“Um, I think she knows you succeeded.”
He managed a ragged cough of a laugh. “Yeah, maybe.” He toyed with her fingers without seeming to be aware of it. “I bought her a house, a car, jewelry, designer clothes. All the things she couldn’t have when I was a kid. Honestly, I don’t think she really cared about any of it. She just wanted to see me doing well. So I’d fly her up here to stay in my apartment. A penthouse I bought to show her I’d made it.” His lips twisted into a wry smile. “I took her to fancy restaurants, to expensive stores. She was happy about that, not for herself, but because I could afford all those things.”
“So you saw her often?”
“As often as she would come.” A silent sob shook him. “I miss seeing her face light up when the maître d’ showed us to the best table in a restaurant where reservations were supposedly impossible to get. Or when the manager in a designer store would wave away the minions and serve Mama herself. She’d give me this sly look that said, ‘We’re really something, aren’t we, getting this kind of treatment?’”
His adoration for his mother vibrated in every word he spoke. Tears pooled in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Maybe I’m not handling it well, but I don’t know any other means to bear it,” he said in a near whisper.
She and Leland really were kindred spirits. They handled pain the same way, pouring themselves into jobs that demanded so much attention they wouldn’t have time to feel. Maybe it wasn’t healthy but it worked for them . . . eventually.
Something shifted within her, making her heart flip. Beneath all the outward trappings of their different lives, they shared a fundamental way of dealing with what life threw at them. His money could buy all those things Leland had given his mother, but it couldn’t save him from the terrible grief of losing her. He was as human and vulnerable as Dawn was.
Which meant she could see past the computer genius and the founding partner with the pool built for him on the roof of a skyscraper. Whatever else might come between them, she could love him simply as a man.
She rose up on her knees and put her arms around him. “I understand.”
He didn’t move for a long moment. Then he wrapped his arms around her like he was drowning and she was his lifeline. When he buried his face in her shoulder, she stroked his hair and let him hold on to her.
As the minutes passed, she could feel the tension drain out of his shoulders and his grip on her loosen to an embrace. She continued to skim her palm over the silk of his hair, demanding nothing, as she savored the heat and weight of his body enveloping hers.
His ragged breathing evened out and he lifted his head to press a gentle kiss on her mouth. “You mentioned doing something more interesting than writing reports. I might take you up on that, darlin’.”
When her alarm went off the next morning, she had to squirm out from under the arm and leg that Leland had thrown over her during the night. Once she stopped the beeping, Leland made an inarticulate noise and pulled her back against him again. Exultation fizzed through her as she realized he’d slept through the rest of the night after they’d made slow, tender love. Well, they’d had to negotiate what time to set the alarm for, but she’d convinced him to make it a semicivilized hour.
“Are you awake?” she murmured quietly in case he wasn’t.
“About half and only happy about it because I woke up with you beside me.” His voice rumbled in her ear, its sound sleepy and relaxed. That sent another twirl of satisfaction through her.
She turned in his arms so she could face him on the pillow. “Before we have to deal with whatever Tully throws at us, I want to ask you to do something.”
His eyes opened, their blue especially brilliant so close up. “Go ahead.” But his voice was wary.
“When you’re missing your mom, tell me. I don’t care what time it is. Tell me instead of working.”
“Why?” Genuine surprise laced the single word.
“Because I know about using work to avoid the ugly feelings. I learned that it’s not healthy. You need to bring them out into the open. It makes them easier to bear.” Natalie and Alice had taught her that. She hadn’t really begun to heal until she’d shared with them how her past still controlled her life.
“I’m not going to wake you up in the middle of the night,” he said. “You need to sleep.”
“Yes, you are.” She brushed her fingertips over his cheek. “I want you to. I hope I’ll be here beside you, but if I’m not, call me.”
He frowned. “What am I supposed to say?”
“Just ‘I can’t sleep’ will do. I’ll know the reason.” She traced his eyebrow and then his cheekbone.
He caught her wrist and kissed her fingers. “I appreciate the thought.”
She didn’t push any further. Maybe the first time he got hit by grief he wouldn’t wake her up, but the second time he might. If he didn’t, she’d remind him until he took her up on her offer.
He snaked his arm under the covers and around her waist, sliding her close enough so her breasts were crushed against his chest and she could feel his semihard cock against her thigh. “God, I wish we could just stay here,” he said, nipping her earlobe.
How could that tiny pinch make her entire body flash to full arousal? “You have no idea how much I agree with you.”
He gave her butt a quick squeeze. “But we have arms dealers to catch.” He threw the covers off. “It’s your shower so you get to go first.”
“I have a better idea. Let’s go at the same time.”
He groaned and shook his head. “That will lead to distractions we don’t have time for. But I’ll take a rain check.”
She laughed and rolled off the mattress and onto her feet, stretching because her body hummed with a delightful combination of contentment and arousal.
Leland groaned again. “Stop torturing me, woman!”
An hour later, Dawn was dressed in her Work It Out training uniform and Leland wore the black outfit from the night before. They sat at the kitchen counter in front of Leland’s laptop, videoconferencing with Tully.
“Dawn, I’m really sorry to ask this of you,” Tully said. “The DEA wants you to go to the gym as usual. They’re setting up the operation to capture Rodriguez and her honchos today, and they don’t want anything out of the ordinary to spook them into running. I told them I wanted to send some of my people into the gym with you but they’re against it.” He shook his head. “I’m not running this show so I can’t butt in.”
“Yes, but I can.” Leland’s hands were balled into fists. “There is no way in hell that Dawn will walk into that gym today.”
“I hear you, partner, but the authorities have the chance to take down a major drug cartel’s top leaders. It will be a huge victory. So they’re being very careful.” He shrugged. “Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I’d probably do the same.”
“They can’t force Dawn to go into work today,” Leland said, his tone hard as steel.
She laid her hand on his rigid arm. “Hey, it’s okay. I want to help them catch this Griselda and her nasties. What could happen at the gym? There are people around all the time.” Chad gave her the creeps, but she couldn’t picture him bashing her over the head in the weight room.
“What if Chad jams a gun in your side and forces you to go with him to the basement?” Leland’s voice was tight with disapproval.
“I’d scream before I got anywhere near the basement. He wouldn’t shoot me in front of witnesses.”
“I’ll put a wire on you,” Tully said from the laptop. “If you scream, the cavalry will charge through the doors. In fact, I’ll give you a code word so screaming won’t be necessary.”
Leland was shaking his head. “I don’t like this.”
“I have a lot of training in self-defense,” Dawn pointed out. Much as she loved Leland for his protectiveness, she could do this. Last night she’d been shaken up by Chad’s sudden appearance. Today she was braced and almost eager to face him again—th
e asshole. “I’m ready.”
“I applaud your courage, ma’am,” Tully said. They set up a rendezvous away from both the gym and Dawn’s apartment where Tully could install the wire on her. “My people say there’s no one but us watching your building, but I’d advise you to leave separately anyway. I’ll meet you at our agreed location in fifteen.” His image disappeared.
Leland drew in a deep breath before he turned to take her hands. “You don’t have to do this. In fact, it would be a hell of a lot easier on me if you didn’t.”
“Now that’s hitting me where it hurts.” She slid off her stool to stand between his knees. “I love that you want to keep me safe. However, if I can help take down not just an arms dealer but a major drug dealer, that seems worth a small amount of risk.” She tried to beam reassurance into his troubled mind. “Not to be immodest, but I’m really good at protecting myself.”
She decided not to remind him how well her training had served Alice when she was being held at gunpoint. That reference wouldn’t ease Leland’s anxiety.
“Darlin’, I know how strong you are but I just found you. If I lose you, who will I wake up when I can’t sleep?” His gaze locked with hers and something in his eyes made her heart do strange twisty things.
“That’s the best motivation for staying safe you could give me.” She poured her feelings into a kiss that left them both panting.
“We’d better go.” She’d somehow ended up wedged between Leland’s thighs and crushed against his chest. “Tully’s on his way.”
He held her tighter. “I could refuse to let you go.”
“Don’t make me hurt you.” She smiled against his shoulder.
He released her with obvious reluctance. “You go out the front. I’ll use the back exit a few minutes later.” He kissed her again. “Make sure you yell the code word if Chad even blinks funny.”
Chapter 18
Dawn tugged down the zipper of her lightweight trainer’s jacket another inch in an effort to let in some air. After Leland had taped the wire to her chest early that morning, they’d realized that her gym shirt was so snug that the tiny device would be outlined by the stretchy fabric. So she’d been forced to add another layer, which made her sweat in the heated gym.
“You’re ready for ten-pound weights for your biceps curls,” Dawn told her client as she pulled the dumbbells off the rack. She’d reached her fourth training session for the day without any guns being pointed at her, so she could focus most of her attention on her job.
“Are you sure I can manage these?” The woman accepted the weights with a dubious look.
“Watch your upper arms in the mirror when you curl.” She turned her client sideways to her reflection. “See that nice bulge? You’ve worked hard to build that strength.”
When she’d arrived at the gym, Gina, the daytime receptionist, had told her that Ramón had a stomach flu and was taking the day off. Dawn had uttered a mental prayer that he wasn’t secretly in the basement packing up guns for Griselda.
Vicky always did paperwork on Tuesdays, so she was holed up in her office.
Chad was the bigger problem because he had clients to train, so he moved around the gym. Every time Dawn saw him, cold fingers of fear walked down her spine. So it seemed smart to head in the opposite direction the moment she spotted him. She’d been avoiding him for weeks anyway.
When her nerves started to jitter, she reminded herself that all she had to do was say the word “Zulu” to bring Leland, Tully, and their reinforcements racing into the gym. The image of Leland sprinting to her rescue across the wood floor in his black undercover outfit evoked equal parts of comfort and heat.
So far no rescue was necessary so she turned her mind to counting reps. As soon as the session was over, she jogged to her locker to check her encrypted phone. She didn’t dare keep the strange-looking cell on the floor, even in her jacket pocket.
A text from Leland had come in ten minutes before.
The DEA bust is headline news. Your sound check is loud and clear but be VERY careful. This is going to piss people off.
She wished he had added something personal, an endearment, a sign-off, a little word of affection. It was hard not knowing what their relationship was, especially when she felt so anxious. Were they lovers or just working together but with benefits? Would they continue on after the case was closed or had this been a short, intense fling?
They’d had that moment at her kitchen counter when Leland had said he didn’t want to lose her. The look in his eyes had made her believe him. But it wasn’t exactly a commitment.
She tucked the phone back into her locker and headed for the treadmills, finding an empty one and turning on the screen to an all-news channel. As Leland’s text had promised, the news footage showed a rather mundane-looking house surrounded by an array of official vehicles, among which walked people in police uniforms or dark jackets with DEA printed across the back. The caption read: NOTORIOUS DRUG KINGPIN GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ CAPTURED IN SUCCESSFUL DEA RAID.
Dawn did a mental fist pump and flicked off the screen. Score one for the good guys in the war on drugs. Now they needed to take down her local arms dealers and she would be done for the day.
The question was when. Griselda was in custody so that cleared the way for a raid on the gym. Dawn’s heart started to race in an unpleasant way as she pictured the vehicles and agents from the television footage, only clustered around Work It Out. They would wait for night, wouldn’t they? To minimize civilian involvement?
She glanced around at the cheery, well-lit equipment room, filled with nothing more sinister than treadmills and ellipticals. About half were in use, mostly by women of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Some chatted with each other. Some stared at their screens. Some listened to music on their headphones. All worked out in serene ignorance of the illegal arsenal under their feet.
Dawn had found refuge here when she could find it nowhere else. She was pissed off that Chad, Vicky, and maybe Ramón had ruined that for her. She wanted to be like the women on the treadmills, not even questioning that they were safe.
A glance at the clock reminded her that she should meet her next client in the gym lobby. As she walked in that direction, Chad fell into step beside her, making her jerk sideways as apprehension spiked through her. “Jeez, where did you come from?” she exclaimed before she could stop herself.
“Sorry, I forget you have a reason to be jumpy.” His tone was syrupy with unwanted sympathy. “I finished restocking the water fridge and saw you walking the same way I was headed.”
“Right. Okay.” She made herself breathe normally despite her heart going double time. What would be an ordinary thing to say next? “Thank you for walking me home last night.” Even though she’d hated every minute of his company.
“I don’t like to see ladies walking alone at night.”
Because they might see you selling guns to drug dealers. Nope, not good to think those thoughts when Chad was a foot away from her. “Did Josh enjoy his party?”
“I’m pretty sure he did since he called in sick this morning.” Chad gave her a conspiratorial wink. “He’s still young and doesn’t know how to hold his liquor yet.”
As they walked into the lobby, Vicky emerged from the hallway to her office and stalked toward them, high heels tapping, gum snapping, and rhinestones on her nails flashing. “Chad, I need to talk to you.” She jerked her head back toward the hallway. “In my office.”
Chad raised his eyebrows at Dawn in exaggerated dismay.
“Sorry, Dawn,” Vicky said without sincerity.
“No problem.” Relief flooded Dawn. No further conversation with Chad would be necessary.
“That’s it,” Leland said as soon as he heard Chad’s voice. “I’m getting Dawn out of there.” He ripped off the headset, glad to be able to take some action. Sitting in the monitoring van, listening to Dawn go about her day without being there to protect her, made him want to punch someone. Possibly Tully, who was squashed int
o the back of the less-than-spacious van beside him.
Another van with five of Tully’s best bodyguards was parked around the corner, ready to leap out the moment Dawn spoke the word “Zulu.” Leland had insisted on being closer to the front door, overruling Tully’s request for less visibility.
“Hold on there, partner.” Tully clasped a hand on Leland’s forearm while he continued to listen to Dawn’s wire. “Let’s see how this plays out.”
Leland remained standing but he picked up his headset and held the earpiece to his ear. A slight wash of relief flowed through him when Vicky dragged Chad away. However, he now wanted to strangle Chad, slowly and with great relish, for bringing up Dawn’s past.
“Damn,” Tully muttered. “I wish we could ask Dawn to follow them to see what they say.”
“Are you kidding me?! She’s not going anywhere near those scumbags.” He was back to considering how good it would feel to have his fist connect with Tully’s nose. If Tully would let him, of course.
Tully’s cell phone rang and he glanced down. “It’s Alex from the FBI.” He brought it to his ear. “Tully here. Yeah. Yeah. Got it.” He put his phone down and tipped back to meet Leland’s eyes. “They’ve decided there are too many civilians at the gym, so they’re waiting until tonight after it closes to pick up the guns. They’ve got the names of the dealers from Rodriguez’s people.”
Finally, an answer. “Who are they?”
Tully shook his head. “The FBI is confirming independently so Alex wouldn’t share that with me.”
“Shit!” Leland combed his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I don’t want Dawn there when the raid happens.”
“Calm down. She’ll be long gone home by then.”
“No, she leaves now.” Leland was done with this waiting.
Tully grabbed his arm again. “Hey, the FBI has asked her to keep it normal for one more day. Your lady agreed to that because she wants to help. You have to let her make her own decisions.”
The Hacker Page 23