Everyone on the street here just thought he was quirky, slightly introverted Justin Mallory, software developer. He worked remotely out of his home but traveled frequently to meet clients. He wasn’t seen too often but made sure he attended every other street function or party so he could keep up with the local gossip. Cameras might cover every inch of his house inside and out, but nosy, friendly neighbors were also a good source of cheap surveillance.
A breeze stirred, rustling the trees. They could hear some kids shouting from a few houses away and a dog was barking. The world of hunting down targets and acquiring information by any means necessary seemed incredibly distant. Like a slightly hazy dream. Justin had thought about walking away from the life once but imagining what he’d do with his time when he wasn’t plotting, scheming, or stalking just put him to sleep. Regular life was too boring and slow for him.
Sliding his eyes over to Gabriel’s back, he smiled. If he left the life, he wouldn’t have interesting people like Gabriel standing on his back deck, grilling some excellent steaks. He wouldn’t have the puzzle that was Gabriel to tease his brain. And who would want to give that up? Not him.
“How’s the hand?”
“Fine,” Gabriel replied, and Justin rolled his eyes. “How’s your side?”
“Hurts like hell,” he admitted.
Gabriel set the tongs down again and turned to face Justin. “Stand up and raise your shirt.”
“What about the grease?” Justin taunted but still slid to his feet.
Gabriel reached out and lifted the side of his shirt that covered his bullet wound. A waterproof bandage covered the stitches, keeping it protected. “I need to remove the bandage.”
“Nooo!” Justin pulled his shirt free of Gabriel’s grip and took a step back. “You’re not going anywhere near that hole.”
“I’m not interested in your holes. I want to make sure it’s not infected.”
“It’s not. I’m keeping it clean. It’s healing. It just hurts because there’s a fucking hole in my body that’s not supposed to be there.”
Gabriel stared at him for another second as if trying to decide whether he wanted to believe him or check for himself. Muscles tensed, Justin waited, ready to defend himself if necessary. But Gabriel finally nodded and turned back to the steaks.
“Dinner is almost ready. Would you mind taking the rolls out of the oven? I’ll bring everything inside in just a minute, unless you’d rather have your steak medium well?”
“Nope, bloody works for me.” Justin grabbed up his beer and finished it before moseying back into the kitchen. He pulled the rolls out of the oven, then set about grabbing plates, silverware, and other random bits for dinner. He was pulling out another beer for them both when Justin joined him in the kitchen with the food. They silently fixed their plates, but Justin’s brain couldn’t miss the fact that it was a comfortable silence. The kitchen floorplan was wide and open, but the way they moved around each other was like a dance. Like they’d danced together before.
“You want to eat out on the deck? It’s a nice night,” Justin suggested. Gabriel nodded and preceded him back to the high-top table.
They settled in to their food, and Justin softly moaned at the first taste of the steak as it seemed to melt on his tongue. It had a subtle tang to it that he’d never gotten with his steaks. “Damn, you’re a good cook.”
Gabriel smirked as he chewed. “I can make a good steak on the grill. That’s about it. What about you? What culinary masterpieces are you capable of?”
Justin straightened in his chair and smiled. “Coq au vin.”
“Bullshit,” Gabriel replied without hesitation.
“It’s true.”
“Why am I cooking if you can make coq au vin?”
“I’m guessing you cooked because you wanted to strut around the kitchen without a shirt on and massage some meat.”
Gabriel shook his head, stabbing a piece of asparagus a little harder than necessary. “How is it that you know how to make coq au vin? Do you like to cook?”
Justin’s smile turned a little wry and he focused on his plate. “It was for a fucking job. I was hired by this woman’s family. She’d suddenly died, and her family was convinced that her husband poisoned her. They wanted me to kill him. While I was waiting for the coroner’s report to come back on whether she was really poisoned, I started taking this cooking class that he was teaching. A class that was focused on classic French dishes.”
“You learned more than coq au vin?”
“Not much more. I was pretty good at ratatouille. My beef bourguignon was okay. My tartiflette was horrible. We never got to the cassoulet.”
“Why?”
“The poison test came back positive and I finished the job.”
Gabriel grunted and dug into his baked potato. “That’s a shame. I’ve had cassoulet only a couple times and it’s fantastic.”
“I thought about trying to find another cooking class. Something a little more common than the fancy French stuff. Working in the kitchen was fun. Totally let me zone out and just work.”
Justin moved his food around on his plate for a moment, getting lost in thought. Maybe he really should look into taking another cooking class. Something to get away from the computer and the job. Life had become too much about work recently. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone out on a date when the person wasn’t a fucking target. He hadn’t even hung out with the neighbors in a while.
“What about you?” Justin suddenly asked, shoving aside such thoughts. He could think about taking a break from work when he wasn’t in the middle of an important job.
“What about me?” Gabriel replied. He’d been in the middle of cutting a piece of his steak, and Justin tried to ignore how the muscles in his hand tightened around the handle of the knife.
“What weird shit have you learned for a job?”
“Nothing,” Gabriel mumbled, his eyes directed down to his plate.
Justin laughed. “Bullshit! You know I took a French cooking class. What did you learn?”
Eyes narrowed, Gabriel looked up and his smile turned sly. “I’ll tell if you make coq au vin.”
Hesitating only a moment, Justin nodded. “Fine. You’ve got it. Now spill.”
“Tango.”
“What?”
“I learned to tango,” Gabriel said slowly, his deep voice curling between them. Justin’s cock grew harder at the thought of Gabriel’s long, lean body moving around a parquet floor, pressed against his own in a seductive dance.
Justin cleared his throat and shifted a little in his seat. “What was the job?”
“Seducing the wife of a high-ranking official so that I could access their home and acquire certain secrets.”
“Were you the dance instructor?”
“No, just another student, but I made sure that we were paired together.”
“And how good of a student were you?”
Gabriel’s grin turned a little more wicked, and Justin’s dick got harder. “I was a very good student.”
Justin pressed his tongue into his cheek, fighting back the offer to enjoy a horizontal tango with the man. They were supposed to be just working. Sex would complicate things. Not that he was even sure Gabriel would be interested in sex. It was more of a feeling. Maybe the way his eyes watched him. It felt like more than just watching. Or it could just be his own wishful thinking.
“Were you able to discover anything useful?” Gabriel suddenly asked, and Justin was grateful for the distraction. They needed to keep this professional.
“Not as much as I would have hoped,” Justin admitted. “I still haven’t managed to crack the doc’s hard drive. I wasn’t expecting it to be this big of a nuisance. Most people don’t give a shit about their home security when it comes to their computers. There better be something on this thing.”
“We might be able to get something from the other dead doctor,” Gabriel said. “I did a search on her and found that she has a surviving h
usband and young daughter. With the right incentive, we might be able to get him to talk.”
Justin lifted his eyebrows at the other man and leaned across the table. “Are you really thinking of threatening the man’s daughter after he just lost his wife?”
Gabriel jerked back, a look of disgust twisting his features. “I was thinking that we appeal to his sense of justice. He might just give over the information if it means getting justice for his wife.”
Nodding, Justin picked up his beer and took a quick drink while a sound of disgust escaped Gabriel.
“Well, you’ve made clear your low opinion of me.”
“And you’ve made clear that you’re in this job for the payout,” Justin countered.
“Yes, I want to get paid for my specialized skills, but I’m not going to traumatize an innocent man and his child just because it’s the fastest way to get what I want. You may find this hard to believe, but I do have some scruples.”
He lifted his nearly empty bottle of beer and tipped it toward Gabriel. “You’re right. Sorry.”
Gabriel blinked at him, his full lips slightly parted in what Justin could only guess was surprise. “Thank you,” Gabriel murmured softly.
“I got into the drug trial data stored on the hospital’s server, but at the moment it’s a lot of gibberish. I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for. Right now, I’m just trying to gather names, whether patients or doctors. From there, I figured we could research each person and maybe track down another potential target.”
“What about on the inside of Iaso?”
Justin sat back down and glanced at the remains of his dinner. Gabriel had been a pretty damn good cook. He hadn’t enjoyed a home-cooked meal like that in a while.
“Iaso is sealed up tight, which is what I expected. It’s going to take a little time to find a way to get into their system, and even if we find a solid way in, I have a feeling to get the real proof we need, I’ll have to be onsite.”
“And getting inside that fortress won’t be easy.”
“Nope.”
“And a hell of a lot of risk.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Thank goodness the payout is twenty-two million,” Gabriel grumbled as he put his utensils on the plate and pushed it forward. The wind stirred, sweeping across the deck and ruffling Gabriel’s hair. He lifted his hand and pushed it back into place.
“Well, I do have a little good news that will keep us busy, at least for tomorrow.”
“What’s that?”
Justin sat forward and started peeling the label off his bottle of beer. “I finished going through all the data Marilyn sent over regarding the contract and who she thought issued it.”
“And?” Gabriel prodded when Justin fell silent.
“It looks like it’s the former chairwoman of Iaso Health, Gretchen Lornamen.”
Gabriel’s forehead furrowed, and he leaned forward. “Marilyn thinks the Iaso’s former chairwoman wants…to stop this drug from reaching the market?”
“And for us to kill whoever put the hit out on the two doctors,” Justin confirmed.
Gabriel stopped and rubbed his hand over his face with a groan. “Is this about destroying the company that she was forced out of or actually stopping a dangerous drug?”
Justin couldn’t help but laugh. “Couldn’t it be a little bit of both?”
“I guess.”
“Well, the good news is that we might be able to get a little more information out of her tomorrow. I’ve been invited to a garden party of the Hamilton County Arts Foundation. They do a little fundraiser every year, and Ms. Gretchen Lornamen is a member of the board. She’ll be there. I thought my boyfriend and I could make an appearance, maybe sneak away to have a few words with sweet Gretchen.”
Gabriel pressed his lips into a firm line, his nostrils flaring as he sucked in a breath. “Boyfriend?”
“Yep.”
“No.” Gabriel picked up his plate and carried it into the house.
Barely swallowing a laugh, Justin snatched up his plate and followed behind him. “It’s the perfect cover,” he called after Gabriel. “I’ve already made appearances as this persona at other functions for this group. I’ve needed a boyfriend to finally fill out this character, and you’d be such a great boyfriend!”
Gabriel stood with his hands braced on the sink. His narrow shoulders were tensed and the muscles in his triceps were bulging. “And exactly how convincing do you expect us to be?” he demanded, not looking around to where Justin came up beside him and placed his plate on the counter.
“Handholding. A little sweetness. Considerate. Attentive.”
“Affectionate?” Gabriel ground out between clenched teeth.
“I can be.”
Gabriel turned and glared down at Justin. There was barely leashed power in that dark, narrowed gaze. Justin could feel waves of heat washing down off Gabriel’s lean body. “I can fake it if you can. Just don’t push me, Justin.” He then turned and walked out of the room.
Justin leaned against the counter, straining to hear his soft footsteps as they retreated to the main hall and then up the stairs. There was a part of him that wanted to push Gabriel. Wanted to see what would happen if he pushed the man until that careful control he maintained finally snapped. But it would be a really, really stupid idea.
A loud thump had Justin jerking upright in bed. His fingers tightened around the butt of his gun before the fog of sleep completely slipped from his brain. He’d gone to bed after another beer on the back deck and a couple more hours behind the computer. On the surveillance monitor, he’d caught sight of Gabriel slipping back out of the guest room to work on his laptop in the living room for a couple hours before going to bed. They didn’t speak again about their plan to hit the garden party or the contract. They needed the space.
Another loud bang in the hallway drew Justin out of bed with this gun clutched in his right hand down at his side. Soundlessly, he crept across the room to the door. He couldn’t guess at what he was hearing. Gabriel moved like a fucking ghost. Had someone gotten into his house? Impossible. Opening the door, he immediately caught sight of Gabriel stumbling down the hall, his hands sliding along the wall like he was feeling around. The faint glow from a nightlight showed he was wearing only a pair dark of boxer briefs.
“Have to get out,” Gabriel whispered, but his words were slurred and heavily accented. Something Justin had never heard from the man.
Frowning, Justin put his own gun on the dresser since the other man didn’t appear to be armed and hurried after Gabriel.
“You okay, G?” he called, but Gabriel didn’t answer. Didn’t even react to his question like he didn’t even hear him. He picked up his pace when Gabriel got close to the stairs. He was moving like he wasn’t sure that he saw them. “Are you sleepwalking?” Justin asked a little louder, not sure if he should even expect an answer.
“Need to get out,” Gabriel repeated.
“Fuck,” Justin swore, rushing after Gabriel.
When Gabriel reached the end of the wall for the opening to the staircase, he fell forward. Justin grabbed his other arm in time to keep him from going head-first down the stairs, pulling him backward. Gabriel wrapped his hands around Justin’s arms and pushed against him, trying to get free. They went down in a tangle of limbs, landing with a hard thud on the hallway carpet with Justin lying on top of Gabriel.
“Hey! Wake up! You’re sleepwalking!” Justin shouted when Gabriel’s hand clipped his jaw for a second time. Beneath him, Gabriel gasped loudly, and his body jerked. Justin watched as he blinked several times and tried to look around himself, but it couldn’t have been too easy with Justin lying on top of him.
“What?” Gabriel finally demanded, his voice full of gravel.
“You were banging around the hallway, sleepwalking,” Justin said with a chuckle.
“What? No, I don’t sleepwalk.”
“Yes, you were. You almost took a header down the stairs. Would have broken y
our damn neck.”
“I…” Gabriel started to say, but his words broke off on a sigh. He exhaled and closed his eyes. “I…haven’t been sleeping. The trip here, your injury, the break-in…I haven’t slept much.”
“Do you usually sleepwalk when you’re not sleeping?”
“I have, but it’s been a long time.” Gabriel rubbed his face and sighed again before lifting his gaze back to Justin. “Why are you lying on me?”
Justin wanted to say something sexy and witty, but his brain wasn’t functioning correctly. He’d gone from a dead sleep, to wrestling with Gabriel, to pinning the man down. As it was, he was far too aware of where his stomach pressed against warm flesh and how his sleep pants had ridden up so that he could now feel the rough hairs of Gabriel’s legs brushing against his. Blood was rushing south rather than supplying his brain.
“You tried to take us both head-first down the stairs. This seemed the best way to keep us both from breaking our necks.”
Gabriel swallowed hard and pushed against Justin’s shoulders. “Well, I’m not in danger of that now. Get up.”
Justin placed his hands flat on the floor and started to push up. At the same time, Gabriel bent his left leg as if to rise as well, but it only allowed Justin to slot his hips perfectly between Gabriel’s. His hard cock rubbed against another equally hard cock and there was no stopping the guttural groan that rumbled up his throat. He was only vaguely aware that Gabriel had also frozen, a harsh hiss coming from his parted lips.
“Oh fuck,” Justin murmured. He looked down at Gabriel’s pained expression. He was biting his lower lip like he was trying to hold back a moan, and Justin wanted to be the one biting that lip.
Instead of pushing off Gabriel, he leaned closer, shifting his hips to grind his cock against Gabriel. And this time a small whimper of need broke from Gabriel’s throat. The other man’s eyes flew open in shock, as if he were checking to see if Justin had heard that single lapse in his tight control. Yes, he’d heard it, and he wanted fucking more.
The Exit Strategy Bundle Page 9