Past Will Haunt (28 page)

“You’re just jealous.”

“Of?”

“I thought to do it first.”

She laughed and then offered him a fist bump. “Okay, you may have me on that one.”

Chris grinned. “I dig this job. I hope you weren’t serious about me not going out in the field again.”

“I told you that you’d like it. This is one adventure after another. As for you coming out in the field…we’ll see.”

“Now do we go to bed?” he asked, yawning. “I’m beat. I was up partying with a hot Fed.”

“Christopher, because we’re friends, I’ll warn you before I punch you.”

She hit him.

“Hey! That wasn’t a warning!”

She laughed. “Yeah, it was. Learn it. I do it often.”

He grinned. He really didn't mind. For the first time, in a long time, he was getting into the FBI thing.

       
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Georgetown

Thursday Morning

Most of the night, Livy was as sick as a dog. Around three in the morning, it leveled off. Finally, Gabe felt safe enough to close his eyes. He could feel the morning breaking through her window, and he was slowly coming awake.

Then he realized something.

He was alone in bed.

Immediately, his heart began pounding in his chest. All he could think of was the killer and the visit last night. As he jumped out of bed, forgetting that he was only wearing his boxers, he raced toward the only sound he heard. Someone was in the bathroom, and the water was running.

As he flung open the door, it scared Livy. She shrieked.

“Gabriel!”

He closed his eyes, trying to calm his pounding heart. “I was worried about you. Are you feeling any better?”

She smiled at him. “I still feel like shit, but I’m getting better. I never want to feel like that again.”

“I don’t blame you.” Gabe couldn’t help but notice she was naked. Livy stood in the shower, water and soap streaming down her body. It was incredibly sexy.

His body reacted.

When Livy let her gaze slide down his body, it was quite obvious what had her attention.

Boxers didn't hide anything.

Gabe was hard and erect.

Livy saw the flush moving up his chest and to his neck. That, in combination with the way he took care of her last night, made her wet.

Reaching out, she yanked him into the water with her. He sputtered as she pressed herself against him.

“I think I owe you for taking care of me. I’m sorry I ruined our date. Can we redo it tonight?”

It was hard to think.

Her hands were pushing his boxers down his legs, and when they landed with a wet ‘plop’ on the floor, his heart skipped.

“Livy,” he muttered.

“Let me make love to you. You have to be the sweetest man in the world. You didn't have to stay, Gabriel. You could have run.”

No, he couldn’t.

Livy was being hunted, and it was all his fault.

When she found out the truth, she was going to push him away. How could she not? The director had ordered him, but he still allowed it to happen.

Gabe knew he could have said no.

He could have stood up to his boss and protected her. Before this case, he’d felt the same about her, but he’d been afraid.

Gabe could have quit or stood up for Livy.

As her lips moved across his torso, she left warm openmouthed kisses on his flesh. He moaned despite the battle brewing in his mind.

Livy was tearing him apart from the inside out. He wanted to tell her, but he never wanted this to end.

He was torn.

Now her hand was stroking him, heating his body all over again. The way she touched him pulled him under the pleasure. A part of him wanted to believe she’d not hate him when this was over. It had to be his heart.

“You saw me at my worst, and you still stayed. That means everything, Gabriel. It means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

He swallowed.

“Livy,” he muttered as she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his hips. Gabe could feel the tip of his erection pressing against her.

He wanted to dive in, but he owed her the truth.

Unfortunately, he was only human, and as a wet woman was pressed to his body…no, as a wet Livy was pressed to him, he was helpless to say no.

When he opened his mouth to beg her to forgive him, she slid him home.

Gabe’s legs gave out as the pleasure overwhelmed him. As soon as he landed on the tiled floor, Livy took over. She worked him in and out of her body, trying to bury him so deeply in hers.

“Oh, Gabe,” she whispered, tugging on his ear with teeth.

His hands went to her hips.

He fell into the rhythm.

As she bounced, he prayed he didn't come before her. That was the only thing in his mind at that moment. It pushed all the guilt away.

“Olivia,” he shouted, as she began grinding down against him. It was hot and wild, and he made up his mind in that moment. He couldn’t let anything happen to her.

Fuck his job.

She mattered.

His heart stuttered in his chest.

Livy was all he wanted. He’d turn in his badge if that’s what she ordered him to do. For weeks, he’d wanted her from a far, and he’d kept her at arm’s length. Now she’d broken through his walls. They’d come crumbling down.

“Gabriel, I’m close,” she muttered, finding his mouth with hers as the water pelted them from above.

He struggled to stay afloat.

He wanted to pour into her with all he had.

She began whispering his name over and over again, until it reverberated across the tile in an echo.

Gabriel Rothschild was doomed. He was lost. As she slammed down, his body reacted, setting off one hell of an explosion.

He came and came hard.

Livy shouted his name as the orgasm tore through her. When she stopped shaking, she rested against him as the colors swirled around them.

Everything stopped until he heard her laughter.

Lifting her head, she touched his cheek. “Having you around is handy. That has to be the best way to wake up in the morning.”

Gabe’s eyes must have given him away, because Livy went still. As the water still pelted them, now getting chilly, she knew something bad was coming.

“What’s wrong? Have you changed your mind about us?” Livy asked, reaching up to turn off the shower. “I know you had to witness all kinds of horrible things last night, but I swear I’m not this bad.”

He touched her lower lip with the pad of his thumb. In his head, he was already bidding her farewell. There was no way this was going to end well. He knew he’d screwed up.

“Livy, something has happened.”

“Is Elizabeth okay? I should be in the field with her, watching her back. I promised never to ditch her.”

“She’s okay, but you’re not.”

Gabe hated that he’d had incredible sex and it was about to be destroyed. He was still buried in her body as he came clean about what he’d allowed.

“I don’t understand. Why do you look like you’re about to lose it?”

“Last night, after I tucked you in, someone rang your doorbell.”

“It was probably the neighborhood kids. They do that until I bribe them with ice cream. They probably didn't mean to bug us.”

He shook his head.

God!

He only wished that was it.

“What happened, Gabriel? You’re scaring me.”

“When I opened the door, no one was there. Instead, someone left a gutted cat, message, and medallion.”

The second he got to the last part, she gasped. Livy knew what that meant.

“He found me.”

Gabe couldn’t speak. He wanted to be sick.

Livy was pissed. “Well, good! I’ll jack him up if he tries to come for me. I’m not some flighty girl walking home alone. He’s not going to enjoy the outcome.”

He closed his eyes.

Gabe appreciated her tenacity, but she needed to know everything. If they had a chance, Livy had to hear his part in this. Hopefully, she’d forgive him.

“I did something bad, Olivia. If we’re going to move forward as a couple, then you should know the truth.”

She didn't like the sound of that.

“What did you do?”

“I betrayed you and Elizabeth.”

She stared at him in horror. “What?”

Gabe held onto her like she was his lifeline. He could feel himself sinking. If he let go, he was going to lose her. The second she moved from his body, he would fall.

“When this case landed in my lap, my boss called. He told me he wanted you and Elizabeth on it. The second he found out you two were next up in the rotation, he had a plan.”

She didn't understand.

“You look like his victims, Livy. He didn't want you and Elizabeth for your skills.”

She stared at him.

“So, he only gave us this case so I’d be bait? Does Elizabeth know this?”

“No.” He’d protect his friendship to the end. That mattered too. She knew, but he wouldn’t betray a woman he called family. He would carry this one.

Livy stood, and his heart thumped erratically in his chest.

“Please don’t hate me.”

“Is this part of it, Gabe? Did you sleep with me to keep me on the case? Is that all I am to you? I’m simply handy bait to screw?”

He stood up. “No! Livy that’s not what this is about. The case is the case, but you’re personal. You’re part of me. I didn't lie when I said I loved you. I meant every word.”

She backed away from him. “I need a few minutes. I need to think about all of this.”

“I love you, Olivia. I shouldn’t, and I’m going to destroy us both, but it changes nothing. You aren’t bait. You’re half of me.”

She stared at him.

“I need to go.”

As she walked away, slamming the door behind her, Livy wanted to be sick. It wasn’t because the killer found her. It was because Gabe hadn’t trusted them enough to tell her. Keeping secrets was a dangerous thing. Why didn't he see what was between them?

She thought…

She hoped…

She was wrong.

As Livy began getting dressed, she heard him entering her room. He was wet and had a towel wrapped around his waist. In his hands were his wet boxers.

Her heart felt like that.

Heavy.

“Where are you going?” Gabe asked, pulling on his polo and dress pants. It smelled like her, and he was struggling to keep his composure.

“I have to get to work. I ditched my partner in the field, and she’s Irish too. If he can’t get me, he’ll go for her.”

“No, you’re not leaving this townhouse, Livy. You’re staying inside with me until Elizabeth comes back.”

She went to move around him. When she went right, he blocked her way.

“Move!” she ordered.

He wasn’t going to let it happen. There was the only thing he could do. Gabe spun her, pressed her to the bed, and used her own cuffs on the back of her pants to restrain her.”

“Gabriel!”

When he stood her up, he lifted her chin so she was staring him in the eyes. “I do love you, and if it means making you hate me to keep you alive, so be it. I’m not letting you get killed. I’m not walking into this house to find you sliced open like some hunk of meat. You matter more to me than my career. If you weren’t mad, you’d see that I’m not lying to you. As your boss, I can’t always tell you what happens behind the director’s s door, but I can promise that I will accept the fallout for the decisions he makes. The higher up the ladder I move, the harder it is, Livy. The responsibility is crushing.”

“You didn't trust me, and that’s why I’m mad, Gabriel. If we don’t have trust, we don’t have anything.”

“I was scared. Okay? I was told to do something I loathed. I was forced into a game that I didn't want to play. I’m not the head honcho. One day, if I’m lucky, I will be. Until then, I still have to follow the upper management’s directive. This all came down from the Director of the FBI. There’s no room to play with it.”

She didn't speak.

“Listen, I’m in love with you, Livy, and Elizabeth is my family. She’s the only person I have an attachment to next to you. Do you really believe I’m the kind of man who would do this to you? That I could string you out there as bait and not have internal conflict over it?”

She stared at him.

“I will never do that to anyone I work with, and I especially won’t do it to someone I have feelings for. I only wish you’d stop being angry long enough to trust me.”