Safe from Harm (27 page)

“I seem to recall we had some plans for the evening,” she mused.

He lifted a single brow. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “Mmm-hmm. I believe there was a hot bubble bath involved.”

“I might be a little low on bubble bath at the old bachelor pad,” he told her, his aqua eyes growing darker as he peered down at her, “but I think I can handle the hot part.”

“Oh, honey,” she said with a grin, “I have no doubt about that…”

Gabe set her on her feet, then removed his gun, laying it on his dresser before taking off his gun belt and setting it aside. She watched him with hungry eyes as he removed the clips from his uniform buttons, placing them in a neat little pile.

The pace he was undressing at was maddeningly slow.

“Here,” she murmured, stepping closer, slipping her hands beneath his shirt and sliding it off his broad shoulders. “Let me help you with that.”

Next was his T-shirt. She untucked it and drew it over his head, tossing it aside. Then she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his bare chest, grinning at the low moan it elicited.

Then she slid her hand down between them, cupping him through his pants. “I think the bath can wait just a little while,” she said, giving him a slow grin. “Don't you?”

* * *

Gabe didn't answer. Couldn't. His powers of speech had left him. All he knew was need—the need to be inside Elle, to lose himself in her love, to reassure himself that she was safe in his arms.

He pulled off her T-shirt, then popped the button on her jeans, slipping his hand inside and finding her already slick with desire. And at that moment, any restraint he possibly maintained left him. He captured her lips with his in a savage kiss, his fingers stroking her with demanding caresses as she moaned and arched against him.

When he felt her muscles begin to spasm, he finally broke their kiss and peered down at her, bracing her with his other arm as her release rocked her, loving the way her rapture played over her face.

“Oh God, Gabe!” she gasped, her fingers digging into his arms. “Please.”

Seconds later, they had shed the rest of their clothes and were falling onto his bed together in a blissful tangle. He joined their bodies in one rough thrust, making love to her with the same savage, life-affirming abandon. She rose to meet him, drawing him in, clutching at his back, demanding all he had to give.

When she came again, his name on her lips in a breathless gasp, he let go with a ragged cry. Then his mouth found hers in a slow, languid kiss as her hands smoothed over his skin, soothing him with the tenderness of her touch.

* * *

“Mind if I ask you something?” Gabe said sometime later as they lay in his bed, their arms and legs entwined, her head resting on his chest as he held her close. “Why did you go out to the Monroes' farm on your own? Don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell were you thinking?”

Elle explained about the call she'd received from Janice Monroe. “She needed help. Even if it was a ruse to get me out there, her cry for help was genuine at the heart of it. Would you have reacted any differently if she'd called
you
?”

She has a point, but still…

“It's my job to rush in when people need help, Elle,” he reminded her. “I'm trained to handle myself.”

She sighed. “Well, I've decided helping women like Janice Monroe is where my heart is. I'm taking the job at the foundation.”

His brows shot up. “Are you sure? I know how much being a prosecutor has meant to you.”

“I went into law so I could make a positive impact,” she told him. “After seeing firsthand the terror this family experienced…”

“There are going to be a lot of people you can't help, Elle,” he told her, knowing all too well the challenges she might face.

She sighed and shook her head. “If I can help just one woman have a better life, help one child escape that kind of situation before it comes to what happened today…”

Gabe's heart swelled with pride for the woman in his arms. He'd never known anyone quite as strong or resilient. She'd been through hell, and instead of dwelling on her own trauma, all she could think about was how she might continue to help others.

When she fell silent, snuggling in tighter against him, he smoothed his fingertips along her arm, trying to push away the images of just how wrong things could've gone earlier that day, how close he'd come to losing this incredible woman, how close the world had come to being deprived of the light she brought to the lives of so many.

He sighed, realizing he'd completely underestimated her. “I'm sorry, Elle.”

She frowned at him. “For what?”

“For thinking you needed a knight in shining armor.” He brushed her hair from her face. “You were right when you said I can't constantly worry that something could happen to you, that I might not be able to protect you.”

She rose up on her elbow and scooted up higher on the mattress so that she could look down at him. “You saved my life that day at the courthouse without a moment's hesitation,” she reminded him. “And odds are good that you saved my life again today. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I don't know what would've happened. So while it's true I may not need a knight in shining armor, I do need
you
, Gabe Dawson
.
But I want you as a partner in whatever this is between us, as my lover and my friend—not just as my handsome hero.”

“I think I can promise that,” Gabe assured her, tucking a lock of her fiery hair behind her ear. “But you have to promise me one thing first.”

She gave him a cautious look out of the corner of her eye. “What's that?”

“That you'll stop referring to ‘whatever this is between us' as if you don't know what it is.”

She flushed, and her green eyes grew darker as she whispered, “What is this then, Gabe?”

He caressed her bottom lip with this thumb, knowing that, in a moment, he was planning to taste them again and lose himself in the bliss he could only find in her arms. “This is forever,” he told her. “I love you, Elle. And I can't imagine ever loving anyone else.”

A slow smile curved her lips as he drew her down to receive his kiss. “I love you, too,” she murmured against his mouth. “And forever sounds about right…”

“Where are we going?”

Gabe grinned at her. “It's a surprise.”

“And I needed to be blindfolded for said surprise?”

“Yep.”

Elle had no idea what to expect. After a year together, Gabe still surprised her. She found herself falling in love with him over and over again every single day.

“What are you grinning about?” he asked. She could tell even without seeing him that he was smiling too.

“How much I love you.”

He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Well, hold that thought for two more minutes. We're almost there.”

“Okay, but don't forget we're supposed to be back by noon to meet Jessica and the kids for lunch,” she reminded him, having lost all sense of how long they'd been in the car. “You're helping Teddy learn to ride his bike today.”

“Haven't forgotten,” he assured her. “I have his new bike in the trunk so we can go straight there after your surprise. And I even remembered the helmet, and the elbow guards and kneepads, and the special training wheels that are on springs, and—”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “You're a wonderful godfather.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I love those kids—they make it easy. And it's good practice.”

“Practice?” she echoed, her pulse kicking up a notch, not wanting to presume too much.

“Yeah, you know, for when I have little monkeys of my own running around some day.” There was moment of tense silence before he announced, “We're here.”

Elle couldn't mistake the note of relief in his voice. A few seconds later, Gabe stopped the car and came around to her door to take her hand and help her out. Elle frowned when she felt that his hand was uncharacteristically clammy.

Is he
nervous
?

She felt him take a deep breath and let it out on a short burst. “Okay. Ready?”

When she nodded, he removed the blindfold. Slowly, Elle opened her eyes, blinking as her eyes adjusted in the summer morning sunlight. Then she gasped, her heart fluttering when she realized they were standing on the edge of a meadow of wildflowers, the vibrant green grass dotted with crimson, yellow, white, and lavender flowers that swayed gently in the breeze.

“Oh my God, Gabe,” she breathed. “This is beautiful.”

He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I was driving through here yesterday and knew you had to have these wildflowers. But seeing as how I couldn't pick them all and leave them in your locker…”

She turned in his arms to face him, her eyes wide. “It was
you
?”

He smiled down at her and shrugged. “It was me.”

Her heart began to pound and she blinked to clear the sudden blur as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “Why didn't you say anything before now?”

“I was waiting for the perfect place and time.” He held her gaze for a long moment before easing down on his knees, his hands resting lightly on her hips as he peered up at her. He chuckled. “I had a whole speech planned, but I've forgotten every damned word. So I'll just say I love you, Elle. And I hope that forever still sounds as right and perfect to you as it does to me. Will you marry me?”

She stared at him, emotion choking her and making it momentarily impossible to speak.

When she didn't immediately respond, he cleared his throat, and continued, “I know I'm probably not the guy you always pictured yourself with, but—”

Elle dropped to her knees and stopped his words with a kiss. When she pulled back, she took his face in her hands. “It was you, Gabe,” she breathed. This time there was no question. “It was always you.”

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Well, son of a bitch.

The little bastard had decided to run. Didn't that just fucking figure? It was at least ninety degrees, and the air was so thick Kyle might as well have been trying to inhale the gumbo that the citizens of New Orleans found so enticing. And now that freaky little shit Harlan Rhodes was sprinting down Decatur Street wearing nothing but a Speedo, tube socks, and glittery gold sneakers.

No one even raised an eyebrow—except for a random tourist or two who hadn't quite figured out that natives of the Big Easy were rarely surprised by anything.

“Dawson!”

Kyle groaned inwardly when his partner, Dave Peterman, called out to him. He could already hear the ass-chewing he was going to get later for pissing on protocol. But screw it—Kyle wasn't letting Rhodes give him the slip. No way in hell. He'd been working this case almost since he'd arrived in New Orleans a year ago and finally had the key witness needed to put an end to one of the biggest human-trafficking operations in the country. Peterman was just going to have to get his ass moving.

Rhodes suddenly darted into the street, sprinting toward Jackson Square, causing cars to come to a screeching halt. Kyle raced after him, ignoring the cacophony of blaring horns and shouted obscenities. Sweat soaked through his shirt. His suit jacket and tie began to feel like a wet straitjacket, restricting his movement. But the adrenaline pumping through his veins pushed him forward.

For all his wiriness, Rhodes was struggling just as much as Kyle in the heavy air, his strides beginning to slow even as he vaulted over a couple picnicking in the grass. The muscles in Kyle's legs were on fire and his breath sawed in and out, but he surged forward in a burst of speed.

When he was within a few feet of Rhodes, Kyle lunged, tackling the other man. They crashed to the pavement, sliding along the concrete path and nearly taking down a bride and groom making their vows before a preacher dressed in a Colonel Sanders-like white suit, string tie, and goatee. Ignoring the couple's startled cries, Kyle wrapped his arm around Rhodes's neck, putting him in a headlock and rolling until the man was on his stomach. Kyle scrambled to his knees and twisted Rhodes's arm behind him. The man bucked, trying to throw him off, forcing Kyle to press his knee into Rhodes's back to keep him down.

“Now,” Kyle panted, having to yell as the brass band on the other side of the fence struck up their first tune of the afternoon, “I think you had a few things you wanted to tell me, Harlan…”

“Suck my dick!” Rhodes spat. “I ain't tellin' you shit, Dawson!”

Kyle shrugged, slapping handcuffs on Rhodes and dragging him to his feet. “That's what you think, asshole.”

* * *

Kyle popped a handful of peanut M&M's into his mouth just as Peterman stormed out of the assistant director's office and halted abruptly to give Kyle a shitty look. So, pretty much business as usual.

He'd been catching hell from the moment he set foot in the New Orleans office. The other agents treated him like a piece of shit that'd been dumped on their lawn. Whatever. He didn't give a rat's ass what anyone else thought of him personally. He wasn't there to make friends; he was there to do his job. If they felt threatened by that, then screw them.

So instead of kissing their asses to ingratiate himself into their good-ol'-boys' club or slinking off into a corner to lick his wounds, Kyle had fallen back on the arrogance and insolence that had served him so well before. He'd figured out a long time ago how to get under people's skin and turn their own attitudes around on them, thanks in no small part to the decades-long pissing match he had going on with his father.

“You guys have a nice chat?” he taunted Peterman. “Or were you just dropping by to polish Skinner's knob before demanding a new partner?”

“Fuck off, Dawson,” Peterman sneered. “I gotta get home to my kid. I don't have time for your shit.”

Kyle leaned back on the hand-carved wooden bench that sat in the hallway outside his boss's office, regarding what he figured was now his
former
partner, and feigned a concerned frown. “How
will
I go on? First Hughes and now you? I'm heartbroken, Peterman.”

Peterman's already florid face turned an alarming shade of purple. When he opened his mouth to respond to Kyle's sarcasm, Kyle held up his hand. “No, no. Please don't give me the ‘It's not you, it's me' speech. Let me spare you the effort. You're right, Peterman—it
is
you. I accept that. And I forgive you.”

“Forgive—?” The vein in Peterman's forehead began to pulse. “You're an arrogant prick, you know that?”

“Dawson!”

Kyle hopped to his feet. “Sorry, gotta run. Boss wants to see me.” He shivered with mock excitement. “Can't wait to see what he has to say. Our private chats are always so scintillating.”

Peterman snorted derisively then stormed away, shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath.

Ignoring the way his gut clenched in apprehension, Kyle cleared his throat and plastered on his most carefree grin before swaggering into his boss's office. “You know, I don't think Peterman knows what
scintillating
means,” he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.

Assistant Director Skinner eyed Kyle with his bland, dispassionate gaze and asked on a sigh, “Beg pardon?”

“Scintillating,” Kyle explained. “That's how I described our private chats. But it was totally lost on Peterman. Really, sir, I just can't stay partners with someone who has such a limited vocabulary.”

“Well, good thing you won't have to,” Skinner replied.

Kyle's brows shot up. “Really?” he said, dropping into the chair across from Skinner's desk. “Sweet! So, who's up next?
Please
tell me my new partner's a hot redhead named Scully.”

Skinner blinked.

Kyle gaped at him. “Seriously? You're an assistant director at the FBI who's named Skinner, and you've
never
seen an episode of
The X-Files
? Not
ever
?”

“No, Dawson,” Skinner retorted, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his stomach. “I'm happy to say I learned how to be an agent from shutting my piehole and listening to the more seasoned agents who knew what the hell they were doing, instead of acting like a self-important, smart-ass prick.”

“I thought I was an
arrogant
prick,” Kyle corrected. “You and Peterman really need to coordinate your insults better. It's confusing.”

Skinner's eyes flashed. “Arrogant, self-important—take your pick. You've been here less than a year, Dawson, and you've already pissed away two partners. No one wants to work with you because you're reckless and dangerous and have no respect for authority or for the badge you carry.”

“That's not true,” Kyle shot back, his indignation genuine. “I have a
great
deal of respect for the badge.”

The muscle in Skinner's jaw twitched, but he maintained his composure. “I knew you'd be trouble the minute you walked in the door.”

Kyle's internal shit-storm alarm started blaring loud and clear, so he took his cockiness down a notch, ready to play nice. “Sir—”

“Oh, I've heard all about your family, Dawson,” Skinner interrupted before Kyle could make good on his shift in attitude. “What'd you think? You could come down here, do whatever the hell you wanted just because your granddaddy's got his name in the history books?”

When Kyle merely clenched his jaw, Skinner continued. “Heard all about your daddy too. About his renegade methods of dispensing justice, how he runs his county and expects all you boys to follow in his footsteps. Except you didn't, did you? Well, let me tell you something, son. If you need to work out your daddy issues, you can head on back up north.”

Kyle's spine stiffened, but he managed to maintain his blank expression in spite of the mention of his father, torn between defending his father's unorthodox but extremely effective ways of fighting the crime that trickled into their county from Detroit and Chicago, and distancing himself from the infamous Mac Dawson as he'd been trying to do his entire life.

“I don't have any contact with my father,” he replied, his words as stiff as his posture. “Not anymore.”

Eh—what could he say? Old habits die hard.

“Well,” Skinner said, cracking a smile that seemed rather menacing. “Guess that's about to change.”

Kyle's blood went cold. “What?”

Now Skinner's smile was positively smug. “You're being transferred.”

Kyle's stomach sank. “Sir,” he said, ditching the devil-may-care act entirely, “if this is about Harlan Rhodes and what happened in Jackson Square today, I had to do what was necessary to bring him in. Peterman and I have never seen eye-to-eye on how to deal with this case, but soon we'll have what we need to—”

“It's not about Rhodes,” Skinner interrupted, “even though I've got that little asshole spewing excessive-force allegations against you to anyone and everyone who'll listen. I've already had two phone calls about it—one from that weaselly little bastard who calls himself a lawyer. You're damned lucky Rhodes is spilling his guts, or you'd be even farther up shit creek than you already are.”

Kyle shook his head. “Then what gives? I'm one of the best agents you have.” When Skinner grunted, Kyle added, “Tell me I'm lying.”

“You don't get it, do you?” Skinner said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk and clasp his hands together. “Dawson, you could be the greatest agent of all time, but we have a little thing we like to call the Law around here. And I expect my agents to abide by it.”

“Sir—”

Skinner narrowed his eyes. “You waltz in here with your cocky attitude and your blatant disregard for the rules and regulations, and you think you should get a pat on the back for it? Well, that dog might hunt with some folks, son, but not with me. I've been working on eighty-sixing your ass since you walked into my building. I'm just disappointed it took me this long to kick you to the curb.”

Kyle's temples began to throb as it hit him that Skinner had been planning this since he'd waltzed—yeah, he'd waltzed, no question—into the New Orleans office. He'd been cocky, complacent, smug.

And he'd seriously fucked up by not playing nice in the sandbox with the rest of the kids.

He'd been shitting on authority for so long just to spite his father that he hadn't considered what it might eventually cost him when he'd decided to walk away from his job as a deputy in Fairfield County and flip the proverbial bird to his father by joining the FBI.

Oh, sure—he'd won
that
battle, showing his dad that the guilt trips and harsh code of honor that had governed their family for generations couldn't sway him. But his heart had been the ultimate casualty. Because in finally breaking away from the Old Man's will, he'd also left
her
behind. Abby Morrow. The woman who'd captured his heart like no one else ever had—and then shattered it into a million jagged pieces. Even thinking of her now made his chest tight with heartache and regret.

He gave himself a quick shake, pushing away the image of Abby's sensual smile, bright cornflower-blue eyes, and flawless fair skin and forcing his attention back to the news that he was being reassigned. He cleared his throat. “Where're you sending me?”

Skinner's lips twitched. “Well, since the apple doesn't seem to fall far from the tree, it seems only fitting that you go fill a spot in one of our northern Indiana resident agencies.”

Kyle suppressed a resigned, bitter laugh. The irony of being forced back home when he'd worked so hard to break away was not lost on him. But it was too late to confess that his attitude and brash behavior were all an act, that upholding the law was in his blood—no matter how much he wanted to deny it—and that getting scum off the streets was not just his job, but his calling. Any protestations of the sort would just look like he was a whiny bitch trying to save his own ass.

So, instead, he donned his most unconcerned demeanor and flashed what he imagined was an infuriatingly undaunted grin. “So when do I leave?”