Between The Sheets (21 page)

“And you'll help her?”

Rex leaned forward, and faced the man squarely. “I will, but I want my assistant back.”

“April?”

Rex nodded.

“You might just stand a chance. She's currently out of work. If her business doesn't fly, she'll be job hunting.”

“Why did she quit?”

“‘She has to learn to stand on her own two feet.' That's
a quote.” Mooney gave another short laugh. “You know, Holt, if Wilhemina had officially hired my company to investigate, I wouldn't have assigned April to the case. I didn't think she was up to establishing her cover and investigating. I was wrong.”

“Then I'm glad Wilhemina didn't hire you to investigate. For what it's worth, I don't think you were the only one who underestimated April. I think she might have surprised herself on this one.”

“You planning to point that out to her?”

Rex nodded.

“I've known her a lot of years. She's a live wire. You've got your work cut out for you.”

“I'm up to it.” He didn't add that he planned to order the entire Sensuous Collection before he completed this job, just so he'd be stocked up on Fit to be Tied Restraints for the next couple of years.

John Patrick Mooney raised a grizzled brow. “You made my favorite investigator go rogue then quit her job with my firm
and
you made her fall in love. But you still haven't told me what do you intend to do about it?”

“I intend to become your next son-in-law, sir.” Rex stood and extended his hand in greeting. “That is, if you'll tell me where April lives.”

 

O
N NUMEROUS OCCASIONS
through the years, April had been accused of hiding away in her apartment to pine. And though she hadn't realized it at the time, she supposed she had been pining. But this time was different. This time she was collecting her thoughts, deciding what she wanted out of her life and out of her future.

And gearing up the courage to face Rex with the truth, and then seeing if he was willing to take a chance on her.

Her apartment had always been her safe haven from the world, but today even the funky leather furniture and bright walls she loved seemed confining. There was no escaping the memories of nights spent asleep in his arms, her cheek pressed to his chest, his heart beating in time with hers.

She wanted to hop on a plane and fly straight to Phoenix to catch up with him, to visit the research foundation and learn all she could about Electro Hypersensitivity to see if it explained her unusual symptoms. She'd been researching both online and in the university library—
trying
to, anyway. Rex had been absolutely right in telling her there wasn't much credible information out there.

But she couldn't go to Phoenix. Not just yet. She had to wait for the green light that Wilhemina's investigation was officially over. Then she would e-mail Rex, explain the whole situation and give him a chance to decide how he felt and if he wanted to see her again to discuss things.

She wouldn't allow herself to dwell on what would come after if he didn't want to see her again, couldn't, not yet. So she worked on her post whenever doubts or worry set it, an exercise of sorts. She'd been writing, deleting, then rewriting to find exactly the right words to explain the situation and tell Rex how she felt.

She was writing now and she glanced at the computer screen, felt as if he wasn't quite so far away. It was the waiting that was killing her.

A knock sounded on the door.

The waiting, and the let's-keep-April-from-pining visits.

Lowering her head until her brow almost touched the keyboard she'd taped to the treadmill's instrument panel, she considered ignoring the door. Unfortunately Paula had been passing off April's apartment key to her daughters so they could all take turns popping up at odd times during the day.
As her car was parked downstairs the fact that she was home was no mystery, which meant there was no avoiding this visitor.

“Who is it?” she called out.

“John.”

Her mood, which had been teetering on the edge, sank straight into the pit of her stomach. At first John had flat-out refused to accept her resignation. But he hadn't had much choice when she'd left his office and not returned.

She intended to stand on her own two feet if it killed her. She'd start small, take surveillance cases that she felt comfortable with before branching out. If her time working as Rex's assistant had proven anything to her it was that she needed fresh challenges, needed to find her work interesting, not something she could hide in.

Eventually she knew John would understand and accept that she'd done what was best, but at the moment…

More knocking.

April sighed. Stepping off her treadmill, she crossed the living room and swung the door wide. “Paula must have pulled out the big guns to get you to leave the office before six.”

“She couldn't have blasted me out from behind my desk with a cannon. But
lover boy
here wanted to pay you a visit and I couldn't give your address to a stranger. You and Wilhemina might know this guy, but I don't know him from Adam.”

Lover boy?

John stepped aside and April saw him.

That rich russet hair and that wicked grin. His star quality in place, looking as charming and as handsome and larger than life as he had on the day they'd met. His melting eyes
caressed her, a look that didn't hide how much he'd missed her, a look that reminded her of all they'd shared.

Every drop of blood drained from April's face only to rush back again like an erupting volcano. Her cheeks prickled and burned. She had to be as red as a cherry.

A fact John corroborated by rolling his eyes. “All right, Holt. You win. She's got it bad.” He scowled down at her, which only served to make her blush flare even hotter. “You going to invite us in or what?”

She had no clue what else to do, so she just stepped aside and let them enter.

They strode into her living room, two big men who seemed to suck up all the space with their broad shoulders and male intensity. John never took his gaze off her, but Rex looked around, summed up her place with that gaze that saw everything.

He smiled.

She didn't know what to say.

John stepped into the breach. “I'm not staying. I just need to know you'll be safe with this guy.”

Safe
was a relative term. Would Rex harm her? Never. But her heart was coming apart at the seams. If he was here then he already knew. She didn't need her letter because he knew. And she'd never realized what a wimp she was until then, when she faced him, not knowing what to think, what to say or how to act.

“You want me to hang around in case you need backup?” John asked and his wry tone snapped her out of her daze.

She reached up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I'll be fine. Don't worry.”

He slanted a sharp gaze between her and Rex, then snorted. “You call me the instant you work this out. I mean
the second, April, or else Paula will have the girls there tonight to harangue me for details as soon as I walk in the door.” He scowled. “Better yet,
you
call her. That'll save me from being picked to the bone with questions. Got it?”

She nodded, going all soft and stupid inside, because he cared so much.

“All right. I'm out of here.” He turned to Rex. “You keep in mind what I said, Holt. Understood?”

“Understood, sir,” he said, and April saw a smile twitching around his mouth.

John left and April closed the door behind him, needing some activity to occupy her, to let her avoid turning around to face Rex for just another few heartbeats….

“What did he say to you?” she asked, barely able to hear her own voice above the alarm screaming in her head.

“I got the proverbial walk around the block.”

“Really?” She clamped her hands behind her back and assumed the position before lifting her gaze to his.

Rex nodded. “He made sure I'm clear that I'll be dealing with him if I hurt you.” Without another word, he covered the distance between them and wrapped her in his arms.

The past week had felt like forever but the instant his arms came around her, she remembered with striking clarity exactly how she felt when he held her. The way her cheek fitted against his chest, the fabric of his jacket textured against her skin, her head nestled against his shoulder as though she'd been designed to fit. Her body molded against his instinctively, remembering every curve and hollow.

Then she tipped her head back, met his gaze…and erupted.

“Rex, I planned to contact you just as soon as the investigation was officially closed. I couldn't jeopardize everything and until I could tell you, I didn't see the point of
contacting you. I needed to explain what happened and why I couldn't tell you and I never expected to sleep with you and then once we did I felt terrible because I couldn't tell you. Then I met your family and that only made things worse…”

April poured her heart out. Wrapped tightly in his arms, encouraged by his touch, she told him everything she'd written in her letter, everything she'd deleted, every doubt, every fear and every promise she'd made to herself.

She told him that she was tired of being a disaster and hiding from life. She was stepping out from behind her computer, stepping out from under John's wing and taking on the world one day and one step at a time. The good, and the bad right along with it.

And she let him off the hook, too. “I understand if you don't want to be involved in a relationship with someone who's had to call 9-1-1 for every man she's ever slept with.”

“Except for me,” he said huskily.

“Except for you.”

Darn if those weren't tears stinging her eyes.

“It looks like you arranged the furniture so you could pace right through the middle of your living room,” he said, glancing around. “Did you?”

April might have laughed had in not been for the huge knot of emotion rising in her throat trying to choke her. She did pace right through the middle of the room, so she could stare out the windows overlooking the park across the street.

She only nodded, touched that he'd recognize something so simple, yet so important about her.

“I'm sorry,” she said.

“For what?”

“For deceiving you.”

Rex hooked a knuckle beneath her chin and tipped her face toward his. “I'd rather you were sorry for leaving.”

“I made love to you with a lie between us. While you were being thoughtful and wonderful, I was reporting every phone call and fax you sent.”

“I agree the circumstances weren't optimum, but you were doing your job. Why did you think I'd hold that against you?”

“I didn't. I just didn't want to hurt you.”

He frowned. “I was surprised at having been a surveillance target, but all things considered, I appreciated Wilhemina's precaution. I was a legitimate variable and she made sure we were both protected.”

“I compromised my surveillance by making love to you.”

“You didn't think I was guilty, did you?”

“No, of course not.”

His frown deepened, etching lines around his mouth, squaring off his strong chin. “I knew something was wrong, April, but I didn't know what. You wouldn't tell me, or at least tell me you'd explain when you could. I'd have accepted that. But you never gave me a chance to understand. That's what hurt.”

Her heart was in pieces, and the stupid tears were prickling at the backs of her lids. “It wasn't that I didn't trust you, Rex, I didn't trust
me.
”

She blinked, refusing to give in to the urge. But one rebel tear escaped. Rex thumbed it from her cheek, smiled softly. “I trusted you.”

“I know.” And that was all it took to pitch her over the edge. A week's worth of waiting, of learning how to stand on her own feet, and yes, a week's worth of uncertainty welled up inside. To April's complete mortification, she
burst into tears, tears that had been building since she'd realized she would have to leave him, tears she'd refused to shed after she'd left.

She cried them all now, great huge dollops that made each breath a sob, rolled down her cheeks and smeared her mascara.

And through it all, Rex never said a word. He just scooped her into his arms and sat down with her on his lap, holding her close, an anchor to cling to while she toughed out the storm. He rocked her gently, stroked her back with a soothing touch, pressed soft kisses into her hair, as though he knew exactly how momentous this week had been.

He never said a word, until finally,
finally
she managed to catch her breath.

“All better?”

She nodded, swiping the tears from her eyes, collecting herself so that Rex could see that even if she faltered she could get right back up on her feet.

His smile told her that he already knew.

Then she found her voice, teary and trembly though it was, and asked, “How did you find out? Wilhemina can't say anything until the investigation is over.”

Rex traced her mouth with his thumb, a light touch that managed to convey just how much he'd missed touching her. “I'm in research, remember? That means I have a curious streak and lots of resources at my disposal. Once I discovered you didn't work for the Luxurious Bedding Company, I did some investigating and got the basic idea of what had been going on. Wilhemina couldn't tell me anything, but she could confirm my suspicions and point me in John's direction.”

“Good old Auntie Wil. I'm sure she's having a blast with all this.”

Rex nodded.

“She's very fond of you, you know? She was willing to bet her career on your innocence. She's also bet her career that you can help her pull off this launch.”

“I can, with some help.” He eyed her pointedly and this crazy hope began to bloom inside her.