The Midnight Hour - Brenda Jackson [77]
"Tori, I'd like you to meet my two closest friends, Trevor Grant and Ashton Sinclair. I've mentioned them to you before," Drake said.
Tori knew that now was not the time to tell Drake the truth, not with an audience. She decided she would stick to her plan and tell him later when they were alone, which meant she would pretend just a little while longer. After making that decision she extended her hand first to Trevor and then to Ashton, who was drilling her with a piercing look. There was no doubt in her mind that he remembered her from when she'd visited Drake at the hospital.
"It's nice meeting the both of you."
"Same here," Trevor said, smiling.
Ashton, however, continued to stare at her. "Have we met before, Tori?" he asked, knowing damn well that they had.
With a shake of her head, she pulled her hand from his. His features were hard, unreadable. "I don't think so."
"Umm, that's funny. For some reason I thought that perhaps we had."
Drake, who hadn't picked up on the tension between Tori and Ashton, said, 'Tori used to be in the marines before going to work for die Agency. Perhaps you ran into her somewhere." He smiled as he glanced over at Tori. "She's not a woman a man can see one time and easily forget."
Ashton nodded as both his hands slipped into the pockets of his jeans. "Yeah, I can definitely agree with that."
Drake turned to Trevor. "Thanks for letting me use this place."
Trevor smiled. "Don't mention it. Come on and let me show you a few things before we leave. And we stopped by a restaurant and got take-out dinners so you two won't have to do any cooking tonight."
"Thanks," Tori said, appreciating his thoughtfulness.
"I'll stay here and help Ms. Green unload the car," Ashton volunteered.
Drake nodded. "Thanks, Ash."
Tori swallowed. She knew no matter what Ashton had told Drake, the main reason he was hanging back was because he had questions and intended to get answers.
pulled her luggage behind her while following Ashton ¦ carried the rest of their things into the cabin. It was a spacious one-story dwelling that had two bedrooms with their own private baths, a huge living room with a pool table and an eat-in kitchen.
"Who the hell are you? What were you doing in Drake's hospital room that night? And what the hell are you doing with him now?"
Tori had just completed a quick tour of the cabin and had retuned to the living room the exact moment that Ashton had walked into the cabin with the last of their stuff. She shook her head and inwardly smiled. Ashton wasn't wasting any time. This was the Ashton she knew and loved as a friend. When it came to finding out something he wanted to know, he didn't believe in beating around the bush and he was worse than a dog with a bone.
'The answers you want are complicated, Ashton."
"Who gives a damn? I want them anyway."
She could feel his anger and knew that because of the unknowns, he didn't trust her. "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it," she said softly. Inhaling deeply, she crossed the room and sat down on the sofa. "You always were a pain in the ass when you wanted to know something."
He lifted a brow and stared at her. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that time in the Philippines when you were determined to find out the reason behind our mission instead of just following orders and doing what we'd been sent to do."
Ashton's gaze hardened, his nostrils flared and his jaw tightened. He slowly crossed the room and stood over her, staring, looking at Tori for a long moment, studying every feature on her face, giving her his full attention, his total concentration.
He opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again. "Who the hell are you?" he asked incredulously, with tightly-held restraint.
Tori sat very still. Then she looked up at him. After five years she was about to share her secret with someone she knew was a friend. Someone she trusted.
She leaned back against the sofa. "It's