He placed her in front of the hearth, pulled off his jacket, and wrapped it around her quaking body.
Then he sat down and pulled off his boots and socks and lifted her frozen feet so he could put the socks on her. Then he gathered her against him, careful of her injured hand, and rocked her in his arms.
“I love you, Charlotte. You constantly scare the shit out of me, but I can’t stand the idea of not being with you.”
She laughed, but it was perilously close to a sob. “I love you too. I have no idea why.” She smiled when he winced. “Except the fact you keep saving my life, and you’re smart, and you listen to me even if you don’t always agree with me.”
A group of nurses rushed down the hall. He wouldn’t let her go, but he let them lead the way back toward her room so they could get her properly warmed up and check her stitches.
“And you are really good at sex, Novak,” she said, despite the snorts of the other people in the room.
“Call me Payne.”
“I always do.” She touched the side of his face, and he almost collapsed with relief. “On the inside, I always do.”
The nurses and doctors rushed around, but he refused to leave. They found the young deputy knocked out next door, and they started work on him, but he was already coming around.
When they had her settled, and she’d finally accepted a shot of something for the pain, he held her good hand.
“What’s the first thing you want to do when we get back to Quantico?” he asked her.
“I want to go grocery shopping with you.”
He frowned. “Seriously? Grocery shopping is your idea of a fun first date? I might need to reassess this situation.”
Her head rolled against the pillow. “I’ve always had this vision of going grocery shopping with the man of my dreams. Him being patient and kind as I choose the ingredients for a romantic dinner.”
“Is there sex involved in this fantasy?”
Her lips curved. “Depends how well we get along doing the grocery shopping.” Her fingers curled around his before she admitted. “My parents have both been divorced twice, and I never once saw them go grocery shopping with their exes without bickering.”
“So it’s a test.”
She laughed. “It’s a test.”
“You know I’m competitive, right?” he teased, kissing her fingers.
“I’d noticed. I’m competitive too.”
“I’d noticed that. We’re going to be the best grocery shoppers in existence.” He leaned up and kissed her lips. It scared him that she still felt cold. “Move over.” He was barefoot so he crawled into bed beside her, cuddling her good side against him and holding her the way he wanted to for the next eight decades. She rested her head against his chest and, after a few minutes, she stopped shivering.
Thirty minutes later, McKenzie popped his head in the door, but Novak didn’t move, and McKenzie didn’t comment on the arrangement. Charlotte was finally sleeping, and Novak would defy the president himself if the alternative was disturbing her.
“Resnick is in custody,” McKenzie said simply before heading out again.
Good. Saved Novak hunting the guy down.
Somehow, after only a few days, this woman had become the single most important thing in his life, and he intended to be her protector from now on. He intended to love her. And go grocery shopping with a smile on his face even if it killed him.
Epilogue
TJ stared through the side window as the earth turned a brighter shade of orange, and the vegetation switched from majestic trees to cacti and rolling scrub.
Kayla slipped her hand into his. “How are you holding up? Need to stop and take a rest?”
He turned to look at her. She was so beautiful but still so fragile looking. She’d picked him up at the rear door of the hospital when he’d finally been discharged that morning.
The FBI had dropped all charges, which should have made him feel good but actually, he was still numb.
“I should be the one looking out for you, not the other way around,” he told her. Shame welled up inside him. It was an emotion he was used to. The therapist who’d come to see him in the hospital almost every day had told him he needed to forgive himself and give himself time to deal with the loss and betrayal.
Kayla had experienced loss and betrayal too.
“I’m so sorry about Brenna.” He’d told her before, but he didn’t want her thinking he’d forgotten that she was hurting too. He wasn’t sorry it had been Brenna rather than Kayla on the mountain that day. Even that private acknowledgement made more guilt burn through him.
“I miss her.” Kayla’s mouth squeezed tight as she watched the road. “I was glad I was able to give her a proper service.”
TJ nodded, though he hadn’t attended. He’d still been under guard back then. Weeks of interviews had been required before he’d been allowed to see Kayla.
His father had tried to reach out to him from jail, but TJ had refused to talk to him. Despite everything Tom Harrison had done, TJ still loved the man. He still loved his mother. They were the only parents he could remember, and they’d loved him fiercely. Too fiercely. Tom had been willing to kill dozens of people, including children, in order to keep their secret.
TJ would never be able to forgive his father for that. Nor for the fact he’d shot the lady Federal Agent and would have shot Kayla if she’d have held them back.
TJ could never forgive him for that.
Tom and Martha’s shocking secret meant TJ had another set of parents out there. People who’d suffered incredible loss all because his mom and dad had wanted a child and had taken theirs.
TJ was supposed to meet with them. Even the thought felt like a betrayal of Tom and Martha. And that wasn’t fair on him or his biological parents. They were the ones who’d been wronged. They were the ones who’d endured the loss of a child for sixteen years never knowing if he was alive or dead.
Who did that?
Monsters.
Monsters did that, and TJ loved them both.
“Where we going?” he asked though he didn’t care. As long as they left behind the mess of his old life.
“Brenna always wanted to visit Death Valley. I figured I’d sprinkle her ashes there so she got her wish. Is that okay?”
He only wanted to leave behind the destruction and lies and media circus his life had become in the weeks following his father’s desperate escape bid. “As long as I’m with you.”
She flashed him a brilliant smile. “Let me know if you want to stop anywhere along the way. I figured we’d find a motel room for the night.”
“You don’t want to camp?”
She shook her head. “Don’t have a tent. The Feds haven’t given it back yet. Anyway, one of us was shot, and I don’t want him to have a relapse.”
He flinched again. Not from the pain, that had been crazy, but from the anguish in his father’s eyes when he’d realized what he’d done.
“I’ll pay you back.” He needed to get a job but wasn’t sure what the heck he was going to do with his life.
“I don’t need your money, TJ.”
He laughed, and it pulled at the scar tissue of his abdomen. “Just as well. I don’t have any.”
“I thought your father ceded you all the land and gold the Feds dug up?”
“I’m not taking it. I don’t want anything of his.”
“He raised you. He did everything he did because he loved you. Who else is he going to give it to?”
TJ shrugged. “He’ll get out one day. He can live there.”
Kayla shot him a worried look. “TJ, he’s never gonna get out. Stealing a baby? Blowing up the compound with the intent to kill? Shooting Charlotte? He’s never getting out.”
TJ bobbed his shoulder.
“Take the land. Create a nature preserve or something. You love that mountain. Protect it.”
He thought of the secretive creatures who lived in that forest. The idea of them being left unprot
ected destroyed him. He looked at her and asked the most important question. “Would you go back? Live in the area?”
She nodded. “I was thinking of buying that ranch where the Feds stayed. It’s for sale.”
TJ’s eyes widened. He could work on a ranch. He knew how to ride, and he knew how to do hard physical labor.
Kayla’s fingers clenched and unclenched around the wheel. “But I don’t want to be there without you. I love you, TJ. That hasn’t changed. You’re a good person. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
TJ couldn’t swallow. He reached out and squeezed her fingers again. “I love you too.”
She smiled and lit up his world. “And when you’re ready to see your biological parents, I’ll come with you. I’ll hold your hand, and we’ll get through it together.”
TJ’s spirit lightened for what felt like the first time since he’d found Brenna’s body on Eagle Mountain. “I spoke to them on the phone. It was weird. I know they wanted to visit in the hospital, but I wasn’t ready.”
“It’s okay. We’ll go when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” He swallowed tightly. Even his name was wrong. TJ. Tom Junior. He’d never be Dale Singer. Dale Singer was dead. TJ wasn’t sure how they’d feel about that. Until they talked, really talked, he’d never know.
He stared at this beautiful, amazing woman who had changed his life completely and made it worth living. “Thanks for being the girl I fell in love with.”
She laughed and threw him a teasing smile. “We’re in this together. With luck, we’ve got years ahead of us, but I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m going to love you probably a lot harder than you’re prepared for.”
He shook his head. “I’m ready for anything. I’ve spent too much time doing what other people think I should. The only person I care about now is you.” And maybe he’d care about his biological parents one day soon too. Maybe they could build some sort of relationship. Slowly.
Some of the weight lifted. He didn’t need to figure out everything today. Like the therapist said, he could take time to figure it all out. Time to heal with this woman who’d become a part of his heart.
* * *
It was Christmas Eve, and Novak was cleaning his weapons in his equipment cage in HRT’s compound at Quantico.
As long as there was no major incident to respond to, he had most of the Christmas holidays off. Trouble was Charlotte had flown to California yesterday to visit her father, and he was left tooling around like some lovelorn sap.
The fact he was a lovelorn sap was beside the point. They’d spent pretty much every spare moment together since Washington State. Even grocery shopping had been fun, because he’d discovered he had a sweet tooth where Charlotte was concerned, especially when licked straight from her body. Finding new toppings had become his favorite pastime.
He sighed miserably. He missed her.
She’d invited him to accompany her to meet her father, but with Kurt Montana still overseas, Novak felt as if he couldn’t reasonably fly across the country.
Duty.
For the first time in his life he found himself resenting the fact his job was getting in the way of his personal life. Before it had been all he’d really had. Now it sucked. It really sucked.
Angeletti had invited him to his family’s Christmas lunch tomorrow, so that was something to look forward to. He’d need to kick his morose ass into festive gear to get through it without depressing the hell out of everyone.
When every weapon was gleaming, he washed up his hands in the sink and decided to go home to his pathetic, empty apartment and make something a little more inventive than toast to celebrate the season.
When he pulled up outside his apartment, he sat in his truck looking up at his window. The sky looked exactly how he felt. Gloomy. Sullen. He pulled out his cell. Called Charlotte. “I’m getting the next flight out there.”
“Wait. No—”
“Blue team is officially on standby. If an incident requires Gold team as well I’ll figure out a way to get back here.”
“No—”
“Charlotte, I’m doing this. I need to pack and call the airline. I love you. See you soon.” He hung up before he changed his mind. Now he’d made the decision he wanted it done.
He jogged to the door and took the stairs up to the fourth floor. He was halfway through his living room before he registered the real Christmas tree set up in the corner. Charlotte sat at his dining table wearing a coat, hat and what looked like several sweaters.
In front of her was a brand-new deck of cards.
“You might want to lock that.” She nodded toward the door as a smile curled one side of her mouth.
Novak couldn’t move. “You’re here.”
Her smile widened. “I realized how many years I’d spent doing what was expected of me and what made other people happy.” Her blue eyes sparkled as they held his. “I decided this year I was going to do what made me happy.”
The words felt like riches raining down on his head.
“You make me happy, Charlotte. You make me feel like the luckiest man alive.”
She grinned and started slowly shuffling the playing cards. “That’s good. You’re going to need lots of luck this time.”
Her fingers were still healing. He knew they caused her some pain sometimes as the bone reforged itself. She’d lost some function, but it was slowly returning. Her boss, Quentin Savage, had made it quite clear to FBI administration that there was no way he’d tolerate losing Charlotte from his team, even if she couldn’t shoot worth a damn. But Novak felt a whole lot better knowing she could defend herself if necessary. He’d taken her to the gun range so often she was almost as good with her left hand as she had been with her right. Once her injury was fully healed, he’d refocus on getting her back up to speed with that hand too.
He toed off his boots and flipped the deadbolt. Sat and checked his hand. Looked up with one raised brow.
Charlotte’s cheeks were a little rosy from all the layers of clothes she was wearing.
“You okay there? Not too hot?” They’d played poker a few times and every time Charlotte had ended up in her underwear before Novak had lost his shirt.
“I’m prepared.” There was a glint in her eye.
It took five rounds before she won a hand. He slowly removed his hoodie and was gratified by the annoyed glance she gave his t-shirt.
Another five rounds and she was down to a crimson bra he’d never seen before.
“I don’t understand.” She ran her hand through her hair. “I’m usually good at cards.”
“I told you I was lucky.”
“This is beyond luck.” She shook her head. “I heard from Kayla yesterday.”
“Oh yeah.” He knew she was trying to distract him as she shimmied out of her leggings. Matching Christmas underwear was making him sweat.
“She’s buying Maple Tree Ranch.”
“You’re kidding me. Good for her.” He laughed. Tom Harrison was in jail awaiting trial. Malcolm Resnick was being held in the same federal facility but had cut a deal to avoid the death penalty before admitting his crimes. The authorities had exhumed Martha Harrison’s body and discovered traces of thallium in her body. Resnick had apparently slipped rat poison into his sister’s food after she’d asked him to leave Eagle Mountain. She’d caught him stealing from her and Tom. Novak figured if Tom ever got hold of his brother-in-law the other man was dead.
Two individuals had confessed to shooting the wildlife officer and the local deputy. They’d both been charged, and the DOJ appeared satisfied that justice had been served. A few wannabe revolutionaries had been rounded up and were cooling their heels in jail. Conspiracy to kill Federal Agents was not something the government took lightly.
“I call you.”
Novak had a full house. Kings and aces.
Charlotte’s shoulders sagged. “How? How do you do it?”
Novak couldn’t stand another second of having her so close but
not touching her. He stood, drew her to her feet. “I concede.”
She laughed as he swept her into his arms and marched into his bedroom.
“I got you a couple of presents.” He hadn’t had a clue what to get her at first and was worried he’d chosen the wrong thing. “But I can’t pick up one of them for a few days.”
He laid her on the bed.
“I got you a present too. In fact, I bought you several.” Charlotte gazed pointedly at her festive lingerie.
Novak laughed. “And I am very grateful.” He spent the next hour showing her exactly how grateful and by the time they were done, they both needed a shower and started over again.
Finally, they sat on his couch drinking beer, admiring the tree she’d dragged inside and set up while he was at work. He played with her hair. “Did you even see your dad?”
“Yeah. I basically said ‘Hi’ and turned around and caught the next fight home. I did have to use my skills as a negotiator to talk my way onboard, but they were short of air marshals so it all worked out.”
He went and grabbed the jewelry box he’d had wrapped in the store. Handed it over and kissed her.
“It’s not Christmas yet.” But Charlotte was already opening it up. It was a silver charm bracelet she’d admired in the store. She grinned in delight as she started to investigate the charms he’d selected. Entwined hearts. A spinning globe because she wanted to travel. A gun. A shopping cart. A kitten.
She frowned. “Why did you get me a kitten charm? Is that some dubious reference to pussy?”
He choked. “No. Shit, but now I’ll never look at that bracelet without having that image in my mind.”
She grinned but then frowned again. “So why?”
He kissed her. “You have to wait.”
“You got me a kitten?” she almost yelled.
He grimaced. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“You got me a kitten!” She danced excitedly in a circle.
He grinned. “I know you love pet sitting for friends. I figured maybe it was time for one of your own. Between the two of us we can take care of one cat, surely?”
Cold Wicked Lies: A gripping romantic thriller that will have you hooked (Cold Justice - Crossfire Book 3) Page 32