Neither did Caleb’s reaction. “I said no.”
She caught Zach’s quick glance in the direction of Caleb’s feet. When Zach did it a second time, Avery knew something was going on. Zach acted with an economy of movement. Everything he did or said had a purpose and a worried frown replaced the blank expression he usually wore.
“Prove it. Walk around,” Zach said.
“Let it go.” Caleb’s voice shook with anger.
His heated reaction was all out of proportion to the conversation. It took only a moment for her head to clear and instinct to kick in. Zach was trying to send a message, a subtle but necessary one.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Zach hitched his chin at Caleb. “Him.”
When she shifted to face Caleb, she threw off his balance. He slid off her and stumbled back. His feet tangled, but he put up his arms to prevent a fall. “I just need to sit.”
Luke rushed forward and grabbed Caleb before he fell over backward. “What the—”
“Blood.” Zach pointed. “His sneaker is soaked.”
“I’m fine.”
Panic flushed through Avery’s veins as she looked down. Red stained Caleb’s pants and the floor. Her gaze traveled up to his face. His cheeks where stark white.
“God, Caleb. It’s everywhere.”
“Fell on a rock. Not a big deal.” Caleb panted out the words as his body slumped hard against Luke’s.
“Zach. A little help here.” Luke barely got the words out before Caleb hit the floor.
Chapter Thirteen
He’d passed out.
Caleb remembered hearing Avery’s voice and watching everyone scramble toward him. Then his mind went blank and his knees gave out. He’d been injured at the Academy and a bunch of times playing sports while growing up. Even been grazed by a bullet and stabbed in his shoulder. Through all that he’d never passed out.
This was worse than all those other times. There were witnesses. Many of them. Caleb was secure enough not to be embarrassed, but the minute he woke up he’d promised to shoot anyone who made a joke. No one dared.
He leaned back on the beat-up sofa under the warehouse stairs. With his head resting against the cushions, the room didn’t spin as fast. Shame he couldn’t find anything to stop the pain pulsing in his knee. Resting it on the coffee table wasn’t helping. Neither did the ice around the swelling or the medication.
Seventeen stitches and a tetanus shot. His knee looked like a map now.
Definitely not his best day.
He closed his eyes. “What the hell did Luke give me?”
“Painkiller,” Zach said.
“I can’t stay awake.”
Zach chuckled. “That’s the point.”
“I need to check on Avery.” The only thing keeping Caleb on the couch was the knowledge she was fine. After Luke worked on his knee and everyone cleared out, Avery and Zach stayed behind. Zach had even stayed the night in case Avery needed his help.
Avery. She’d fussed over him and helped him wash up without getting his new stitches wet. If her hands hadn’t felt so good traveling all over his body and washing his hair, he might have insisted on privacy.
Not that he wanted to be away from her. Not anymore.
Almost losing her shifted his priorities. The woman he thought he knew, the one who tossed him aside to get a promotion, was not the woman in front of him now. This Avery used the same determination in her private life that she did at work. She didn’t back down from a challenge or sacrifice others to save herself.
It was hard to take it all in. He couldn’t figure out if he’d been wrong or she had changed. He wasn’t even sure he cared about which one turned out to be right.
“She’s been in the shower for a long time, hasn’t she?” He lifted his head and listened for the water.
“For a guy who professes to be over Avery, you sure act like you want to be under her.”
Caleb stopped staring at the ceiling and focused on Zach. He hadn’t moved. He’d sat in the same chair for hours, elbows resting on his knees and staring at Caleb as if willing him to get well. From anyone else the move would have been weird. For Zach it seemed spooky but normal. He had a grounded sense of loyalty. There was no one more quietly dependable. Caleb knew if he asked Zach to sit there all night he would.
“Have you heard me use the word ‘over’ since I brought her here?”
Zach smiled. “Nope.”
“Okay then.”
“Haven’t heard you apologize to her either.”
There was a difference between forgiving Avery and forgetting everything that had passed between them. Only an idiot would do the latter. “For what?”
“You tell me.”
“I was blindsided by what she did back then.”
“Any chance you had tunnel vision?”
Caleb felt his temper flare. It wasn’t like Zach to butt in to other people’s lives. Certainly wasn’t his usual style to question people’s motives. “Meaning?”
“Just throwing the thought out there.”
Caleb was too tired to dissect Zach’s secret code. “It’s not as simple as you think.”
“Never is when women are involved.”
“How’s the patient?” Avery asked as she descended the stairs.
Zach smiled. “Arguing, so you tell me.”
“Sounds normal to me.”
Caleb blocked out the joking and concentrated on the walking. Watching her move was just about the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. The sweats and T-shirt Mia dropped off hid most of Avery’s best assets. But her face, scrubbed clean and shiny, and that big smile had him holding his breath. Even the bandage highlighted her beauty.
She sat down next to him and slid her hand over his good thigh. “How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
The casual way she touched him, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, filled him with a deep sense of satisfaction. Just two weeks ago he’d vowed to wipe her from his memory and find a woman worth having.
She glanced over at Zach. “Is he lying?”
Zach nodded. “Little bit.”
Caleb wasn’t about to discuss the jabbing pains running up and down his leg. Avery finally had relaxed and found her smile. It took two hours after he woke up for her to stop biting her bottom lip, and another hour for the color to return to her cheeks. Seeing her like that hurt more than his injury. No way was he inviting a second round.
But he couldn’t deny he enjoyed having her play nurse maid. When he couldn’t drag his body to the bathroom, he decided against climbing the stairs to go to bed. She immediately went into action. She had Luke and Zach drag the mattress down so they could sleep on the bottom floor. He tossed. He turned. She stayed with him all night.
“What time does Vince get here?” Caleb asked, hoping to change the subject.
Avery frowned. “Who?”
He slipped his arm along the back of the sofa and let his fingers tangle in her damp hair. “Vince Ritter. He’s with us.”
“You hired someone else? Another agent?” She looked appalled at the idea. “Exactly how long did I sleep?”
This close he could smell her shampoo. Something coconut. He guessed that was Mia’s doing, as well. She’d appointed herself Avery’s caretaker, and Caleb appreciated the generosity.
“He’s Rod’s former partner. They worked WitSec together.”
She squeezed his thigh. “And?”
“Vince has been helping out,” Zach said.
She snorted. “He’s late.”
“What?”
“Where was he when the car exploded?”
The red light next to the door flashed as a siren sounded on the computer panel. Zach got up and went to the monitor at the end of the row. “That’s him.”
Avery followed Zach, peeking over his shoulder at all the tech equipment. “Not what I expected.”
Caleb picked up a strange tone. “What did you expect?”
&nbs
p; “Don’t know.” She watched Zach type on the keyboard. “Vince doesn’t have the code to get in?”
“Only Recovery agents have the code,” Zach said.
She spun around to face Caleb. “You gave it to me.”
“I made an exception.”
She continued to stare at him while the huge steel door pressed open and rolled back.
Vince poked his head inside. “Everybody in one piece?”
“For now.” Zach met Vince at the entrance and shook his hand.
“Didn’t anyone tell you not to play with explosives?” Vince joked as he shook Caleb’s hand.
“You’d think there would be a warning on the package about that sort of thing.” Caleb tried to sit up before his slouch put him on the floor. “Avery, this is Vince.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Vince’s hand closed over hers. “Even better to know you’re okay.”
“It will take more than a car bomb to knock her down.” Caleb felt his chest fill with pride. He couldn’t believe how strong she’d turned out to be. Forget her tendency to stick to the rules no matter what. He needed her to bend, and she did.
She snorted. “Didn’t feel that way yesterday.”
Vince leaned against the conference table. “Was it at least worth it?”
“No.” Avery jumped in with her answer before either Caleb or Zach could talk.
Vince looked at all of them, moving his stare from one to the other before settling back at Avery again. “You didn’t find anything?”
She shook her head and then stared Caleb down.
He gave the answer she appeared to want from him. “No.”
Zach didn’t react to the lie either. They both sat there, following her lead. Caleb had no idea what she was do ing or why, but it seemed important to her that Vince not know the truth right now, so they conceded. There would be time for questions later.
Vince frowned. “The test results weren’t there?”
“No.” Avery moved over to the couch and sat on the arm just above Caleb. She didn’t touch him or even give him a signal. She just sat there as if her presence should reassure him she had a plan.
Funny enough, it did. He figured he had two choices. He could step in and correct the record or he could trust her. Zach barely knew her and he didn’t question her. He didn’t make her prove her position or explain her reason.
It was a wake-up call. Caleb had made love to her more times than he could count, had raced all over the D.C. metro area with her trying to end this WitSec nightmare, and still he acted as if she owed him something.
That would end today. Whatever happened before was in the past. Today would start their future. Trust would build from here. She had earned that much from him.
“We did have some other things to worry about, but the box was empty,” he said.
Vince’s shoulders fell. “Then I’m afraid we’re back at the beginning. We don’t know anything and don’t have any leads.”
“At least we’re not worse off.” Zach finally spoke up but didn’t expose Avery’s ruse.
Caleb figured Avery didn’t even realize she had dug her fingers into his forearm as she waited for Zach to speak. When he silently sided with her, she unclenched her grip.
Caleb wondered how long it would be before circulation returned to his hand. “Tell my knee that nothing’s changed.”
Vince turned to Zach. “You had something you wanted me to look at?”
“Adam has some questions about your replacement, Russell Ambrose.”
“He’s a good agent.”
Zach swiveled his chair to face the monitors again. “He has a few oddities in his schedule.”
“Meaning?”
“He was talking with Bram Walters right around the time this mess came down.”
“To be fair, that could be anything. Might just be that Russell is the one Bram went to seeking inside information.”
Zach tapped his pen against the screen. “Possibly. I need you to tell me if the communications look like the usual congressional inquiries.”
Vince sighed and stood up. “Show me.”
Caleb waited until Zach and Vince were busy studying lines of data to glance at Avery again. She continued to glare at Vince. This time the focus was on his back. Something about the older man ticked her off. Caleb could see it in every part of her body, her muscles tight and alert.
The reaction didn’t make sense. Caleb had known Vince since throwing in with Recovery. The guy was solid. Not that Caleb had a huge number of dealings with him, but Rod and Vince remained close friends even after their work together ended. Vince had advised Recovery on their communications and emergency strategies. He never actively participated in cases and they never provided him with confidential information, but he was an ear if they needed one.
Caleb wasn’t angry with her reaction, but he couldn’t help be curious. If this was a woman’s-intuition thing, he wanted to know what vibe she picked up that he’d missed. Mia had that talent. Probably had something to do with her therapy background, but that woman could read a person better than anyone Caleb had ever met. Mia was using her skills and studying profiling. They all agreed Mia’s insights would be valuable if they could gather more information. Right now there was nothing to show her because they didn’t have a lead or a possible suspect now that Bram was gone.
Caleb lifted his head and smiled when she leaned down. Her nose almost touched his. Her pretty eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Want to tell me why we’re lying to Vince?” Caleb whispered.
“I didn’t mean to.”
He almost laughed. “Yeah, you did.”
“Well, sort of.” She nibbled on her lip as her gaze traveled over to Vince one more time. The minute she focused on him, her shoulders straightened. “I don’t know.”
He didn’t need a psychology degree or Mia’s help to know Avery was stalling. He understood. It wasn’t as if he made it easy for her to open up to him. Even after they had sex the other night, he shut her out. She wanted to talk and he wanted a mental breather as he tried to take in how his body reacted to hers.
Rather than kick and fuss, she accepted his coldness. It was as if she’d come to expect nothing more from him. That thought made him wish his leg had healed so he could kick his own butt.
“Avery?”
“It’s nothing.” She rubbed her palm up and down his arm as she talked.
He doubted she even realized she was touching him. “Tell me.”
She tore her gaze away from Vince and stared down at Caleb. “You really want to know?”
“I trust your judgment.”
Her head pulled back as if he’d slapped her. “Since when?”
Guilt rushed in at him. He’d done this to her, convinced her that her opinion meant nothing to him. Little did she know she was the only thing keeping him moving right now. Exhaustion threatened to take him down at any moment. Seeing her, fueling his energy off her seemingly endless supply, made the pain bearable on limited pain meds.
He tugged her down closer, until his mouth brushed over hers. “You’re not the only one who’s learned a few things, you know.”
She barely moved. “Like what?”
This close he could see the rich brown of her eyes, smell the sweet scent of her skin. The temptation to forget the job and kick the other men out nearly over-whelmed him. The only way to stay focused was to make her talk.
He smiled. “Let’s stick with one conversation at a time.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah.”
She sighed. “Vince isn’t part of the team.”
She spoke so low he had to strain to hear her. “He’s Rod’s former partner.”
“So?”
To Caleb that carried some weight. Didn’t seem to impress Avery one bit, so he tried again. “He has knowledge and contacts that can help us with this.”
“And?”
“Speaking from experience, it’s hard to come up with a sol
id plan if you don’t have the necessary basic information.” His voice trailed off when she rolled her eyes. “What?”
“You’re not listening.”
“I’m not?”
She did a quick glance in Vince’s direction. He hadn’t moved. Whatever Zach was showing Vince kept him occupied. Knowing Zach, Caleb wouldn’t be surprised if he deliberately pulled Vince into something as a way of assisting Avery.
She got up and circled to the other side of Caleb. She pressed up against his side with her hand on his chest. For a second he thought she was trying to divert his attention, then he realized she was putting her back to Vince as she lowered her voice even further.
Warm breath washed over his ear as she spoke. “Why didn’t Rod go to him?”
“What?”
“If Rod and Vince were so close, why did Rod come to me?”
“Well, I’m sure…” Caleb actually couldn’t come up with an explanation.
“It’s not as if we met all the time or even talked at the beginning. I had only seen Rod a few times since you started with Recovery. One day, without warning, he showed up and asked for my help.”
Caleb had wondered how Rod roped her into this dangerous situation. Now he knew. Rod had simply asked for help. He probably invoked Ryan’s name as he did it. Avery would find that lure irresistible.
“You had the expertise with the DNA testing,” Caleb suggested.
“But Rod has all those contacts.”
“The same question could be asked about us.” Caleb heard Vince laugh and glanced over at him. Seemed Avery’s unreasonable anger was rubbing off because the sound ticked Caleb off. “Rod could have brought Recovery in and we’d have worked it as a team. He didn’t.”
“You hate that.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. It’s only natural you’d be upset that he didn’t come to you. You’re a DNA specialist. You have the same expertise that I do.”
He didn’t realize how much it ticked him off until she said it in her matter-of-fact tone. “I know.”
“Do you understand why he didn’t turn to you?”
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