Page 14 of It’s Always Been You (Always #1)

“Listen, Ms. Kincaid, maybe you should be grateful for being given this second chance with Travis, relearn your tradecraft, and stop being a pain in the ass.”

Duly chastised, yet still defiant, Caitlin shutdown the laptop. “Are we done here?”

“Yes. You’re dismissed.”

Before Caitlin could get out another word, the admiral punched a number on his phone and turned away from her—clearly getting in the last word.

He was taking her out on a real date tonight.

In between the Kennedy contract, getting caught up at work, and getting Caitlin settled, Travis forgot the basic rules of courtship—because there was no question what was going on here—taking the lady of his affections out to a nice romantic dinner.

Instead of parking his car in the garage, he pulled up to the front of the house since they’d be leaving soon anyway.

He had left a message with Sam to let Caitlin know that they wouldn’t be dining in tonight.

Travis smiled briefly. Although Caitlin loved to eat, she was a terrible cook.

One evening he came home to the smoke alarms blaring and found Sam and Caitlin laughing over a burned roast. They ended up having pizza that night, but Travis was heartened that she was attempting to create a likeness of a home life for them.

All that was missing was the ultimate intimacy. That was about to change.

When Travis entered the house, he was surprised to see Caitlin preoccupied with a laptop. He did not recognize the computer. Where did she get it?

Sam met him at the foyer. “I reminded her a few minutes ago to get ready.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Travis responded absently as he made his way into the dining room where Caitlin sat at the head of the table, a frown creasing her forehead, eyes narrowed intently on the screen.

“Cat—”

“Shhh!”

What the fuck?

Travis tamped down his temper, or was it hurt?

He had been looking forward to a romantic evening with her, but obviously, she didn’t feel the same.

She didn’t even look up when he entered the house, while he had been missing the sight of her face all day.

The disparity between their reactions started to bring down his mood, but he fought back the urge to wallow in self-pity again .

“Got it!” Caitlin jumped out of the chair and flew into his arms, catching Travis by surprise. She planted a resounding smack on his lips, which startled both of them.

Even as Caitlin sprang back after realizing the impetus of her actions, hope flared within Travis.

“Got what, sunshine girl?” Travis grinned.

She was adorable when she was excited.

“I broke the encryption on the first file,” Caitlin said. “The rest of the files won’t be too hard. I finally figured out the algorithm to apply once I recognized the file headers.”

As his wife chattered away in a language he didn’t fully understand, a cold chill snaked up his spine.

“Porter has been to see you?” Travis cut her off in mid-sentence. Caitlin must have noted the tension that suddenly suffused the air.

“You didn’t know?”

His silence was answer enough. He said, “Go and get ready, Cat.”

Eyeing him warily, she packed up her laptop and disappeared to the second floor.

“Mr. Blake—” Sam spoke tentatively behind him.

“Why wasn’t I informed that Ben Porter was at the NEST?”

“I didn’t know who he was.”

“But you saw Caitlin go into a room with him?”

“No. I wasn’t allowed beyond the reception area, but I saw a distinguished gentleman enter the facility.”

“These are the things I need to know, Sam,” Travis said tightly. “You may go.”

“Sir, I’m sorry—”

“That’s okay, Harper. Consider this part of your training.” He assured the young man. “Situational awareness. You need to be able to identify possible threats. Sometimes friends can be your worst enemy. ”

“Understood, Sir,” Sam answered. “Have—have a good evening.”

The second Sam left the house, Travis whipped out his phone and called Porter.

“Blake,” the admiral answered on the third ring.

“Sir, I just found out that you’ve been to see my wife.”

“Not sure I like the hostility in your tone, Lieutenant.”

Addressing him by his rank as a SEAL, the admiral was putting him in his place. But Travis wasn’t backing down.

“I don’t like it when things are done behind my back, Admiral, especially where my wife is concerned.”

“Are you sure she’s still your wife?”

Travis bristled. That was a dirty blow.

“Make no mistake. She’s mine. Now, before we end up in a pissing contest, I’d like for you to tell me what exactly is going on. And why wasn’t I informed you’d be visiting her?”

“I was the one who got her in the NEST program,” Porter said frostily. “I don’t answer to you, Blake. Dr. Lester is under my command. If you don’t like how I run things, say the word and we’ll stop giving her the help she needs.”

“I don’t respond well to threats, Admiral.”

There was a long stretch of silence between them. Finally, Porter said, “I think you’re overreacting. Caitlin is in no danger from me. The sooner I get the mob off your back, the better.”

A normal person would feel castigated by Porter’s statement. But Travis had been honed by years of looking at things beyond what they seemed. The admiral was desperate to get Caitlin back into fighting form with her tradecraft. Why?

“No way am I having her work for the CIA again,” Travis said. “The agency was the reason she was taken from me in the first place. I’ll come up with that hundred million to pay off the mob if that’s the price to keep the CIA’s fucking hands off her.” Travis paused, before he added, “Sir.”

“That’s not what’s happening here, Blake.” Porter sighed heavily. “First your wife and now you? I just want to get Komarov to leave your wife alone.”

“Caitlin asked you your reasons for helping, too?” Travis asked, strangely pleased that she wasn’t blindly following Porter’s orders.

“Your woman’s got a mouth on her. She’s going to be a handful.”

Oh, he looked forward to that, but not in the way Porter thought.

“I’ll let you go. I just wanted you to know where I stand regarding Caitlin’s treatment at the NEST. I don’t want any surprises. I hope you understand why I’m cautious about everything that has to do with her well-being.”

“She’s not going to break when a memory hits her, Blake.”

“Nonetheless, I’m not taking any chances.”

“Smothering her will only push her away.”

There was that damned word again.

“We play this my way,” Travis said shortly, leaving the “or else” hanging between them.

The call ended on a tense note. Though not the first time they had butted heads, this was the first time Travis had issued something like a threat.

He’d always deferred to Porter because years in the Navy had ingrained in Travis the importance of the chain of command.

It had taken a while for him to shake out of Porter’s rank as an admiral and start questioning some of his ideas.

Loosening his tie, he made his way up the stairs to prepare for his date with Caitlin.