The Complete Retrieval Duet

by Martinez, Aly

  He hadn’t even finished before I was darting toward the door. Alex suddenly stepped in front of me.

  “Move,” I ordered, not interested in any further conversation.

  A daughter I had never met and the woman who had been raising her were currently at the hospital. In a few minutes, I was going to be there, too.

  “Elisabeth,” Roman called.

  I was more focused on Alex. “Move!” I barked, snatching my keys from the basket next to the door.

  “Talk to Roman,” he replied.

  “I’m talking to you. And I said move!”

  “Elisabeth!” Roman yelled, catching my attention.

  Narrowing my eyes on Alex, I snapped into the phone, “What?”

  “You cannot come up here,” he answered.

  Roman being bossy wasn’t exactly something new. However, the conviction in his voice took me aback.

  “What?” I repeated—sans the attitude.

  “Baby, it’s not safe. I need you to hang tight there and stay close to Alex. Devon’s on his way up here now, and I’m gonna call Leo and see about getting a few more guys sent down tomorrow.”

  My heart sank, and a swarm of angry bumblebees came alive in my belly. “Wh…what do you mean it’s not safe? You’re there, Roman.”

  “And I’ll be okay. I swear. But I can’t have you up here right now. Things did not exactly go as planned, and I have a feeling getting them away from Noir was just the beginning. This could go two ways: the DEA got him and he’s currently on his way to jail, or he could show up here, guns drawn, ready to reclaim a family that is not his anymore.”

  None of that sounded good. It actually sounded really fucking bad.

  “Roman, maybe you should come home.”

  “I carried Tessa out, Lis.”

  “Okay,” I drawled in confusion.

  “She was terrified. Shaking and bleeding in my arms. But she held onto my neck and trusted me to take care of her.”

  The ache in my chest grew as I imagined that scene. I hated that Roman could possibly be in danger, but knowing he had been there when she had been scared and bleeding did some serious things to my heart. Tears finally made their way from the corners of my eyes.

  He continued. “If that maniac shows his face up here, trying to get to her, he will have to go through me. And, Lis, when I say that, I mean he will die trying to get through me, because I’m coming home, baby. And I’m bringing Tessa with me.”

  “And Clare?” I choked out immediately.

  His voice softened. “And Clare, as long as you feel comfortable with that.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Jesus, you’re an amazing woman,” he breathed as though he’d been worried I would say no.

  I wasn’t an amazing woman. I was just a mother. Who understood that losing your child was the most agonizing experience a person could experience. And, regardless of whose DNA was coursing through that little girl’s veins, Clare was her mother. I wouldn’t take that away from her. Ever.

  “Roman, listen to me. Tessa may or may not be biologically ours, but regardless, she’s Clare’s daughter. Do not go in there barking at her and ordering her around, telling her how it’s going to be. Ask her if she wants to come here. She might have family or someone she’d feel more comfortable with right now. And that’s okay—”

  “Bullshit!” he interrupted. “That is not fucking okay. She’s away from Walter. But she is far from out of the woods. So they’re coming to stay with us, and we’re gonna make them safe.”

  While he had an excellent point, I didn’t figure that his attitude was going to go over well with anyone else.

  I made a suggestion. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be the one to talk to her.”

  “No, I should definitely be the one to talk to her. However, Light’s head might explode if I raise my voice above a whisper in her presence. He’s been all over anyone who has so much as looked in her direction. So I’ll go out on a very short limb and say it’s gonna be him who talks to her. But it’s gonna be me who talks to him.”

  Interesting about Heath and Clare.

  And good.

  I’d only met Heath Light once, so I couldn’t be sure of what kind of bedside manner he had in the face of a crisis, but I knew Roman Leblanc well enough to know he needed to stay the hell out of it.

  So, with that decision made, I replied, “Okay, Roman.”

  “Now, where’s your head at right now? You straight with all of this?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve had about thirty seconds to process it.”

  “Okay, how about this? You got any questions or concerns? Let me put your mind at ease, and then I need to get back in there.”

  “Um…” I had a million.

  What does it feel like to hold her? What does she sound like? Is she still scared? Why was she bleeding? Is she going to be okay? What about Clare? How did he even end up with them?

  However, I was certain I wasn’t going to get the answers to any of those questions right then.

  But the fact that he was dealing with all of that and had still taken the time to make sure my head was straight was crazy sweet. My heart overflowed with love for that man.

  I needed to be strong. For him. For Tessa. For Clare.

  I glanced up at Alex, who was hovering beside me. I shot him an apologetic smile and said, “I’m good, Roman. And I’d be better if you don’t come home with bullet holes.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”

  “I love you. Call me back when you can.”

  “Love you, too. Stay tight with Alex, okay?”

  “Okay. I’m about to force-feed him some chicken parmesan.”

  “Alfredo?” he asked, a content smile in his voice.

  “You know it.”

  He laughed. “Utilize some of that Tupperware you hoard and save your man a plate.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll update soon.”

  “Okay.”

  “Love you, Lis.”

  “Love you, too.”

  I listened for a few minutes longer, but he’d hung up.

  With our connection severed, my courage evaporated. Regardless of what I’d told Roman, I was not okay.

  I was basically freaking the hell out.

  Get it together, Elisabeth.

  Sucking in a shaky breath and pasting on a smile, I turned to Alex and passed him his phone back. “So, you want to eat first or tell me who you were talking to on the phone earlier who was so important that you were able to perform the unfathomable feat of turning down food?”

  He grinned. “Eat.”

  I headed to the fridge to unpack the food. “Okay. Then, after that, since it seems we are stuck together, you can fill me in on your mystery woman.”

  He frowned.

  “Or man,” I corrected.

  He frowned deeper.

  I shrugged and added, “Or you can help me pick out furniture for the guest rooms we need to miraculously have furnished by tomorrow.”

  I honestly didn’t know that it was possible, but at the prospect of online furniture shopping, he frowned even deeper.

  He propped his hip on the counter and studied me as I prepared his plate. I did my best to keep up the façade while dishing noodles out, but just as I handed it over, he caught my elbow to stop me from backing away.

  I dramatically craned my head up.

  Alex was a handsome man. The strong, silent type. Devon would have given me a pep talk and assured me that everything was okay. It was Alex though, so all I got was an arm squeeze. But, despite how hard I was trying to keep it together, that simple gesture was more than enough to break me.

  Bursting into tears, I face-planted against his barrel chest.

  I vaguely heard him mutter a curse as he awkwardly patted my back.

  But I was lost in a world where I had a daughter and I’d just had to ask my ex-husband-fiancé-love-of-my-life not to come home with bullet holes.

  Yeah. I had questions for Rom
an, all right.

  How the hell was this my life?

  After a team of doctors and nurses had poked, prodded, and inspected every inch of me, they decided to keep me overnight. I assumed that it was more for a mental evaluation than anything to do with my physical injuries. I couldn’t blame them; I was a mess.

  After Heath brought back Tessa, I spent the next two hours holding her while staring off into space and trying to put the puzzle pieces together to figure out how I’d ended up there.

  Shock was what the doctors had called it as I’d listened to them assure an extremely concerned Heath that I’d be okay after I’d gotten some rest. I’d refused the sedatives and pain medications they’d offered. I didn’t need to be drugged up or asleep when Walt finally showed up.

  Roman occasionally poked his head into the room to check on us, and I caught sight of uniformed officers guarding the door, but Heath wouldn’t allow any of them to come inside.

  He sat stoically in a chair at the foot of the bed, staring at me as though he were afraid I’d disappear if he so much as blinked. His long legs stretched out in front of him and his broad shoulders reclined against the back of the chair, but he was as far from relaxed as a person could get. His jaw clenched, his lips pursed tightly, and his hands constantly opened and closed at his sides. It appeared as though it were taking a great deal of effort to keep his ass in the chair and not up pacing the room. Or pulling me into his arms—but that was only wishful thinking, considering he hadn’t actually touched me since we had gotten to the hospital.

  Tessa had fallen asleep in my arms, and though the nurses had rolled a bed in for her, I refused to put her down.

  With the day’s drama finally slowing, my mind began to churn with questions. Most importantly, who exactly was Heath Light/Luke Cosgrove? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he was some sort of law enforcement officer. Rarely did normal guys walk around with two different identities. Not that I was an expert on normal anymore.

  I was dying to know how much of this man sitting at the foot of my bed was Heath—the cop.

  And how much of him was Luke—my only friend.

  As the clock ticked past midnight and into a new day, I found the courage to finally open my mouth.

  “So, you’re a cop?” I accused, Tessa’s head rising and falling with every heave of my chest.

  “I’m a DEA Agent,” he answered, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees, his gaze never shifting from mine.

  I cut my gaze to the wall as they filled with tears of betrayal. I knew it, but hearing him confirm it burned in ways I never could have anticipated.

  He was just my personal trainer. It wasn’t like we’d forged an everlasting bond over squats and crunches in the gym. But, when you’re completely alone in life, surrounded by darkness on all sides, it doesn’t take much more than a warm smile and simple conversation to convince yourself that maybe there was more.

  But it had all been a lie.

  He was a DEA agent trying to make his case, and I was left to mourn a good man who had never even existed.

  It was too much.

  “Get out,” I ordered, keeping my eyes anchored to the pale-yellow hospital room wall.

  “Let me explain,” he replied, but I couldn’t stomach being fed any more bullshit.

  God knows Walt had filled me with enough over the years. I sure as hell wasn’t volunteering to take it from someone else.

  “I’m not interested in any explanation, Heath.” I seethed his name as though it said everything. And, in some ways, it did.

  “Clare,” he called, his voice so kind and familiar that it shattered me even further.

  Luke was gone even as he stood directly in front of me.

  As a silent sob ricocheted in my chest, I wrapped my arms around Tessa and squeezed her tight. “Are…are you here to arrest me?” I stuttered.

  He pushed to his feet and took a step toward me, but when I scooted away from him, he froze. His baby-blue eyes turned angry, and his hands fisted so hard at his sides that the veins on his tan forearms bulged.

  “No,” he stated firmly.

  “Then leave.”

  I didn’t believe him. I’d confessed to Luke every one of my deepest, darkest secrets the day the cops had shown up at the gym. He knew all about the blood on my hands and the sludge Walt had all but smothered me in. There was no way Heath could turn a blind eye to that. He was going to arrest me, and I was going to lose Tessa once and for all.

  “Oh my God,” I choked.

  Days earlier, I’d been ready to let her go if it meant getting her someplace safe. I’d ripped my heart out with goodbyes to her every night since I’d mailed our DNA to Roman. But the moment Heath had lifted me into his arms, I’d dared to hope that I could keep her.

  He had come for me.

  And, now, he was going to take her away.

  “I thought I could trust you,” I accused, dropping my chin to my hollow chest to kiss the top of her head. “Will you at least tell me how much longer I have with her?”

  “Clare, look at me,” he ordered.

  My vision swam as I lifted my gaze to his.

  His shoulders were square, and his tall body pulsed with anger, but his voice remained gentle. “You can trust me. It’s still me, Clare. You know who I am.”

  I adamantly shook my head. “No. I know Luke Cosgrove.”

  “Different name. Same person,” he growled.

  “No!” I seethed on a whisper. “You’re a cop who manipulated me to get shit on Walt. And I’d personally like to express my thanks in that matter. Honestly, if you’d told me the truth, I would have spent my days spilling every detail about him rather than staring at your abs. But, just so we’re clear, you are not the same person as Luke.”

  His face lit. “No. I’m better than Luke.” He grinned.

  Grinned.

  Like a huge, gleaming-white, butterfly-inducing grin.

  I was about to lose my daughter and spend the rest of my life in a jail cell, and he was grinning.

  “You’re an asshole,” I snapped.

  “Nope. I’m not that, either.” He bent over, propping himself on two fists at the foot of the bed.

  I curled my legs to avoid touching him. Though a part of me still ached to climb from the bed, with Tessa in my arms, and cling to his neck—to Luke’s neck.

  This guy though…

  “I’m not Luke. And thank fucking God for that. I’m Agent Heath Light, and I’m going to make sure no one ever touches you or that little girl again. Luke Cosgrove was a bitch who couldn’t do one fucking thing to help you except take a daily inventory of whatever bruises you came in with and whatever trivial fact you let slip about your home life. I, on the other hand, will use every fucking resource I possess in order to secure your safety. Even if that means raining down the entire federal government on that piece-of-shit husband of yours. So, no, I’m not your fucking personal trainer, but I am your friend. And you can trust me when I say no one is going to arrest you, nor are they going to take Tessa. Not the cops. Not the DEA. And sure as fuck not Walter Noir.” He pushed himself upright and moved back to the chair. Then he slowly sank down, his eyes locked on mine. Once he got settled with his legs crossed ankle to knee, he finished with, “Questions?”

  It sounded good, but if I’d learned anything by marrying Walt, it was that too good to be true was often just that.

  “You’re a liar.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Oh, I am?”

  “Yes. You are!” I sat up, taking Tessa with me. She was knocked out, and her sleeping body folded to the side, her weight sending her toward the floor.

  He lurched from the chair, his arms extended to catch her, but I caught her and dragged her back onto my chest first.

  “Don’t you touch her!”

  His eyes narrowed, and he ran a hand through his thick, blond hair. “Don’t touch her?” he asked in utter disbelief.

  I didn’t reply. He might have been the onl
y man I’d ever trusted to touch her. Or at least Luke was.

  “Don’t touch her?” he repeated incredulously.

  “You played me for months.”

  He nodded multiple times, his scruff-covered jaw ticking as he struggled to keep his composure. “I sure did,” he replied, cracking his neck. “But I did it for you.” He tipped his chin at Tessa. “For her. The man you met that first day at the gym was a lie. I’ll admit that. But the person you got every single day after that was me.” He stabbed a thumb at his chest before pointing a finger at me. “And the woman you gave me was not the fraud you put on for everyone else. It was you, Clare Cornwell.”

  I sucked in a deep breath at the use of my maiden name.

  He wasn’t wrong. I had given that to him. He was the only person I’d felt comfortable enough with to be myself around. I hadn’t understood it then, but I’d felt it all the same.

  “Luke,” I whispered.

  “Heath,” he corrected. “It’s still me, Clare. Your favorite color is green, like Tessa’s eyes. It took approximately two weeks before it became my favorite color, too.”

  Oh my God. My heart stopped.

  “Your favorite hobby is gardening, and I wished like hell every day that I could take you outside and just watch you lose yourself in a pile of dirt and an endless supply of flowers.”

  “Heath,” I sighed.

  “Your favorite food is pizza, and you could wax poetic for hours about what toppings you were planning for your monthly cheat day. I used to fake a laugh and urge you to stick to your meal plan, but it took every ounce of restraint I had not to start sneaking pizza into the gym and forcing you to actually eat. You’re too thin, Clare. And, for fuck’s sake, everyone deserves pizza more than once a month.”

  A strangled laugh bubbled up my throat, and a sad, but very real Luke Cosgrove smile split his mouth. Or maybe that grin had always belonged to Heath Light. I couldn’t be sure.

  He took a cautious step toward me, and this time, my heart raced for a different reason.

  “I get it,” he said. “You’ve had total shit dished out to you by men. But those men are not me. Look at me, Clare. You know who I am. You know you can trust me. I was pulled off your case the day Walter saw you in my office. Yet, today, I risked my job to get to you. That had not one thing to do with the investigation and everything to do with you. And I would do it a million times over as long as it got you here. Right now. With me. And I’m gonna take care of you both.” He nodded to Tessa. “I give you my word, regardless of how I have to make it happen, that life is over for you.” He inched even closer until he was looming over me. His hands were still at his sides, but his proximity was possessive—and not in a scary way.