A Little Harmless Lie: Harmless, Book 4

by Melissa Schroeder

  Agents and police now started to pour into the room, and at some point the EMTs showed up. Her brother woke up as they put him on the gurney. She breathed a sigh of relief as her vision wavered.

  She glanced over at Dillon, who now had Michelson in cuffs, and from the looks of the agents, they knew she had sold out one of their own.

  “Dee, are you all right?”

  She looked at Micah and was alarmed as the light started to dim around him.

  “I think I need to sit down.” And with that, her world faded to black.

  “She just had a blackout, Micah. Sit down,” Dillon muttered. She could tell he was annoyed, but did he have to be so damn loud about it?

  “Yeah, with your brilliant plan she was really safe.”

  “Listen, it wasn’t my plan, it was her brother’s, and none of us knew that Michelson was dirty.”

  At the mention of her brother, she said, “How is Devon?”

  She couldn’t open her eyes. Didn’t want to.

  Micah slipped his hand into hers, startling her a little. As usual, she hadn’t heard him. “He’s okay. Lost some blood, but going to be okay. Doctor said the bullet passed right through.”

  She sighed, relief coursing through her. She felt her whole body relax.

  “Can you open your eyes?”

  “I think it might hurt.”

  “Being a wimp, Sumner? Should have figured that you would be.”

  She frowned, drew in a deep breath and opened her eyes. The first sting of light wasn’t so bad. Micah apparently had made sure the lights had been turned down. The white walls told her she was at a hospital.

  “Why are we here?”

  “The doctors thought it best,” Conner said gently.

  “And since you’ve been out cold for about an hour, I would say it’s the smart thing. Not stupid, like trying to confront Michelson,” Micah said.

  Conner’s voice was gentle as if he was worried he might upset her. Forever the big brother. It was in direct contrast to Micah’s tone which was sharp. It should upset her. The man she loved should be trying to calm her worries. But instead it soothed her. If he was comfortable enough to be mad, everything must be okay. Plus, Micah was stroking his thumb over the back of her hand. The gentle caress reminded her that his bark was worse than his bite.

  She glanced at the former agent. “Thanks.”

  “What are you thanking him for? He almost got you killed twice.”

  She smiled. “It wasn’t his fault.”

  Micah snorted.

  “Could you give us a minute?” she asked.

  Conner tossed Micah an amused look. “Sure. The FBI wants to talk to you.”

  “I’m sure they do.”

  He slipped out the door. Silence filled the room as Micah glared at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You almost got yourself killed.”

  “I did not almost get myself killed. I didn’t know that bitch was still around.”

  He let go of her hand, twisted away from her and started to pace the small room. “Well, yeah, if the FBI wasn’t such a fucked-up organization they would have known.”

  “I agree. Of course, she was pretty good. If I remember correctly, her father was FBI too, so she was raised in it.”

  He snarled at her over his shoulder. “Don’t make excuses for them, dammit. They fucked up and you almost got killed.”

  He yelled the last few words and she winced as they bounced off the walls.

  “Actually, they have a track record of that. It’s the reason I ran.”

  He stopped and turned to her, his frown blacker than the worst storm cloud. She couldn’t fight the jubilant feeling shifting through her. She knew men, and she now knew Micah better than most. He was pissed, but he was pissed because she had almost been killed. Because he cared for her.

  “This isn’t something to make a joke of.”

  She pursed her lips. “After so many years, I would think that it would be imperative to find some humor in it.”

  He snarled again and she couldn’t help the rush of giggles. For the first time in years, she was free. She didn’t have to hide, didn’t have to pretend to be someone else. She could live her life for herself.

  Before he could yell at her again, the door cracked open.

  “Are you up for being debriefed?”

  She snorted at Conner’s question.

  “Sure, come debrief me.”

  An older gentleman came in, his hair military-short, brown and threaded with gray. The kind blue eyes sparked a memory. “Agent Davis.”

  He smiled, one of those fatherly smiles he had given her the first night she’d been taken in. “I wasn’t sure if you would remember me, Ms. Rizzoli.”

  “It’s Ms. Sumner,” Micah growled. A look passed between Conner and Davis.

  Conner stepped forward. “Hey, Micah, why don’t you come with me?”

  He crossed his arms and said nothing. She wanted him here, more than anything, but she realized she needed to do this on her own. This one last thing she needed to do on her own, stand on her own two feet.

  “Micah, babe, could you give us a few minutes.”

  He said nothing.

  “You need to trust me to handle it.”

  He glanced down at her, a look of irritation and possibly hurt passed through his gaze before he hardened it. “Okay.”

  Without another word, he stomped out of the room. The moment the door shut, another few agents came in, one carrying a small camera to film her discussion. Panic rushed up front, and she had to fight the need to call Micah back. She worried she had done something wrong, something that would not be able to get fixed.

  “I’ll keep an eye on him,” Conner said, a smile curving his lips.

  “Thanks.” He left her as Davis pulled the only chair in the room closer.

  “Are you ready?”

  “You have no idea.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Micah stomped down the hallway, irritation, fear and pain twining through his blood. Damn woman. He’d died a thousand deaths as they rushed to save her and she orders him out of the room…like a lackey. Like someone beneath her. He should have expected it from a Rizzoli. People like them always thought they were better than everyone else, like they were some kind of fucking royalty who had the right to do what they wanted.

  “Micah,” Conner said, jogging up behind him.

  “What do you want? Shouldn’t you be back there?”

  He shrugged. “Not FBI anymore. I have a feeling if I hadn’t offered to chase you down, I would have been kicked out.”

  Micah stopped and looked at him. “Chase me down? Did she order you to do it?”

  Conner’s face went blank, then a slow smile curved his lips and his eyes lit with amusement. “Holy shit. You love her.”

  Micah started walking again, refusing to look at him. Conner didn’t take the hint.

  “I wasn’t sure, not the way you react most of the time. I mean, I understand wanting to save her, to protect her. She’s kind of tiny and delicate.”

  Micah snorted. “Delicate as a bull. Jesus, do you even know the woman?”

  “I knew her. Then. I’ll say that she was a bit of a hot-house flower then. Needed to be looked after.”

  Micah stopped again and faced the former agent. “You really don’t know her. She heard her father and brother torture a man, and what does she do? She goes to the FBI and says I’ll testify.”

  “Well, yeah—”

  “Then, because of an FBI fuck up, she is left on her own. Nothing but a few thousand bucks and a fake id. And what does she do?”

  “She runs.”

  Micah shook his head. “No. She survives. She lived on her wits alone, with no one, not one fucking person to help her. It wasn’t something the FBI did for her.”

  “We gave her that first identity.”

  “Well, woo hoo for that. So your fuck up doesn’t count? Of course, she used that identity what, a whole month? The
n she had to change it to protect herself because there was no one there to protect her.”

  “I didn’t want to leave.”

  “But you did. You left because you were ordered. You knew there was something wrong with it, but I guess your career was too damned important to you. So you let it go.”

  A flush of anger reddened Conner’s cheek. “It happened in a matter of three days. I was trying.”

  “Three days?”

  “Yeah, I was off the case and less than seventy-two hours later my partner was dead, the case blown to shit and Marjorie had disappeared.”

  “Her name is Dee. Get it right.” Micah bit out every word.

  Conner rolled his eyes. “Either way, you can’t blame this one on me. And on top of it, you have to let her do this on her own.”

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  “She asked you to leave, but you could have stayed.”

  Yeah, he could have, but she had told him to leave. He had hurt, deep down where he had promised himself he would never go again. It was the kind of wound that ripped your heart to shreds and left you lying in the dirt bleeding. His mother had done that to him. Micah never wanted to be that vulnerable to a woman again. Now, though, he wanted something else, wanted to have her in his bed and in his life. He wanted more than that, more than just today.

  Fuck. He wanted forever.

  He had known it the moment he’d fallen for her, the moment she let him take her, that she was his forever. It was the reason he’d avoided her for so long. He had known the power she held over him. And now he was whipped. Damn, he didn’t want to face Evan or Chris once they got back to Hawaii.

  Without a word, he started off for the exit.

  “Micah,” Conner yelled. “Where ya going?”

  “Shopping. Tell Dee I had something to take care of.”

  Dee smiled at her brother as he frowned at her.

  “They aren’t keeping you overnight?”

  She shook her head. “They want me to stay in the area and gave me some warning signs, but I don’t think I need to worry.”

  “I want out.”

  She laughed. “Well, there is a difference between being pistol whipped and being shot. One allows you to leave the hospital earlier.”

  “I tried to force them to let me out.”

  She snorted. “Bribing doesn’t always work with doctors.”

  “Yeah. I was told that today by two of them.” He glanced at her. “Where’s Micah?”

  She shrugged, her nerves coiling her stomach. She had thought he would be waiting in the hall, but Conner had told her Micah had run out for a few things. What he needed, she had no idea, and she worried about asking him to leave earlier. What if she’d screwed things up?

  “He’s gone.”

  “Not for long I’m sure.”

  She glanced at her brother. “Yeah, how would you know?”

  “He’s gaga over you.”

  Restlessness seized her and she rose from her chair to the window. She saw nothing outside as she remembered the look on his face when he’d left. He’d been pissed, but he had been wounded too.

  “I really upset him.”

  “I’m sure you did. Ordering a guy from the room in front of other men, not a good idea.”

  She glanced at him. “I haven’t had much experience in the last ten years with men.”

  “Male egos are fragile, but that guy ain’t going anywhere.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “He won’t leave. And he loves you.”

  She sighed. “Yeah, but I might have really screwed up. It’s been three hours.”

  “I can imagine what he’s going through. That guy is dealing with some shit. You have to give him some room to deal with it.”

  “Oh, and I’m not? Jesus, my brother just tried to kill me, and a woman I thought dead rose from the grave and tried to kill me. Instead, she hits me and shoots you.” Her voice caught on the last two words. She would never be able to get over the fact that she’d almost gotten her brother killed.

  “It was my fault, Dee.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “I should have known, should have picked up on that. I investigated the whole thing.”

  She looked at him then. His swarthy skin was finally gaining some more color, and part of it was anger. But getting upset, especially for something that wasn’t his fault, was stupid in his condition.

  “It isn’t your fault. I thought she was dead, yes, but how would we have known? And she was the only person to survive. The FBI debriefed her. They never picked up on anything.”

  “That’s because the FBI has their heads up their asses.”

  She smiled. “Some spook rivalry?”

  He returned the smile. “In a way. Don’t get me started on MI-6. Those bastards drive me crazy.”

  “So do you have any secret spy gadgets I can play with?”

  His smile faded. “I can’t believe you aren’t more upset with it. Most women would be pissed.”

  “First of all, you say that like we are some kind of weak sex. We are not. We’re stronger than you whiney babies.”

  “That’s—”

  “Or are you assuming that it is just me that is weak?” She crossed her arms and waited for him to answer.

  “Run away from that answer, Striker. Women will get you every time.”

  The sound of Micah’s voice had the usual effect on her. Her pulse raced, her body tingled, but there was something else there. Something she knew was because of her fear that she had lost him. She had been so intent on reading her brother the riot act, she hadn’t heard the door open, but that was nothing new. The man was a cat.

  She turned to face him and swallowed. The need to run to him, to jump into his arms, almost overwhelmed her, but she held on to her control…and her pride. He was giving her the meanest look.

  “Where have you been?”

  He shrugged. “Out.”

  She tried to hold on to her temper. “You felt the need to run away?” She didn’t miss the dangerous glint in his eyes as she turned toward her brother. “I told you. Men are the cry-baby weaker sex.”

  “I did not run away.”

  Pain and fear twisted in her heart as his cold words whipped out.

  “Whatever. I have some papers to sign.”

  She said nothing more as she held on to what little bit of temper she could as she stepped out into the hallway. It wasn’t much, but she had pride. If he was going to be some kind of baby, she wasn’t in the mood.

  And if he was willing to be a bastard because she’d asked to do something on her own, she didn’t want anything to do with him.

  If she kept repeating it, she might start to believe it was true.

  “You might as well go after her.”

  Micah glanced over at the man who would soon be his brother-in-law and frowned. “The woman never lets me do anything. You would think by now she would be more submissive.”

  Devon rolled his eyes. “Please, I don’t want to hear about that. I mean, she’s a grown woman, and I know you would eat glass rather than hurt her, but please, leave any kind of sexual comments out of it.”

  Micah sighed. “She’s a pain in the ass. I swear, you try and do something nice and what does she do? She walks out.”

  “Well, go get her.”

  “I will, but she needs to learn that I’m not going to chase her every time she runs. Damn sick of it.”

  A loud of bark of laughter rent the air. “What a liar. You would run her to ground no matter what the situation.”

  Micah didn’t deny it because it was the truth. He knew it even before he admitted it to himself. He might have put feelers out for Dee if she had been any other sub. But she wasn’t. She was his sub.

  “What are you waiting for? Go. And turn the lights off when you leave. It’s fucking bright in here.”

  “We’re going to go to one of those little chapels.”

  Devon smiled as he closed his eyes. “She’s
going to be hard to handle.”

  “If I legally bind the woman to me, she’s sort of stuck.”

  “Good luck with that. If you think she’s going to settle down because you put a ring on her finger, think again. You should know Dee better than that.”

  Micah glanced at the younger man with a sinking feeling churning in his gut. He knew Devon was right, but he didn’t have to admit it. Lord knew Dee was going to drive him crazy.

  “So I take it you have no objections?”

  “Like that would matter to Dee, but no. Now go get her, otherwise she’ll come back in here and mope.”

  “See ya later.”

  Micah hit the lights as he slipped out of the room. Once outside he glanced at the signs and followed them to the accounts payable department. She was coming out of the door as he strode down the corridor. She was tired. He could see the weariness weighing on her shoulders. Her long hair was tangled and her clothes were still covered with Devon’s blood. She was one big mess and the most beautiful woman in the world.

  The pain of the last few hours slammed into him. He’d held it at bay for as long as he could, and with it came a healthy dose of anger. Anger at her for being so hard-headed. Anger at himself for not protecting her.

  He understood her need to stand on her own, to tell her story. He had come to grips with that. Truthfully, that hadn’t bothered him as much as the fear. In his life he’d been in situations that had scared him, but nothing had prepared him for the terror that had twisted in his gut. It held him by the short hairs, much like the woman. He had almost lost her, not once but twice in less than seventy-two hours. And that was something he was not equipped to handle.

  He didn’t say anything as he grabbed her hand.

  “Micah.”

  He ignored her. He didn’t have the capacity to deal with her questions or to sweet talk her. Now was the time for action. He dragged her down the hall and out of the hospital. He saw Maura and Zeke walking from the parking lot.

  “Hey, Micah, how’s Devon?” Maura asked.

  “Fine.” Micah bit out the word.

  “I think I want to spend time with my brother,” Dee said.

  He all but tossed her into the car and then walked around the hood and slipped into the driver’s seat. Ignoring the amused looks of Maura and Zeke, he threw the car in reverse, then into drive, then sped out of the parking lot. He kept quiet, trying to keep his temper in control as they headed to the strip. After a few minutes she sighed.