I smiled and nodded as he drifted away from us, then spoke quickly. “Whatever you think happened, I can explain. I know—”
“Whatever I think?” Gage crossed his arms over his chest. “How about the truth? Has every word out of your mouth since the day I met you been a lie?”
I shook my head. “Gage, I swear to you, I didn’t know anything about an active operation until last Friday, and then I canceled our date to keep you safe.”
He pressed his lips together and stared at me.
If I wanted any chance of a future with him, this was the moment of truth, quite literally. I couldn’t leave any room for doubt or hide any skeletons that might pop out of the closet later. “One of my enemies, the one who took shots at me last week, is a known associate of the higher-ups in Roxy Energy, so when you mentioned that company, I was curious about your affiliation with it.”
“Did you think I was some sort of criminal?”
I shook my head. “My gut said you absolutely were not a bad guy, and it’s almost never wrong. And every minute I spend with you, I like you more. None of that is or ever was fake, I swear. And keeping you safe isn’t just work for me. It’s personal. I’ve been doing this job for six years, and before this, I never let it get personal.”
“Personal. You mean like sleeping with me? Did you do that for your job?”
After the intensity of our connection every time we made love, I couldn’t believe he would ask me that question. Rage-fueled heat poured through me. He widened his eyes, probably alarmed over seeing me turning bright red.
“That’s how you think I do my job?” I asked. “You don’t think I have other skill sets to bring to the table?” I stepped toward him. He wisely stepped back. “For your information, Gage Halifax,” I whisper-shouted, “I have never slept with a man for any reason other than wanting him.” I looked him up and down, hoping to put him on edge. “I might not always show the best judgment, but I do it for me, never for the job.”
“Fine,” he said. A hint of relief crossed his face, as much as he might have wished to hide it.
“Fine,” I replied. I should have continued being furious with him, but pathetically, I was glad he believed that truth about me.
He turned, ready to walk away, then faced me again. “What did you mean about keeping me safe?”
I took a deep breath so I could give him the big picture as quickly as possible. I needed to persuade him that I’d made the right choice to hide Roxy Energy’s kidnapping scheme from him. And maybe I needed to convince myself, too. By the time I paused for a breath, his angry expression hadn’t softened.
“Now, Greenly and some thugs have shown up here,” I continued. “We have to assume they plan to make their move this weekend. We’re not going to let that happen. That incident in the lobby with me standing close to Greenly and chatting him up was so our IT guys could tunnel through my phone, connect to his, and clone it. Now we’ll be able to follow all his phone calls and texts.” I reached for his hand. “It’s going to help us protect you.”
He flinched away from me. “Well, then, I guess I owe you a great big thank-you, don’t I?” He took a deep breath and blew it out through his nose. “But here’s where I have a big problem. You pulled that stunt with my brother and my sister-in-law—mypregnantsister-in-law—standing right there. I don’t know what kind of reaction you’re expecting from me, but that was not okay. None of this is okay.”
My biggest hope had been that I would never have to tell Gage about this operation. Barring that possibility, I wanted him to trust me enough to do my job and do it well. But that was unfair of me to ask because in my line of work, even with the backing of an elite agency like HEAT and the support of the best operatives in the world, the possibility of danger was never zero. Gage wasn’t ready to accept the risks, and he might never be.
I braced myself for the body blow of his rejection but was still barely prepared when it came.
The chatty groomsman popped his head out into the hallway and grinned. “Come on, lovebirds, before Miriam throws a fit.”
Gage pasted a smile on his face, then took my arm and held it loosely at his side. He spoke to me quietly through clenched teeth. “Let’s just get through this weekend without ruining my friend’s wedding. Then you can run off and play your spy games, and I’ll get back to real life, and we’ll each just go our own merry fucking way.”
CHAPTER 25
GAGE
Iwoke up the morning of the Calhoun-Buchanan wedding feeling like holy hell. This time it wasn’t because of a night of drinking. Unfortunately, I’d stayed stone-cold sober. Everything about me last night had been like stone, beginning with the accusations I’d flung at Kat during our argument. Once we’d joined the dinner, I’d made a good show of laughing and joking and flirting just a little with my friends’ dates, putting my arm around Kat when it had seemed appropriate, and holding her hand as we’d left the party.
Alone in the elevator, I’d dropped her hand and the pretense. I’d slumped against the far wall and let the artifice drain away, revealing the cold, hard statue I was underneath. Back in the room, we’d taken turns in the bathroom preparing for bed. We’d each spoken to Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants about what a good boy he’d been, but we hadn’t spoken a single word to each other since that god-awful hallway conversation.
And now she was gone.
At least her clothes, suitcase, and Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants were still there. He stood beside the bed and flicked his tail. When I got up, he led me to the bathroom and the empty food bowl there. I filled it with kibble, then slipped him some liver-flavored treats. It didn’t escape me that this might be the last time we shared our little morning ritual.
“She’ll take good care of you, buddy.”
That much I trusted. Kat’s feelings were genuine, at least those she had for the fluffy gray fur ball. And maybe the ones she’d shown for me, too, which only made this whole situation sadder.
I shaved, showered, and dressed in jeans and a sweater—the green sweater that Kat had liked so much, I realized after I’d pulled it on. I was debating whether to change into something else when the door to the suite opened.
We met, awkwardly, in the middle of the small bedroom.
