Lost in Shadows (30 page)

“Vinnie, go on, get out of here. I’ll be fine.” She opened her mouth to protest, and he placed his hand over it. “Don’t give me any of that all or none crap. I know what I’m doing, and you’ll just have to trust me. The only thing that can keep me from doing my job is worrying about you. I need to know that you’re safe, Vinnie. That’s everything.” 

He met her earnest gaze, raised his hand to ruffle her hair, the neat braid long gone. She turned her head, kissed the palm of his hand, her lips sliding down to rest against the pulse at the base of his thumb.

How to explain to her that she meant more to him than his own life? Saving the lives of thousands came second to saving this one woman who’d brought him back from the icy depths of the hell that he had been imprisoned in since last month.

He didn’t try to capture his feelings with words. Instead he pulled her closer, until they were face to face. His lips met hers with a kiss that resonated through his body, left him shaking as he tried to convey everything that he had no words to explain. 

Her mouth was greedy on his, threatened to devour him, as if she understood perfectly. He opened his eyes to meet hers in the dim light and felt dizzy as if he was falling, spiraling into their dark depths.

He remembered the heart doctor asking him what he’d do with his second chance at life. Lucky had found his answer, he needed nothing more to make his life complete.

“I love you.” His words echoed along the rails, repeating themselves into infinity. As if they’d never die. Lucky liked that idea.

Vinnie gave him one of those smiles that lit her entire face and made his heart stutter. “You’ve been saying that practically ever since we first met.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Then prove it and make sure you get out of this alive.”

The clatter of footsteps interrupted his reply. 

“Hey guys, what’s shaking?” Rose Prospero called out, ducking her head under the train car. 

Lucky hit his head on the car’s undercarriage as he jerked it up. He couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped him at the sight of Rose, acting like she’d stopped by to chat about the playoffs. Should’ve known he hadn’t fooled her—sometimes he thought the rumors about her gypsy grandmother were true.

“Sorry it took me so long,” she continued as Vinnie squirmed her way out from under the train, and Lucky followed. “That third guy tried to rabbit. The pros from the Metro Bomb Squad are right behind me.”

Lucky allowed the two women to help him up and gestured with his cuffed hands. “Don’t suppose you’ve a spare key on you?”

Rose grinned, looking from him to Vinnie. “I heard from Chase that you have a thing for handcuffs. Isn’t that what you got him and KC for their wedding?” 

She
tsked
as she rummaged in her jeans pocket for the key. Lucky felt his face flush, saw Vinnie raise an eyebrow at him.

“It was a joke,” he muttered.

“What would your mother say?” Rose gave the handcuff key to Vinnie. “I’ll let you decide. You look like you’ve got some sense.”

The sound of running footsteps reverberated through the tunnel as the Metro guys arrived. Complete with a portable disposal unit. 

Vinnie dangled the handcuff key just out of reach as she tugged on his belt. “C’mon, Lucky. You still owe me a night at the Ritz.” 

Lucky strained to look over his shoulder as the Bomb Squad deployed. “It’s rigged with a—”

“Relax, Lucky,” Rose said, shepherding him down the tracks. “They’ve got it. Go on, get out of here.”

“But The Preacher, his plans—”

“We’ve got it covered.” Rose looked at Vinnie, then back to Lucky. “Your only duty right now, Agent Cavanaugh,” she said in a voice of command, “is to get this civilian to safety. Understood?”

Lucky felt his face relax into a smile. Wasn’t that what he’d been wanting to do all along? “Yes, ma’am. My pleasure.”

CHAPTER 47

Vinnie emerged from the shower feeling like a queen. She wrapped the luxurious robe the hotel provided tight around her and ran the thick, Egyptian cotton towel over her hair. Her image in the mirror was that of a stranger, shimmering in the fog of steam. The overhead lights glinted from her wedding band as she held it up before her.

She wasn’t the same woman who had married Michael, not the same woman who had lost him twenty-seven months ago. Vinnie slid the ring off, her hand trembling as she set it on the vanity.

All or none. Lucky deserved no less from her. 

Lucky was sprawled across the bed, talking on the phone, wearing a similar robe, his own hair wet. She looked around. Two bathrooms? It was hard to remember the last time she’d spent the night in a place with any indoor plumbing, much less two fully equipped baths.

He looked up at her, a wide grin on his face as he reached for a notepad from the antique nightstand. He began scribbling, wedging the phone between his head and good shoulder. “Really? That soon?”

The wide screen TV had CNN on mute. Vinnie crossed over to the room service trays Lucky indicated with a nod of his head. Images of police raids, an explosion, a ship surrounded by Coast Guard cutters all flickered across the screen. 

The announcer’s face was animated as if excited by the busy news day. She read the caption for a minute, was gratified to see no law enforcement or civilian casualties listed. 

Vinnie threw her towel to one side. She couldn’t keep from smiling, wanted to grin, laugh, spin around like a kid let out of school early. It was so hard to believe that everything had worked out all right after all. 

Champagne sat chilling beside strawberries and cream on one tray. She poured a glass for each of them, set them on the nightstand beside Lucky. She raised the cover of the last dish to find a small teapot and a plate of what had to be crumpets.

Laughing out loud, she threw herself onto the bed, earning a mock frown from Lucky as she jostled his note pad. 

She reached for the strawberries, dipped one in cream and held it out, teasing him with it. As he opened his mouth and nipped at it, she pulled it away and bit it in half, allowing the juice to run down her chin and fingers. 

She licked her fingers, reveling in the succulent taste of the decadent, out of season fruit, her eyes never leaving Lucky’s. What a fool she’d been. Allowing her fear of possible pain almost prevent her from grabbing the joy that was before her, here and now. Idiot.

Snagging another strawberry, she leaned forward, hovering near Lucky’s face alongside the phone. She heard a man’s voice but couldn’t make out the words. This time she allowed Lucky to capture the fruit from her fingers.

“I love you,” she mouthed the words, trying them on for size as he chewed.

He nodded vaguely, his attention on the phone, then his gaze cut back to her. “Hang on,” he said, covering the receiver with his hand. “What did you say?”

She dipped another strawberry in cream. “Who me? Nothing.”

“You sure? I thought—” Vinnie gave him a bland look. He frowned, returned the receiver to his ear. “I’ll just be a minute more.”

I don’t think so.
She rolled onto her back, stretched out across the satin duvet. They’d wasted enough time already, allowed too many people to come between them. 

Vinnie raised the strawberry, dangled it over her face, the cream dripping into her mouth, then slowly, enticingly licked the outside. Lucky reached for her, but she squirmed out of reach. He watched with hungry eyes as she allowed her robe to fall open. She swallowed the strawberry.

His replies to whoever was on the phone deteriorated to monosyllabic grunts, but that wasn’t good enough for Vinnie. 

She rolled over, propped herself up on one elbow like a woman in a Rubens painting. His gaze swept down the length of her body and she shivered as if he had stroked her with his fingers. 

Still, he didn’t hang up the damn phone. Better be The President. Then she decided she didn’t care even if it was The President. 

She sat up, reached across him for a flute of champagne, allowing her breasts to brush across his chest. Tilting her head back, she took a drink of the champagne. Then, her fingers tugging his robe open, she drizzled more onto his naked chest and belly. He jumped, made a noise as she lowered her mouth. 

“Can we talk about this later?” he said into the phone. 

Vinnie moved her mouth down his body, tasting, savoring and especially enjoying the quivering of his muscles as her tongue stroked him. His breath caught again, a shudder raced through him, and the phone dropped to the bed.

Mission accomplished. She slid on top of him, pushing herself up until she straddled him. She shrugged out of her robe one shoulder at a time, switching the champagne glass from one hand to the other. His eyes followed her motions, his mouth hung open. 

She tilted the glass, allowed the rest of the champagne to stream down over her breasts. The pulse at the side of his neck jumped, and she grinned, dropping the glass onto the bed beside the phone.

He shook himself, blinked, then his hands and mouth were on her, savoring, tantalizing, drinking her in. Vinnie felt the heat in her grow. Unlike their first night of white-hot passion, this was a smoldering flame that she was certain would never die. 

Starting a family was something she and Michael had never felt the time was right for, but now she had a vision of a dozen towheaded hellions running around, all looking like Lucky and up to no good, and it felt like paradise. She couldn’t think of a better time than the present to start. 

Lucky’s tongue lapped the rest of the champagne, his breath tickling the moist skin left behind. Silent laughter rippled through her body as she twined her fingers in his hair.

“Do you like kids?” 

“Sure, love ‘em,” he said absently.

“I want kids, lots of kids,” she said. “And I want them all to be just like you.”

Lucky tore his attention away from her breast, lay his chin on her sternum as he tilted his head up to look at her. Something in her expression must have startled him because he leveraged her weight until they were both sitting upright, face to face. 

“It’s the adrenalin, it gives you a kind of high, makes you drunk with the possibilities,” he said, paraphrasing her own words back to her.

She shook her head stubbornly. “All or none, Cavanaugh. What’s it gonna be?”

A quick look of irritation passed over his face. “Vinnie, can’t we talk about this later—”

No way. She wasn’t going farther, risking it all until she knew how he felt. How he really felt, now that they were back on his turf, no men with guns, no countdown to save the world.

She rolled off him, tossed him the phone she landed on. He turned to her, his hand reaching out to her. She shrugged it away, locked her gaze with his. “Who was on the phone?”

He sighed. “I’m sorry about that. Really.” He inched closer, tried to move in for a kiss that she avoided. “All right. It was the head of the National Academy. It’s kind of like Top Gun for cops. Rose somehow found time to give him a call.” 

“What was so important that he had to call you tonight? That you had to find time to talk to him now?” Unlike taking the time to talk to her.

To her surprise, he smiled, his full attention on her now. She shivered again as his gaze roamed over her, it was as if he saw through to her soul. 

His eyes returned to meet hers and that warm, intoxicating feeling returned. Stronger than ever. She shuddered, drew her breath in. Good God. Not even Michael had ever been able to do that, not with only a look.

“Ever been to Quantico?” he asked. His fingers roamed over her naked belly. This time she didn’t have the energy to swat him away. Who could with those eyes drinking her in? “It’s in the middle of a huge forest. City boy like me could get lost there without someone to guide him, show him the ropes.”

His words finally sunk in. His hand moved off her belly and intertwined with hers. Vinnie felt her smile grow wide. “You asking for company?”

“Depends. You interested?” He raised their joined hands, his gaze fixed on their fingers as if he was afraid to look her in the eye, afraid what her answer might be.

“How long of a trek are we talking about?” Vinnie heard the tremor in her voice and swallowed hard. Now that the words were out in the open, she felt nervous. 

“A lifetime.” He lifted his face and met her eyes. “Does that work for you?”

She took a deep breath and blew it out again. “Oh yeah, that works just fine for me. Know why?”

“Why?”

Vinnie pulled her fingers free from his, leaned over and framed his face with her hands. Her pulse was pounding so hard that she was sure he could hear it underlying her words. “Because I love you, city boy. And I’m not going anywhere without you, not ever again.”

Lucky laughed. “Took you long enough to figure it out.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Yeah? So you’re so smart, when did it happen? The exact moment in time.”

He smiled, leaned forward to kiss her deeply. His lips feathered over the angle of her jaw, finished beneath her ear. “It happened when you stopped to help me out of the Beamer. You could’ve run, almost did. But then,” his teeth teased at her earlobe before he continued, “you made a choice. You decided to take a gamble on me.”

Vinnie felt another chuckle race through her. She pushed her weight against him, so that she lay on top of him, the length of their bodies tangled together. “Guess I got Lucky.”

EPILOGUE

Rose leaned back in her desk chair, eyes at half-mast as she stared into space. The hours of questioning as she defended her actions to the stone-faced FBI Director, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of Homeland Defense had been more draining than if she’d been out in the field with one of the SWAT teams. 

Answering their questions, explaining The Preacher’s multi-pronged attacks and his links with other terrorist groups had satisfied the bureaucrats, but left her with more to worry about than possibly facing arrest. 

Fragments of faces, voices, swirled and collided in her mind, never quite creating a coherent image.