Page 93 of Beyond Question

I accepted that fact a long time ago and now I’m so glad that I did.

Because if I hadn’t, if I hadn’t closed myself off to finding love, maybe I wouldn’t be with Travis. Maybe I wouldn’t be with the one man who refused to let me push him away.

I sigh as I start down the hall toward my office.

He had to head over to Reed Tower early today to attend a meeting with the head of a Japanese company they’re trying to do business with, and though Travis hasn’t been sleeping at my place long, the house already feels empty when he’s not in it.

I’ll never admit this bit aloud, but I couldn’t go back to sleep after he left.

So I forced myself out of bed and came in early myself. Might as well catch up on some things. I’ve missed too much work while we tracked Archer, and now that he is no longer a threat, it’s time to get back to the life I worked so hard to build—

A sound comes from my office and I pause, my pulse kicking up a notch.

I hold my breath, then the first tinny chords of “New York, New York” begin, and a smile spreads across my lips.

Travis.

That little music box.

“Sneaky, sneaky," I say as I pick up my pace and stride toward my office, my heart fluttering around in my chest with excitement. “Guess you didn’t have to go into work early after all—”

I freeze in the doorway, my words dying on my tongue.

The stack of unopened mail falls, scattering around my feet. A scream forms in my throat but no sound escapes my open mouth.

His back is to me, but I’d recognize those broad shoulders anywhere.

The dark auburn hair.

That menacing chuckle, deep in his throat.

When Archer turns around, the scream stuck in my throat comes out as a sob.

He holds up my favorite decoration in my office, a frameless, glass digital photo album, and I watch in horror as pictures of Bronte and me flip by, one after the other.

Archertsks, and my gaze flicks up to his piercing gray eyes. “You’ve been keeping secrets from me, Josephine.”

To be continued…