More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [51]
The Sparrow, if she wasn’t Elizabeth, could have done the same in an attempt to protect her twin.
“Aidan?” Lucia questioned, since he hadn’t answered her earlier question.
“Your Lazlo bio says you’re an only child. Are you?”
When she didn’t reply, Aidan had his answer. “I’ll try tonight to get more info from Elizabeth about her family.”
“You plan on going to work? Do you feel well enough?”
“It’s what I have to do,” he replied and walked away, intending to get some rest. He planned on going to the restaurant, but laying low. He needed Lizzy to worry. He needed her to make the first move. If he did the approaching, it might seem too pushy, create a blip on her radar if she truly was the Sparrow.
Which, once again, he was unsure about.
Why? he asked himself. Maybe because Xander’s report had only created doubt. He couldn’t see her knocking him out in the tunnel and then faking the whole concern thing so well. Until he remembered the expert way she had handled that little paring knife and her knowledge regarding the poisonous mushrooms.
He was dumbfounded. Again.
But that’s what she does. She creates the persona you think you know and then…the reasonable voice in his head reminded. It’s what he was doing, except that he was finding it hard to reconcile all her many facets. In fact, he was fascinated by all her layers.
Somehow tonight, he’d find a way to reach her. To get more answers about her, because if they were on the track of the wrong woman…the real Sparrow was still out there. As deadly and dangerous as ever.
Chapter 17
Restlessness kept her awake. A restlessness created by all that had happened in the past few days.
First, that crazy-ass driver on the coast road the other night.
Second, Aidan nearly killing himself in the gym this morning.
And last, but probably highest on the list, her feelings for Aidan, a man about whom she knew so little. A man whom she couldn’t figure out. During their picnic the other day, she’d thought they had connected, but this afternoon he’d seemed…angry. Ready to attack. Maybe it had been the blow to the head, because later that night, he was a changed man. Alone and distant.
She had wanted to approach him, see if everything was okay, but it had been impossible thanks to an unusually busy Tuesday night and a party that lingered later than normal. She had hoped he would wait around after his shift, but he hadn’t.
Maybe she had misread his interest the other day. Her radar was obviously off, which was to be expected. It had been so long since she’d played this man-woman game. Too long maybe. A reason to stay out of the game, the annoying voice in her head urged, even while she thought: nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Those dueling emotions were the reason for the unsettling feeling that her life had taken an unexpected turn thanks to this man. An unwelcome turn that wouldn’t necessarily take her where she wanted to go. Especially since Aidan was just passing through. He had bluntly told her that the day he’d come back, trying to convince her to hire him.
She hadn’t made a mistake with the decision to hire him. He had turned out to be a competent bartender. And a most competent kisser.
However, losing control with him had possibly been not such a wise decision.
She suddenly needed to take back the control she considered so necessary. It was what she had done her entire life. First, when her parents had been killed. Next, when Dani had left.
It was what she planned on doing now.
Changing out of her pajamas, she slipped on a pair of black jeans and grabbed the first shirt she laid her hands on—a black tank top sitting atop the clean laundry pile. She didn’t bother with a bra. No one would be out on the beach at this hour and besides, she wasn’t all that big