She took his hand in one of hers and placed the ice against his knuckles with the other.
“Thank you. It’s Amy, isn’t it?” he asked gruffly.
“Yes,” she said.
Cabe slid his hand over hers, his thumb brushing her wrist, until he had hold of the napkin.
His eyes held hers a fraction longer. “Thank you, Amy. There’s a knife over here somewhere. You’ll be safer over there,” he said, nodding in the direction of her table. “Go.”
As much as she understood the adherence to character, she hated the dismissal, the lack of warmth in his tone. She headed back to Ortega, who decided to let her go a few minutes early.
Though she knew it was a risk, once she’d changed she drove to Cabe’s place. They were practically neighbors, with only two blocks separating her rental from his. There was no point heading inside because she had no idea of his floor or unit, so she walked to a nearby coffee shop to grab a latte while she waited by the entrance. She didn’t have to wait long.
“What are you doing here?” Cabe asked, walking toward her. She appreciated how he never took a cab all the way home or, for that matter, to any destination, just in case he was followed.
Amy took his now-bandaged knuckles in hers. “I was worried about you,” she answered honestly. “What happened?”
Cabe looked over her shoulder and then over his own, and she knew he was making sure that nobody was watching them. “You should go, Amy. This isn’t a good idea.”
“Can we at least step inside, off the street?”
He didn’t answer, but the way Cabe gripped his watch told her everything she needed to know. She placed her hand over his. “That’s your tell, you know.”
“What is?”
“Your watch. When you have something on your mind, you fiddle with it.”
Cabe immediately let go of it, and her hand fell away. “I’m sorry.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant the apology for. The watch, or the chill that had settled between them. “Don’t be. Just talk to me. I’d prefer that to an apology every time.”
He looked at his watch, and she noticed it was midnight. “You don’t have to be in tomorrow night, right?”
Amy nodded.
“Can we go somewhere?” he asked. “Somewhere away from all this.”
“Away” was probably a good idea, and she trusted Cabe to not put them at risk. Softly, she nodded.
“One sec.” Cabe pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. Whoever he was calling took a while to answer—she guessed it was because of the late hour. “I know it’s late, Nikki, but you got any rooms free for tonight?… yeah. Two … shut the fuck up … this time of night, twenty, twenty-five minutes … will do.” Cabe hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Grab your bag from the back of your car. I’m going to get my truck. Meet you back here in a couple,” he said before disappearing into the building.
Amy did as he said and a handful of minutes later, she heard the steady drone of a throaty engine as Cabe’s black truck appeared from the underground lot. He leaned across the seat and pushed the door open.
“Come on, Ames. I won’t bite, despite my current appearance.”
They drove the coastal road north in silence. Part of her wanted to fill the air, to drag whatever was bothering Cabe out of him. But for now maybe he just needed some time to clear his head. She’d rather hear what he had to say after he’d thought through it.
A little less than thirty minutes later, they pulled into the beach resort of Encinitas, continuing north until they hit Beacon’s Beach and a hip-looking motel, all cedar wood and white paint with SURFHOUSE written on the side.
Cabe opened his door. “Let’s get inside.” He grabbed both of their bags and entered the pin code into a blue-gray door that had a large number one painted on it in white and BEACON on a small plaque under the light fitting.
The stylish motel room had wood flooring the soft color of driftwood and was decorated in soothing beige and white. A sliding barn door painted a soothing aqua hid what was obviously the bathroom. A large TV hung on the wall opposite a queen bed. And on the unit next to the sink was a metal bucket with a couple of cold beers and water. She walked to the counter to read the note. Thought you could use these, Nikki.
“What are we doing here, Cabe?”
This time, he reached for her. “I’m being a dick. I know I am. And I’m still figuring out why. But I thought we’d come here, as Cabe and Amy. As civilians, as … I don’t know. I guess boyfriend and girlfriend. Test this out between us. And talk.”
Amy yawned, she couldn’t help it. “Oh god. I’m so sorry.”
Cabe looked at his watch. “It’s late. We’ve both had an exciting night and need some sleep. I promise we’ll talk in the morning and I’ll tell you everything.” He reached for the zipper on her sweatshirt and tugged it down.
“I’m awake,” she said, forcing her eyes wide. “You can at least tell me about how this happened.” She reached for his hand and kissed his bandaged knuckles.
“No,” Cabe said softly, pressing the softest whisper of a kiss to her lips. “First we sleep. Then we talk. Get into bed, Ames, before I change my mind and fuck you as a way of apology.”
“What if I want that?” she asked as she slipped out of her clothes and slid under the covers in just her panties.
Cabe followed suit and spooned up behind her. He kissed behind her ear and then nipped her lobe. “Then you’ll still have to wait until morning.”
Amy searched for a response to the way his words heated her body but fell asleep before she had the chance to say them.
* * *
Surely there wasn’t a better combination to wake up to. The feel of Amy’s body pressed up against his and the sound of waves crashing onto Beacon’s Beach just outside the bedroom window.
Amy burrowed closer, her leg over his thigh, her hand on his stomach, her head tucked into the crook of his arm. Peace filled the room and settled someplace deep in his chest. Moments of beauty had been few and far between since Jess’s death. Hell, even before that. But there was something almost magical about the quiet he’d found with Amy.
Cabe ran his free hand, the one that wasn’t cupping Amy’s delicious ass, over his face and yawned. By the light creeping in around the edges of the curtains, it was likely a little after nine. He’d slipped his watch off and put it on the table.
Gently, so as not to wake Amy up, he turned to look at it. In the half light, he could make out the inscription he knew by heart.
IOU forever.
Forever.
Even with Amy in his arms, he’d expected a wave of guilt, sadness … something to wash over him, but it didn’t. The same feelings of comfort and happiness he’d felt earlier stayed with him, and he tightened his hold on Amy.
“What’s got you sighing?” she said on a whisper.
He looked down and saw her blink as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her eyes were clear, her cheeks pink with sleep, and her lips … goddamn, as rich and full as he’d ever seen them. Thoughts of them wrapped around his cock had him hardening below. For once, he ignored it. They needed to talk.
“I’m out of synch, Ames,” he said. “I can’t explain it better than that. I’ve been through tougher mental conditions. This case is a walk in the park compared to some of the shit I’ve seen, but with you at the epicenter of this … I don’t know. I can’t think clearly. The op seems fuzzy.” Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” began to play somewhere out in the parking lot, a perfect lazy morning kind of song.
Amy pushed up onto her elbow. “Then break it down with me, each thing that feels fuzzy. I’ll see if I can help.”
“I was listening to Six talk about the new leads, and normally I’d be all over that shit. But then I look across the table and I see you, and I know these waves of missing women are coming again in just a few days. And instead of being relieved that we have more intel, I panic because I don’t think I have enough time t
o wrestle the leads down, which leaves you at risk. And I don’t like the idea of you at more risk than is necessary. The best way I know how to handle that is to do the work. Work harder. Work faster. No distractions.”
Amy pressed her lips to his, left them lingering there for just a moment. “Let’s put aside the fact I’ve done this job successfully for a number of years and am as capable as you are,” she said, a smile gracing her lips that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You said “I” a lot in that sentence. I don’t have time.… The thing is, you don’t have to. The FBI has my back, Eagle has my back, and I have my back.”
Cabe rolled his neck from left to right, trying to loosen some of the tension. “Last night, some idiot pulled a knife on Sokolov over a bad debt.”
“Is that what the fight was about?” she asked, reaching for his hand and then checking his knuckles, which were bruised. She placed a kiss on them, and the gesture warmed his heart.
“Yeah. But all I could think was what would I have done if you’d got caught in the middle of it?”
“You would have done your job, not my job, or Six’s job, or anyone else on the team’s job. It’s not all on you. It’s not on you to find the evidence, to place the cameras, to find the money, to keep me safe, to arrest Sokolov. We’re a team. I know that sounds harsh, but one thing I guarantee I will always do in our relationship is call you on your shit. Just like you should call me on mine. So, what’s next?”
Cabe lay there stunned. It was the kind of advice he’d give one of his men. And just like his men, they both had a job to do. Just like his men, she was trained and she was capable. As much as the alpha male in him wanted her to be his and his alone to protect, she was right. There was a team.
Nothing was going to happen to her.
He turned onto his side, tugging her thigh higher over his leg, opening her up to him as he did. “Did I ever tell you that I find your brain just as sexy as this?” he asked as he slid his hand between the two of them, teasing her through her white panties.
Amy grinned and ran her fingers through his hair. “No, but I’m all ears,” she said, and then gasped as he slid a finger beneath the white cotton.
“Well,” Cabe said, his voice dropping to a whisper as he placed his lips near her ear, “sometimes I get hard just listening to you, especially when I’m watching those words fall from that sweet mouth of yours. Especially when those words are ones I need to hear. And I get equally hard when you are wet like this. Both things at the same time means you are going to get doubly fucked.”
“We didn’t finish our conversation,” she mumbled into the pillow as she turned her head to give him better access.
Cabe rubbed his finger along her folds, which were so wet that he wished he could just screw the consequences and take her raw as they were right now. And goddamn, if the idea of having kids with Amy wasn’t a beautiful one. It hit him, full in the chest like someone was doing jumping jacks on it. Love, a proposal, a wedding, kids. He could have all that with Amy. And it wasn’t simply a replacement for the plans he’d once had. Something new and different and fucking incredible. It was something more.
IOU forever.
That’s what his watch said. But he owed himself forever. His eyes and nose stung, and he bit down on the very idea of tears by removing his hand from Amy’s softness to pull her tight against him.
Christ, it would hurt if something happened to Amy. He wasn’t sure his body could recover. But the idea of pushing her away, of trying to find someone else, hurt more.
Amy’s arms slid around him, her face tucked in tight against his neck as he rolled onto his back, taking her with him so her thighs were on either side of his legs, her chest pressed tight up against his own. Cabe fisted her hair in his hand and pressed tightly against her lower back, decreasing the gap between them.
Words formed in his brain, but he couldn’t quite say them. Words about feelings and emotions, words he hadn’t said in over two years, words he never thought he’d say to another woman.
A ringing cut through the silence—her phone. Her burner phone. “Hold that thought,” Amy said, jumping off him and running to the small table to grab it.
“Hello,” she said casually, all traces of arousal gone from her tone. Cabe slid his hand beneath the white sheet and rearranged his dick, which was rock hard and needy. Amy glared at him and then grinned before she turned back to the wall.
“Of course, Mr. Woods. When?… And where would it take place?”
All thoughts of his dick dropped from his mind at the idea of her meeting Woods anywhere other than the casino. He sat up in bed.
“I can. Okay … Thank you for thinking of me … goodbye.”
Amy hung up and placed the burner phone back on the unit, but for a moment she didn’t turn around. Cabe’s heart felt as if it had fallen off the top of a tall building.
“What is it, Ames?”
“Mr. Woods asked if I’d like to deal for a private party Sokolov is having at his home.”
“When?” Though he asked the question, from the look on her face he already knew the answer. “It’s tonight, isn’t it? That’s why they gave you a weekend night off when they’re usually the busiest ones at the casino.”
Amy nodded. “It’s tonight, and I guess so. I have to drive to a meet-up point and the address will be given to me when I get there. But I think for the purposes of planning we have to assume the address I get sent to will be Sokolov’s home.”
Cabe jumped out of bed and tugged some clean clothes out of his gym bag. “We need to get back to Eagle and set this up.”
Amy nodded. “I’ll call Cunningham and get my team organized. I just need a minute to get cleaned up,” she said, and he noticed that her underwear was still askew.
He offered her his hand and smiled when she went to him without question. With a single finger, he straightened the waistband of her underwear before facing her. “I know we aren’t finished with our conversation, and now isn’t the time. But I promise you, Ames, we’ll come back to it. We’ll finish it. But until then, you have me in every way you need me. No matter what goes down today, don’t doubt that for a millisecond. If it comes down to what I feel about you and the op, I’m picking you.”
She lifted her eyes to his. “I know, Cabe. It’s the thing I’m most certain about.”
Cabe lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her in a way he hoped relayed everything he was feeling. It was deep, torturous, and did absolutely nothing to help the ache in his dick. He pulled her closer, holding her tight against him, hopefully giving her as much comfort as she was giving him. It was perfect. And it had to stop because they had to get dressed and begin to plan.
On the ride to Eagle, they each made calls. Her to the FBI, him to Mac and Cabe to rally their teams. Thankfully, with their collective experience, they were used to calls at the last minute asking them to drop their lives and go wherever they were needed. Within the hour, they had a fully functioning war room.
Within two hours, Buddha had an eye on the building via drone, Harley had found the architectural drawings for the house so they at least had a sense of the layout, and the FBI were listening in on conversations, something they’d never in a million years admit to doing without the proper authorization.
By hour three, they’d figured out how to provide cover to the back of the home, which looked onto a ravine, and the front, which was set back off the road. Discreetly, out of Amy’s earshot, he’d kicked his own ass into gear and talked with Buddha and Mac offline about how to keep an eye on Amy if they tried to bundle her out of the house somehow, and about what provisions they would need if she didn’t come out of the house at all. Once they had a plan that involved thermal-imaging drones and a borderline-Cinderella plan that had her emerging from the house between games at midnight under the premise of getting air, they ran her through the plans.
They’d agreed she wouldn’t be able to take a firearm in with her. Woods had told Amy that her belongings would be searched whe
n she arrived and that it was nothing to worry about.
Nothing to worry about.
Cabe looked over to the table Amy was sitting at with two agents from the FBI.
She was everything to fucking worry about.
Goddamn the op. He wished he’d ignored the call and pushed her back onto the bed, wrapping her in his arms where he could keep her safe. Where they could pretend that nobody had the capacity to hurt her. Yet years of training kicked in to make the op the priority in spite of his thoughts.
He reached for his SIG just for the comfort of knowing it was there. Right now, she needed the SEAL, not the lover, no matter how willing he was to be both.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cabe’s fingers were warm against her cheek. He’d asked her for a private word, and she’d followed him to Eagle’s med room, where he’d promptly locked the door and pressed her back up against it. Without a doubt, she’d need to fix her lipstick again, but with his erection resting against her thigh, it was hard to focus.
She knew he was grappling with what she was about to do, but she didn’t know how to reassure him without bringing up Jess. And the last thing she needed was to elevate her concern and his stress levels.
“We’ll have every entrance and exit covered. And Buddha and Harley will have two drones with thermal-imaging cameras attached to them. We’ll be able to see who is coming and going. We’ve got eyes on all the major roads out, and we’ve got—”
“Cabe,” she interrupted, putting her hands on his and stilling them. “We’ve got this.”
Cabe sighed and took her hands in his, allowing their fingers to link. Then he looked at her with so many unspoken words in his eyes.
“I mean it,” she repeated firmly. “We’ve thought through every single outcome.”
“I know we have, and I know you do,” he said, finally. “I spent most of the day going through scenarios, and there wasn’t a one that we didn’t have covered. But it’s you, Ames. And I’d be lying if I said I was cool with what you are about to do. Don’t misunderstand me, I have no doubt you can handle this, can handle yourself. But it just … I don’t know. I feel sick down to my boots.”
Deep Cover--A Love Over Duty Novel Page 21
