He nodded for her to follow the bellboy toward the elevator. She actually followed. And she kept quiet on the way up to their floor.
The bellboy opened the door to a plush sitting room and waited for them to enter as he had no actual luggage to carry.
Alex pulled out a twenty-dollar bill for a tip. All he had on him. “If room service is still open, could you bring us up something to eat? A pizza, or burgers, or whatever you’ve got.”
“Certainly, sir.”
Well, that went smoother than he’d expected. Alex closed the door and turned to find Laney with hands on her hips.
“Why are we here?” she demanded. Always looking for a fight, that one.
He strolled past her to kick his shoes off under the mahogany coffee table. “Hopefully to sleep, though with what just happened, I might be staring at the ceiling all night and jumping at every little sound.”
She pivoted to keep him in sight. “And I’m sure that’s what your former father-in-law will assume when he sees the bill. Why do you have his credit card anyway?”
Alex plopped down on the overstuffed sofa. It looked nicer than it felt. At least he could let down his guard now. Or he could after he answered the question he’d known she would ask. Why did she have to assume the worst of him? “Dane is my investor.”
She shook her head. “You expect me to believe that the man you robbed, the man whose daughter you lied to, is actually giving you money now?”
Alex kicked his legs up on the arm of the sofa to lay back. “No. He’s lending me money.”
She snorted. A cute noise when it came from her.
“It was his idea when I went to apologize to him after I got out of jail. I wanted to explain how I’d felt pressured to provide the same lavish lifestyle he’d offered Elise, and how he’d given me the means with all the security info on his banks. He believed me when I told him I became a Christian in prison and how getting arrested was the best thing that could have happened to me.” Alex tucked a pillow behind his head. “Crazy, I know, but he asked what I was going to do with my life. I told him that I was having trouble getting a job. He believes I’m good with business and offered to back me in whatever trade I chose.”
She rolled her eyes. “And you chose to be my competition.”
“Well.” Alex lifted his shoulders off the couch in a little shrug. “I liked your idea and knew I could do it better. Plus, if I got your attention, I thought I might be able to convince you to investigate Sterling with me.”
She looked toward the ceiling with a huff. “Worked out just like you planned, didn’t it?”
“Hardly.” He hadn’t planned to fall for her. “Will you ever forgive me?”
She rubbed her forehead. “I have to.”
Maybe that wasn’t the right question. Her belief in Jesus meant she knew she had to forgive him the way Christ forgave her. But like a bank debt, she could forgive him without granting him any more credit. And he really wanted a little credit. “Will you ever trust me?”
She turned toward the open door of a bedroom. “Does it matter?”
Alex sat up, because it did matter. More than anything else they’d been discussing. “Yes.”
She paused. Played with the switch on the heirloom lamp, clicking the light off and on. “Why?”
Did she want to hear him say he had feelings for her again? Maybe when he wasn’t pinning her to the wall? He couldn’t possibly screw it up as much as he had the first go round. He’d just have to be real. “I want to connect with you, Laney, but you want to disconnect with me. That’s how it was with my ex-wife, too, when I first met her. I thought I could get her to want to connect with me by pretending to be wealthy. And it worked for a while, but she discovered who I really was and left. So I’m not going to pretend with you.”
He stood and took a step toward her, even though he expected her to move the way magnets usually repelled each other. She actually stayed in place but kept her back to him. He was now so close he could touch her. His fingers itched to run down her arms. Would she let him bury his nose in the fruity, mandarin scent of her hair? Pull it back to kiss her neck?
She might, but then she would regret it later. And that went against everything he wanted in a new relationship.
“I’m not going to try to get you to fall for me, Laney. I’m just going to be me, and let you choose whether you want to connect or not.”
She turned then, lifting damp eyelashes to look at him. Was that longing he read in her eyes? Or regret? “I can’t connect with you, Alex. Because I do know you. You’re an ex-convict.”
Her reality separated them like the electric fence at the state pen. His heart throbbed as if he’d just reached out and touched it. Gotten zapped. She’d never see him for anything other than his mistakes. There was nothing more he could do. He stepped back, away from vulnerability. “All right.”
She opened her palms wide. As if saying she couldn’t do anything about it, either. “My father is a convict, too.”
He froze. Did he hear her right? Her dad went to prison? Was still there? Did Alex know him?
She swallowed. “He was a dirty cop. When the chief—Collin—found out, Dad tried to run. There was a big car chase. And that’s when…” She looked away. Wiped at a tear on her cheek.
He wanted to take care of those tears for her, even while she told him the reason he couldn’t. He stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out. “What happened, Laney?”
She chewed on her lip, and he wondered if she would ever finish.
Her gaze rose to reveal the depths of her agony. Couldn’t he just hold her for the moment?
“My mom died in the car wreck, and Gwen almost died. She was hurt pretty bad. That’s why she could never have children.”
Alex’s heart tore for her. The kind of tear that made him realize all his hurt had only been a little rip compared to the tragedy she’d endured. On top of that was the pain Jonathan must have endured. Because Alex’s friend had to be the dirty cop. It made sense now that he could see the whole picture.
The story didn’t stop there. Laney opened the floodgates to her pain, and it poured out in waves, almost knocking Alex over with its power.
“I was eleven. That’s when I moved in with Grandma for the first time.”
She’d changed her name from Delaney Riley, to her mother’s maiden name. How had he never put the pieces together?
“Middle school was a nightmare. Everybody knew about my dad. They either felt sorry for me or made fun of me. You know, suggesting that I was the one who stole the candy bar fund-raiser money, because I would probably turn out to be a criminal like my father.” She sniffed.
He reached for a tissue from the table for her. It was all the comfort she would want him to offer.
She took it. “I hated my father.”
Alex looked away. Was this how his daughter would feel about him someday?
“And then…and then…” She wiped at her eyes. “Then I recommitted my life to Christ in college. I forgave him and accepted that Jesus loved him, too. He’d been really lost. He even told me so himself. He apologized, and we formed this great relationship.” She looked off into the distance and laughed. “We’d do the prison runs together. A 5K race, only he had to jog inside the prison while I jogged around it.”
Alex took a deep breath. Jonathan had never mentioned the race before. Only that his daughter used to visit, and he missed her.
“Then the thing with you happened, Alex.”
The thing?
“I was suspected of being a dirty cop.”
Alex rocked back on his heels like she’d punched him. When “the thing” happened, he’d been lamenting his own loss, never realizing what it had put her through.
“I couldn’t go see my dad anymore, because I’d judged him. And I deserved to have him judge me. I mean, how could I face him knowing he might not believe I was innocent? I couldn’t do it.”
More pieces fell together. Why he’d neve
r met Jonathan’s daughter. Why Jonathan sought him out. Why he’d encouraged Alex to work with Laney. Why the story of Alex’s daughter had meant so much to her. And finally, why they could never be together.
She clutched her tissue to her chest, her eyes pleading with him to understand. “When I prove myself innocent, I’ll go see him again. Then I will stay above reproach. I won’t do anything that could possibly question my credibility. You see? I can never have a relationship with you, Alex.”
He saw all too clearly. He shouldn’t want her to date him anymore than he would want his own daughter to date a bank robber. He’d suck it up. And accept it. Because it was best for her.
If only she wasn’t standing in front of him, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. He closed his eyes. “Laney, I can prove you innocent tomorrow, but I’m going to need your help.” And after that he would never see her again.
“Yes. Anything.” Did she have to sound so eager? Eager to get away from him?
But obviously it was for the best. Even for him. Because if he had to be around her much longer, he would grow weak and fall back on his old tactics. His charm. His way of manipulating circumstances and words to get what he wanted. And he’d never wanted anything more than to hold her in his arms.
In fact, he’d better tell her what he was planning right away. To end her sweet moment and make her angry at him again. To take away any possibility of him leaning over and kissing her lips and her kissing him back. Because they did have a connection whether she wanted to admit it or not. Whether it was good for her or not.
“Tomorrow we are going to break into Sterling’s place and steal back the money.”
**
Alex thought she was going to plan a robbery with him? He must not have been listening to her at all. “That’s ridiculous.”
The man studied her for a moment with his steel blue eyes. Did he think he could hypnotize her into doing what he wanted? Because he couldn’t. Well, he probably couldn’t. She’d better look away before he proved her wrong.
Alex had turned out to be a dashing rogue the way Gwen predicted, which only meant Laney couldn’t have anything more to do with him. She needed distance.
A knock pounded on the door. She jumped into his arms to knock them both back onto the couch. They’d have to run again. Where was her gun?
Alex tilted his chin up from his position underneath her on the couch, his eyes lacking the alarm they’d been flashing when he showed up at her house earlier. In fact, he wore a little smile. Had he heard the door? Did he not think it could be the Eighteenth Street Gang?
“Room service.”
Right. She sagged in relief before realizing she still lay on top of him, his arms wrapped behind her back. Her spine shot straight, and she pressed against his chest to stand. His hands slid off her hips, leaving her cold with the absence of his body heat. But that’s what she wanted. Or more like needed. She wasn’t going to think about what she wanted.
Alex climbed to his feet, gave her one last searching look, then headed to answer the door. Before he could talk her out of it, she grabbed the hotel landline and dialed Collin’s number. He’d come get her. He’d help her through legal means. He wouldn’t make her knees weak when he smiled.
The phone rang. And rang. Voicemail. She slammed it down. She didn’t want to leave a message about where she was in case the wrong person listened to it. Plus, she didn’t want to wait for him to come rescue her. She needed rescuing now. Before she did something stupid.
Alex closed the door and rolled a cart of food her way. The hearty smell of grilled meat reminded her how long it had been since she’d eaten a real meal. She’d try Collin again after dinner.
“Collin?” Alex set up their meal on the table.
How did he always know? And why wasn’t he a little more upset? “Yes. Except he didn’t answer.”
Alex pulled the lids off their dishes. “I’m surprised. I would think he’d be worried about you, or at least want to tell you what he’d found out through his contact.”
Laney shoved a warm, salty French fry in her mouth. Alex was right. Collin did have info for her. Gwen said he’d left her a message. She may not have her phone, but she could still check her messages.
“Thank you, Jesus.” She grabbed her burger and took a big, juicy bite before calling her cell. When her own voice answered, she punched in the digits of her security code—her old badge number.
Collin’s voice greeted her. “Laney, I’ve been checking into Sterling, as you know. It turns out that he was disinherited from his family for crashing his parents’ yacht on Christmas day the year before we caught Alex.”
Alex had been right about the inheritance. And why did that date sound so familiar?
“The money he is living on now is not the money he says it is. I tried suggesting this at the station, but they aren’t listening to me, because I’m friends with you. They think we’re trying to frame Sterling.”
Laney’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. How could the station not trust their former chief? Could it really be simply because he was friends with her? Or maybe because he’d forgiven her father when they couldn’t? That was so unfair.
Alex froze with a fry halfway to his mouth. “What? What did he say?”
She shook her head and stopped chewing to hold a finger to her lips.
Collin cleared his throat. “And you were right about Sterling turning suspicions on you for the poisoning incident at the Pumpkin Ball. I’m going to keep looking into this, but Alex is your best bet now. Love you, little girl. And I’m praying.”
Laney set the phone back in its cradle and covered her mouth.
Alex lowered his fry to the plate. “What’s wrong?”
Collin really thought Alex was her best bet? The man wanted to break into Sterling’s house and steal—for a second time—the money she’d kept him from running off with. How did she know he wasn’t just using her to get to the money again?
Sure, she’d seen his daughter, and that was a good reason to want to prove himself innocent, but that didn’t make him any better than Sterling. If her former partner could simultaneously be trying to frame her and have her rubbed out so he could keep the money, how did she know the former robber didn’t just want to get away with his robbery this time?
“Alex, how do I know you aren’t only wanting to rob Sterling for the money?”
He sat up straighter. “It’s not about the money at all. We are going to film us breaking into his house so we have evidence to take to police. I’ll even let you film it on your phone, so that if I take off you have the evidence.”
This was her best bet? “My phone is at my house.”
“You can use my phone.” He reached into his pocket to pull out his cell as if she needed to see it to believe it. He seemed just a little too excited.
“And I’ll bring my gun.”
He lowered the phone to go back to his meal. “Protection from the Eighteenth Street Gang? Good idea.”
She pressed her lips together. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to trust him. It was that she couldn’t. “Actually I’m going to shoot you if you try to escape with the money.”
Chapter Nine
Alex prattled on about blueprints, but Laney just stared in the mirror. At her reflection. At Cat Woman. “Why am I wearing this again?”
A Batman mask shielded Alex’s handsome features. “Because it’s Halloween.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She knew it was their only way to get into Sterling’s building without causing suspicion. She spun to face the faux superhero so he could see her rub her gut. “But if I’d known I was going to be wearing pleather today, I wouldn’t have eaten a burger last night.”
Alex’s eyes scanned her body. “I thought you didn’t want me to be attracted to you.”
“I didn’t.” Heat rose in her cheeks. Hopefully he couldn’t see the color underneath her mask. “I don’t.”
He pinched at her belly. “Then you’ll have to eat
a lot more burgers.”
She pushed him away to strap her Glock to her leg. With any luck everyone would just think it part of her costume, as well.
“Me-ow,” Alex teased.
She held up her fingers like claws. “Hiss…”
He smiled that smile that used to make her want to punch him in the face. Now it just made her pulse speed up. Or was her pulse racing because they were about to walk downtown to Sterling’s high rise and break into his penthouse while he was meeting with the Eighteenth Street Gang? Apparently when she’d been looking up criminals at Alex’s office, he’d been planning this heist.
“Ready?”
Did she have a choice?
Lights began to blink on, making the city glow as they walked toward Riverfalls Tower. Kids in costume ran in and out of a brick church for what looked like a harvest party. If only Laney’s holiday was as carefree.
Verses her Grandma used to read her in Psalms when she was hurt by the kids at school echoed through her mind. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
“For thou art with me,” Alex added.
He’d mentioned getting saved in prison. But was it real, or was it one of those life changes that only lasted while he had people there to keep him accountable? People he wanted to impress with a show of religiosity. People like her.
“Why did you become a Christian?”
He tilted his head toward her, eyes squinting in thought. “I always believed in God, but he wasn’t my savior. I think it took losing everything I had, and the wisdom of a good friend, for me to realize that He is all I need.”
Funny how people all saw God differently. For her it had been losing everything that made her question the God she’d grown up believing. But turning her back on him had only made things worse. Once again she’d trusted the wrong people and hadn’t trusted the right people.
She eyed Alex. She’d thought he was trustworthy when she first questioned him about his father-in-law’s bank robberies five years ago. Then she’d realized she’d been made a fool. Just like with her dad. Just like with Mitch. She didn’t want to be made a fool again.
Team Love on the Run Box-Set #1 Page 8