Page 72 of Guarding Grace

And so, we relaxed into pleasant conversation for a change. Our delicious food cooled as we had to fit in bites between explanations and insightful questions.

After dinner, I helped with the cleanup before Terry led me to the sectional facing his monster big screen.

Was it a bachelor requirement to have a TV so large you couldn’t figure out how they’d gotten it in the door?

“You need to wind down and relax,” Terry told me.

Maybe this was it. “I can’t sit, remember?”

He sat at one end of the sectional, placing a throw pillow next to him. “I remember. You can lie down.” He patted the pillow—an invitation.

I kicked off my shoes and settled on my side, my head on the pillow instead of in his lap, as he worked the clicker.

“What would you like to watch?”

“You choose,” I squeaked.

“You’re the guest.”

I wasn’t foolish enough to suggest a rom-com. Was it odd that I’d never had an inkling of his movie preferences? A guy like Terry probably went for sci-fi or action movies. All I had to go on was what Pete had liked, so I suggested my brother’s favorite action movie. “Can we getTrue Lies?”

“Sure. It would be fitting since Pete is Omega.”

“Yeah, Omega,” I said, implying I knew more than I did. Pete had mentioned Omega on the phone a few times when he didn’t know I was listening. I’d never asked him what it meant. “Personally, I think Schwarzenegger is hot in this one.”

“Jamie Lee Curtis is the hot one.”

“I can guess which part you like.” It had to be the striptease scene in the hotel.

He didn’t hide his smirk as he located the movie and started it. Before long, Arnold appeared, larger than life coming out of the icy water and then stripping off his diving suit to reveal an immaculate tux underneath. If that didn’t out-class James Bond, I didn’t know what did.

It was a refreshing change to be watching a movie with someone. I’d spent way too many nights alone in my apartment with only Bonnie and Clyde as company.

Everything about Terry exuded power, but more than only muscles. It was in the way he carried himself, the way he spoke with others, the way I’d seen him make decisions. Terry was so…the best word for it wasmale. So, why didn’t his hand stray to at least stroke my shoulder?

As the movie went on, I caught him glancing at me, but only because I was paying as much attention to him as I was Arnold and Jamie Lee.

He didn’t merely glance at my cleavage. His eyes traveled the length of me, like a gentle caress—the journey I wished his hands would take.

“It’s so perfect,” Terry said as the characters crossed the threshold into the secret offices with the Omega emblem set in the marble floor.Omega Sector, The last line of defense, it read.

“Yeah.”

“Hiding in plain sight,” he said with a laugh. “Any communication about Omega the news media overhears is like a joke about the movie. They have no idea we’re real.”

“That’s what Pete thought,” I lied. He’d never spoken with me about it. “He always made me proud.”

“You should be.” He gripped my shoulder. “Omega is the best. True ghosts.”

Omega. The word rattled around in my head as I recalled the furtive conversations. I’d known Pete was in a black program he couldn’t talk about, but I’d never connected the Omega mentions until this moment.

Terry pulled his hand back.

I missed the short touch, but it also felt like a revelation to finally have a glimpse of my brother’s world. I knew Pete’s work had to be different than the movie, but how much different? It hurt to know I’d never be able to ask him, now that he was gone.

I sensed that Terry wanted me just as I wanted him. He just couldn’t or wouldn’t allow himself. He was back to stubborn Terry.

During our kiss, he’d warned me that he wouldn’t be able to stop, but now he had. Maybe it had been my fault for arguing with him too forcefully. “I can’t thank you enough,” I murmured.