Love & Deception (Agents in Love - Book 1) (39 page)

Though making love had provoked a bit of
pain and they weren’t as adventuresome as usual, it felt nice to
finally be with him again. He’d been wonderfully patient, never
asking anything about the bedroom, just sleeping next to her each
night while she healed. However, her injuries had brought them
together more fully.

They had a lot of time to talk while she
recuperated in the hospital and later at the house. They discussed
their childhoods, their hopes and dreams, what they wanted in the
future. She finally felt she knew everything about him. Life
couldn’t get better.

Well, one thing could make it better.

“Nick, are you awake?”

“Mmmmm...barely.” His voice was slow, lazy,
and she wondered if she should talk to him about it later.

The worry had nagged at her constantly for
the last three weeks, though, and Nick never mentioned it. She
really needed to take care of things. “Do you still have the
numbers from my phone?”

“Why?” His voice was sharp. That got his
attention.

“I always talk to my parents on Christmas.
I’m sure they must be mad with worry. I’m also concerned about
Shelley. I need to get a hold of people.”

Nick pulled his arm from beneath her head
and stood up, pulling on some clothes. “I have plans for your
parents when you’re stronger. You can’t call them, Carlie. Not
now.”

“Why?”

“The assassins might have tracked you
through your parents’ phone, remember? We can’t take a chance on
them figuring out where you are now. Not when you’re finally safe.”
He jammed his fingers through his hair, pacing the room. “If it
wasn’t so risky, I’d go back now and beat the shit out of Stephen.
The only reason I don’t is because I have to keep you
protected.”

“You know there’s always a chance they’ll
find me. I mean, I’ve been running so long. I don’t want to give up
everyone in my life. It’s not worth that.”

He looked at her, frowning. “I’m not
enough?”

“Of course you are.” She climbed out of bed,
shivering as the cold air hit her. Without stopping to pull clothes
on, she crossed to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I
love you, you’re the most important person in the world to me, but
I do care about my other friends. Shelley must be worried,
wondering what happened and whether I was hurt in the fire.”

He pushed her away and stepped back, clearly
unhappy. “How can I keep you hidden if you want to call
people?”

Pausing, she forced herself to really
consider that. She wasn’t stupid. It was a risk to keep in contact
with anyone from their past. It hadn’t ever mattered before, but
she really cared about Shelley. She also owed her business partner
an explanation...and the money Nick promised to send him.

“Shelley’s my friend,” she said softly. “She
isn’t going to turn me in, and I can’t leave her worrying forever
about what happened.”

“Phone calls can be traced. She doesn’t have
to turn you in. The danger is in calling her.”

Unfortunately, she knew he was right. It
took time to trace a call though, so a quick conversation telling
her she was fine would probably be okay. It would be harder to talk
to her parents for only a short time, however, as they would demand
details. Besides, she missed them horribly and wanted to talk to
them. “What about my folks? You have a plan for them?”

“Once you’re fully healed, I thought we’d go
for an African safari.”

Carlie widened her eyes. “What?”

“We’ll cross paths with them along the way,
and no one will be any wiser. I figured we could get them secured
phones so you could start talking regularly without fear of
discovery.”

“Oh, Nick.” She ran the short space between
them and leapt up.

Laughing, he caught her and swung her
around, closing in for a passionate kiss. He lowered her to the
ground, smiling. “I take it that’s a good idea?”

“You’re the best fake husband a girl could
ask for.”

He kissed her again and then pressed his
forehead against hers. “Maybe not so fake once I meet your
folks.”

His words were so soft that Carlie didn’t
know if he meant to say them aloud. She grabbed his hand in hers
and led him back to the bed.

“What are we doing?” he asked.

“First, we’re getting you out of those
clothes,” she explained, stroking his stomach and dipping her hand
down a bit further. “Then, we’re making up for lost time.”

“Oh, my lady, I love the way you think.”

The weeks flew by. They were already nearing
the end of January, and Nick couldn’t believe the improvements in
Carlie. The doctor gave her the all clear and they began training,
practicing karate in Nick’s home gym. They also spent a lot of time
working on advanced self-defense techniques.

Since she reminded him there were no
guarantees their enemies wouldn’t find them, Nick felt driven to
teach her everything he knew. Her hand improved so much that she’d
started baking last week, and Nick figured she could probably
handle just about anything. Because of that, he planned to teach
her how to shoot a gun next. She had to learn everything he could
think of, just in case she ever got into trouble.

Nick sat in his office, looking over the
proposal for a new investment opportunity down in Vancouver. He had
felt anxious the past few weeks and more than a little bored. Now
that he couldn’t investigate other people and was essentially
jobless, he needed to find something to occupy his time. Another
restaurant venture seemed like a great idea, at least until Carlie
was up to opening a shop. After that, he’d stay busy helping her.
He just hoped that was enough to keep him occupied.

Out in the kitchen the oven timer went off,
and Carlie hummed happily while pots and pans banged around. The
constant humming while baking told him Carlie was truly happiest
when surrounded by bread and cupcakes.

It would be enough to keep him happy, too.
It had to be. He could give up fighting bad guys and chasing down
terrorists. The trade off was life with her.

A light tap sounded against the office door
and Carlie poked her head inside. “Honey? Can I get a little help,
please?”

Her calling him honey started after they
talked about going to Africa. He loved it. “What do you need?”

“I think there’s more vanilla on the top
shelf, but I can’t reach it.” She grimaced. “I thought about
climbing on top of a chair, but I thought you’d get angry.”

“I would.” He stood up. “I know you feel
better, but you can’t take risks. You’ll get hurt.”

She laughed. “This from the guy who beats
the crap out of me on a regular basis.”

“Training you in self-defense and karate,
not beating you.”

“Yeah?” She crossed the room, wrapped her
arms around his waist. “Tell my bruises that.”

“
Your
bruises? My bruises say you’re
doing just fine defending yourself.”

“True. I am. And, since you’re doing such a
great job training me, I’m going to feed you cupcakes tonight after
dinner. Provided, of course, you get the vanilla down so I can
frost them.”

She led the way to the kitchen. They entered
the bright space, decorated in blues and whites. Nick knew it was a
gourmet chef’s dream, and Carlie had been baking up a storm. He
loved that she prepared his favorite meals every night, and
especially enjoyed sitting together as they tried out her new baked
creations.

“By the time we open up a shop together,
you’re going to have the best cupcakes in Canada.”

She nodded. “I’m thinking maybe we should do
a bakery that specializes in cupcakes, instead of a sandwich shop.
Cupcakes were the most popular in Sayle. What do you think?”

“I think you know what’s best.” He walked to
the cupboard of baking supplies. “I’m just the investor and the guy
who’ll be around to do any heavy lifting.”

“I like the sound of that—my strong man,
there helping me out.” She sighed. “I do regret leaving the other
shop, but I’m looking forward to a new adventure with you.”

Nick blindly grabbed things on the top
shelf, pulling them out and setting them on the counter while he
searched for the vanilla. It was funny. To Carlie, opening a
sandwich shop was an adventure. Quite tame by his standards, but
maybe they could also take up mountain climbing or sailing to make
things more exciting. In any case, he was sure it would all work
out.

He strained to reach anything else, but the
shelf was bare. “We may have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?”

Stepping back, he pointed at the items on
the counter. “No vanilla.”

“Well, darn it!” She chewed her lip and
glanced at the oven. “I just put a new batch of cupcakes in to
cook.”

“Is that your way of saying I should go to
the store for you?”

She batted her eyelashes. “If it’s not too
much trouble. I know you’re working in there.”

He took her in his arms and kissed her.
“Nothing’s too much trouble for my lady. I’ll be back soon.”

***

Carlie paced the office, Nick’s new cell
phone in her hand. She discovered a black address book last week
inside his desk drawer while searching for a pen. Nick had
transferred all the numbers to it from their phones. Some of the
entries made no sense. They had titles like ‘safe number’ and
‘Boss.’ However, Nick had written the full names of her
contacts.

Torn about what to do, she stared at
Shelley’s number. Nick wouldn’t be gone long. The store was a
five-minute drive away. Grabbing vanilla took seconds. If she was
going to call, she needed to do it quickly.

The warning Nick gave her a few weeks ago
was foremost in her mind. Did the assassins tap Shelley’s phone on
the chance Carlie called her? Even if they had, all the movies
showed that it took sixty seconds to trace a call. Though she’d
tried to research that more to find out if it were true, Nick
didn’t give her a lot of time to herself.

She sat in the office chair, decision made.
Her hands trembled while she dialed and her stomach twisted into a
knot. Nick wouldn’t be happy. However, a quick call wouldn’t hurt,
and Nick didn’t need to know.

Shelley answered in two rings. “Hello?”

“Goodness, it’s good to hear your
voice.”

“Excuse me?” She sounded more suspicious
than usual. “Who is this?”

“It’s Carlie.”

“Oh my God! Carlie?” She squealed with
happiness. “I’ve been so worried about you. A fire totally
destroyed the shop the night you left. They didn’t find a body, but
I thought maybe... Oh, this is the best! I’m so glad you
called.”

“Look, I can’t talk long. I just wanted to
tell you that I’m safe and not to worry. I knew the fire would
scare you.”

“I don’t understand. Did you set the fire to
fool the assassins?”

Carlie laughed. “I wish. No. They did it.
Thank heavens Nick showed up and saved me. It was a close thing.
They almost succeeded.”

“But you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Can you do me a favor and tell
Muhammad? I mean, don’t spread it around to anyone else, but I’m
sure he’s worried. No one will find me where we are now, and Nick’s
taking real good care of me. The assassins will have a hard time
finding our trail.”

“That’s good.” Shelley puffed out a loud
breath. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” Carlie pulled the phone
away from her ear, noting forty seconds had already passed
according to the timer. “I have to go. You’re the best friend I
ever had. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Wait. Can you call me later? And where are
you? I want to visit.”

Tears gathered in her eyes, but Carlie
forced a smile on her face so her voice would sound cheerful. “I
can’t tell you where we are. I’ll try to call again if I can, but I
have to go now. Goodbye.”

She hung up before Shelley could speak
further, noting the timer on the phone flashed 00:51. That should
be okay. No one would ever know she called, but she didn’t have to
feel so bad now.

Worried that Nick would show up any moment,
Carlie erased the call from the phone’s history and placed it back
on his desk. She put the address book into the middle drawer where
she found it and hoped she hadn’t left any evidence of her
clandestine call behind as she hurried to the kitchen.

While she didn’t want to lie to Nick, this
was one time where she couldn’t agree with him. The call was
important to her, but it made him feel like he wasn’t man enough to
keep her happy. She didn’t know how to get him to understand it had
nothing to do with that.

She took a deep breath as she heard the
front door opening. It didn’t matter now. Nick would never know,
Shelley wouldn’t have to keep wondering what happened to her, and
she could live her life here with Nick with a clean conscience.

They’d visit her parents the end of
February, and Nick promised to mail money and a letter to her
business partner, Bradley, when he went to Vancouver for meetings
about the restaurant venture next week. Everything was taken care
of now. Carlie could focus on cupcakes and karate.

Life would be perfect.

Nick collapsed onto the hotel bed the
following week. Meetings took all day, and he was exhausted. The
restaurateur wanted more of Nick’s money for fewer shares in the
company. Negotiations would continue tomorrow. He had to admit, the
plans for the building were beautiful, and with five-star food on
the menu, it was sure to draw big business.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the
house.

It only rang once. “Hello?”

Carlie’s breathy voice brought a smile to
his face. She’d obviously been waiting for his call. “How was your
day, beautiful?”

“I wondered when I’d hear from you. My day
went great.”

Relief flooded through him. She sounded
happy. “So the plastic surgeon thinks he can reduce the scarring on
your arms and legs?”