Bowie: The Sinner Saints #5

by Adrienne Bell

  “In the morning,” he said, his voice already low and sleepy. “Whatever it is, it can wait until morning.”

  Charlie let out a deep breath as her eyes started to close.

  Maybe he was right…just this once.

  They could talk in the morning. Right now was for enjoying this amazing moment.

  The one that it felt she’d spent a lifetime waiting for.

  Chapter Twelve

  “So, how long have you wanted to do that?”

  Bowie had just roused from one of the best night’s sleep of his life when Charlie asked the question. His eyes hadn’t even opened yet. He could still feel the slight weight of her body against his. Every soft curve. Every gentle touch.

  And just like yesterday morning, he hadn’t wanted to admit that it was time for their moment together to end. He only wanted to lie in her embrace and soak in the feel of her. Let her scent tickle his nose. Let her warmth seep down to his bones.

  Unlike yesterday morning, he could do it. He didn’t have to jump up. Didn’t have to run away. He could lie by her side and enjoy the moment. Revel in the silence.

  Well, he could until she started asking questions.

  Bowie nestled his head deeper into the pillow. He let out a slow breath. He kept his eyes closed.

  “Don’t bother pretending,” Charlie said. She propped up on her elbows. “I know you’re awake.”

  Bowie cracked an eyelid.

  A gorgeous blue-eyed woman looked down at him.

  “See. I can always tell when you’re lying,” she said, a wide smile spreading across her face. “You guys shouldn’t have taught me all your tricks if you didn’t want me to use them.”

  “We didn’t teach you all of them,” he said.

  “You taught me enough.” She arched a brow. “Like how to detect when someone is being evasive.”

  “Is that what I’m doing?” Bowie bent his elbows and rested his palms under his head.

  “It is,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter. If you won’t talk, I’m sure I can figure the answer out on my own. Let’s see. You broke up with Diane four months ago.”

  “Charlie,” he said, trying to stop her.

  She didn’t seem to be listening.

  “Then you probably had about a month rebound period after that. But then you were gone for two weeks on that assignment. So, I’m guessing—”

  “Three years.”

  Charlie’s jaw dropped. She shook her head.

  “Excuse me?” she asked.

  “Three years,” he repeated, louder this time.

  “But that would mean that you’ve had a crush on me since—”

  “Since the moment we met,” he said.

  Charlie blinked a couple of times. “The first time we met, you practically growled at me like a wolf.”

  “And you smiled,” he said. “You told me to start drinking decaf. The next day you showed up to work with a cup of the nasty stuff for me.”

  “You just growled louder.” Charlie’s smile brightened at the memory. “So the next day I brought you a box of chamomile tea.”

  “Every day that week you showed up at my desk with two mugs.”

  “Yeah, I remember,” she said. “It took me until Friday to get you to break down and finally share a cup with me. I’ve never had to work so hard to make a friend in my life.”

  Bowie drew in a deep breath. He had never spoken to anyone about this. Not a single soul.

  “I left the next week on an assignment,” he said. “I was gone seventeen days. I was certain when I came back you’d have forgotten all about me. But the first day I was back, there you were, waiting for me. Still smiling, mug in hand.”

  “Of course,” she said. “How could anyone forget about you?”

  She’d be surprised.

  “After that, I thought about you every time I went away,” he said. “Every single time. I thought of your smile. I remembered your laugh. I imagined your blue eyes shining.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

  His lips tightened. Why was this so hard? It was only the truth. The simple truth. But every word he spoke felt like pulling lead from a wound.

  “Because I was afraid something would change between us,” he said. “And that was the one thing that I couldn’t let happen.”

  “But I wouldn’t have turned you down,” she said.

  “It didn’t matter.” He shook his head. His jaw tensed. “I don’t…”

  He hesitated.

  His logical brain screamed at him to stop. There was still time to quit. He wasn’t out in the open yet. He wasn’t exposed.

  But his heart wanted more.

  The heart wants what it wants.

  “I don’t have a crush on you, Charlie. I love you. I’ve always loved you. Down to the core of my soul. If we hooked up and it didn’t work out, I wouldn’t have stopped needing you. You would have moved on, but I…”

  Charlie pulled back. Her jaw dropped at his admission.

  “Oh my God, Bowie,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.”

  Bowie blinked.

  He wasn’t sure what he was expecting after he exposed his heart so openly, but it certainly wasn’t that. His heart began to pound against his breastbone.

  Was she angry? Offended? Disgusted?

  He wasn’t sure until she collapsed on top of him shaking with laughter.

  Strangely, the light sound didn’t make him feel any better.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked when a few seconds had passed and she still hadn’t stopped.

  Charlie lifted her head. Tears had formed in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over and course down her cheeks.

  “You are,” she said. “Look at you. Your scowls are downright terrifying. I’ve seen you make grown men tremble without saying a single word. You’ve fooled everyone into believing that you’re nothing short of invincible…and all this time, the only thing you’ve been scared of is me. Scrawny little me.”

  Bowie didn’t like the way this was going.

  He straightened his spine until he sat up straight. She rose too and cocked her head. He could practically see the gears turning in her mind.

  “Actually, it makes a lot of sense,” she said. “All those times you hung out just outside my doorway. The times you avoided eye contact. How you went out of your way to make sure we never touched. All this time I just figured you were some kind of germophobe.”

  “Charlie…” His voice trailed off. He wasn’t sure what to say. There was no way to refute her words. She had it right. All of it.

  That was the real reason that he never told a soul the way he felt. The reason he would threaten to throttle anyone who even said her name. He was a soldier—a fearless warrior.

  Except when it came to Charlie.

  Her rejection, whether it came now or years from now, was the only thing that he feared.

  He watched as she bit her lip, worrying it back and forth, before a wide smile spread across her face and another bubble of laughter broke from her lips. She shook her head.

  “For such a smart guy you can be a real idiot sometimes,” she teased. “You know that?”

  Strangely, he wasn’t in a teasing mood.

  “Ease up,” he said. “I just bared my soul.”

  She rolled her eyes. “And if you would have bared it years ago, I’d be kissing you until your lips went numb instead of laughing my ass off. Do you have any idea how much time we’ve wasted? How many nights like last night we’ve missed out on? You’re lucky I’m laughing instead of smacking you.”

  Maybe he was.

  But still, he couldn’t shake the familiar wriggle of dread deep in his belly.

  “I guess there’s no chance of things going back to the way they were?” he asked.

  Charlie lifted a brow. “Do you really want them to?”

  He bit the inside of his cheek. The truth was he wasn’t sure. For so long he’d b
elieved that was exactly what he wanted, but now…

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “Well, here’s what I know,” she said. “We can worry about the future, or we can enjoy the present, but we can’t do both at the same time. And as for me, I’m done wasting time.”

  The bright smile stayed on Charlie’s face as she lifted her hand and cupped his cheek. She pressed a soft kiss against his lips before pulling back.

  “You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever known, Bowie Tamatoa, and I can’t imagine anything is ever going to change the way I feel about you.”

  Bowie felt the patch of warmth in the center of his chest begin to grow. Suddenly, he wanted to hear more.

  “And how exactly do you feel?” he asked.

  Her smile widened. Her hand slid down from his cheek to his chest. Inch by inch, it slid down even farther.

  “I could tell you,” she said. A wicked gleam snuck into her eyes. “Or I could show you…again.”

  Slowly, he leaned back down onto the pillows. Charlie’s hand disappeared beneath the covers.

  Then again, maybe he didn’t need to hear any more after all.

  ***

  Charlie’s palm slid over the hard plane of Bowie’s lower belly. She was just about to get to the good part when she heard it.

  A cough.

  At least, that’s what she thought it was. The truth was, the sound was so quiet and so unexpected that, at first, Charlie wasn’t entirely sure that she’d actually heard it.

  Bowie didn’t seem to share her doubts. While she stilled, he sprung from the bed. Charlie stared at him wide eyed, as he stood there buck naked, his muscles coiled and tight, ready to spring into action. His steely gaze was fixed on the far corner of the room, where deep shadows still clung to the walls.

  “Who’s there?” Bowie growled. “Show yourself.”

  Charlie’s heart pounded in her chest. Her fingers curled tighter around the edge of the sheet, pulling it up higher.

  “Easy, friend,” a soft accented voice said from the darkness. A moment later the rap of a boot heel sounded against the hardwood floor and a figure stepped out of the darkness.

  Charlie let out a long breath as a familiar face came into view.

  James. The thief.

  Her hands relaxed around the bed sheet. Not enough to let it fall, of course, but a little.

  Bowie, on the other hand, didn’t ease his stance even a touch. If anything, his stare sharpened.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Delivering news,” James said, one corner of his mouth quirking up. He glanced to the chair where some of Bowie’s clothes had landed last night. He picked up the crumpled pair of pants dangling over the arm and tossed them across the room. “And trousers, it seems.”

  Bowie’s scowl only deepened as his jeans smacked him in the dead center of his chest, but he did straighten up. He didn’t take his eyes off James for even a second as he pulled them on.

  “My thanks,” James said as Bowie pulled up the zipper. He moved to the front of the chair, and, without asking permission, sat down, crossing his legs and wasting no time making himself comfortable. “I’m no prude, mind you. I just didn’t want my epitaph to read ‘ripped limb from limb by a naked man’.”

  “But ‘half-naked’ doesn’t bother you?” Charlie asked.

  James’ smile widened as he shifted his gaze her way. “It has a much better ring to it, don’t you agree?”

  “How long have you been hiding over there?” Bowie demanded.

  “Not long,” James said with a shrug. “Certainly not long enough to overhear any potentially embarrassing confessions of fear and heartbreak, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  A deep growl rumbled out of Bowie’s throat. The sound should have been enough to make any thinking man run for the nearest exit, but James didn’t appear even the slightest bit concerned. If anything, he looked amused.

  Charlie couldn’t do anything but shake her head. She didn’t understand this guy. Especially, how the hell he was sitting in front of her now. The security in her parents’ house was state of the art.

  And yet, somehow, a grown man had managed to sneak into her bedroom.

  “How did you get in here?” she asked.

  James’ brows arched. “You hired me to slip into a secure fortress. Did you really believe that I’d be tripped up by a couple of locked third floor windows?”

  He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a white envelope. Charlie sat up a little straighter. Her brows pulled together.

  “Wait,” she said, hope making her voice rise higher. “You did it? You got the file?”

  James tilted his head to the side. He casually waved the envelope back and forth. “And without a second to spare, going by what Sara told me. It sounds like the people you’re trying to catch aren’t wasting their time…or their bullets, any longer.”

  Charlie held up her hand, showing her simple bandage. “It was a warning. Nothing more.”

  James’ shoulders relaxed. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”

  “You don’t actually expect me to believe that you broke into this house because you’re worried about Charlie, do you?” Bowie asked, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

  “Of course, I’m concerned for the woman’s safety,” James said, leaning back in the chair. “After all, we had a deal. She’s the only person I’ve met with the skills to track down the people I’m looking for.”

  “So, you’re just checking on your assets?” Charlie didn’t even try to keep the derision from her tone.

  “Oh, don’t sound so upset, darling,” James said. “You have no idea just how protective I can be of my assets.”

  “Don’t call her darling,” Bowie warned.

  James looked him up and down for a brief moment, before obviously deciding that a throwdown with an ex-special forces soldier that outweighed him by nearly sixty pounds of solid muscle was not something that he wanted.

  “Fair enough,” he said with a nod. “Let’s just say that right now, my interests are your interests.”

  Bowie’s top lip curled up. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, neither do I, Romeo,” James said with a sigh. “But, at least now you know I kept my end of the bargain.”

  He expertly tossed the envelope across the room, so that it landed perfectly on the edge of the bed.

  Charlie let out a long breath. It felt as if a giant weight had lifted off her chest. At last, something was going their way. Now all she had to do was crack the encryption on the file and get the information into the right hands. After that she was more than happy to let the authorities take over.

  “Thank you,” Charlie said, not bothering to hide her relief.

  James’ bright blue eyes must have caught some of the early morning light because they sparkled in a peculiar way.

  “You are most welcome, my de—Miss Keswick.”

  Bowie’s gaze snapped back up, forcing James’ attention back to him. “And you’re certain no one saw you?”

  James covered his heart with his hand in mock protest. “I’m offended.”

  Bowie’s stare sharpened.

  James let his hand fall. “Absolutely certain.”

  “What about electronic surveillance?”

  “As abundant as it was ineffective.”

  “But how—” Bowie started.

  “Oh, no,” James said. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

  Bowie pulled back his shoulders, puffing out his chest. “You’re no magician.”

  James let out a laugh. “You have no idea how right you are, my muscular friend,” he said, as he stood up from the chair. “But I do know more than my fair share of tricks.”

  “Just don’t forget,” Bowie said, his voice dropping down even lower as he narrowed his eyes. “So do I.”

  Charlie knew that look. It usually came right before someon
e started bleeding. Someone needed to seize the reins of this conversation. Fast.

  “Gentlemen,” she said loud enough for both pairs of eyes to snap toward her. “Come on. We’re all friends here.”

  “Friends don’t break into your house,” Bowie snarled.

  James’ smile only grew. “You have boring friends.”

  Bowie’s lip curled in disgust. He took a step forward.

  “Whoa there, tiger.” Charlie thrust her open palm out in Bowie’s direction. He stopped. Reluctantly…but he stopped. “I’ll rephrase that. How about, we’re all on the same side?”

  She looked back and forth between the two men. Neither showed any sign of backing down.

  “For the moment, at least,” she added.

  Both guys took in a breath, and after a long second a strained silence settled over the room. Charlie shrugged inwardly. She’d take it. Any silence was better than nothing.

  Too bad it didn’t last.

  “I still don’t trust him,” Bowie said.

  “Well.” James tilted his chin. “Seems you’re not as stupid as you look, big guy.”

  “Okay.” Charlie let out an exaggerated sigh. Her shoulders fell in resignation. “If you two insist on brawling like school children, can someone at least throw me a shirt, so I’m not buck naked when I have to physically get in between you two?”

  James’ brow slowly arched. “Once again, where would be the fun in that?”

  “That’s it.” Bowie hissed in a deep breath, his chest expanding out farther than Charlie had ever seen it before. His face burned red. “I’m going to toss you out that window.”

  Bowie didn’t make it to the edge of the bed before a huge crash sounded deep within the house. A loud one. Loud enough to travel up the staircase and reverberate through her thick walls. Shattering glass. Splintering wood.

  They all went still. All the blood rushed out of Charlie’s head as her heart froze.

  Bowie was the first to move.

  “Are those your friends?” he asked James.

  James shook his head. All the humor had fled his face, leaving him with an expression that was unquestionably dangerous.

  The sudden shift in mood rocked Charlie out of her state of shock. She clutched the sheet and wrapped it around her back as she flew toward the door. Bowie’s arm curled around her middle before she made it three steps, lifting her off the ground and holding her back. She fought against his hold with all her strength, but it was no use. She wasn’t going anywhere.