Locked and Loaded

by HelenKay Dimon

  Zach looked around the room. “Good point, but we still got here in time.”

  “To see it end.”

  Zach nodded in Maddie’s direction. “Looks like you did okay.”

  She stirred. Adam let his hands roam over her hair and down her back, as if confirming that she was alive.

  He lifted her head and cupped her cheeks in his palms. “You’re okay now.”

  Despite the chaos around them, he kissed her. He poured all his need and desire into it. His lips traveled over hers, trying to wipe away the bruises and pain.

  She broke away, her lips swollen and her tone breathless and serious. “Take me home.”

  They were in her home. This disaster zone belonged to her and he couldn’t leave her here. She wasn’t safe and he refused to let her go.

  “Where is that exactly?”

  “To the Recovery warehouse.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Maddie brushed her foot against Adam’s bare leg. After the initial rush of questions and Caleb’s insistence that they both have a medical check, the crowd of Recovery well-wishers had finally cleared out of the warehouse. Two hours of lovemaking later, she sprawled at Adam’s side on the big bed at the top of the stairs.

  They’d skipped lunch…and then dinner. The sun vanished as night fell. Still, they didn’t leave the bed. After the awful few days that came before, she loved the feel of soft sheets against her skin.

  She loved Adam even more. She dared to hope her streak of bad men and worse luck had ended. With Adam she saw a future. Being in the program for years, she hadn’t ever let herself make plans. She’d lived every day for the day in front of her only. Survive, sleep and start it all again. That had been her mantra.

  She’d crossed off the days on her calendar on a countdown to the time when Knevin found her. Her whole life was focused on that point. All about drills and maneuvers.

  She didn’t want to run any longer. She craved normalcy.

  She’d looked at Claire and Mia and Avery earlier and envied their calm reassurance that they would be fine in the face of danger because the Recovery team would make it so. They fought beside the men they loved, met them on equal terms and did not back down at danger.

  Maddie had heard the stories, so she knew. She also guessed that no one ever told her new female friends where to live and how to act.

  She could have all that but only outside the program. The risks were great, but if Knevin wanted to send waves of soldiers after her, she’d find a way to deal with it. What the past few days taught her was that life inside WitSec was not any safer for her than a life on the outside.

  Adam stopped yawning and stared at her. “You seem to be concentrating really hard on something.”

  “Just thinking.”

  “Sounds like the same thing.”

  “I guess.” Her hand rested on his chest and his warm skin pressed against her everywhere their bodies touched. The sheets draped low on his waist, leaving some of his most impressive parts free to her touch and view.

  A pillow tucked under her back helped ease the spasms that shook her on the ride back from West Virginia. By the time they stepped in the door, Adam was apoplectic and screaming for Caleb’s help.

  That all happened hours ago, before the showers of concern. Now she was comfortable and happy. The back pain and small aches couldn’t break through her good mood.

  Adam reached over to the nightstand and picked up a bottle. He shook it, rattling the pills inside. “You should take your meds now.”

  “I will when you do.”

  “Caleb is going to yell.”

  “Then he can yell at both of us.”

  Adam acted as if she was the only one who came back home broken and exhausted. He conveniently forgot how he took the brunt of the beatings. He’d been cut and hit, shot and nearly drowned. One would think he’d done nothing more than enjoyed a leisurely drive into the country. It was so bad that Claire actually took his clothes and promised to throw them away.

  Maddie appreciated every cut and bruise on his body and had spent a long time kissing each one. She could still remember how she’d screamed with pleasure when he returned the favor.

  He dropped the bottle and wrapped his arms around her. One cradled her head. The other swept across her body to pull her close. “I want to stay awake and ready in case you need me.”

  “For what?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Anything.”

  “I’m thinking we need to rest before we ‘anything’ again.”

  He laughed as he nuzzled his nose against her neck. “Tell me the truth about something.”

  She pressed her head deeper in the pillow to give him access. “Again I say, I will if you will.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  Her heart did a jumping twirl. “Really?”

  His head popped up. “Wait, what?”

  “You want me to talk. Well, I will if you answer a few questions of mine. You’re not the only one with a wild case of curiosity.”

  “I was talking about your back.”

  “Oh.”

  “With everything that’s happened, all the falls and shocks, I wanted to make sure it was okay.” He leaned up on an elbow and stared down at her. “What were you talking about?”

  She bit down on her lip, debating whether to take the next step or retreat. “I’m trying to even the field.”

  “Maybe I’m slow from all the sex—”

  “Or the hit on the head with a gun.”

  “That, too. But, what are you getting at?”

  She trailed a finger over his chest and down to his flat stomach. “We’ve been all over each other, fought through unbelievable circumstances, and I still don’t know anything about you.”

  “That’s not true.”

  He didn’t physically move away, but she suddenly felt a chill blow between them. His hand stopped caressing the sensitive area under her breast.

  His reaction tempted her to pull back and talk about this later. But one look into his confused eyes and she pushed aside more thoughts of running, even emotionally. He didn’t understand.

  If she could get through to him… She had to.

  “Is your middle name Stuart? I don’t know something as mundane as that.”

  He blinked at her. “Michael.”

  “What?”

  “Adam Michael Wright.”

  She pressed up on her elbows and sighed when he moved back, putting space between them. He sat with his back against the headboard and his hands on his lap. All the heat from their lovemaking evaporated. He could not have looked less receptive or willing to talk.

  She feared he didn’t want to understand. “Come on, Adam. You know what I mean.”

  “Not really.”

  “We’re talking about the intimate details of our lives.”

  “Why?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “Because we’re in bed? But none of that other stuff matters or even belongs in here with us.”

  His words slapped at her. “How can you say that?”

  “Your life was made up and handed to you and I don’t care.” He spoke as if she meant something to him but the closed-for-business sign was clear on his face.

  The truth shouted through her brain. It was the one bat he held and he verbally hit her with it. “This is about the drugs, isn’t it?”

  He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled loud enough to shake the walls. “I don’t care about your past. I’ve said it. I can write it. I’ll even take a blood oath if you want.”

  For the first time since she met him she knew he was lying. He obsessed about the drug charges. Maybe he pushed the idea out of his head long enough to take her to bed, but it came rushing back as soon as they started talking. He saw her as a woman who would give drugs to kids, and that made her sick.

  “No, you do care. That’s the point, Adam. You’ve just decided to be the big man and forgive me for the drugs.”

  He threw up his hands. �
�Is that a bad thing?”

  Her heartbeat stumbled. It was as if the words reached in and squeezed hard enough to cause damage. “Maddie, look—”

  When he reached out to her, she scrambled to the far side of the bed and stood up. She grabbed the blanket from the floor and wrapped it around her. The idea of standing there naked was more than she could take.

  “Were you a hacker?” she asked him.

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “That’s not—”

  She folded the blanket in a wad and held it between her breasts. “Trevor Walters knows more about you than I do.”

  “Where is all of this coming from? You sure seemed fine with me a half hour ago.”

  Those remaining pieces of her heart shattered. “That’s not fair.”

  “Right.” He bounced his head against the headboard a few times. “Okay, sorry. Just explain this to me.”

  “When a woman wakes up and realizes she’s in love, she wants to know everything about that man.”

  The harsh lines of his face softened. He moved to her side of the bed. “Maddie—”

  “Don’t.” She held out her hand to keep him from coming closer. If he touched her, she’d break. She didn’t have a single defense against him. “I don’t want pity. I deserve more than that.”

  “I was going to tell you I feel the same way.”

  Happiness warred with despair inside her. He was handing her everything she thought she wanted, but it felt so hollow. “And?”

  “That’s your response?” He stood up, ignoring his nudity and raising his voice with each word. “I tell you how I feel and you just stare at me.”

  “You didn’t even say the words. You basically said ditto. You don’t take any risk or put yourself out there.” Her shoulders slumped, but she held her head high. “Don’t you understand? I’ve lived my life in this false fog for years. I’ve had to lie about who I am and push people away. Now I want something more. With you.”

  “I want that, too.”

  “But you still won’t let me in.”

  “You’re here with me. You are the only person I’ve ever told about Recovery.”

  It was something. But not enough. “That’s a job, not you.”

  He rubbed his face. When his hands dropped, she saw the storm in his eyes. He wasn’t going to back down.

  “I don’t know what you want from me.” His voice was soft and scary deep. “Everything.”

  “Put it in guy terms. Just say the words.”

  “I did.”

  “I’m not a mind reader.”

  It was so easy and he was making it so hard. She wanted to reach out but she couldn’t do it alone. “I want your love and your trust. I want to know who you are and what you want.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a little much? We’ve only known each other a week.”

  She lost her breath. The words stabbed through her so hard and so fast, she looked down expecting to see blood on the floor. “You’re right.”

  “Let’s back up here. I’m just saying we need time. Don’t read more into it.”

  It hurt to talk. To look at him. To stand there and not fall in a heap to the floor. “If I honestly thought you would tear down that wall and let me in, I’d give you all the time you needed. I’d wait and hope and love you.”

  “Then do that.”

  “But that’s not who you are.”

  His lips fell flat. “How do you know?”

  He kept swinging. He was not going to back down until he destroyed her.

  “My past disgusts you, or what you think it is does. I get that. Instead of dealing with it, you’ve decided to pick up from right now and never look back.”

  “I don’t see why that’s a bad thing.”

  Every bit of hope and light shriveled inside her. “And that’s the problem.”

  She dropped the blanket, no longer caring about being naked. She’d been stripped bare already. She picked up the shirt Mia had given her and pulled it over her head. While she looked for her underwear, she felt Adam’s hand on her arm.

  He spun her around. “So, you’re leaving? That’s it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t say what you want, so you get mad at me and run?” He snorted. “Of course. Why should I be surprised? Your whole life is about running and hiding.”

  She lifted her chin. “Not anymore.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The call for a meeting came the next morning. Newly minted congressman David Brennan insisted Luke come in for an afternoon meeting. Adam needed to get out of the warehouse and catch some air without the temptation of Maddie, so he volunteered to go along. It wasn’t until he was in the car that Luke told him David wanted to see them both.

  The request didn’t make any more sense an hour later when he sat with Luke and watched David ease into his impressive blue leather chair. The Capitol could be seen out the window behind him. It was a perfect scene for a man in power.

  Adam knew David came by his the honest way. He’d worked up from the lowly positions in the office to win the special election for Bram Walters’s congressional seat when he died.

  “I have a job for you,” David said.

  Adam didn’t want to state the obvious, but he wanted to be done. Even though he volunteered to come along, every minute away from Maddie made him nervous.

  He needed space, but this was too much. Her current mood left him speechless. He knew after a few days of calm she’d settle down and they could have a decent conversation, but until then he’d worry she’d do something rash.

  He went for the hard truth. “You’re a congressman.”

  David glanced at the flag next to his window. “I am aware of that.”

  “You want to employ Recovery?” Luke asked.

  “A man I believed in and worked for got involved in a scheme that led to the murder of innocent women. Career civil servants acted in such deplorable ways as to threaten the viability of the protection program.” David stopped and took a breath. “And now I sit here with a stack of files and wonder if it is over.”

  “We don’t think so,” Luke said.

  “Why?”

  Adam decided to speak plain. “It’s too clean.”

  David smiled. “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “Generally.” Adam could give a list to support his position but left it at that.

  David reached down and pulled out a thick file folder. “I have a deal to make with you.”

  Luke shot Adam a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look. “The last deal I made I regretted.”

  David continued. “I can’t speak to whatever that was, but I can tell you mine.”

  “Go ahead,” Adam said, suddenly curious.

  “I will hand over all the documents Bram left behind.” David tapped his hand against the top of the file he held. “I can get you access to John Tate’s personal finances and private correspondence, including his computer, so you can attempt to trace the money trail.”

  This part of the offer was too good to be true. Adam’s skepticism battled with his excitement. “How are you managing that one?”

  “Mrs. Tate, like Trevor before her, wants to preserve a memory of her loved one for others. She has children. She doesn’t want her husband’s name tainted.”

  Adam had reached his limit on reputation saving. “People are dead. The public deserves to know why.”

  “The public needs to believe that WitSec works. Without that, the judicial system will falter,” David said in true politician style.

  Luke shook his head. “I’m not convinced.”

  David handed the file to Luke. “I will get you all the documents you need. You can confirm if this rampage is over and if the other participants are safe. We can end this.”

  “And in return?”

  David pressed his lips together as if he was trying to find the right words to promote his idea. “The findings stay between us.”

  Anger welled in Adam’s th
roat. “That feels like a cover-up to me.”

  “Think of it as a celebration of the greater good.” David stared at Luke. “I’m sure you want to ensure the safety of your wife. Congratulations on the pregnancy, by the way.”

  Adam tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair. The frustration pinging around inside him had nowhere to go. “I have to say you’ve taken to this politician thing quickly.”

  “My only point is that some of you now have something worth losing.” This time David looked at Adam. “Speaking of which, I will personally guarantee Ms. Timmons’s safety.”

  Adam stopped moving. “Excuse me?”

  “Until we know how deep this goes and if the corruption still rages in WitSec, I have come up with alternate arrangements for her through the Secret Service.”

  Adam turned the idea over in his mind and whichever way he looked at it, he hated it. No way was he letting her out of his sight. “She can stay with us.”

  “She needs to go back into the program eventually. I have connections and can—”

  “No.” She wasn’t going anywhere. Adam vowed to protect her.

  “She’ll have a new identity and a chance at a life without gunmen following her.”

  “She’s safer with us.”

  “Is she?” David rushed on before they could answer. “Well, you look over what I have in the file and let me know about the deal.”

  Luke finally spoke up. “We’ll talk it over. The whole team has to agree, and I can’t guarantee that.”

  “I appreciate that.” David handed Luke a card. “And I will call you about Ms. Timmons tomorrow.”

  Adam waited for Luke to say something. When he didn’t, Adam stood up. “She’ll leave when it’s clear she is not in danger.”

  “She’s still a potential loose end. She’s the only one still alive from this WitSec cash-for-information scheme that we know of. Money has been paid.”

  Adam was tired of the lecture. “I know the score.”

  David took the dressing-down without getting upset. “Then you know this Knevin person was not the only individual she testified against. She took down the entire drug operation.”

  Luke nodded. “And that could make some folks very angry.”