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“Any trouble?”
“No more than usual, though I ran into a couple of goons who didn’t care for my questions.”
“You always did have trouble keeping your mouth shut,” Jack said. “How soon can you get back to London?”
“I’m about to fly out of Mexico City. I’ll be there by midafternoon.”
“See you then.” Jack disconnected and decided it was time for Leanne to wake up so he could give her a proper goodbye.
* * *
They’d both found fulfillment, but neither of them had found satisfaction. Gabe felt like he’d been run over by a truck. Grace shivered as chill bumps covered her skin.
“You’re cold.” He didn’t recognize the sound of his voice. It was raspy—lethargic—and then he cursed himself for speaking at all as she stiffened in his arms.
He tried to think of something—anything—to say just as his phone chimed a series of beeps.
“I have to get that,” he said, relieved. “It’s Ethan.”
Grace passed him his phone and said, “I’m going to take a shower and get some sleep.” Her voice was steady, but he could feel the emotion vibrating just under the surface.
He let the phone continue to beep as he watched her. “Grace, I…”
“Don’t apologize, Gabe. We both know we would have ended up here eventually.”
“We still have things unsettled between us.”
“No regrets,” she reminded him. “Answer the phone, Gabe. You’ve always been able to have my body. I accept that. But my mind is my own. Nothing will ever be settled between us.” She walked out of the room—gloriously naked—the impression of his fingers already showing up on her skin as pale blue bruises.
“What?” Gabe growled into the phone.
“Is this a bad time?” Ethan asked.
“No more than usual. What’s going on?”
“Standridge is in Boston. I figured you’d like to take an impromptu trip to pay him a little visit.”
“Yeah, we’ll take care of it.” Gabe rubbed his eyes with his thumb and first finger and thought of sleep.
“I’ll send his address and a map to your phone.”
“Thanks,” Gabe said. “Has Logan checked in with you guys?”
“Not with me, but he might have called Jack.”
Gabe raised his brows at the way Ethan said Jack’s name. “Is there a problem with Jack?”
“Everything’s great. He’s screwing himself across London last I checked.”
Gabe laughed at Ethan’s obvious disgruntlement. “He doesn’t mean anything by it. It’s just the way he is. You’ll get used to him.”
“Yeah, like a hole in the head. Let me know what happens with Standridge. Are you going to try and bring him back with you?”
“We’ll play it by ear,” Gabe said.
“How’s the mercenary?” Ethan said, defiantly. “Has she had any more lucrative offers while you’ve been gone?”
Gabe sighed. He was too old for this. He knew Ethan had a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder, but he didn’t have time to parent right now. “Lay off, Ethan. She’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to do.” He knew he sounded harsher than he should have, and Ethan was a smart enough guy to pick up on it. The silence on the other end of the line told him Ethan understood he’d gone too far.
