The Ruthless Caleb Wilde

“It was okay. Really.” She smiled. “David said it was a compliment. See, he was trying out for a part where he was going to play a straight guy so he figured if you didn’t think he was gay …” She leaned her head against Caleb’s shoulder. “That’s enough about me. You’re supposed to be telling me about you.”

“Well,” he said, “let’s see …”

What could he tell her? He wasn’t a man who liked talking about himself; he knew he’d always held his feelings close, but that was simply the way he was.

Well, he could tell her about his family.

His brothers, first.

He expanded a little on what he’d already said about them, explained that Jake had returned from war a wounded hero, that Travis was fearless, that his sisters were like her.

“Like me?” she said with a pleased smile.

“Yes,” he said, because it was true. “They’re pretty and smart, feminine as heck but tough as nails when they have to be. So is Jake’s Addison.” He hugged her. “You’re going to fit right in, sweetheart.”

“I hope so,” she said softly. “And your father? The general?”

“Let’s see. Smart. Stuffy. Superior.”

“The three Ss,” Sage said.

Caleb smiled. “Exactly. And that’s all of it.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“It is. Two brothers. Three sisters. One father—”

“You still haven’t said a word about you.”

He hesitated. Then he figured, okay, why not?

He told her how he’d gone from wanting to be a cop to wanting to be a lawyer. And then, to his amazement, he found himself talking about his five-year detour into intelligence, how he’d been recruited by one of his law-school profs.

“I said thanks, but no thanks. I said I was too much of a maverick to be a spy.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I wanted to get a rise out of him but he just said, sure, that was one of the reasons he’d thought I’d be right for the job.”

“And you were,” Sage said gently.

“For a while. At first, it was exciting. And fulfilling. But, after a while, I knew it wasn’t where I wanted to spend the rest of my professional life. I saw things …” His mouth twisted.

“Hell, I did things …”

She leaned in. Kissed him

“I bet you never did anything you didn’t think was right.”

It was true. He hadn’t.

That was why he’d left The Agency.

He’d been able to make peace with risking his life, the lives of others, even once or twice implementing the taking of lives, for the security of his country and his people.

But things had begun to change. The rationale for some of his assignments struck him as murky, even specious.

He’d balked. Once. Twice. And he and The Agency had parted ways.

Caleb told Sage about it.

No details—he would always be bound to secrecy—but he wanted her to know everything about him, the good and the not-so-good.