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Grimacing, Gabe watched the sway of her hips. She turned, and he could see she was tired, too. Of fighting him? Of being forced to bend to his wishes when that so obviously wasn’t her nature? If they’d had a proper dating relationship, he would have indulged her every whim. He could have proven how patient he could be with her, but it seemed as if he’d spent half his time knotting her up in a state of stress and anxiety, trying to protect her and fighting the urge to rail when she resisted.
The other half of their time together, when they were alone, he’d found both an ease and a craving he’d never known possible, one that had been missing from all his other relationships.
If he pushed Everly too hard, he would lose her.
“I’ll go get the car, but I’m not taking us directly to Connor’s,” Dax said. “You need some alone time with that woman. She’s not happy with you, brother. You need to grovel. And by grovel, I mean you need to spend some serious time making her scream. I’ve found women are way happier after I’ve given them a couple of orgasms.”
Gabe wasn’t sure he should listen to Dax’s relationship advice. “So says the man whose wife left him.”
“Yeah, well, I was on a ship for a year, so I couldn’t give her any orgasms. Not surprising she dumped my ass.” Dax slapped him on the back. “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. You need to settle things with that woman, Gabe. She’s good for you.”
He nodded. She was the one. In a million years, he’d never imagined he would find her, much less in the midst of death, chaos, and danger. Gabe wondered, however, if he was good for her. Even if he wasn’t . . . he didn’t think he could let her go.
FIFTEEN
Everly stood in the lobby of the Crawford building and waited for Gabe to join her while Dax brought around the limo. She thought seriously about marching out of the building and getting on the subway. She could be home in no time. She’d lock every door and let her phone ring so she wouldn’t have to deal with Gabriel Bond at all. She could hole up, turn on a Doctor Who marathon, and veg with her computer. She could gather everything she knew about Valerie and try to connect her to those two thugs. She could try to find her informant’s identity because, despite his warning, of course she was going to do that.
Then she wouldn’t have to think about Gabriel or worry about melting for him. She could hide away and try to get back to the woman she’d been before she met him.
Except he would have his superscary, probably worked-for-the-CIA spook friend break in. Then she would really be in for a lecture.
No. She wasn’t going to run from him. Maybe she should. But she refused to dash away like a timid rabbit. Instead, she’d talk to him until he understood that she needed time to process everything that had happened.
The problem was, she didn’t actually want time away from Gabriel. No, she wanted to be with him—in every sense of the word—especially after yet another brush with death.
“Oh, hell. Your dress! It’s ruined. Are you all right?” Scott dashed out of the elevator and over to her side, his expression concerned.
She wondered what he’d heard about the incident with Valerie. “A few bumps and scrapes, but otherwise, I’m fine.”
“Thank goodness. The rumor is that Val tried to kill you.” His voice shook slightly.
Oh, the gossip mill at Crawford really annoyed her. She wished it hadn’t chosen now to be so accurate. “Valerie had the wrong idea about my relationship with Maddox.” Everly shrugged. “But I survived.”
“It’s my fault.” Scott’s shoulders slumped. “I knew she didn’t like you. I should have said something.”
“Everyone knew she didn’t like me, Scott.”
His stare bounced up to hers, and she couldn’t miss the guilt there. “I knew why she hated you.”
That confused Everly a bit. “You knew she’d had a fling with my brother?”
“It’s still so weird to think of you as Crawford’s sister, but yes. At one point, Val was what a lot of straight dudes would call his convenient pussy.”
She winced. “Okay, you don’t have to be so graphic.”
“Sorry. Early this year, Crawford hooked up with Val every now and then. She often waited around the office to see if he wanted her. He wasn’t serious about her. Once, I was out with Tavia and Val at happy hour, and Crawford called her.”
“Like . . . a booty call?”
Scott nodded. “Just like that. He said that he was drunk and to meet him at some hotel if she wanted to fuck. Apparently, she didn’t care how desperate accepting made her look. She jumped up and left the bar. Tavia said that whenever Crawford beckoned, Val ran.”
“So when he started spending a lot of his evenings at my place more recently, she assumed I was her competition.”
“Oh, you weren’t even in the same league. He cared about you. He barely spoke to her during the day. But she’d deluded herself. Tavia said she’d go to lunch and tell her friends that Crawford was going to marry her. She talked about what a whore you were for trying to steal him.”
Well, the day wasn’t complete if someone didn’t accuse her of prostitution. “I hope she gets some help in jail.” And a nice long sentence. “It’s not your fault. I probably wouldn’t have told you if someone was being horrible behind your back and there was nothing you could do about it. Val and I weren’t friends. I knew she didn’t like me.”
“I never imagined she would go so completely crazy on you.”
“Well, she did. I’m trying to look on the bright side. At least now it will be much easier to go through her records and figure out where she hid the money she embezzled. You did a turn in accounting, right?”
He stood up a little straighter. “Sure.”
“You any good at it?”
Scott grinned. “I find accounting easy.”
Relief wound through her. Finally, she might get some concrete answers about why Maddox had been killed. “Could you look into the accounting on the foundation gala for the last few years? I would really love to get a big picture of exactly what Val did. If you could find out how and where she funneled the money, that would be insanely helpful.”
“Sure. I can certainly take a look. Most likely she worked with caterers to overcharge and then split the extra money with them, but I’ll tell you if I see anything else.”
“Thanks. I would love your thoughts. I have to know what happened. This might be the reason my brother was killed.” But the idea that emotionally unstable Valerie could manage to kill Maddox by tampering with his aircraft kept bugging her. It didn’t compute. If Valerie had wanted to kill Maddox, it seemed far more likely she would have chased him with a knife or tried to run him over, not put a bomb on his plane. And why would anyone cover up the crime for her?
Unfortunately, Everly didn’t have another suspect. Her mysterious contact hadn’t given her much to work with. Oh, she’d find the information he’d mentioned and look up Lara Armstrong, see if she dug up any more clues or proof, but she couldn’t fathom that it would lead to anything more than a dead end.
Scott stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Sure. I’m on it.”
“That’s a relief. Gabriel has a forensic accountant coming in, but I need answers now. Even a quick-and-dirty look would help.”
“A forensic accou
ntant?” Scott’s eyes went a little wide. “Okay. Yeah, I’m not that good, but I’ll have a report ready for you as soon as I can. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
That was one problem taken care of. “Thank you. Call me as soon as you’re done, okay?”
“You got it.” Scott looked to his side and Gabriel was striding toward her. “Looks like your escort is here.”
She gave Scott a quick hug, feeling eyes on her. When she turned back, Gabriel stood, watching. Pure possessiveness blazed across his face before he seemed to force himself to relax. He gave Scott a smile before his hand found hers.
Moments later, he led her through the lobby doors and ushered her toward the limo. Only a few reporters loitered outside.
