Breaking Free (Steele Ridge Book 5)
Page 28
If the TBI thing wasn’t all that awkward, why did this feel like a waterboarding session? “Uh, anything else you want to say? In regard to Micki?”
“No. But”—he circled one hand—“you know, all that other crap about if you hurt her, I’ll kill you and I don’t want to hear jack-shit about any problems. I told her and I’m telling you, I’m not gonna be in the middle.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Yeah, but you’d saddle me with five tons of moisturizer.”
If it made their guests happy, yeah, he would. “Let’s see how the moisturizer goes over. If we need to, we’ll ditch it.”
Reid let out a long growl. “We can test it for a month. Now get the fuck out.”
Gage held up his fist, waited for his friend to bump it. “Deal. By the way, if the moisturizer goes, so does that extra set of flash bangs you wanted.”
With that, he left his boss alone and headed to the conference room to ’fess up to his other boss.
Micki checked the focus of the projector, then fiddled with the height adjustment so the screen would be centered on the whiteboard at the far end of the conference room wall.
All of it needed to be perfect. For her. For Jonah. And for Gage.
That’s when it hit her. That this presentation, this demo of her software, for the first time, didn’t need to be hidden. This project, the one good thing she’d done and which had kept her sane for months, gave her a long-missing sense of pride. For years she’d written code and lurked around the deep Web, scraping and dredging for any nibble of damning information that could be used as leverage.
Her career, until this point, had been centered on negativity. Career success meant destroying people.
How had she never seen that? Or at least admitted it.
Today, all of that changed. She checked the screen once more, where the home page of her program flashed. Not quite centered. She slid her notepad under the legs of the projector and—there—perfect.
“Good morning, Ms. Steele.”
She swung back, found Gage in the doorway, one shoulder casually propped against the frame, his hair perfectly neat and orderly. He wore khakis and a white cotton shirt with the top button undone. Wisps of blond hair curled over the top button and she thought back to the night before, stretched out on his couch with her cheek and hands resting on his chest, her fingers, curling into the thin line of hair swirling down his torso. More perfection for her not-so-perfect existence.
Phil was out of her life and Gage, as much as he couldn’t understand it, had let her cry. Let her mourn for a man who’d taken so much from her, but somehow still managed to make her care.
“Hello, Captain America. How are you this morning?”
“I’m good.”
She held her hands wide. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“I am.”
“I may have been gone a long time, but if I know my twin, he'll have a lot of questions. About the software and…”
“Cognitive function. I know, Micki. It’s fine.” He boosted off the wall and approached, sliding his arm around her and all at once dropping a quick kiss on her lips and a gentle pat on the butt. “We’re good. I talked to Reid already. He’s up to speed.”
He did it. Admitted the one thing he thought made him weak. Good for him. “How was that? Reid isn’t exactly in the running for president of the Sensitivity Club.”
“He was an ace.”
Oh, come on. Reid? Seriously? “Stop it.”
He laughed. “Yep. He said he’d figured it out. My big reveal wasn’t so big.”
“But saying it, admitting it is harder. It feels good, doesn’t it? To have it all out there.”
“No more secrets.”
She nodded. “No more secrets.”
“In fact, I'm thinking I need some time off next month. For the holidays.”
A jab of panic froze her in her spot. Time off. Why? Maybe the ordeal with Phil had set him back on his recovery. She set her hands on his cheeks and the overhead light glinted off her skull ring. Some things she couldn't give up. “Are you okay? You can tell me.”
He stepped back, gathered her hands in his, and squeezed. “I’m good. But please, you can’t be checking on me all the time. If my head hurts, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, I can’t have it be a thing between us. It’s…emasculating.”
As if. The man was a Green Beret and about as manly as men could get. That history, years spent running toward danger rather than away from it, had conditioned him to think a certain way. To push through and never give in. For Captain America, being a man meant taking charge, protecting his loved ones, and not giving in to injury. “I’m sorry. I never thought about it that way.”
“Now you know. We’re learning here. Figuring out each other’s hot buttons.”
Yes they were. A relationship. The thought of it still amazed her. Home. “It’s exciting. I’ve never had that before. I’ve always had to hide.”
“That’s over. Which is why, when I go to Iowa next month, I’d like you to come with me. To meet my family.”
She opened her mouth, but her jaw simply hung there, refusing to move. Not just the fact that he’d finally decided to go home and face his family, but that he wanted to take her, the princess of darkness, with him. “You want…” She let out a gasp. “Oh.”
“What you said to me the other day. About me needing my fix and you being the damsel in distress.”
“I shouldn't have said that.”
“You were right. It's why I haven't seen my family since my injury. I was afraid to face them. I thought if I couldn't be the fix-it guy, they'd be disappointed.”
“Well,” she said, “I can't imagine that.”
“Now that you called me out on it, I've been thinking how incredibly stupid it is. It’s time. They need to understand I’m not the guy I was when I left home. I can’t fix all their problems. They’ll have to adjust. You made me realize that. Thank you.”
A burst of pride swarmed her chest. In her own twisted way, she'd helped. Go, me.
“You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. And that you want to see your family.” She scrunched her nose. “Taking me, though? Are you sure about that?”
“Yep. If I have my way, you'll be around awhile and I want you to see where I come from. I’m thinking we’ll drive. Maybe stop along the way and be tourists. But you don’t have to answer me now. Think about it.”
Damned Captain America comes into her life and now she’s taking vacations and meeting his family.
Suddenly she’s…normal.
And someone a man would want to take home to his parents.
Tears filled her eyes—and what was up with all the blubbering? She didn’t fight them, just them fall. Let Gage see it. Why not? He’d seen everything else of her.
“Oh, ouch,” he said. “I’m not all that experienced with this whole taking-a-girl-home thing, but no one has ever cried over the idea.”
Micki cracked up. It came out as a disgusting half sob, half snort that was as humiliating as the tears. “I can’t believe you want me.”
“Well, babe, believe it.”
Jonah swung into the room, caught them up close and personal and spun around, ready to head back in the direction he came from. “Whoopsie. Sorry. I’ll go.”
“No.” Gage stepped back. “Micki has something important to talk to you about.”
A wave of insecurity, that stomach-shredding doubt that she’d lived with for so long, ripped into her. No. She could do this. Wanted to do this. She faced Gage. “You ready?”
“I am. Let’s do this,” he said. “Together.”
Discover More Steele Ridge
Don’t miss the next two books in the series. . .
Roaming WILD, Book 6
Idealistic travel nurse Evie Steele turns to her brother’s closest friend, U.S. Fish & Wildlife special agent Deke Conrad, when she finds herself in the crosshairs of a vicious wildlife trafficker.
Str
ipping BARE, Book 7
After her confidential files are compromised, corporate psychologist Tessa Martin must partner with her former boss, billionaire game developer Jonah Steele, to protect his devastating secrets and win a real-life game of survival.
* * *
The BEGINNING, A Short Prequel, Book 1
Going HARD, Book 2
Living FAST, Book 3
Loving DEEP, Book 4
Breaking FREE, Book 5
Don’t miss out on a single release—or sexy hero!
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Also by Adrienne Giordano
PRIVATE PROTECTORS SERIES
Romantic suspense
Risking Trust
Man Law
A Just Deception
Negotiating Point
Relentless Pursuit
Opposing Forces
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUES
Romantic suspense
The Prosecutor
The Defender
The Marshall
The Detective
The Rebel
JUSTIFIABLE CAUSE SERIES
Romantic suspense novellas
The Chase
The Evasion
The Capture
LUCIE RIZZO SERIES
Mysteries
Dog Collar Crime
Dog Collar Knockoff
Dog Collar Limbo
Dog Collar Couture
CASINO FORTUNA SERIES
Romantic suspense
Deadly Odds
JUSTICE SERIES w/MISTY EVANS
Romantic suspense
Stealing Justice
Cheating Justice
Holiday Justice
Exposing Justice
Undercover Justice
Protecting Justice
Missing Justice
Acknowledgments
Although the physical act of writing a book is a solo endeavor, without the help of many people, I could not accomplish this job I love so much. Thank you to my readers for all the support and allowing my books into your worlds.
Special thanks to my pals and coauthors on this series, Tracey Devlyn and Kelsey Browning, for blessing me with the gift of Micki Steele. She's a character I've loved from the second I started writing her in The Beginning, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring her a happy ending. Misty Evans, thank you for always answering my e-mails when I've hit a wall and need to work through a scene with someone.
To Tony Iacullo, thank you for walking me through the intricacies of proffer agreements and for always giving me options to consider. Milton Grasle, I'm definitely running out of ways to say thank you. With each book, no matter what kind of situation I come up with, you are always there to help me brainstorm an action scene. Thank you!
A giant thanks also to our amazing editors, Deb Nemeth and Martha Trachtenberg for the guidance in bringing the complicated Micki Steele to the page.
As usual, thank you to my guys who inspire me and make me laugh every day. I love you.
TEAM GIORDANO
Edited by Deborah Nemeth
Copyedited by Martha Trachtenberg
Cover Design by Killion Group, Inc.
Author Photo by Debora Giordano
Copyright © Adrienne Giordano
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented—except in the case of brief quotations—without permission in writing from Steele Ridge, LLC.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Print Edition, April 2017, ISBN: 978-1-944898-13-7
Digital Edition, April 2017, ISBN: 978-1-944898-12-0
For more information contact: adrienneg@adriennegiordano.com
About the Author
Adrienne Giordano is a USA Today bestselling author of over twenty romantic suspense and mystery novels. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports-obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaten Terrorist (Terrier). She is a cofounder of Romance University blog and Lady Jane’s Salon-Naperville, a reading series dedicated to romantic fiction.
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