“By the way.” Becker stepped closer to Alex. “You have something that belongs to me.”
Alex passed whatever it was in a gripping handshake with the man who’d shot him. Gabe guessed maybe video or audio evidence. Maybe a USB drive. The look in Alex’s eye, however, wasn’t one of friendship. Becker was still the assassin who’d taken him down. Alex would most likely never forgive Becker for what Kelsey had gone through. Gabe couldn’t. Didn’t plan to even try. Sam Becker might be one of the good guys, but he would always be scum to Gabe.
Becker gripped Alex’s hand tightly. “It’s been a privilege working with you. I’d appreciate the chance to do it again. I hope you’ll consider that.”
Alex didn’t return the compliment.
“Any more questions?” Becker asked.
“Just one,” Mark said to Alex. “Was that you on the riverbank or not?”
Alex nodded, his lips pursed tight, his gaze drifting to his wife. “Me. We intercepted a phone call—some jerk luring Kelsey. Almost didn’t make it in time, damn it.”
“You lied about the boots. He never gave you his boots, did he?” Kelsey glared at Becker. “It was Alex all along. I knew it.”
Gabe looked for Shelby, and damned if the girl wasn’t already watching him. He winked, needing to connect with those pretty violet-blues. Just because. She came to his side, her hand gentle on his shoulder.
“You’re the bastard who tied me up,” Izza accused.
Becker’s shoulder lifted in a half-shrug. “Yes. It was me. I meant it as a sign that we weren’t hostiles.”
“Those smiley faces smacked more of crazy,” Steven muttered.
“I guess we all share a touch of crazy, don’t we? I mean we do kill for a living.”
“Only if we have to,” Alex added.
That seemed to catch Becker short. “Believe me, if there had been another way—”
Alex pinned him with those icy-cold blue eyes, and Becker had the good sense to break the connection first.
“Why were you trying to get inside Kelsey’s house?” Mark asked.
“I promised this guy I know that I’d find a way to let his wife know he was still alive. I wasn’t supposed to get caught.”
“But you were never actually inside, were you?” Zack asked.
“Hell, no,” Becker replied. “I couldn’t get close enough.” A shadow of regret flickered over his face. “The collateral damage on this op was worse than any of us anticipated, but we had to protect our President. Our country. I am sorry for what I put all of you through, and especially you, ma’am.” He turned to Kelsey. “But I would do it again if it meant saving my country.”
“What I don’t understand is why Whisper and Smoke didn’t make a sound when you approached Stewart’s backyard fence,” Gabe said. “How’d you trick them?”
“Believe me, I almost didn’t. It was pure luck that I was downwind. Never would’ve gotten close otherwise.”
“Agent Houston,” President Adams interrupted the questioning, taking firm hold of Mark’s hand. “You and your team have been badly used. There is nothing I can say or do that will relieve the pain you must’ve felt. Not only did I steal your boss and let you think he’d been murdered, but I also stole your information technologist and let you think she’d quit.”
Gabe turned at the sound of the elevator. Everyone else, too. Great timing. There stood a very sheepish-looking Mother. She waved a five-finger fluttery kind of a wave, her head ducked into her shoulders as if afraid to join her team. She mouthed ‘sorry’ to Mark from her safe distance.
“Et tu, Brute?” he asked. His shoulders sagged as yet one more prodigal returned home with, hopefully, a good reason for what she’d done.
Slowly, she approached the man she’d betrayed the worst. “The President called me. He needed my help. What was I going to say?”
Mark extended his hand. One shoulder lifted as if he no longer cared. “That you’re ready to come back and work for me again.”
Her eyes brimmed. Her lips pinched. She rushed into him for a hug instead of a handshake, her silvery head pressed against his shirt. “I’m sorry I lied to you. Can you forgive me?”
“Yeah,” he said with a big sigh, one arm around her and the other brushing something out of his own eye. “It’s that kind of a day. You’re re-hired. Get back to work.”
President Adams interrupted. “The truth is, you guys are too damned good. You got close to unraveling my operation before I could stop you. I couldn’t take the chance of your intercepting Fallon before we knew exactly what he was up to. We suspected a dirty bomb. Just couldn’t verify when or where. And I couldn’t let you decrypt that file on Eagle Two, Agent Tao. As it was, you nearly destroyed months of careful planning.”
David grimaced and bowed his head. Gabe, too. Being caught hacking into FBI files wasn’t something any of them wanted to admit to, especially not to the top guy.
Once again, President Adams glanced around the circle of agents. “Each of you has my sincerest regret for the way this had to be handled and my deepest condolences for the pain I put you through. But, you also have the gratitude of a nation that, even though they’ll never know what actually happened last night, they’ll honor your sacrifice by getting up tomorrow morning for another day in our nation’s capital. They’ll live the rest of their lives like nothing happened.”
Gabe glanced at Alex, his eyes riveted to Mark’s, as if asking for the way forward.
“It’s also important you understand the vital role you played in protecting Kelsey Stewart,” President Adams continued. “We had no idea Fallon would target her. I owe you a debt I can never repay. I dare say, Alex feels the same way.”
“But why’d they target Kelsey?” Gabe had to ask.
“Simple. Fallon hated what Alex stood for,” Becker explained. “The man was borderline psychotic. Winston might have believed our cover story, but Fallon always suspected Alex. He figured he could force him out in the open by going after all Alex held dear. The jackass almost did it.”
At last, the President went around the group, shaking each agent’s hand and taking the time to chat with everyone. He seemed to know a lot about them, from the names of Mark’s daughters to the fact that Ember owned a cocker spaniel named Taffy.
Mother served everyone coffee, apologizing and explaining as she did.
President Adams ended at Mark, who happened to be chatting with Gabe at the time.
Mark had suffered more than most. He’d taken the reins of a tough but shattered business at the worst possible moment and made it work so well that it threatened a joint FBI/Secret Service operation. That said something for a ragtag team of patriots who felt they still had work to do. A nation to serve.
President Adams nodded toward Alex, who still stood at his side. “Don’t be too hard on this guy, okay? If I’d a known he’d keep running out on me to check on his wife, I’d never have considered him for the assignment. Is he always this big of a pain in the ass?”
“He is, Mr. President,” Mark agreed as he shook the President’s proffered hand.
Alex rolled his eyes, but Gabe caught the exhaustion on his boss’s smirky face. He’d been through the wringer, too.
Out of the blue, Kelsey cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Mr. President. May I say something?”
He winked. “I am eternally in your debt, ma’am. You go right ahead.”
The room stilled.
Gabe snared Shelby’s hand, hoping for more good news.
Alex pulled Kelsey close, peering down at her as if he’d really rather go home and just please, be left alone. “Yes, ma’am?” he asked, a tender twinkle in his eye.
She placed her palms in the middle of his chest and took a deep breath. “Alex, I want the world to know I always believed in you. I never gave up.”
And damn it, Gabe wiped another tear off his cheek before someone noticed. Had to be the pain meds. What the hell kind of a jarhead cries like a baby?
Kelsey made i
t worse. She fingered Alex’s tie and with the cutest shrug, looked him square in the eye and said, “Alex. Honey. We’re pregnant.”
And the crowd went wild.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Sit down. I’ll take it off for you.” Shell gave Gabe that determined, it’s-my-way-or-the-highway spiked eyebrow.
They stood together in his bathroom, locked in yet another friendly confrontation. He’d been resting for days, on strict orders from Mark not to return to work for at least a month, one of the perks of working for The TEAM. After a hard op, agents were often assigned time off with pay, especially if wounded in the line of duty. Gabe’s downtime happened to come with a sexy Certified Nursing Assistant, also paid for out of TEAM coffers.
Zack had retrieved his Land Rover from the Metro PD impound lot, none the worse for wear. He volunteered to dog sit Whisper and Smoke while Alex and Kelsey took off for somewhere in the Pacific to soak up the sun and each other. Even grumpy Harley had stopped by Gabe’s with an apology for acting like an ass when times got tough. He’d brought Little Alex and Georgie, two of the cutest babies on the planet according to Shell.
Gabe shook his friends hand, gave Harley one of those chest bump, man hugs and called it good. Life was too short to hold grudges for no good reason. Gabe didn’t intend to start now.
Poor Mark was still hard at work managing The TEAM while Alex was out of the country, but he’d changed. A lot. Not being lead dog probably helped his cheerier disposition, but Gabe knew better. Mark had been tested in one of the hottest fires imaginable and The TEAM had survived because of him. He’d come out a little scorched, but tempered like those extra sharp USMC knives a lot of men and women on The TEAM carried and carried proudly. Gabe knew it to his soul. If the day ever came that Alex stepped aside, Mark was already battle-hardened and capable. The TEAM would follow.
And then there was Shelby. She made herself at home in his new bachelor pad, then proceeded to fix meatloaf and real mashed potatoes instead of his customary instant spuds for dinner their first night together. Pretty clever. She knew the way to a man’s heart. It worked.
She showed all the signs of hyper-vigilance, and startled easily, but those symptoms would fade over time. Or not. The guilt, relief, fear, and other mixed-up feelings were part and parcel of surviving any life-threatening trauma. What mattered most was to be that survivor in the first place.
Her close call with Ron Fallon had humbled her. She wanted to learn to shoot and had already signed up for a self-defense course taught by the local police. Better yet, she’d been accepted into the local school of nursing. The next time she passed herself off as Nurse Sullivan, she’d have the credentials to back her up.
Despite his injury, Gabe countered her current bossy order with his own get-out-of-my-way spiked brow. He hadn’t needed help getting in the tub before. He wasn’t going to start now. “I’ve got this,” he’d said firmly.
But Shell wasn’t most women. She’d accepted his removable limb as a matter of fact, but in the process, somehow, she’d also considered it hers to care for. “Come on. Let me help.”
And that was where the rubber met the road.
He took hold of her shoulder to emphasize his point. “No. You need to back off.”
Her eyes widened in surprise followed instantly by contrition. “I’m doing it again, huh?”
“Yes, ma’am. You are. I know you’re here to help, but I’m capable. ’Sides, it’s the hole in my chest that’s recuperating. Not my foot.”
They’d had this conversation before. Her relentless need to control had met a brick wall named Gabe, and he wasn’t going to change. He lowered his butt to the tiled edge of the tub, removed his prosthetic and the sock that covered his residual limb, setting them aside.
She took a step back. “Okay then. I’ll be outside if you need anything. Just call.”
“You know I will.” He eased his legs into the tiled tub, the one thing he’d demanded his builders include in his new home. It sported a handrail and bench, so a guy with one foot could sit while he showered. Again, it was no big deal. A man did what a man had to do.
He would’ve dropped his boxers, but she waited a minute too long at the door.
“There is one thing I do need,” he whispered slyly as he turned the shower on and maneuvered to the center of the bench. Pulsating water streamed over his legs and foot. He’d intended to disrobe once she’d left, but plans change. They hadn’t had any real time together since that last night at Kelsey’s and Alex’s home. It was time.
Of course, she came straightway to help.
Silly girl.
He pulled her onto his lap, right under the shower spray.
“Gabe. Stop. You’ll get your bandage wet.”
He snapped the glass shower door shut, being careful not to stress his shoulder. With her tipped back in his arms, he covered her protesting mouth with his.
Shell responded fiercely, turning on his lap to face him, the water streaming down her back. With her knees at his thighs, she returned kiss for kiss, and he forgot all about their power struggle.
“This is happening kinda fast,” he mumbled in case she needed a way out.
He untangled his tongue and lips from hers, shaking his head to clear what little logic might be left. He meant to tell her there were bath sheets in the linen closet if she wanted to dry off and leave. He should’ve told her he had an extra bathrobe she could wear while her clothes dried in the dryer. He wanted to remind her he was flawed, that he’d made unforgivable mistakes in his life, but...
He didn’t.
“Not fast enough.” Her fingers skimmed efficiently over his chest and stomach. The glow in those violet depths drew him with every flutter of her lashes. His heart stuttered, skipped a beat, and revved into overdrive.
She traced a lazy line of pure electricity down his belly with her fingernails. “We can stop if you want.”
“No.” His answer came out much too fast. “It’s just that—”
“It’s just that you think too much.” She kissed him less chastely, her tongue tenderly asking, her teeth tugging his lower lip. “You’ll give yourself another anxiety attack, and what will I do then?”
As if in answer, she slid off his lap and stood. Shell unbuttoned her top. Until now, he hadn’t noticed the yellow giraffes and pink monkeys on her navy-blue scrubs. Yes, the scrubs were part and parcel of her OCD-ness, but right then, Gabe didn’t care.
Giraffes and monkeys slipped off her fingers to the shower floor. With a provocative wriggle, her bottoms joined the soggy ensemble next. She toed them to one side.
Her shoulder-length hair turned darker in the water, drizzled with streaks of blonde. The girl was color coordinated right down to her underwear. Okay, now he cared. When did navy-blue get so—hot?
“You do this for all your patients?”
“What do you think?” Her bra joined the monkeys and giraffes, her breasts set free.
“Not... thinking... too much... right now.” He devoured her with his eyes. God, this woman had the loveliest breasts. Not grapefruit. More like peaches. Delectable. Sweet-as-honey peaches. With nipples.
“Remember. You started this.” She grabbed the body wash with a devilish smile. Squeezing some into her hand, she began with her neck and shoulders, working the lather into a cascade of bubbles over her—everything. He groaned, his body overloaded with sensual stimulation in his usually lonely shower stall.
“Are you sure you don’t need my help?” she asked with exaggerated innocence, her lips pinched together in a pout. Shell topped her floorshow off by leaning backward to rinse. Water and suds sluiced over her curves and bumps, dripped off her hair, and that did it.
A man can only take so much. He lifted off the bench, balanced on one foot, ready to play.
“You’ll slip,” she warned, blinking the water out of her eyes.
“Believe me. I’ve already fallen.” He kicked his boxers to the floor, pulling her back to the bench. “You�
�re too beautiful to resist.”
She stood quietly at his knees, her fingers on his shoulders as he looped a finger into each side of her panties and pulled them down. And off.
Apparently, nudity turned Shell into a completely different woman. Violet eyes had never looked so dark. She pushed him back to the wall and straddled him again, her lips pressed to his as mischief turned to passion. Water slipped between their over-heated bodies, adding to their steamy lust. Her groans of pleasure filled his ears and his heart.
“I love you, Gabe. Don’t think. Just do.”
He aimed to please. With one hand firmly attached to her backside, the other between her shoulder blades, he slipped into her body with one quick thrust. When she arched her head, he buried his face between her breasts, certain he could never get enough.
She laced her fingers through his hair, his hands pulling her closer and closer, steamy fireworks detonated again and again. Over. Around. Under.
She might have been a novice when they’d first fallen for each other, but Miss Shell was a natural. Better yet, she knew what she wanted. Him.
At last, they relaxed against each other, drenched under the gentle spray, both exhausted and breathing hard. But so damned satisfied.
“You’re something else.” His hands still clasped the bottom of his naked lady. “Do you know what I think?”
“Hmm.”
“I’m thinking I’m glad I bought this place. We’ll have plenty of room for a while.” He meant to discuss the logistics of child rearing. How many? How long between births? You know, the other things they liked to argue about.
She stilled his lips with her fingertip. “Are you going to talk all day or are you going to kiss me?”
Gabe grinned. He could take a hint. Tipping her back in his arms, he ended the discussion the way it began.
Silly, beautiful girl.
The End
Sneak Preview of MAVERICK
Book 9
In the Company of Snipers
Pretty girl.
Gabe (In the Company of Snipers Book 8) Page 37