Undercover: A Romance

Chapter Nineteen

He stared at me for a moment taking in what I said before nodding for me to continue. "From the time I was born, I was already in training to be an agent. I was born in Italy and lived there for the first part of my childhood. None of that was a lie. Everything that I have told you apart from my name and age is true. Well except for my parents job occupation. They're also CIA agents. That's why they're never around."

He nodded. "That makes sense."

I laughed softly. "Yes it does." I sighed and laid my head back against the couch.

"How old are you exactly?" He asked in the silence.

I sighed again. "I am twenty-four year. And my name is Ariabella Cosette Smith. My parents usually call me Aria or Bella. Either or. Doesn't matter."

He smiled. "You have a beautiful name." I smiled too. "Thanks." I responded. I didn't know what to say now. I was at a loss for words. He knew who and what I am now. I'm not used to these situations.

"I'm guessing that you're done with whatever your mission was?" He asked. I nodded. 

"I finished a while ago. I decided that I'd take a year or two off for...reasons." I said carefully, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

He smiled slightly looking at his hands. "And do these reasons have anything to do with me?" He asked softly.

"I may have wanted to take some time off to be with you. I had already planned on it before I came to talk to you. I knew there was a chance that you wouldn't want anything else to do with me, so the extra time was also there to give me time to move forward." I said turning to look at him fully. It was true. I knew it could've ended badly, so the time was there for me to heal my broken heart. Before he showed up at my door, I thought I was going to have to use the time for healing and that thought scared me.

He nodded still looking down at his hands. After a minute he looked up at me, his face calm. "You won't need it to heal. I realize now that I should have let you explain weeks ago. It would have saved us both the torment. Although I have that weird man to thank for opening my eyes to how I feel about you." He smiled at me and took my hand.

I was confused. "What weird man?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I don't know. He showed up at my house telling me how dumb I was for not letting you explain and how lucky I was that you gave me your heart."

I sat there for a second. Weird man...? Then it dawned on me. "What did this weird man look like?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"He was kind of tall. Brown hair, although he had some gray in there-" He stopped when I started shaking my head. "What?" He asked with confusion on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Dan."

He looked at me expectantly. When I didn't elaborate further he spoke again. "Who's Dan?" He asked.

I shook my head again. "I'll let him explain." I said. I pulled out my phone and called him.

"Yes Darling?" He answered his phone on the second ring.

"Well honey. I need you to come over here." I said. My tone was sickeningly sweet.

He laughed. "I take it lover boy is over there right now? I'll be there in a second." He hung.

I huffed and rolled my eyes. "I'm going to kill him." Blake laughed. "He was worried about you. So he came to talk to me. I'm glad he did. He brought me to my senses." He chuckled again when I smiled slightly and wrapped his arm around me. Not a minute later the doorbell rang. I furrowed my brow and reached under the table for my gun.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked shocked. "It's probably just Dan." I shook my head and got up to walk to the door. "Dan doesn't use the doorbell." I replied. I held the gun in one hand and grabbed the door handle with the other. I looked back at Blake. "Go stand in the kitchen doorway." I said. He nodded and walked over to stand in the archway that led into the kitchen.

I took a deep breath and opened the door to be completely shocked.

"Mom?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

My mother looks a lot like me. Her dark brown hair was waving down to the middle of her back and her green eyes sparkled. I had gotten my high cheekbones and the shape of my lips from her. She smiled sweetly at me. "I was told that you were done with your job and was taking a year off. When John told me I knew. So where is he?"

I laughed and stepped back to let her in. I shut the door behind her and walked over to Blake who was looking extremely confused.

"Blake. This is my mother. Mom, this is Blake." Mom smiled and walked up to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him up and down. She smiled over at me. "You did good darling." And then she pulled him into a hug. Blake was shocked at first and then he wrapped his arms around her too. "It's nice to meet you." He said when she finally let him go.

"I'm so happy. I never thought you find someone. You were always so closed off and focused on work." She looked like she was about to bust from happiness.

I laughed at her face. She seemed like she was on cloud nine. My mom always showed me that she loved me. She was never closed off and never hesitated to show her emotions to me and father when it was just us.

She sighed. "Shall we sit? I want to hear all about this." She raised her brows and sat on the couch.

I rolled my eyes and giggled. "Yes mother."