Under the Wire: Bad Boys Undercover (23 page)

Tasha sat up and stared down at Niko. “You get hit?”

All the color had left Niko’s face. His skin had
blanched the color of his white shirt. He shook his head, seemed unable to form a sentence.

“Good.” Tasha pushed on Niko’s side and stood up. She did a quick check of her torso. Her gaze stopped on the dots of red on her arm. “Small hit. I’m all good.”

“How?” Cara didn’t realize she’d asked the question out loud until she heard it.

“Mickey’s ricochet.” Tasha stepped over Niko and joined the rest of them on the ground. “Speaking of which.”

She put her fingers to Mickey’s neck.

“Well?” Parker asked.

“Nothing.” Tasha was looking down at Reid now. “How is he doing?”

“That’s the third time he’s been shot in three days. Or was it only two days? I can’t even remember how long we’ve been here.” Parker talked tough but his voice sounded scratchy. “But I think you need to send him for some more training. After a hospital, of course.”

“Cara?” Reid’s voice drifted up to her.

“I’m right here.” She grabbed his hand. “Are you okay?”

“This isn’t a big deal.”

It looked like a bloodbath. She didn’t know how he was still talking, or why. He needed rest and an ambulance. She assumed they had those in Russia. If not, Tasha could work her magic. Either way, Cara wanted Reid to get medical attention.

She glanced up at Tasha. “He needs a doctor.”

“No.” Reid broke into a coughing fit.

Parker laughed as he grabbed the medical kit out of Reid’s bag. “Listen to your woman.”

One of his eyes popped open. “Are you my woman?”

Now was not the time for this. Not with all of them watching. But it didn’t matter because her mind would not change. She’d watched him walking into danger for her over and over again. This wasn’t about tension or sexual attraction or even adrenaline. Maybe they hadn’t really said the words again, but this was love. Pure and simple. He loved her. She loved him. And as soon as he stopped getting shot for five seconds, she’d tell him that.

“I am.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Now listen to your woman and get ready to see a doctor.”

His eyes drifted shut. “Bossy.”

She kissed him again because it actually hurt not to. “And all yours.”

R
eid felt his stomach flip over. He heard machines and felt something clamped to his arm. A needle poking into his vein. He slowly came awake and struggled to remember what had happened.

His headache could be a weapon. It hurt to open his eyes. When he did, he looked around and took it all in. The ceiling tiles with the tiny holes. People talking in the hallway. The antiseptic smell. He was in a medical
facility of some sort. Likely one Tasha found and paid off the entire staff to keep quiet about.

His gaze kept traveling to the chair next to his bed. He expected to find it empty or see Parker. The view was so much better.

Cara, all showered and clean and in clothes that fit her. He’d never seen a more beautiful sight. She stared out the window as she hummed a familiar tune.

Maybe he’d died.

“Cara.” When she turned and smiled, he wondered if he’d been right.

She got up and leaned over him. “How are you feeling?”

“A little rough.” Now, there was the understatement of the century. But looking at her helped. And she smelled good. The scent of almond overcame whatever hospital cleaning supply tried to overpower the room.

She squeezed his hand. “Apparently it’s bad for a grown man to be shot three times in less than a week.”

“Who knew?” He tried to shrug but even that hurt.

“Uh, everyone?”

He wanted to ask her so many questions. He knew Tasha and Parker were safe. Even that guy Niko made it out somehow. The rest—the bomb and the other scientist—no part of that story ended well. A simple check-in on Cara had turned into a nightmare. The only good news is that they stopped some very bad shit.
Tasha had control of the cobalt bomb. That made being in a hospital a little more bearable.

So did Cara. He reached up and ran his fingers through her soft hair.

“It’s clean now.” She smiled. “Shampoo is an amazing thing. I always took it for granted before, but no more.”

God, he loved her. His need for her kicked his butt. He couldn’t think about going back to his apartment without her. Coming home and not seeing her. Sleeping alone. She made him smile. Challenged him. He admired so much about her . . . and that ass. Damn.

He wanted to tell her. They needed to make plans. Maybe that was stepping ahead, since they had so much to talk about, but after everything he needed her to know. A gun to his head, all those lies Mickey told that he never believed. So much had happened in such a short time. She’d likely chalk it up to adrenaline, but it was so much more.

She kissed him again. This time soft and on the lips. “You need to go back to sleep.”

“No, I—”

“We’ll talk later. You need your rest.” She touched some piece of equipment that beeped.

He opened his mouth and his words slurred. It had to have been a painkiller. It worked fast. He couldn’t feel his tongue. Then the light in the room started to fade.

When he woke up a few hours later she still sat in
the chair. He smiled and let his eyes drift shut again. The mix of medicine and blood loss did a number on him.

The same thing early the next morning. He could smell breakfast. In the quiet, watched her read a book for a few seconds. He almost said something but then exhaustion overtook him again.

By the time some of the meds wore off the next afternoon, she was gone.

C
ARA WAITED
until she climbed into the backseat of Caleb’s rental car before she said anything. Where he even got one of those in Russia, she had no idea. All she wanted to do was scream at him.

Reid had barely been in the makeshift clinic Tasha managed to set up, and already Caleb wanted her to get on a plane and go home. She refused and he insisted—actually threw his weight around and made a “do you know who I am” type of scene—that she join him outside in the parking lot for a talk. She only went because she feared his stomping around might wake up Reid and he needed rest.

She slammed the door and glared at her brother. “What is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” He sounded appalled at her tone.

Good.
“There is an entire group of medical professionals in there, making sure Reid is comfortable since we can’t actually take him to a hospital, and you were yelling at them.”

Caleb scoffed. “That’s an exaggeration.”

“Then you started ordering me around.” She shook a finger at him. “Which is never going to happen again, unless you
want
me to punch you in public.”

He’d actually summoned her from Reid’s bedside for a brotherly talk. The bullying came from a place of love. She got that. Caleb wanted to ask her a billion questions and protect her. She gave in and followed him once Reid finally fell asleep and stopped opening one eye to peek up at her every two seconds. He wouldn’t miss her for an hour or so, but she absolutely intended to be in that room when he woke up again.

She refused to leave him until he was up, and they’d talked through all the baggage that kept weighing them down. No more separation. Not anymore. Keeping her distance from Reid for all those months had exhausted her. She’d been so sure she was right back then. Now she knew better. Now she knew
him
better, and she wouldn’t rest until he understood how much more they each needed to give.

Doubts still lingered, but being together again, through the danger and in those quiet times just between the two of them, he had done everything—everything—right. He asked for answers and listened when she gave them. He tried to explain his point of view. And when attackers came into her life again, he’d rushed to save her. Put her life before his over and over again. Broke rules and showed her how much she meant to him.

For a second time, life threw her together with him in an adrenaline stew. Energy and danger whipped around them for almost three days. It wasn’t real life. It was this bizarre twisting mess that had her emotions boiling over and her confidence sliding all over the place. But the chaos could lead to something bigger. This time she’d throw all of her energy into the task.

They needed to start with the basics. She needed to ask for a second chance and finally tell him what she should have said back then and certainly should have said yesterday. She loved him. Totally and forever loved him. She’d tried to stomp it out and pretend it didn’t exist, but it just grew. Now it bubbled over.

First she had to deal with an overbearing older brother. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Caleb turned to face her in the backseat. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“Don’t do that.” She refused to play this game and be his poor sick little sister. “I was here on a job. I’m a professional, have a doctorate. I do not need babysitting.”

“Except by Reid.” Caleb fiddled with the door handle. Not one to sit still for long, he tended to fidget and touch things and generally hover on the brink of doing something that got him in trouble. Despite that, she was the kid everyone coddled. Never mind that he’d once been arrested, not her.

“Make your point.” She loved her brother, but he hovered dangerously close to being punched.

The door handle came off in his hand and he dropped it to the floor. “You almost got killed.”

“Caleb—”

“It was crazy irresponsible for you to come here.”

No, they were not going to approach the conversation like that. She refused to get shoved onto the defensive. She had a career she loved and she would not apologize for it. “You don’t get to decide what I do with my life and which risks I take.”

His eyes narrowed. “We’re talking about you working for the CIA.”

“Hypocritical much?”

“What?” But the truth played across his face.

“Apparently you work for the Alliance on the side. Funny how you forgot to mention that.” She could bat verbal volleys back and forth all day. Could but didn’t want to. She wanted to get back to Reid and continue repairing the rift between them. It took all she had to sit in that car and not run to him now. “You think I didn’t figure that out?”

Caleb looked out the window. “It’s not the same thing.”

“It is.” When he started to say something else, she cut him off. “End of discussion.”

“Fine.”

She waded into the one issue that might get stuck between them, but he needed to know where she stood. Needed to know that if Reid would forgive her, she wanted him in her life.

She reached over and touched Caleb’s knee. “You know I love you. Even your overbearing big brother crap.”

“You’re not exactly easy.” When she pinched him, he jerked his arm away. “Fine. I love you, too.”

“I know you don’t get my relationship with Reid and—”

“No.” Caleb’s head shot around and he stared at her. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

The blank expression, the confusion, threw her off. “He carries a gun and goes on assignments. I get that the danger worries you.”

“Sure it does, but Reid is rock solid.”

“I know.” So, for some reason they were having a fight over something they agreed about? She had no idea when her world shifted. The last sixteen months had been a series of emotional body blows. Now she saw nothing but hope stretched out in front of her.

Caleb frowned at her. “Okay.”

“You’re saying you like Reid?”

“Why do you think I called him to help find you?” Caleb plowed forward, answering his own question. “Yeah, the tracker was part of it, but I knew he’d get to you as fast as possible.”

“You hoped.” Maybe a part of her secretly hoped. She could admit that now.

“No, Cara. I knew.” This time he traced a finger over the window before giving her eye contact again. “I’ve
been talking to him during the last sixteen months. Feeding him information about you that he pretended not to care about. Saw the way his eyes lit up when I mentioned your name before he rushed to hide his interest.”

The truth smacked into her. “You’ve been matchmaking?”

Her brilliant gamer brother. Now that didn’t fit at all.

“You sure as hell haven’t made it easy.” Caleb’s voice lowered to normal levels. “But I knew he loved you.”

“I hoped he did.” Thinking about the possibility now sent a rush of happiness spiraling through her.

“Since you were so miserable, I figured you loved him, too. Especially since you refused to talk about him.” Caleb shook his head. “You’re stubborn as hell.”

That was fair. “Guilty.”

Running scared was not a way to handle a relationship. She might blame adrenaline and the skepticism over falling in love so fast and a host of other factors, but her fear played a huge role.

“Then why did you leave him months ago?”

Wrong man.
This was not the conversation she needed to have with her brother. There was only one man who needed to hear what she had to say. “There were a lot of reasons and none of them are your business.”

Caleb leaned his head back against the seat. “Is he good to you?”

Her heart softened at the question. He really was being an overprotective big brother, but in a very normal, very sweet way. “The best.”

He shook his head. “I will never understand women.”

“Reid says stuff like that, too.” Maybe the men in her life were more alike than she wanted to admit.

Neither of them said anything for a minute. They sat in silence, staring at each other. She itched to get up and move. To leave the uncomfortable quiet.

“So, you’re going to stop all this nonsense and jump back in a relationship with him?”

That question set off a churning anxiety inside of her that made her dizzy. She could shore up her confidence and march over to Reid and he could say no. He might have had enough. She couldn’t really blame him if he did . . . but she would fight for him anyway.

“I’m not letting him go.” She became more indignant about that the longer she sat there.

Caleb tapped his fingers against the seat cushion between them. “Why are you here with me instead of with him?”

The question drove right to that dark place inside her. “Because you said you needed to talk . . . right?”

“So?”

She didn’t understand the comment. “So?”

“Don’t assume he’ll always be there. Don’t take whatever you have for granted.” Caleb reached over and squeezed her hand.

“Are you trying to teach me a lesson?”

“Maybe.” He smiled at her. “Go get him. And you can consider that an order if it makes it happen faster and with less hand-wringing.”

She opened the door to get out just as a truck rushed by her. She wrote it off to medical personnel switching shifts. “I might just tie him to the bed until he listens to me.”

“You can get kidnapped and track down bombs but you can’t keep one man in a hospital bed without restraints? That’s sad, sis.”

“You’re as much of an idiot as he is.”

Caleb leaned over the back of the seat in front of him and picked up a set of keys. He held them up. Let them jangle. “Last chance to leave with me.”

She remembered the feel of Reid’s fingers through her hair. The way he whispered her name right before he kissed her. How good it felt to be in his arms again. “I’m exactly where I need to be.”

Caleb winked at her. “Then get out.”

That sounded like a good plan to her. “We’ll see you at home.”

Caleb’s eyebrow lifted. “We?”

“It’s time Reid met Mom and Dad.” The idea scared her. They might hate each other. She could get trapped in the middle, but it didn’t matter. Her choice was clear now.

“Poor Reid.” Caleb made a tsk-tsking sound. “I almost feel sorry for him.”

R
eid seriously considered ignoring the knock at the door. He’d snuck out of the medical clinic Tasha set up and headed for the hostel she took over. Tasha was out working on the lab but she’d called, demanding he return to the clinic. So had Parker. Even threatened to plunge him in a cobalt bath.

Hell, most of the Alliance checked in and told him to get his head out of his ass. Amazing how many of them used those actual words.

But he couldn’t. Not after waking up alone in that bed. He’d drifted off with Cara by his side. Now and then he’d wake up and to a nurse’s poking. That last time he thought he heard Caleb’s voice. And now Cara was gone.

Once again, when it came time for Cara to pick someone, she didn’t pick him. She ran to her brother. Walked away from them.

The realization made him homicidal. It was a shame Mickey was dead because he’d be a good target right now.

So, no. Company was a bad fucking idea. He wasn’t in the mood for one of Tasha’s pep talks or Parker’s stories. Every part of him ached. If he moved his head too fast he almost dropped to his knees in pain. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to slam things and break furniture.

They were in an information lockdown while Tasha
and both the UK and U.S. governments got the formalities and details settled about the cobalt research. One wrong move and Russia would find out it was sitting on military intel about a bomb that could change the literal makeup of power in the world. That not everything blew up in that secret location up north.

And they weren’t the only problem. The CIA wanted to come in and look around. The only thing that stopped them was the number of dead bodies and the preference that Tasha handle everything in case her work backfired. Plausible deniability and all that. Of course, the CIA didn’t know the lab actually existed, which helped to keep the officers away. For now.

The knock sounded again and he started counting to ten. Being alone in the room made him think about Cara. About how he’d done everything he could and still came up short.

At the third knock he ripped the door open. She stood there, wide-eyed and clean. She’d clearly showered and her hair was damp. Shiny face, full lips . . . he almost slammed the door just to get away from her.

“What?” Admittedly, that greeting was not much better.

“May I come in?”

Her husky voice licked across his balls. Even pissed off, he wanted her. Seeing her made the heaviness inside him feel lighter.

All of that was reason alone to say no. He should
have backed away. Probably should have gotten a room somewhere else. He hadn’t given her the room number. He guessed Parker sneaked her that information. Or Tasha. For being so tough, she did like to play matchmaker. He had no idea why because love sucked.

After an internal debate he did what he was always going to do and stepped aside. Gave Cara room to come inside. Then he had to fight the urge to step out and leave her in there by herself.

It was all juvenile bullshit, but right now he couldn’t stand to be this close to her. They’d spent more than two days rekindling . . . or so he thought. For her it was likely just another few rounds of sex. Nothing more.

He hoped the next assignment took him to China or Tahiti. Anywhere far away. A place where the noise would drown out the memory of her voice.

“You’re not saying anything.” She stood just inside the door and closed it behind her. She didn’t venture closer. Didn’t look around or engage him in mindless banter.

That was a relief in the midst of all the numbness. “I’m talked out.”

She stepped away from the wall. Took a few steps forward, which sent him walking backward. He didn’t want to run or to dance, but being right on top of her wasn’t the answer either.

Not that the room allowed for much space. It held a double bed and a dresser. Nothing else. Just a thin trail
leading from the bed to the door. And she was standing in the middle of it.