“Here she is.”
Luke’s voice registered, as did Adam’s hand against her back. All she wanted was a handful of painkillers and a moment of quiet. Looked as if she wasn’t going to get either.
Adam’s fingers clenched against her shirt. “Vince? What are you doing here?”
She raised her head and saw one of the men who’d ushered her into a new life in witness protection. His presence struck her as out of place in the middle of the industrial surroundings. She remembered Zach’s suggestion that they not involve Vince Ritter in their plans and woke right up.
Zach sat at the conference table now, watching Vince’s every move. The stiffening of Adam behind her mirrored the tension she saw in Zach’s face. Luke stood with his usual unreadable expression.
“I wanted to check in and see if you had any news on Rod.” Vince shook Adam’s hand, then looked at her. “Maddie?”
“It’s good to see you, Vince.”
The man hadn’t changed much over the years. He was in his late fifties, with graying hair and sharp green eyes. He always looked more suited to a tennis court, with a sophisticated yet athletic air about him.
She knew he’d retired early, as soon as the government retirement system allowed. She had no idea what he did now because she wasn’t permitted to have contact with him once he ceased being her handler. During the time they’d worked together, she’d lived in Florida. Her transfer to West Virginia had come after that. Vince hadn’t had access to her records then and shouldn’t have known her whereabouts.
Rod had somehow known, though. He lived near West Virginia and had wandered into her diner one day. She’d never figured out if it was an accident or an informal check-in. They’d acted like strangers, but knowing he was close had made her feel safe.
Those days were gone.
“Did you know I was here?” she asked.
Vince looked around the room. “Funny, but Luke didn’t share that. No one did.”
Luke shrugged. “It’s new information.”
“And top secret, of course. No one but us knows she’s here.” Adam’s comment sounded more like a warning.
He left unspoken the warning that if anyone came looking for her, he’d blame Vince. But Maddie heard it. She’d spent enough time with him to know when he was issuing a challenge.
Vince rocked back on his heels with his hands in his pockets. “What about Trevor? He must be looking for her.”
“I said no one knows,” Adam replied. “Only the people in this room know her whereabouts.”
“It goes without saying I’ll stay quiet.” Vince smiled in her direction. “I’m surprised you weren’t relocated after the Russell Ambrose corruption came to light. Your WitSec cover is likely blown.”
The face she used to find kind now raised a red flag in her head. She crowded closer to Adam, absorbing his heat and trying to send a silent signal.
Between the anxiety bouncing around her stomach and her sore back, she could barely stand. It was a relief when Adam leaned in and held her up.
“We decided she was safer with us,” he said.
Vince laughed. “Than with the entire Marshals Service?”
No one joined in his amusement, least of all Adam. “Yeah.”
Vince held Adam’s gaze. The tense silence dragged on as he looked from face to face without saying a word.
She thought about breaking the heavy mood before they all drowned in it. The longer they stood, the taller and bigger the Recovery team looked. She knew it was an optical illusion or a trick played by her malfunctioning brain. She felt the air being squeezed out of the room.
“Now that I think about it, that’s probably about right.” Vince’s chest rose and fell on a heavy exhale. “You guys can handle it.”
Luke crashed through the rest of the unspoken hostility with one clap of his hands. The sharp thwack set the room in motion again. “Okay, then.”
Vince’s shoulders relaxed. “Right. What about Rod?”
“We don’t have news,” Luke said as he offered Vince a soda.
The older man waved it off. “I was afraid of that.”
“He’s in hiding. He’ll pop up.”
Luke didn’t say goodbye, but Maddie heard the finality in his words. He wanted Vince out. The not-so-subtle message was that Vince should call first from now on.
“I hope so.” Vince glanced at the door. “Well, if there’s nothing for me to review, I guess I’ll be going.”
“We’ll keep you informed.” Luke shook the other man’s hand while guiding him toward the door.
Vince waved over his shoulder. “Maddie, stay safe. Remember the rules and your training.”
“Always.”
She heard the steel door slam shut as she looked at the faces of the men in the room. They all looked so serious, and for the first time she could remember, they were quiet. No one joked or talked.
“I got it.” Adam slipped into the tech seat and watched Vince’s car leave the fenced-in lot outside. After a few keystrokes he leaned back. “Codes are changed.”
Zach groaned. “I just memorized the last set.”
“You’ll memorize these, too.” Luke walked back into the kitchen and grabbed a glass. “They change often enough for this to be routine by now.”
It was as if they wanted to be normal and didn’t know how. The grumbling and stomping around would have been comical if it didn’t center around a possible conspiracy and a series of murders.
She waited until Zach, Luke and Adam sat down at the table before she asked, “What was that about? I asked before about Vince and you pretended everything was fine. Now, talk.”
Adam’s head shot up. “I don’t know—”
“Oh, please. You guys almost kicked Vince out of here.”
“We said goodbye,” Caleb joked.
“I thought he was one of you.”
Zach snorted. “Definitely not.”
Adam didn’t try to hide his anger. He shifted around in his seat like a little boy on a time-out. “I don’t like Vince showing up right now, without any warning or an invitation. And while you just happen to be here. It’s too convenient.”
Since Vince was there when they got back, she figured he was in on the Trevor sting. Thinking he just happened to be there at that time sent a twist of dread through her.
She no longer believed in avoiding questions. She’d once lived her life without questioning the facts, blindly accepting that the income that appeared on a daily basis was clean and that the men in and out of her apartment were her boyfriend’s real friends. She didn’t have Adam’s brains, but she did learn a lesson when it got drummed in her head by a prosecutor who was more than willing to hang the blame around her neck and throw her in jail.
“Did Vince have the codes for the building?” she asked.
“I let him in.” Everyone zoned in on Caleb as he spoke. “I made sure you were all safe first, of course. But when Vince showed up I thought it was odd and I wanted to see what he wanted.”
“Which was?” Adam asked.
Caleb’s eyebrow lifted. “Nothing he couldn’t have asked over the phone.”
Apparently no one trusted Vince.
“You guys think he’s involved in this WitSec thing,” she said.
“It’s not clear.” Luke held up a hand when Adam tried to butt in. “We hope not, but Vince has inside information on WitSec and the two women who are now dead because someone paid for their information. He has details about you, and you were almost killed, too. It seems like a pattern.”
“So does Rod.” She regretted the comment when Adam flinched.
Luke took it in stride. “True, but we worked with Rod. He formed this team. Vince has always been an outside guy. Even Rod didn’t bring Vince in as a Recovery partner, which says something.”
This time Adam smiled when he lifted his head and looked around the table. “No wonder she thinks we’re paranoid.”
“Wrong.” She had their attention now. “I think
you’re smart.”
IT TOOK ALL AFTERNOON and hours of talking through the possible scenarios of what Vince knew and when before the warehouse quieted down. Luke and Caleb went back home to their wives. Holden signed off on the video feed. Even Zach made himself scarce, but not before announcing he wouldn’t be back until morning.
That left Adam alone with Maddie. He went from assured and wound up over having to see Trevor in person to unsure of his moves.
She was injured and on the run. She’d been through so much and dragged around more baggage than even he could carry.
Yet, he wanted her.
He settled for standing there with a stupid grin on his face while she gathered the blankets and sheets for him to sleep on the couch downstairs. She paraded around in a short pajama outfit that Avery and Caleb dropped by.
The outfit was innocent enough, consisting of short shorts and a V-neck sleeveless top. It would have been fine if it didn’t highlight her legs every time she bent over the bed or show off her flat stomach when she lifted her arms even a little bit.
The flimsy outfit was killing Adam. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Avery sent it on purpose to drive him slowly insane with need.
“You did a good job tonight.” He fumbled the words like a preteen on his first date.
“You mean when I was playing along and keeping information from Vince?”
He nodded. “You’re getting good at that.”
“Disobeying WitSec protocol?” Maddie dropped the stack of linens on the edge of the bed and stood in front of him. “Yeah, thanks.”
He gave in to the need to touch her and ran his hand up and down her bare arm. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m put together with Silly String.”
That killed the building mood.
He dropped his arms. “I should let you rest.”
He got to the edge of the steps before she started talking. Her usually firm voice stumbled as she spoke.
“Knevin figured out I was talking to the prosecutor. That’s why he did it.”
Adam turned to face her but didn’t say a word. Not now when she’d finally opened up.
“I thought I’d been so clever, sneaking around and reporting back. I never went to a lawyer’s office. The information exchange happened in the open to hide what we were really doing.”
Adam leaned against the railing, not moving closer for fear of startling her or making her stop talking.
Her hands stayed at her sides as her gaze centered on his chest. “But Knevin figured it out. He had an informant in the police department. Someone tipped him off.”
“Figures.” Adam hoped that guy was in jail, too.
“I was so impressed with doing the right thing, I didn’t pick up on the clues until I was on the roof and he was lifting me into the air.”
The flat way she described the horror shook him. Actually rattled his bones so hard he was surprised she didn’t hear the clanking. “You survived.”
“Because I wasn’t the only one on the inside. Someone in the organization who happened to work for the feds and was planted inside got word to the police, and medical attention came right away. It was the difference between me breathing out of a machine forever and living a somewhat normal life, if you can call this that.”
“I can’t believe Knevin didn’t try again. Until now, I mean.”
Her big eyes filled with sadness. “He thought I was dead, was told I was. He even identified my body, but through a glass so he couldn’t see me breathing.”
She hadn’t just played dead, she’d almost been dead. “I’m sorry.”
“I went into the program, came out for the trial and went back in again.”
Adam knew the parts she didn’t say. The file he had on her covered this part of her life. She’d lost her mother after she’d given up her natural right to publicly grieve. She went from a community-college dropout working an administrative-assistant job in a high-rise office building to running a diner in a small town.
Her cooking skills were self-taught. Based on the fact he’d gained four pounds since eating her food, she was pretty good at it.
“I never dealt drugs.” She came to him and skimmed her fingertips across his shoulders, burning a line of fire with her touch.
“We don’t have to talk about this.”
“I know you don’t believe me, but I need you to hear me say the words.” He’d reread her file that morning while she slept. The police and prosecutor on her case all believed she was an active participant. The notes indicated an admission.
Still, he couldn’t see it. He remembered Zach’s adamant denial of the idea. Adam’s head said her past should disgust him. The rest of him found her innocent.
He wrapped his arms around her, letting his hands fall loose near her lower back for fear of injuring her further. “Why do you care what I think?”
She frowned. “Do you really not know?”
So the attraction went both ways. The energy pulsing around them zinged through the room. Being this near to her only made him want to pull her in closer.
The more he learned, the more he wanted. “Lie down.”
Her hand swept across his jaw. “That’s a pretty big change in conversation. Kind of bold.”
He planned to get there, but he wanted to earn it. “You were limping. I’m going to massage your leg.”
She tried to pull back, but he held her still. “That’s not a great idea, Adam. I’ve had all sorts of physical therapy. The cure is as bad as the pain.”
“Trust me.”
“You ask a lot.”
“Get on the bed.”
She hesitated, then slowly slipped out of his grasp and walked to the side of the bed. She didn’t climb onto the mattress or invite him any closer.
He would have to take the lead. “Let me.”
He followed her. With a hand on her elbow, and as gently as possible, he helped her turn around. When she just sat there, he coaxed her into lying diagonally across the comforter.
She fought even that much. She half sat and half lounged. “I’m not sure about this.”
“I can see that.”
When he kneeled on the bed next to her, she let her upper body fall against the mattress. The position left her open to his touch. Those long, lean legs stretched out from under her shorts and went on forever. He saw creamy skin and the results of her long runs through the woods.
With a light touch, he ran his hands up her legs. The smooth flesh sent his body into overdrive. Gone were thoughts of protection and being reasonable. He wanted to be inside her.
Instead, he concentrated on working the tightness out of her muscles. Over and over he kneaded her legs, working with careful strokes to smooth out the knots. He lost track of time as he poured all his healing energy into her.
An erection pushed against his jeans and his brain scrambled with fantasies of what he wanted to do to her, but he limited the touching to massage. As he smoothed his way to the juncture between her legs and butt, he looked his fill and couldn’t prevent a stray caress.
When she groaned, his hands stilled and he lifted them from her legs. “Adam?”
“Yeah?” He couldn’t lower his hands to her skin again. If he did, they’d snake under her shorts and the moment would shift from comfort to sex.
With his help, she turned over, lying on her back with her hands over her head. From this position he could see the sliver of bare, sexy stomach peeking beneath her shirt. The only thought in his mind was about how much he wanted to taste her.
He was a goner.
“I’m trying to be decent here.”
“Why?” She slipped her hand down his side to land on his outer thigh.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He hoped like hell she didn’t ask if he meant physically or emotionally, because he didn’t know anymore.
“I’m a grown woman.”
“Definitely. Grown and rounded in all the right places.”
“I take respon
sibility for my actions.”
He shut that one out because he knew she was talking about more than sex. “But your back…”
“You’ll be gentle.”
When she held out an arm to him it was like lighting the welcome sign. He gave in. He lowered his body over hers, careful to balance his weight on his elbows.
She slipped his glasses off. He could still see her just fine.
His mouth dipped, taking her lips against his in a shattering kiss. His hands cradled her face. Her fingers dived into his hair. He wondered how he had gone this long without the sensation of her mouth against his.
Before he could pull back and think through all the cons, he let his fingers wander. He brushed his hand over her breast, cupping and caressing. When his mouth followed, even through the thin cotton, her shoulders lifted off the bed.
It was all the encouragement he needed.
He stripped her shorts and panties down her legs. Sitting up on his knees, he pulled his T-shirt out of his jeans as his gaze toured her toned body. She joined in, peeling the shirt up and over his head.
Then he was kissing her again. He wanted the contact of skin on skin. Separating their bodies only long enough to drag her shirt off, he threw the garment on the floor and came back down on top of her.
“Am I hurting you?” He asked the question while treating her to a line of kisses down her neck.
Another few inches and the tip of her breast was in his mouth and her hands were on his belt. His fingers went to his pocket. He dug around for the condom and dropped it on the mattress next to her head.
It was a frenzy of rough breathing and rolling bodies. He protected her back with his hands as his mouth learned her taste. His fingers and tongue traveled over her until she begged him to end it.
He let go of her only long enough to open the condom. The tearing noise echoed through the dark room but didn’t stop them.
Her hands found him as he fumbled to get the condom on. When her hips bucked under him and she whispered his name, he lost the last of his control.
He settled between her legs and dipped his finger inside her one last time. She was wet and ready. The pink flush of her cheeks and the eager roaming of her hands ended the sensual foreplay.
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