Love & Redemption (3 page)

Gritting her teeth, Shelley forced a facsimile of a smile. “You’re the one who crashed into my private opera box and begged for help. I’m supposed to be on retreat by myself this week, not playing babysitter to a strange man who got himself into more than he can handle.”

Gavin laughed and plumped a pillow before crossing his arm behind his head. His green eyes—yes, definitely a pale green, not blue—twinkled at her. “Admit it, Shell. That opera was a bore. You hoped a bit of excitement would fall into your lap to save you from a completely unbearable night.”

“You’re wrong.” She lied easily, refusing to acknowledge the truth of his words aloud. However, life had been dull since she gave up dating—and sex. Choosing to quit her job as a secret agent at that same time had made for some extremely boring months. She was dying for excitement, the kind a handsome man like Gavin could easily provide.
Don’t go there.
“I’ve dreamed about going to the opera for a long time. Since you ruined my night, the least you could do is be grateful that I’m working toward keeping you alive.”

Gavin’s eyes never left hers, but a sly smirk slid across his face. “Those hot kisses you planted on me say you’re looking for something more than a solo trip to the opera.”

“You’re mouthy when you aren’t in fear of your life.” She shook her head. “Have you never heard of acting? That’s all those kisses were. Unless you’d rather I let Terrance and Stephen kill us.”

It was hard to act indignant when the feel of Gavin’s lips against hers kept replaying through Shelley’s mind. His firm hand against her back, holding him to her, and the scent of his cologne...

Definitely too long without a man. What is Carlie thinking? I’m not made to wait for true love. Shit, this is ridiculous. I’m lusting after a common thief.

Gavin didn’t reply to her questions, but he had a twinkle in his green eyes that Shelley chose to ignore.

She turned to the dresser behind her and grabbed her cell phone. Through the reflection in the mirror on the wall, she caught Gavin checking out her backside. When his eyes finally found hers in the mirror, she allowed her own smirk to pass across her face.

“Who’s the one hoping for a little excitement?” she asked sweetly.

He spread his hands wide in the reflection. “I never said you weren’t gorgeous.”

She’d put on some weight after being shot a few months earlier, so Gavin’s obvious admiration melted her heart. Even if she searched for true love and it would be against the rules to sleep with him, there wasn’t a woman alive who didn’t feel pleased when a man looked at her that way. “You’re forgiven for making me angry before.”

She entered Nick’s number into the cell and lifted it to her ear, avoiding looking at Gavin again.

“Shelley? Why are you calling? The opera can’t possibly be over yet. Don’t tell me you gave up on it?”

What was Carlie doing answering Nick’s phone? She sounded plenty mad.

Suppressing a sigh, Shelley walked to the desk in the corner of the room and sat in the rolling chair. “I planned to stay, but ran into a bit of a problem. I need to speak with Nick.”

“Trouble that requires Nick’s attention?” Carlie’s voice had cooled from angry to apprehensive in the space of a heartbeat. “Dang it. What’s wrong?”

There was no way Shelley would tell her about Stephen resurfacing, not after the prick had tried to rape and kill Carlie. If Nick wanted to tell her, that was his business, but Shelley knew her friend still feared the creep. “It’s S.A.T.O. business, sweetie. I really think it’s best I talk to Nick first.”

“I’ll get him.”

While she waited, Shelley risked another look at Gavin. He had curled onto his side and tucked his hands beneath his cheek. Though he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, Shelley didn’t think he actually slept—not that fast. The thief had,  however, made himself at home, taking off his tie and undoing the top few buttons on his dress shirt. His brown hair was somewhat mused, falling down from its previous smoothly feathered style to fall across his brow.

And his lips... Shelley shook her head and spun the chair toward the desk. It was hard to ignore those full lips. Even in the tense, dangerous situation earlier, kissing him had been nice. While she wasn’t certain she actually liked Gavin, it would be fun to make out with him in less forced circumstances, just to see how good he really was.

“Shelley?” Nick’s deep voice came across the line. “What happened?”

“You aren’t going to like it.”

“I kind of figured that.”

She was sure he had. “It’s quite the vacation you planned for me. Some of our old friends showed up at the opera, killed the star of the show in her dressing room, and tried to steal some diamonds.”

“Damn.” Nick was silent for several seconds. “I was afraid of that. Was it Paul himself, or just Stephen?”

“What?” Shelley was unable to keep her voice from raising a few octaves. “You knew they’d be there?”

The bed creaked behind her and Shelley looked over her shoulder. Gavin sat up, a concerned look on his face as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Calm down,” Nick ordered. “I didn’t know for sure, but there were rumors and Jenessa Jones has been monitoring things digitally. She picked up information about diamonds and a lot of money. I figured Carlie wanted you to have this vacation so badly, and I needed an agent there just in case our target showed up. It worked out for both things.”

Shelley took some deep breaths and counted to ten in her head very slowly. “I’m not an agent,” she said when she felt she could speak without biting his head off. “And if you wanted me to work for you, you should have warned me what to look for. I thought you weren’t running things like Paul. This sounds like something he’d do, keeping me in the dark.”

“Come on, Shelley, you had to know something was up,” he replied calmly. “I paid for and planned the whole trip, and then I made special arrangements everywhere so you had your gun with you. You know that sort of thing isn’t easy in that town.”

She did know that, but she assumed since President Sharp was Nick’s friend, Nick called in a personal favor. That was probably true, but she had assumed he did that so she’d feel safe—not because he expected all hell to break loose at the opera.

“You should have mentioned it, Nick.”

“I didn’t figure I had to state it outright. Carlie never gave us a second alone, and I didn’t want her worrying. She’s working on dinner now, or we still couldn’t talk.” He sighed loudly. “You knew Jenessa was back with the FBI searching for a lead. You really didn’t add everything up? Admit it, you were bored sitting in Sayle waiting for Carlie’s new shop to open. You miss being an agent.”

Since she had thought the same thing moments earlier, she couldn’t very well argue. However, between the two of them, Nick and Gavin were making her glad she’d given up men for a while. They were infuriating her tonight.

Jenessa should have at least given Shelley a heads up. Although she wouldn’t consider Jenessa a friend, the two of them had become friendly after meeting with President Sharp three months earlier. Jenessa was a computer wiz, more aptly a hacker, and she’d taken the position as Nick’s tech manager. If she pooled resources with the FBI’s anti-terrorist task force again, the trail to find Paul Billings and the other rouge agents must be running cold.

“I still don’t like your methods. I won’t be forced into this,” she warned.

“Fair enough. I’m sorry for tricking you.” Nick’s voice was soft and he did sound sorry. “I figured if nothing happened, you’d just have a nice vacation. In the meantime, I could focus on Carlie this week without worrying about Paul.”

Which was what he should do. Carlie needed him.

Shelley rolled her eyes. “You fight dirty, don’t you?”

He chuckled. “I learned from Carlie.”

She sighed. “It doesn’t matter now, I suppose. It’s over and done with. The important thing is that I have a complication.” She glanced again at Gavin, who had settled back onto the bed, apparently reassured when she calmed down. “A thief spoiled Paul’s plans for those diamonds, but now he’s in trouble. We need to help him.”

She quickly explained about Gavin and what he witnessed, and then told Nick about Stephen and Terrance searching for him at the opera house. “I don’t know what the odds are of him picking my opera box to hide in out of all the boxes there, but he’s lucky he found me,” she concluded.

“I’d say we’re pretty lucky, too.” Nick sighed. “I’m happy he has the diamonds, but it won’t take Paul long to discover what he has are fakes.”

Though Shelley had tried to avoid thinking about the reason Paul wanted the diamonds, fear threaded down her spine. “Do you think Paul’s trying to make those terrorist bracelets he accused Carlie of having?”

“Pretty safe bet,” Nick said. “We’ve been watching for this kind of sale all along. When Paul told me about the bracelets, he had some pretty specific ideas about how they would work and what would happen with them.”

Shelley drummed her free hand on the desktop. “And since Carlie didn’t have anything like that, you figure it must be something he already had in the works?”

“Exactly.”

“Do you think they’re going to try another assassination attempt on President Sharp?”

“Maybe,” Nick said. “I’m more worried about the things Paul said the microchips in the bracelet could do. He talked about them hacking into computer programs anywhere and downloading information. Specifically, secret files at government facilities. This is a huge threat to national security. I’m sure our country’s enemies would pay very well for that kind of information, and apparently Paul is all about making money.”

“I don’t even want to think about that.” Shelley shuddered. “Thank God Gavin stole the diamonds. Are they special quality or something?”

“In order to have the microchips inside the bracelets react correctly, Jenessa says the diamonds would have to be very clear and high quality. I think it’s safe to say Paul will find another supply eventually, but this will slow him down.”

Shelley looked at Gavin. “You just went from petty criminal to hero, my friend.”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not just a criminal.”

Shrugging, Shelley knew they had bigger problems than that. “What should we do, Nick? You have to take care of Carlie tomorrow, but what about the diamonds in the meantime?”

“What?” Gavin jumped off the bed and walked toward her, shaking his head. “
We
aren’t doing anything with the diamonds. I’m waiting for my buyer to call so I can sell them and get out of town.”

“Tell him that isn’t happening,” Nick said gruffly.

“Tell him yourself,” she snapped. This wasn’t what her week was supposed to be like. Nick got her in the middle of a mess without even asking whether she was willing to help. He could deal with this and figure out how to convince the thief not to sell the diamonds.

She thrust the phone at Gavin.

He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk to him. I’m not changing my mind. I need that money.”

“Fine.” Shelley crossed one leg over the other and raised the phone to her ear. “The little criminal says he doesn’t want your protection, and he’d like Paul to kill him in some tortuously awful way. We both know how sadistic S.A.T.O.’s fearless leader can be.”

Gavin glared at her. “Give me the damn phone.”

***

Gavin took a deep breath. Though he wanted to walk out and not look back, he realized no amount of money was worth his life. Shelley made it sound like he was some hardened criminal, but she really knew nothing about him.

Except this one job, he hadn’t stolen anything since he was a street kid, stealing as a survival mechanism. After spending some time in juvenile hall, he cleaned up his act and had been a respectable member of the community for the last eleven years. Well, until Crystal ruined everything.

He couldn’t deal with scary men with guns, especially not ones adept at torture.

Grabbing his courage, he raised the phone. “What are you prepared to pay me for the diamonds?” It couldn’t hurt to try.

The man on the other end laughed. “You want me to pay for stolen diamonds?”

“It’s Nick, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Nick, I have a buyer paying me two million for these. What can you offer?”

Nick laughed again. “How about I see how you handle yourself the next few days? I might have a position for someone with your skills on our anti-terror task force.”

“Anti-terror?” Gavin glanced at Shelley, and a fleeting smile crossed her face before she looked away. “Who the hell are you people?”

“Right now,” Nick answered, “we’re the people interested in you staying alive, which is more than I can say for your buyer. He’ll probably sell you out to Paul in a heartbeat.”

Gavin bit his lip and sank onto the end of the bed. Unfortunately, Nick had a point. If these men were as ruthless as Shelley seemed to think, he was in trouble. He had no fighting skills to speak of. Street smarts, sure. Sneak into a window, climb a building, all while keeping a low profile—piece of cake. Outrun bullets...that could pose a problem.

“If that isn’t reason enough for you,” Nick continued. “I could just have Shelley kick your ass, take the diamonds, and leave you there for Paul’s men to find.”

Now it was Gavin’s turn to laugh. “What makes you think Shelley could kick my ass? She’s a refined, beautiful woman, and you don’t know anything about me.”

“You can take down a karate black belt who’s also a champion shooter?” Nick asked. “By all means, keep your precious diamonds. You must not need our help.”

“A black belt?” Gavin raised his eyebrows at Shelley.

She waved her hand through the air. “You might be able to beat me. I had to go easier on my practices after my injury.”

“Injury?”

“Focus, Gavin,” Nick ordered. “My fiancée just finished making dinner, and I want off the phone. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. Stay with Shelley for now. The two of you stick together and keep the diamonds safe.”

The diamonds were his ticket to freedom, his chance to start over. He had no hope of finding a job because of what Crystal did. Unless... “If I do that, you’ll seriously consider giving me a job in your anti-terror thingy.”