomach.
Maybe seeing her today was some sort of sign to him. Further proof he needed to finish up this case and take a break. Maybe he would call Sophia, try to repair the damage from five years ago. Explain to her his reasons for leaving.
And tell her that he had never