“Did you listen to a thing I’ve said?” he snapped. After a brief moment, Jared closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I know you need this to be over. You just don’t understand what we’re dealing with, here. I can’t let my emotions get in the way of my job, Nina. I’ve already let this go too far.

God knows the last thing I want is for you to be angry with me, but you’ve got to let me handle this.”

“But—,”

“No, Nina. It’s too dangerous,” he said firmly.

My eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t asking permission.”

“This isn’t about me tel ing you what to do. This is about your safety.” He hugged me to him and I reached for the keys, pul ing them from his grip. I knew that if he hadn’t al owed me to do it, I would never have gotten the keys from his hand. I hoped that meant a part of him wanted my help.

“I’m going to take another look at Jack’s office.”

I turned to open the door, but I was frozen. Jared held me by my waist. Before I could protest, he exhaled a long, resigned sigh.

“Give me a minute. I’l go with you,” he said, obviously annoyed.

I waited at the door until Jared finished packing our lunch, and then he grabbed my hand on the way out.

Half-way to my parents’ home he stil hadn’t spoken.

“I’m sorry,” I said, placing my hand on his. “I don’t want you to be mad, but this is something I need to do.”

Jared sighed. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m beginning to regret tel ing you anything.”

Those words stung me. “I don’t want to get hurt, either. We won’t have to keep looking over our shoulders if we end this. We can just live our lives normal y. Together.”

Jared squeezed my hand as he pul ed into the drive.

On a rug in Cynthia’s office I thumbed through papers, looking for anything with numbers. I highlighted anything with an eight, two, or five anywhere near each other.

Two and a half hours later, I had several piles of papers, and nothing that included the numbers we were looking for. I sat up straight to stretch my aching back.

“Let’s take a break,” Jared said. He pul ed the highlighter from my fingers and handed me the plastic container with my lunch sealed inside.

I stretched my legs over Jared’s lap and chewed happily on his amazing stir fry, marveling at what an exceptional cook he was. Jared pul ed off my boot and began rubbing my foot, and I leaned my head back.

“This is taking forever,” I groaned.

“We could cal it a day. I could take you out to dinner,” he offered.

I frowned. “You’re not taking this very seriously.”

Jared let out one shocked puff of air. “On the contrary, I think I’m taking this more seriously than you are. You don’t seem to understand how dangerous this is for you.”

“What could happen to me? My boyfriend also happens to be my guardian angel,” I said, leaning over to kiss him.

“What in the hel is going on here?”

I looked over to the door where Cynthia stood, her hands on her hips.

“Hel o, Mother,” I said. “I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.”

“So is this search and seizure or burglary?” she said, crossing her arms.

“It’s good to see you, too,” I said, rol ing my eyes in response. “We’re trying to find something with an eight twenty-five on it.”

“Eight twenty-five?” Cynthia asked, looking at Jared, who stopped chewing for a moment under her glare.

He swal owed the lump of food in his mouth before giving report. “I intercepted Dawson. They’re finished with the pleasantries, Mrs. Grey. They want the evidence Jack col ected on them and they think Nina knows where it is.”

“I wonder why that is, Jared? It couldn’t be because they’ve seen you two together.”

“It’s possible,” Jared replied, impervious.

“What does Charles Dawson have to do with the number?” Cynthia asked, closing in on the mess on the floor.

“He doesn’t,” Jared said dismissively, looking over the papers again. I was a little surprised by his impassive attitude at Cynthia’s presence when just over a week ago he balked at just the mention of being in the same room with her.

Cynthia seemed to accept his ambiguity, probably because she was used to being left in the dark by my father. “I trust you’l take care of Mr.

Dawson, Jared. That simply won’t do.”

“It’s already been taken care of, Mrs. Grey.”

Cynthia nodded in approval. I was shocked that she spoke so candidly of violence.

“Keep me updated,” she said, walking out the door.

“That was weird,” I said, shaking my head.

Jared looked up from the paper. “What, sweetheart?”

“She threatened to fire you a few days ago if you didn’t stay away from me. You quit speaking to me because of it. And just now you nearly ignored her.”

Jared shrugged. “My mother discussed it with her. She’s had a change of heart.”

“How so?” I asked, suspicious.

“Lil ian’s very persuasive,” Jared smiled.

“Nina?” I turned to see my mother round the corner again.

“Yes?”

“We’re leaving for Nicaragua a week from Sunday. I need you to meet me here early so we can be at the airport by nine. Jared?”

“I’l have everything ready,” Jared said, distracted by the paper in his hand.

My heart began to pound, causing Jared to look up. I realized that I was going to spend the entire week of Spring Break on a beach with him, and the thought made my cheeks flush red.

Jared smiled, guessing what made my heart flutter. “This might be your first vacation with me, but it’s not my first vacation with you.”

“It’s the first time you’l sit with me on the plane,” I said a bit too eager, grinning from ear to ear. Jared chuckled at my enthusiasm.

Cynthia’s reaction differed. “He’s there to work, Nina. Please keep that in mind. Jared, make sure she is here on time.”

“Yes, ma’m,” he said, his soft eyes never leaving mine.

With that, Cynthia disappeared once again.

I couldn’t help but think about lying in a hammock with Jared. It already seemed like heaven.

“I am suddenly looking forward to vacation,” I grinned.

Jared leaned over to touch my cheek. “Lying with you on a Caribbean beach at sunset? I’l have to remind myself that it’s real.”

“What wil you have ready?” I asked.

Jared’s attention turned to the paper he was holding once more, and his eyes narrowed. He didn’t make eye contact when he spoke. “Uh…al of my surveil ance supplies. We typical y bring about fifteen hundred pounds of tech with us, but with Claire going to Tahoe, I’l be carrying light. I’l set up a perimeter around the premises….”

“What is it?” I leaned over to see what he was so absorbed in and recognized it was a bank statement. I’d seen it several times before during my search, but set it aside in the scrap pile.

Jared pointed to a section of the statement and I gasped. It was a monthly charge for a safety deposit box. Box eight twenty-five.

“Jared!” I cried, grabbing his arm.

Jared looked at his watch. “The bank is closed.”

I sighed, deflated. “We’l go first thing Monday morning.”

“I’l go. You have class.”

I grimaced. “I’m going, Jared. We’re doing this together.”

He sighed as we gathered the piles of papers and photos and replaced them. Jared lifted the plant as if it were an empty cardboard box and returned it to its proper place.

My cel phone buzzed in my coat pocket. The display lit up with Kim’s name scrol ing across the screen, and I closed my eyes. “I bet she’s cal ing about the pub tonight. I forgot al about it.”

“Hey Kim.”

“You’re not backing out, Nigh. Don’t even try,” she said.

“I wasn’t going to, I….”

“Sure you weren’t.”

“I’m sorry, Kim. I forgot,” I said, rubbing my forehead with my fingers, feeling a stress headache coming on. “But I’l be there.”

Jared walked with me to the Escalade and held the door open as I climbed inside. By his expression I knew he was aware of the dul pain in my head.

“You’re not going to stand us up again, are you?” she scolded.

“No! No, I’l meet you there around nine.”

“Good. See you then.” Kim said, disconnecting the line.

I put my cel phone back in my pocket and took Jared’s hand. “I’m sorry,” I groaned. “I think I unwittingly double booked myself.”

My head began to throb. It was difficult skipping back and forth between the two lives I was leading. I was the typical col ege student when I was with Kim, Ryan and Beth, and when I was with Jared, my life turned into this fantastical dream world with angels and demons and secret safety deposit boxes.

We parked in front of the loft, and Jared sighed. Claire’s Lotus was sparkling beside the curb.

“It doesn’t look like we’d have much time alone, anyway.”

Claire was lounging on the couch in stilettos boots and a leather jacket, flipping through channels on the flat screen. “Ryan’s taking a nap. That guy sleeps like a hibernating bear,” she said, rol ing her eyes. “Every branch of the military wants me on a special ops team, and God sticks me with the most boring Taleh in the history of mankind.”

I smiled at her observation, and Jared led me upstairs by the hand.

“Ryan is going to the pub tonight?” Jared cal ed back to his sister.

“Yep,” Claire said. “I’l see you there.”

“You’re keeping Claire company tonight?” I asked, col apsing onto his bed.

“I think I’l hang back tonight, let you spend time with your friends,” he said, lying on the mattress beside me.

“You don’t want to come?”

Jared brushed his thumb across my sul en lip. “I always want to be where you are.”

I smiled. “Because you have to.”

“You know that’s not true,” he said, trying his best to seem annoyed.

I leaned over to kiss his cheek. “How do you expect me to have fun when you’re right outside and I’m hoping that any minute you’l just break down and come in?”

Jared grinned. “How can I say no to that?”

“You’l come, then?” I asked, raising my eyebrows expectantly.

“If that’s what you want,” Jared shrugged. He tried to seem casual, but beyond the cool blue of his eyes was an edge of hopefulness.

“It’s what I’l always want,” I whispered, touching his cheek with my fingertips.

Jared’s expression beamed with adoration. “I knew that if I ever got my chance to be with you, al the waiting would be worth it. It’s as if we’ve cheated the curse, somehow. I’ve never understood how something could be considered a curse that requires me to spend every moment with you, and that grants me the mercy of leaving a world that doesn’t have you in it.”

“There’s nothing for me to say after that.”

“It’s just the truth, sweetheart. You don’t have to try to outdo me,” Jared said, amused.

“I love you…and I wil love you forever. That’s the truth.”

Jared’s expression turned intense, as if he was moved beyond words by my simple honesty. He pressed his lips to mine in the same slow, meaningful way he had only once before. It was the sweetest moment of my life.

It occurred to me that the stars had al but lined up for us: Gabe assigned to my father, fal ing in love with Lil ian, and then Jared coming along four years before I did, just in time to be assigned to me—the daughter of a criminal—a girl that would need constant supervision.

I traced the planes of Jared’s torso and pondered how perfectly everything had been laid out for us to be together, and then my mind drifted to Claire and Ryan. If I was going to believe in fate, I had to take into account who Jared said I was meant to be with. I closed my eyes, pushing the thought from my mind. Ryan would find someone else that he would be happy with, and Jared could keep me.

Jared’s voice pul ed me out of my daydream. “You were determined today. I’m impressed.”

“Anything’s possible with an angel and a little ingenuity,” I said, settling in beside him.

Jared let me sleep for an hour, and then we left early to grab a bite to eat before meeting my friends. I descended the stairs in a black satin corset and jeans, with a pair of ruffle-toed pewter pumps. To my extreme pleasure, Jared stood frozen by the door, dropping his keys and then catching them before they hit the floor.

“Wow,” he whispered.

“Thank you,” I smiled, letting him help me with my coat.

By the end of dinner, I’d already had three glasses of wine. We arrived at the pub at nine sharp, and the various vehicles of my friends were already in the parking lot. I noticed Claire’s Lotus parked beside the curb down the street.

When Jared and I walked in, my friends cheered and whistled at our arrival.

Kim yel ed over the music. “I brought a CD!! We’re going to be dancing queens for the night!”

“Okay!” I yel ed over the upbeat song blaring over the speakers.

Tucker brought over shots—al of them different colors—and the group howled. Everyone held up their shot glasses and Chad pushed one ful of something green in my direction.

We al yel ed in unison, “TO THE BIG BROWN BEAR!”

With that, we al tipped our heads back, kil ed our shots, and glasses slammed to the table at different intervals. Tucker yel ed for Tozzi to bring another round, and everyone cheered.